Chapter 04
The entire place fell silent.
I looked at the pair of earrings lying on the floor, then turned my gaze back to the siblings, Lumiella and Sergio.
Lumiella covered her mouth in shock and muttered,
“Why are those… coming out of the Saintess’s pocket…?”
Oh, so this time I was being accused of theft?
I barely managed to suppress the urge to laugh and looked at Sergio.
He looked quite surprised as well.
Though I was sure that expression would soon change into one of suspicion toward me.
Fortunately, the people around us still looked confused, as though they couldn’t understand why the earrings had fallen from my pocket.
But that wouldn’t last long.
“Saintess…”
Lumiella looked at me in shock.
Her gaze had already assumed that I had stolen them.
“Surely…”
If this were the original Yustitia, she probably would have reacted like this:
“W-Why are these here…? I didn’t steal them, Lady Cassini.”
That was probably exactly what Lumiella was hoping for.
“The Saintess did personally wipe Lady Cassini’s dress when it got dirty earlier.”
“Could she have stolen the earrings while doing that? Why? They aren’t even particularly expensive.”
As I listened to the people’s whispers, I calmly picked up the pearl earrings and looked at Lumiella.
She looked like she was about to cry.
If she wanted to cry that badly…
“I’m sorry, Lady Cassini.”
Then I would just have to make her really cry.
Everyone looked at me in shock at my unexpected apology.
Lumiella also looked flustered, as though this wasn’t what she had expected.
“I put you in a difficult position. I was planning to quietly return these to you after the bazaar ended.”
“Why…?”
“I would never force you to donate.”
I placed the earrings in Lumiella’s hand and spoke kindly.
“Even if you’ve changed your mind about donating them, that’s perfectly fine. Sharing what you own with others isn’t an easy thing to do.”
“…What?”
“Of course, I don’t intend to deny the sincerity you showed when you gave these earrings to me earlier. You were sincere at the time, after all.”
Lumiella was momentarily speechless at my incomprehensible words, but someone quickly understood what I meant.
“Oh my, it seems Lady Cassini gave the earrings to the Saintess earlier.”
“Then are you saying Lady Cassini staged all of this?”
“Everyone, that’s not the case.”
I stepped into the middle of the whispering crowd and defended Lumiella.
“Please don’t disparage Lady Cassini’s sincerity by calling it a staged act. If Lady Cassini truly had no intention of donating those earrings, why would she have brought them to this bazaar in the first place?”
Lumiella met my eyes and spoke in a bewildered voice.
“Saintess, what are you talking about…?”
“So please, everyone, I ask that you be generous and overlook what you just witnessed.”
I quickly brought the situation to an end, then hugged Lumiella tightly.
I could feel her startled body stiffen.
‘That’s right. You just became the person who made a huge fuss because she changed her mind after saying she would donate something.’
At that moment, the status window appeared before my eyes.
[Lies Gauge increased by 0.5%.]
[Current Gauge: 1%.]
[Today’s limit has been reached.]
As expected, life was all about one big move.
In the end, Lumiella donated the pearl earrings to the bazaar after all, but people believed she had only done so reluctantly because she didn’t want to lose face any further.
“Still, even if she is the ‘real one,’ she must have gone through all sorts of hardships during the seven years she was away from home.”
“It must still be difficult for her to give away her belongings to others. I’m sure she’ll gradually get used to it.”
People made sense of what had happened by talking like this.
Even if Lumiella tried to explain that it wasn’t true, no one would believe her.
I had already gotten ahead of her and controlled the situation.
Perhaps Lumiella knew that as well, because she didn’t bother trying very hard to explain herself.
She really was no ordinary clever woman.
“More importantly, I really have to hand these over to someone else…”
Before the second half of the bazaar began, I looked at the pearl earrings with regret in the waiting room.
They had nothing to do with me originally, but perhaps because I had inherited Yustitia’s memories intact, they felt precious to me too.
“The Duke is really being too cruel! I remember that these were the earrings the Saintess used to wear all the time. There’s no way he didn’t know that.”
“Well, there was no reason to risk upsetting his newly found biological sister by saying something like that.”
I answered cynically, and Nora looked even more hurt than I did.
Though I was reluctant, there was nothing I could do.
I put the earrings away and went outside.
The second half of the bazaar began.
With a bright smile, I took the pearl earrings out of the basket.
“The first auction item of the second half is a pair of pearl earrings generously donated by Lady Cassini.”
Of course, I didn’t forget to embarrass Lumiella first.
I could see her forcing a smile with an awkward expression.
As for Sergio beside her, his face was stiff enough to speak for itself.
“They have adorable pink ribbons on top, so I think they would look absolutely lovely on a young lady.”
I deliberately smiled even more brightly at them and continued.
“We’ll start the bidding at 1,000 cal.”
Someone immediately raised their hand.
It was Sergio.
It was unexpected, but I decided not to think too much about it.
“1,500 cal.”
No one else raised their hand.
The price had already risen, and perhaps everyone was trying to give Sergio the opportunity to buy them for Lumiella so she wouldn’t lose any more face.
‘I would have preferred someone else to win them.’
Even if Sergio won them, they would eventually end up back in Lumiella’s hands.
And if that happened, Lumiella might throw away or destroy the earrings that had wounded her pride in a fit of anger.
‘But it would look too suspicious if I bid for them myself.’
I had no choice but to prepare to announce the winner.
But at that exact moment, someone raised their hand.
“2,000 cal.”
It was someone wearing a black robe pulled deeply over their head.
Judging by their enormous height and build, they were a man.
‘How did he even get in here dressed like that?’
I was curious, but the important thing was that I now had a chance to prevent these earrings from falling into Sergio’s hands.
I asked in a slightly excited voice,
“2,000 cal. Anyone willing to bid higher?”
At my words, Sergio turned around and searched for the man who had raised his hand.
Then he frowned and raised his hand again.
“2,500 cal.”
“3,000 cal.”
The man in the black robe immediately raised his hand in response.
Two enormous men fiercely competed over a pair of children’s pearl earrings.
The people watched the two of them with interest.
“Who is that person? Why are they so completely covered up? Are they even a noble?”
“If they weren’t, how would they have gotten in here?”
Exactly.
If someone wanted to conceal their identity that badly, wouldn’t they normally just avoid attending an event like this altogether?
I listened in on the conversations around me while trying to keep track of the rapidly increasing bids.
“6,000 cal.”
The auction price had risen to six times the starting price when—
Lumiella grabbed Sergio’s arm as he was about to raise his hand.
“I’m fine, Brother.”
“Lumi, but…”
“It would be ridiculous for me to get those back anyway.”
Then she should have stopped Sergio from bidding in the first place.
I swallowed my disbelief and kept it to myself.
“7,000 cal. Sold!”
The crowd applauded and looked at the man in the black robe with curious eyes.
But the man never raised his head even once.
He simply accepted the winning bid slip and calmly disappeared from the venue.
