He Traded His Lucky Charm for a Fraud

I'm widely regarded as one of the best dreamwalkers in the field. For five years, I've paved the path to success for my CEO boyfriend, Silas Kielsburn, with the help of my dreamwalking skills. Alas, on the anniversary of our relationship, Silas insists on signing a 20-million-dollar financing deal after reading the dreamwalking interpretation drafted by my archnemesis, Maisie Caldwell. He completely disregards my many attempts to warn him that my dreamwalking interpretation shows the terrible danger looming over him in his dream. "Cassiopeia Vale, look at how selfless Maisie is! Her dreamwalker interpretations are the only things that can bestow golden opportunities upon me! Only a dreamwalker who's as pure-hearted and noble as she is is befitting as my wife!" After that, Silas smashes the fortune-shifting crystal I've gifted to him before proposing to Maisie. I respond by demanding the unpaid dreamwalking fees worth hundreds of thousands of dollars Silas has accumulated during the past five years. However, I end up getting cornered by the thugs he has hired in an alley. In fact, I almost lose my life there. Five years later, I chance upon Silas once again at a university anniversary celebration. By then, he's already a rising star in the tech industry. At the moment, he has an arm wrapped around Maisie, who's now an influencer known for her dreamwalking knowledge that she's stolen from me. Their popularity knows no bounds. As for me, I'm currently kneeling by a flower bed while rummaging through the lawn. "Remember how you refused to tell me the entirety of the dreamwalking interpretation back then, Cassiopeia? To think that you've fallen so far from grace to the point that you're looking for crumbling stones in the shrubs! "Even if you turned the lawn upside down, you and I will never get back together!" I completely tune Silas out. After all, my son has accidentally lost the crystal that I've given to his father as a love token. I need to find it as soon as possible. Otherwise, my extremely doting husband will definitely teach him a painful lesson at home tonight. Chapter 1 "What's the matter? The great Cassiopeia Vale, who used to think she was better than everyone else and wouldn't share a thing for fear that someone might get ahead, suddenly has nothing to say, huh?" Seeing as I refused to acknowledge him, Silas Kielsburn decided to raise his voice at me on purpose. "Keep it down, Sile!" Maisie Caldwell, Silas' current girlfriend, piped up as soon as I turned around. "Cassie looks pretty… wretched, judging from her current situation. Let's not trigger her anymore…" I could see the barely concealed flicker of malicious joy in Maisie's eyes despite her words of sympathy directed at me. Silas just scoffed, completely ignoring Maisie's attempt to diffuse the situation. Instead, he took a step forward. His loafer, which was polished immaculately, almost stepped on my mud-caked fingers. "How the tables have turned, Cassiopeia. Look at you now. You've sunk so low that you're on your knees, digging through the grass for stones just to get by, huh? "What, you can't make it out there anymore, so you decide to come crawling back to our old university to see if you can swindle some fool into emptying his pockets for you? "Or could it be that you're specifically here just to beg me to take your pathetic ass back?" Silas' tone was laced with immense mockery. Thunderous laughter erupted from his gaggle of followers, who knew exactly what was up. "Do you have any idea how expensive this custom-made lawn for the university's anniversary celebration costs?" Maisie even pushed her luck by bringing up another topic just to make my life more difficult. "The grass seed is imported all the way from Grandovia, you know! You can't afford to buy ten square feet of this lawn with your monthly allowance! "Get up right now and stop embarrassing yourself in public! What if you end up dirtying the lawn? Are you going to take responsibility for that?" As soon as Maisie's words fell, she quickly shot Howard Brown, who wore a volunteer badge, a look. Howard strode over like he'd just been handed marching orders, reaching out to grab my arm. I straightened up before looking down at the grass, which I had trampled all over. Yikes. The quality of this lawn was terrible! Besides, how was it possible for ten square feet of grass to cost ten million dollars, to begin with? "Sorry. My child dropped something here. I'll leave as soon as I find it. Also, I'll pay for the damages I caused." "You'll pay, huh?" Maisie seemed like she had just heard the biggest joke of the year. She scoffed at me as she gave me a once-over. "You think you can pay for the damages? Even if you sold the rags you're wearing, along with your own life, you still couldn't afford a single stalk of grass on this lawn! "From the way I see it, you're already bent on staying here so that you can attract Sile's attention!" More laughter erupted from the crowd, followed by the gossip that broke out among the onlookers. "That's enough." Silas seemed to be tired of the ongoing drama. He pulled out his phone and elegantly tapped on the screen a few times. "Here's a little pocket change, for old times' sake. It should be enough for you to buy yourself some rocks to play with." His finger hovered over the "yes" button, displayed alongside the transfer notice asking for his confirmation. It was then he lifted his head to shoot me a contemptuous look. "Take the money and leave. I don't want to see that pathetic, fawning look of yours. Just seeing you here pisses me off." Everyone else was eagerly waiting for my reaction. Would I accept the money with a humiliated expression? Or would I turn the transaction down pridefully? Silas smirked confidently as he jabbed his finger at the button. But a crack quickly appeared on his mask of nonchalance the next moment, which was a rare sight to behold. The notification on his phone showed, "Transfer failed. The recipient's account is currently frozen due to irregular activity." Silas stared at the message, completely dumbfounded. He stayed that way for three long seconds. But realization quickly dawned on him, as though he just discovered an interesting secret of mine. "Hey, Cassiopeia… You're a dreamwalker, and yet you somehow got your bank account frozen? Don't tell me you screwed up that swindling schtick of yours! Or could it be that someone sued you over unpaid debts, and now you're a full-blown deadbeat?" Chapter 2 I just frowned in return. It turned out that Silas had attempted to transfer the money to the bank account that I had used when I was still working here five years ago. "Isn't it normal for my account to get frozen by the bank? After all, I've already immigrated to another country with my husband. It's been a super long time since I last used the local bank account." Silas was momentarily surprised, but he soon pelted me with more mocking remarks. "Immigrated? Wow, Cassiopeia. You're still as full of excuses as ever. If you truly moved abroad and weren't lacking in the money department, you wouldn't be kneeling here, digging through the lawn for rocks like a beggar!" With what little patience I had left, I explained, "I'm not looking for 'rocks' like you said—I'm looking for the crystal my son lost. "Also, we've already broken up for five years, which makes us strangers. Regardless of how well I'm doing in life and how rich I am, they have nothing to do with you. "I'd love it if you and your lover could stay the hell away from me. My husband is extremely petty and hates it whenever I get tangled up in messy business with my ex-boyfriend." I specifically stressed the words "lover" and "husband". But Silas chose to take a step forward instead of leaving me alone. "Tangled up? Cassiopeia, are you hinting that I'm still in love with you? Or are you using the excuse of having a husband to hide how wretched your life has become? On top of that, you're trying to guilt-trip me, aren't you?" It was as though Silas had suddenly found an outlet for his pent-up frustration, for his tone grew increasingly confrontational. "Oh yeah… I suppose I'm responsible for your downfall. After all, I broke up with you far too decisively without giving you a way out." Silas then grabbed Maisie's hand and plucked a diamond ring off her finger before thrusting it into my hands. "Take this. I had originally planned on giving this ring to you back then. Now, get out of here and clean yourself up elsewhere. Stop embarrassing yourself in front of everyone!" Maisie was stunned, to say the least. She didn't expect that Silas would slide the ring off her finger right away. "S-Sile, you already gave me that ring! Besides, wasn't Cassiopeia's whole dreamwalking act just a bunch of psychological tricks at the end of the day? "All of her interpretations were vague and misleading! They can't hold a candle to my dreamwalking interpretations!" Honestly speaking, I was completely baffled after hearing Maisie's self-righteous words. "Maisie Caldwell, how does it feel pretending to be an expert dreamwalker just because you got your hands on my notebook?" "Notebook?" Silas frowned deeply, clearly not understanding what I just said. I didn't want to waste more time dealing with Silas and Maisie, so I bent down and began searching through the shrubs once again. My darling son must have been worried sick waiting for me. However, Silas gripped me by the wrist and yanked me up to my feet. "Back then, you refused to disclose more information because of the stupid rules you had been following. On top of that, you were acting all high and mighty around me. "Yet now, you have the gall to drag May's name through the mud! What happened to your beloved rules and that pride of yours, huh? Did you discard them like the phony you are?" Pain flared from my wrist that was trapped in Silas' vice-like grip. "Let this be my final warning to you, Silas Kielsburn! My husband has a terrible temper. You'd do well to release me now if you don't want any trouble knocking on your doorstep!" "Husband?" Silas retorted. "It's been five years since we last met, Cassiopeia. I see you've been honing your talent for lying. "Where's your so-called husband? Did he seriously ditch you here all by yourself? In that case, I suppose he's not that much of a man at all. Or perhaps… you came up with the whole husband thing just to protect that laughable ego of yours…" Silas didn't release my wrist at all. On the contrary, he even leaned in to question me. "Why don't you tell me who your husband is and what he works as? I'd like to see just who on earth would be crazy enough to marry someone like you—" "Sile!" Maisie cut Silas off uneasily at the sight of how bloodshot his eyes had become. She quickly tugged at his other arm with all her might. "That woman is outright filthy! Why are you still wasting your breath on a liar like her, anyway? Where are the security guards? Kick her out right now!" Howard, who had been eyeing me with distrust, as well as the security guards, closed in on me instantly after hearing Maisie's command. Weirdly enough, Silas refused to let go of me at all. He seemed hell-bent on wanting to fight with me till the bitter end. An idea popped into Maisie's mind at that moment. Suddenly, she plastered a gracious expression onto her face. "On second thought, it's fine. Since you look so pathetic and refuse to leave, I guess you're trying to find an opportunity to restart your career so that you can scam more money from the onlookers. "Here's an idea. Everyone attending the university's anniversary celebration is rich and influential in society. I'll give you a chance, Cassiopeia. You may give dreamwalking interpretations to a few university alumni who are present with us. If your interpretations turn out to be accurate…" Maisie drew out a small stack of bills from Silas' wallet before waving them airily in my face. "Well, this five thousand dollars will be yours. Isn't it way better for you to use your capabilities to earn money instead of collecting rocks in this place?" Silas went along with Maisie's flow instantly, thinking that he was magnanimous for bestowing such a grand opportunity on me. Oh? So I got to earn my money by giving away dreamwalking interpretations here? And that I'd be rewarded five thousand dollars for doing that? I was very tempted to applaud the couple for being so generous as to throw me a few crumbs from their lofty perch. "Not interested." While Silas was stunned by my response, I took advantage of his moment of weakness to free my wrist from his grasp by shaking his hand off me. "I turned down a seven-figure dreamwalking deal just so I could attend this function with my husband. You can keep that chum change of yours." Laughter, tinged with disbelief, rippled through the crowd. "Wow, you sure know how to boast without any shame at all! Guards, kick her out already! Ashcroft Group's representative will be here any minute! Who's going to answer for it if that woman upsets our VIP?" A security guard's hand landed on my shoulder once again. This time, he was serious about dragging me out of the campus grounds. Amid the chaos, I caught a familiar sparkle reflecting off a surface from the corner of my eye. Delight washed over me instantly as I lunged toward that specific corner without a care in the world. That sparkle came from the crystal that my son cherished the most! What I didn't notice was that Silas kept staring at the crystal I quickly recovered. "Cassiopeia Vale! Why are you still keeping that fraudulent little trinket?" Chapter 3 I was completely taken aback by Silas' accusation. The truth was, I had once given him the same type of crystal a long time ago. At that time, he had failed to establish his business for the first time, so he locked himself up in his rented apartment without eating or drinking anything for three days. Having performed a dreamwalk on Silas' dream, I searched high and low across the city and spent every last penny I had to find him a fortune-shifting crystal. He once told me that the crystal was the only beacon of light in his dark life. How was it a fraudulent trinket now? As I gripped the crystal tightly, I was about to refute Silas when a delighted voice cut in. "Ms. Vale, is that you?" I looked up to see a young man in a sharp suit, gazing at me excitedly. "It really is you, Ms. Vale! I saw you on the cover of the International Association of Dreamwalkers' yearbook!" The young man quickly approached me and extended a hand in a friendly manner, completely disregarding Silas and Maisie, who wore dark expressions. "I'm Liam Granger, and I used to be a finance major here. Recently, a dream has been bugging me for quite some time. May I ask you to—" "Mr. Granger, you mustn't get fooled by that woman!" Maisie interjected shrilly as she moved to stand between Liam and me while pretending to look concerned. "Ms. Cassiopeia Vale here doesn't have a good reputation in our field, you see. In the past, she almost cost Sile an important opportunity to make it big! Mr. Granger, you mustn't let her fool you!" Upon noticing that more alumni were gathering around us, Maisie continued fanning the flames. "Think about it, everyone! If Cassiopeia truly were capable, would she sink so low to the point that she'd have to dig through the lawn just for rocks?" All I felt was immense amusement as I stared at Maisie's expression, which was completely twisted by deep-rooted jealousy and unease. "Oh, Maisie… You know better than anyone here whether my abilities are real, don't you? After all, you've kept up your dreamwalking act all these years thanks to my notebook. "Haven't your parents ever taught you that you can steal someone else's tricks, but you can never steal their talent?" "What the hell are you on about?" My response instantly triggered Maisie. She pointed at me while shrieking, "Sile, she's slandering me again! I gained my skills through grueling training, and you know that!" With a stormy expression, Silas shielded Maisie from me before snapping at me, "That's enough, Cassiopeia Vale! May's dreamwalking interpretations are never wrong! You're just dragging her name through the mud like a crazy bitch you are out of pure jealousy toward her achievements!" "Oh, so I'm the crazy bitch now?" I scoffed at him. "Ms. Caldwell seems very confident in the accuracy of her own interpretations. Besides, you think I'm a scammer, don't you? In that case, why don't we compete with each other, then?" I turned to look at Liam, who seemed to be deep in thought. "You want your dream interpreted for you, right, Mr. Granger? Why don't Ms. Caldwell and I perform a dreamwalking session on him, then? Mr. Granger here can judge the results for himself." The way panic flashed in Maisie's eyes was obvious to me. But soon, she forced herself to stay composed as she refuted me boldly. "Fine. Let's compete, then. But if you truly were capable, why didn't you predict the fact that Sile would dump you back then?" "At least I don't need to steal someone else's notebook and boyfriend just to prove my own worth!" My comeback struck Silas and Maisie like a resounding slap across the face. Naturally, Silas' temper flared instantly. "Guards, kick this foul-mouthed woman out right now!" Two security guards approached me immediately to grab me by the arm. I dodged them out of pure instinct. But as I moved, the dreamwalking compass—also a family heirloom I kept in my pocket—slid out and fell to the ground. The compass needle spun wildly for quite some time. When it finally stopped, it pointed at Silas and Maisie. Those who dabbled in dreamwalking knew that meant the couple were definitely in big trouble. All color was drained from Maisie's complexion at that moment. She kicked the compass away all of a sudden. "Get that stupid hocus-pocus junk away from me!" Her abrupt kick and her overreaction shocked everyone, to say the least. "Why did you kick the compass away? Is it because you're starting to panic right now?" I broke out of the guards' hold and bent down to pick up the compass. My heart sank instantly when I tried to commune with it. The signals I picked up from the compass were faint and erratic. They weren't as crystal-clear as they were in the past. Maisie's kick must have damaged it! "Hey, aren't you going to start dreamwalking any moment now, Cassiopeia? Do it, then!" Liam, who was clearly enjoying the spectacle, actually started encouraging the onlookers to place bets. Naturally, everyone started getting excited over the competition. "I bet that Ms. Caldwell will win this competition! She's a famous dreamwalker, after all! I'll bet two million dollars on her!" "I'll place my bet on Ms. Caldwell too! Even Mr. Kielsburn acknowledges her dreamwalking skills!" At that moment, a man with a calm, capable demeanor parted through the crowd. He declared loudly, "My boss, Mr. Ashcroft, has stated that he will bet ten million dollars on Ms. Vale's victory on behalf of Ashcroft Group."