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Chapter 12
‌

"Ah, that brooch is not ‍‌‌for sale. It's a ‌‌‌birthday gift ‌‌‌meant for a noble young lady."

I learned the truth when Dale and I visited the ‌‌‌‌Shopping District. That noble young lady was Adeline.
She had told me it was just a "tea party," but she had set a trap after all.
When I smiled brightly, Adeline's teeth ground together audibly.
'As if this matters.'
I handed her the beautifully wrapped box.
"Happy birthday, Adeline."
"Oh my, haha.... When did you prepare all this? How delightful."
Adeline barely concealed her expression of utter displeasure.
Then she stared ‌‌‌at the gift ‌‌‌box quietly before twisting one corner of her mouth. ‌‌
"I wonder what's inside? I'm so excited. A gift from our new friend Anne!"
The reactions around us became ambiguous.
Their faces showed little expectation.
Naturally, Adeline would feel the same.
She ‌‌‌looked at me with an expression ‌‌‌that said, 'Your taste is probably just as mediocre as ever.'
The ribbon slipped away.
The box opened.
"Oh my, this is...!"
Adeline, who had been uttering exaggerated exclamations on purpose, let out a snort.
She couldn't hide her scorn.
"Oh my, this is, ‌‌what is this, pfft, no... I'm sorry, oh dear.... It's just so small."
The gift I had brought was a necklace.
"I'm truly grateful for the ‌‌‌sentiment. But I'm afraid something like this is ‌far too common...."
"Just a moment."
A woman who had been silent until now stepped forward from among those gathered to look.
"Isn't this the Angel's Trumpet that the Empire's 6th Master Craftsman poured his heart into creating?"
"...!"
"That necklace with the trumpet flower design carved so that an angel spreads both wings around the central sapphire!"
She was Rosanna, who had introduced herself as a merchant's daughter.
"That's right."
"To think I'm seeing this with my own eyes!"
Though it was a very small necklace, it was not an object to be appraised ‌‌by the size of its gems.
What mattered was that it was a work created by a master ‌‌‌‌‌craftsman ‌‌bearing the title of Master Craftsman.
"You recognize ‌‌‌it?"
"Of course I recognize it!"
Rosanna's nostrils flared with emotion.
"What fool ‌wouldn't recognize such a magnificent masterpiece?"
In that instant, Adeline's face twisted.
"Adeline."
"...What."
Adeline's response ‌came ‌‌‌‌sharp and cutting, her expression contorted as though she'd bitten into something foul.
"Forgive my rudeness, but would you consider selling me this gift?"
"...Pardon?"
At Rosanna's question, Adeline's jaw went slack.
"I know it's presumptuous, but you yourself said it—if by any chance Anne were to visit the shop and ‌‌purchase your gift, I was absolutely forbidden to sell it."
"?!"
"The Anne standing here was invited merely to be mocked."
"W-what are you talking about?!"
Rosanna continued undeterred, ignoring how Adeline had gone pale.
"Stop spouting nonsense!"
"Nonsense? Merchants may deceive, but we don't speak falsehoods."
Rosanna shrugged her shoulders.
"Merchants preserve all words exchanged during ‌‌transactions in recording artifacts for the sake of perfect deals. I am an honest merchant."
"Do you want to sever business with my family?!"
"I'm proposing this precisely because I want to do business. I've found something profitable—there's no reason to back away."
"Sh... No. Have you lost your mind?! What are you saying?"
"I sensed it. That object—it's worth money. Let's make a deal, Adeline."
At that ‌‌‌‌moment, I slowly raised my hand.
When everyone's eyes turned toward me, I smiled brightly.
"No. Adeline hasn't actually accepted my gift yet."
"...!"
"I believe I heard her say she couldn't accept something like this."
"Ah, ‌‌‌‌no, that's..."
"It might be burdensome for Adeline, so I was thoughtless. There's nothing to be done about it."
I quickly closed the lid.
"So this still belongs to me."
Adeline's face drained of color, then flushed crimson, and now turned a sickly pale blue.
Only one emotion was visible in her eyes.
Contempt.
"Now that I think about it, I believe I heard that too."
Rosanna interjected at that moment, her eyes gleaming with the wild certainty of conviction as she gazed at me.
"Ha, haha, that's..."
Adeline broke into a cold sweat and fanned herself open. ‌‌‌‌
"I knew that too. I was going to say I couldn't accept it because it's a Master Craftsman's work. Oh, I just remembered something urgent. Everyone, please leave now. I have a ‌‌headache and simply can't continue!"
The host of the party hastily abandoned his seat.
"Well then, Miss Adeline. Shall we talk?"
I smiled as I watched Rosanna approach me politely.

* * *

Two days later, Rosanna came to find me.
"I was grateful for ‌‌‌the entertaining spectacle you provided back then."
Rosanna spoke to me while sipping the tea Dale had brought.
"It was such a tedious affair, but my mind was ‌‌‌suddenly sharpened." ‌
Rosanna marveled at the taste of the tea Dale ‌‌‌had brewed.
"Is that gentleman the Dale whom the young lady of Kiddleland is madly devoted to?"
"That's right."
"He's quite the handsome man, just as I've heard."
Rosanna's eyes moved swiftly.
Yet there was no covetous gleam in her gaze.
It was the eye of a merchant tapping away at a calculator, converting that appearance into ‌‌monetary value.
"If beauty could be ‌‌‌quantified, what would be the worth of the Empire's most handsome man's beauty...."
She murmured seriously.
She was serious, ‌wasn't she?
"Would you mind ‌‌not looking at another woman's husband like he's merchandise?" ‌‌
"Ah! My apologies. To my precious business partner."
Rosanna laughed brightly.
After completing ‌‌‌the authentication of the Empire's 6th Master Craftsman's necklace, she seriously scribbled something on paper.
"Will this suffice?"
The amount she had written was one million crovats.
'Starting with a ‌‌‌‌lowball offer right from the beginning?'
Her business tactics were impressive. I changed the digit 1 to a 5.
Rosanna shrieked.
"No matter how fine a work of the 6th Master Craftsman it is, five million crovats is far too expensive!"
"Then I won't sell it."
"Wait...!"
As I rose from my seat, Rosanna hastily grabbed me.
"Wasn't that necklace something you intended to give as a gift? So why are you setting such an exorbitant price?"
"Of course I never intended to give it."
"Pardon?"
"It was clear that the party was meant to trap me. ‌‌‌‌‌Even a seven-year-old child could have seen through it."
"...So you deliberately gambled with that precious necklace?"
She looked astonished.
"Knowing that I would covet that necklace?"
"I wasn't aware that Rosanna was present."
"Then why...?"
"Adeline Kidland lacks the discernment to appreciate a necklace's true value, and besides, she would never have accepted a gift from me in the first place."
"So you knew all along."
Rosanna nodded in admiration.
"Negotiating with someone like you is never easy. You're a formidable opponent."
Rosanna adjusted her figure.
"What about 2.5 million Crobats?"
"Your words and ‌‌actions don't match, do they?"
"That's already a significant increase."
I twirled my hair with indifference.
"Then 2.7 million?"
"Dale, shall ‌‌we take ‌‌‌‌a walk?"
"Of course."
Dale rose as if he'd been waiting for this moment and placed a bonnet on my head.
He gazed at me with an expression of barely contained excitement.
Moments like these really.... ‌‌‌
'His ‌‌acting is ‌‌‌genuinely flawless even in the smallest gestures.'
Dale commits to the concept with absolute precision.
Had he been born in my previous world with that appearance, acting would have been his true calling.
'Like a detailed character setting—a couple who reunited several times and finally confirmed their genuine feelings, ultimately succeeding in marriage—Dale moved naturally even when others were present.'
'In his usual state, he doesn't seem like such an agile man.'
Despite his sharp features, his movements were leisurely and gentle.
"Wait just a moment! Then 3.5 ‌‌‌million Crobats!"
Rosanna cried out urgently.
"3.5 million Crobats is our absolute maximum. If you take any more, we'll go bankrupt, customer...!"
"3.5 million?"
I knew perfectly well that wouldn't bankrupt them.
But it's quite impressive.
"3.7 million."
"Ugh! My heart! Argh!"
"You're not ill."
"That's true! But my feelings!"
Rosanna's mental calculator seemed to be working overtime as she released a deep sigh.
"Very well. 3.7 million! No changing the terms, customer!"
"And no installments on your end either. No bartering for goods—full payment in cash only. Empire currency in Crobats, paid in full at once with no partial payments. Understood?"
"Understood...!"
As I heard Rosanna's mournful sigh, I winked at Dale.
Receiving the signal, Dale spoke to me.
"Forgive me, but might I say something?"
"What do you mean?"
"This person has come from far away, so it wouldn't be right to raise the price too much."
"Is that so?" ‌‌‌
I pretended to listen seriously to Dale's words. Anticipation flickered across Rosanna's face.
Dale helped me negotiate exactly as we had arranged beforehand.
I sighed with feigned regret and approached Rosanna. ‌‌
Now it was time to begin the real negotiation.
"As Dale says, seeing Rosanna so distressed weighs on my heart."
I gently pushed Dale's arm away and sat back down.
For a moment, it seemed Dale had looked at Rosanna coldly, but it was probably my imagination.
"I'll ‌‌give you a discount."
"Really?!"
"Seeing Rosanna struggle like this pains me."
"Yes, I'm truly suffering. I have headaches, stomach pain—it's terrible."
She sniffled theatrically while glancing at ‌‌‌‌me sideways. I knew she wasn't in ‌‌‌pain. There was no scent of illness emanating from her.
Rather, ‌‌‌the stench that ‌had made me nauseous just moments ago was of a sickness far more severe.
It ‌‌‌had been at the ‌‌Lord's Castle.

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support ‌‌‌‌our team and ‌‌‌enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------