âHuh? Huh?? B-But⊠I-I⊠I donât know anything about jewelsâŠâ
Jewels were something that I could only see from a distance being worn by my stepmother and stepsister occasionally when they went to a ballâŠ. The only jewelry I had ever touched was that âcursed necklaceâ.
âYes. That is fine.â
âHuh?â
âYou just only need to pick the one you like the best. As simple as that.â
âThese are all the gemstones our store could prepare as of now. If you need me to get another gemstone then I will need toâŠâ
NO!! Donât say something so scary like âanother gemstoneâ!!!!
âPlease do not worry about the price. Everything has been taken care of by Lord Lönnrot already.â
âHuh?â
âŠ.Oh, does that mean every gemstone in here, all of them are the same price? Well, I can see why. Even though they all differ in size and colour, they all are shining so brightly.
âYes. Thatâs why Miltia, you only need to pick the one you like the best.â
But still⊠I have a feeling any of this jewellery costs a frightening amount of money⊠However after they went to prepare all of this for me, things would get awkward if I kept on insisting I donât want itâŠ.
I gazed at the rectangular jewellery box. All of the beautiful gemstones inside made me feel like I was selecting a star from the milky way.
Suddenly, between all those selections, one smaller green stone that looked strangely muddy caught my eyes.
I wonder why? âŠ.. All of the other gemstones in here are so sparkly. Only this gemstone doesnât have the same bright transparency as the otherâŠ. Somehow, this muddy gemstone is looking somewhat sad and shunned upon by the others in my eyesâŠ
âUmm⊠This gem isâŠ?â
âOh, thatâs gemstone is calledănight roseă.â
âFufu, actuallyâŠâ
This ânight roseâ, while it could work as a powerful magic protection charm⊠This gemstone was actually a little bit hard to handle because it also had the property to automatically absorb any âbad thingsâ such as curse or miasma. Because of that, this gemstone needed to be purified constantly if you wanted to maintain the stoneâs beautiful shine.
Thanks to the stoneâs natural property in absorbing âbad thingsâ, this stone was usually given to saint candidates as their final examination.
âMiltia, if you like ânight roseâ,then they also have another ânight roseâ with better transparency here.â
Maricle-sama pointed to another night rose. This night rose was very big and unlike the other muddy one, this night rose had a beautiful, almost transparent, light green shine.
âAh, no⊠I mean⊠Iâm just⊠Curious about this gemstoneâŠ.â
âFufu~ Miltia-sama, do you like this gemstone?â
For some reason, a smile that gave off the impression of triumph appeared on Gina-sanâs face.
âAh, y-yesâŠâ
Somehow, I felt like there was some sort of bond between me and this muddy stone. I then picked up the gemstone and placed it on my right palm. Gently, I stroked the gem with my fingers and I could feel the gemstone feeling a bit happier, making me feel a little warm and fluffy inside.
âI understand. Since Miltia likes it, we will take this stone.â
âFufu~ Duke Lönnrot⊠This time⊠I guess it is my victory.â
Huh? Victory?
Gina-san smiled delightfully, she took out a folding fan from between her chest and spread it to cover her face as she laughed elegantly.
âGood grief⊠In terms of money, Gina mightâve won but since Miltia actually found the gem she likes,I donât mind it.â
It appeared for this occasion, Gina-san had prepared an array of her best of the best and very special gemstones to something more relatively reasonably priced. However, Maricle-sama had only paid just enough to buy high quality gemstone, not to the extent of Gina-sanâs âbestâ gemstone. It seemed that the ratio of the gemstones Gina-san had prepared went like⊠10% best of the best⊠20% high quality⊠70% second-rate⊠and one third-rate gemstone.
In other words, if I had the aesthetic sense to choose a jewel, I couldâve chosen Gina-sanâs best gemstone out of the collections which gave a good deal for Maricle-sama and if I had chosen high quality gemstone, Maricle-sama would get a fair deal and⊠If I choose something on the lower side, Gina-san would be the one happily stuffing the excess money into her pocket.
And what a gemstone Iâve chosen! âŠ..A third-rate gemstoneâŠ. Which means I had chosen the only worst choice possibleâŠ
âMiltia, please do not fret. I still have 3 wins over 2 loses with her so Iâm still on the winning side.â
âFufu~ But because of this one bout, Iâm leading in terms of money, you know?â
It turned out my aesthetic sense was so bad that even though Maricle-sama still had 1 win in terms of quantity, he was now losing in terms of quality.