Chapter 40
“Let's stop by there for a moment?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
It was a little surprising.
After all, it wasn't my first time looking at a jewelry shop.
“There were several more ornate shops on the way, weren't there? Why are you suggesting we stop here of all places instead of one of them?”
Hearing my question, Heter pointed to the people coming out of the shop.
“Unlike those coming out of the shops before it, the people leaving this one seem to have particularly bright expressions.”
“…Really?”
Before long, Heter and I spent about ten minutes observing people's beaming faces.
The couples and families emerging from the shop didn't look particularly wealthy.
Perhaps they were commoners with a little money to spare?
‘Well, if they weren't, they wouldn't even have any reason to come to a jewelry shop.’
More important than that were their expressions.
There were couples happily having rings made, and even children gazing at their parents with bright smiles while touching the lockets hanging around their necks.
“It really is.”
“What shall we do?”
“All right. Let's give it a try.”
I had always preferred places locals frequented over restaurants famous on social media, after all.
Jingle.
“Welcome.”
An old man wearing a monocle and polishing jewelry greeted us as the bell on the door jingled.
If Sir Gold had been the stereotypical image of an old knight, with a splendid mustache and armor, this old man evoked the image of a butler one might commonly imagine.
What left the deepest impression, in particular, was his appearance.
He must have made many women's hearts flutter when he was young.
“We just came to have a look.”
“Yes, please feel free to look around as much as you like.”
Perhaps it was because I had dressed more elaborately than usual for the tea party. Or perhaps he was simply perceptive.
The old man immediately adopted a polite attitude after realizing that I was a noble.
“So what did you want to come here to see?”
“I just thought we could look around.”
While Heter and I whispered to each other, the old man waited leisurely with a genial smile.
Most would be frantic to sell a noble customer the most expensive thing they could, but he looked so relaxed.
I was beginning to understand why the customers who visited this shop all looked so happy.
“Then… may I take a look at the things in the display cases?”
“Of course.”
With the old man's permission, Heter and I began looking at the jewelry in the glass display cases.
“The designs are….”
To be honest, they were rather plain, much like the exterior of the shop.
There were no dazzlingly large gemstones or ring settings carved with enough detail to make one gasp in admiration.
But I wasn't the type to like flashy things.
“I like them.”
“I'm glad you approve, young lady.”
I liked the jewelry here.
“May I ask which piece you particularly like?”
“Hmm… They're all nice, but if I had to pick one, this?”
I pointed to a ring with a green gemstone set in the center of its setting, flanked on either side by increasingly paler gemstones in a gradient.
“May I ask why you like this ring?”
“Huh? There isn't any particular reason.”
There really wasn't any special reason.
I had simply thought, ‘Oh, this is pretty,’ the moment I saw it.
“Hmm.”
“?”
“Nothing. Would you like me to take it out so you can have a look?”
It was pretty, but I had no particular intention of buying it, so I hesitated over his offer.
“Please take it out.”
Heter, who had approached from behind me before I knew it, asked the old man.
“Hmm.”
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
The old man stared intently at Heter's face for a moment, then took the ring I had pointed to out of the display case.
“This ring is decorated exclusively with green-hued gemstones such as emerald, tourmaline, zircon, jade, and other green gemstones.”
“So it has that many gemstones in it? It must be rather expensive.”
“Not particularly.”
Then he wrote the price on a piece of paper with a fountain pen and held it out to me.
“Huh…?”
I was startled when I saw the price the old man showed me.
“It costs only this much?”
“Yes. To be honest, the gemstones used here are not exactly top-quality, and the ring itself has no special engraving, either.”
“Wow….”
As someone with no interest in jewelry, I couldn't tell whether the gemstones were good or bad quality.
Besides, I actually liked the ring more because its setting had no engraving at all.
I was just thinking, ‘At this quality, it seems worth buying one at this price…’
“I'll take this.”
Heter said this as he took some gold from inside his clothes.
“Yes, thank you. Now then, young lady, I'll just check the size of your finger.”
“Huh?”
While I was flustered, the old man measured my finger size in an instant, then used magic to adjust the size of the ring.
As a result, a ring that fit my finger perfectly was ready in less than a minute.
“Here you are.”
A gift I'd received far too suddenly.
When I looked at Heter with a dazed expression, he smiled at me.
“This is a gift of apology for causing trouble for you today, my lady.”
“No, but isn't this too expensive for that?”
When I said it was cheap, I meant only compared with the other pieces of jewelry.
Jewelry was expensive in the first place!
“Sigh, I'll add the price of the ring to your salary and pay you that much extra.”
“There is no need for you to do that.”
“No, it's making me uncomfortable.”
It wasn't my birthday, and accepting a gift this expensive felt like a bit much.
“If you truly insist….”
Seeing me look troubled, Heter held out his pinky.
“Next time, could you promise to go on another date with me?”
“….”
Nooo….
“You could do that even without giving me a gift….”
“…What did you just say?”
The moment he heard me mutter, Heter's expression froze completely.
“Hmm?”
Only when I saw his disbelieving expression did I realize what I had just said.
“Ah.”
Aaaaaah.
“Th-that isn't what I meant! All right! I promise! I promise I will!”
I hurriedly held out my pinky, hooked it around Heter's finger, and shook our linked fingers.
“Promise! Stamp! Copy!”
“What's a stamp and a copy?”
“It's a thing!”
We touched thumbs, then pressed our palms together, and rubbed them against each other; only then did we both finally calm down.
‘Whew, that startled me.’
Who would have thought something I had only ever thought to myself would come out aloud?
“Anyway. What was I….”
“Yes.”
“Thank you, Heter.”
“Ahem.”
Eventually, the old man, who had been watching us, cleared his throat and spoke to Heter.
“Now then, sir, please put the ring on the young lady's finger.”
“Ah.”
Heter, looking at the ring in his hand, asked me,
“My lady. May I put it on you?”
“It would be rather awkward if I refused here.”
I obediently held out my left hand to him.
Holding the ring in one hand, Heter carefully enclosed mine with the other, then—
Swoosh.
“!”
“Oh-ho.”
He slid it onto the ring finger of my left hand.
“…Do you know what this means?”
“Of course.”
He stroked the ring on my ring finger.
“Please consider this staking my claim in advance. I'll give you another ring someday.”
“….”
As if he had known all along that it would go on my ring finger, the old man had adjusted it to fit perfectly.
I nodded.
And I could do nothing but nod up and down in response.
“Thank you. Please come again.”
“Yes.”
“….”
Heter and I had barely left the shop after buying the ring when—
“Ah, I think I left something behind.”
“Yes?”
“Wait here for a moment! That's an order!”
I left Heter standing outside the shop and returned to the jewelry store.
Jingle.
“Welcome… Hmm?”
“Um….”
The bell on the door jingled again, and I cautiously asked the old man,
“Could I buy this one… and this one too?”
The old man looked at the jewelry I pointed to, gave another genial smile, and nodded.
“Of course.”
***
“What happened?”
“Oh, it's nothing. More importantly, take this.”
After Alice came out of the shop, she held something out to Heter as though she'd picked it up on the way.
“What… is this bracelet?”
What she held out was… a silver bracelet with an ornament shaped like a grapevine.
“I've already promised to give you a reward… This is a bonus to thank you for working so hard until now.”
“No, that's all right.”
“I said I was fine without one, but you gave me one, didn't you? Take it.”
“Huh.”
Forced to accept the bracelet, Heter let out a hollow laugh and shook his head.
“I really can't win against you, my lady.”
“Look who's talking.”
After saying that, Heter put the bracelet on his left wrist, then held it out to Alice.
“Does it suit me?”
“You'd look good wearing anything.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
Perhaps because he was in an even better mood than usual?
Heter didn't notice.
‘Phew.’
The small ring box she held in her ring-adorned hand.
Alice's hand, wearing a ring the same shade of green as Heter's eyes, gently stroked the ring box.