Reborn With a Money-Making System: Ruined Actress to Nation's Treasure-Chapter 75: When Silence Feels Like Home

I didn’t know how he did it, but he played the claw machine five times, and won every single one.

Five plushies in a row: a pink bunny, a sleepy-looking bear, a tiny duck with a bowtie, a blue whale, and a chubby cat that looked like it had eaten way too much.

He placed them all carefully into my arms, one after another, until I could barely see over the mountain of plushies.

"For you," he said simply.

I blinked up at him from behind the pile, wondering why I ended up holding all the prizes when he was the one who actually won them.

"Stop playing already!" I said. "You’re going to make this arcade go bankrupt!"

"It’s not my fault." Lando pulled his hands away from the claw machine, finally losing the urge to empty it of all the dolls. "It’s their fault for building such an easy machine."

I doubted it was the arcade’s fault because after all, I couldn’t even win one! His hands must’ve been made of gold since everything he touched seemed to turn into profit.

"It’s almost sunset." I looked down at my watch, surprised at how fast time had passed. It felt like the hours I spent with Lando had only been a few moments.

"Maybe we can have dinner at the rooftop restaurant," I added. "Don’t worry, there’s an elevator."

I wasn’t going to repeat the same mistake twice by making him climb the stairs again.

"Okay," he said without hesitation.

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to agree with me every time. I had never once heard him say "no" whenever I asked him to do something.

I just hoped he wouldn’t jump off a cliff if I told him to.

[Ding! Ding!]

[Congratulations! You’ve completed one of the checklist tasks!]

[Reward: $4,000 has been credited to your account.]

[Current Balance: $151,915] 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Without wasting time, I bought a tote bag from the counter and stuffed all my plushies inside.

After that, we went straight to the rooftop and sat at a table by the railing, where we could watch the sun slowly setting.

After wandering around the mall all day, I let out a relieved sigh as I took a sip of my iced lemon tea. The cold drink slid down my throat, washing away every bit of tiredness.

"Why didn’t you order something cold?" I asked when I noticed he had ordered a hot black coffee instead.

"Because I like watching the steam rise," he said softly, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "It makes me feel calm."

The orange sunlight reflected in his eyes, and for a moment, he looked almost unreal.

I rested my chin on my palm, watching him quietly. "That’s such an old man thing to say."

He smiled faintly. "Then I guess I’m an old soul."

In truth, our souls weren’t that far apart in age. He was thirty-five, while I had just celebrated my thirty-two birthday before I died.

But somehow, it still felt like there was a great distance between us. Maybe it was because he was more composed and quiet, while I was still a bit too impulsive for my own good.

I let out a soft sigh. I really should stop talking so much. He might get tired of me someday. But since he didn’t look annoyed yet, I figured it was fine to be a little noisy.

"Husband."

He only replied with a soft hum while stirring his coffee.

"Did you have fun today?"

He looked at me, a faint smile forming on his lips.

"Of course," he said. "It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun like that, and ... I even did something new." Then, after a brief pause, he added quietly, "But I don’t think my presence is fun enough for you."

"What are you talking about?!" I immediately grabbed his hand and looked straight into his eyes. "I also enjoyed our date today!"

The word "date" slipped out before I could stop myself, and I gasped in shock. Lando’s eyes widened slightly, clearly caught off guard by my words as well.

[Why are you two still acting so surprised like that?] Penny’s voice suddenly popped into my mind out of nowhere. [Even without saying it out loud, everyone could already tell that what you two did earlier was a date.]

B-but he probably didn’t want to call it that, right?! We weren’t even in the "getting to know each other" stage.

I mean ... we were already married. How could a married couple still be in the courtship phase?

[As long as love hasn’t bloomed, it still counts as courtship.]

[Your marriage is just a piece of paper right now.]

From the corner of my ear, I vaguely heard a group of girls sitting not far from us whispering.

"That couple looks really cute together."

"She even kept calling him ’husband,’ so cute!"

"But if they’re married, why don’t they have rings on their fingers?"

Oh ... right. I had completely forgotten about that.

Our marriage happened so suddenly. We didn’t have wedding rings—heck, I even showed up at the courthouse wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.

But that didn’t matter since we only needed the marriage certificate for legal reasons.

I slowly pulled my hand away and cleared my throat. "I mean ... I really enjoyed spending time with you today."

Lando’s other hand reached up to touch the one I’d just let go of. He lowered his gaze slightly and whispered, "Yeah, I did too."

After that, we didn’t talk much and simply focused on our food.

Even so, somehow, the silence between us felt peaceful, like we were wrapped in a little cocoon, shutting out the noisy, cruel world outside.

Maybe that silence felt so comforting because both of us had grown up surrounded by shouting and chaos.

He had to endure the harshness and insults at the Brixton residence, while the orphanage where I lived was so small that I heard crying, yelling, and scolding almost every day.

Even though I liked to talk a lot, sometimes, I needed silence too.

[Ding! Ding!]

[Congratulations! You’ve completed one of the checklist tasks!]

[Reward: $4,000 has been credited to your account.]

[Remaining Balance: $155,915]