TMM 36

“…That’s quite a lot. You could sell these for a good price.”

When Alicia said so, clearly flustered, Samuel laughed.

“Are you sure you’re a marquess’s daughter? Talking about money first thing?”

“I can’t accept them for free.”

“Hm? Of course they’re not free.”

“…What?”

He had called them souvenirs, after all.

“I want you to make amulets for me.”

Forgetting, for a moment, that Samuel was a sly one, Alicia fell right into his trap and felt foolish for it.

Even so, she had no intention of giving up such fine-quality magic stones now. She dearly wanted to try making tools with them.

Alicia hesitated.

“How about ten for me? The rest are yours. They were meant as a gift anyway, so use them as you like. By the way, how much did you sell your amulet for at Lumière’s shop?”

She considered playing dumb, but realized it would be pointless. For some reason, Samuel seemed able to read her expressions all too easily.

“One hundred and twenty gold.”

“Mm. I paid a thousand for the one I bought, so that shop’s pretty fair. Then how about five hundred gold as your fee?”

Alicia stared at him in disbelief.

“Lord Samuel, I can’t accept that.”

“Then a thousand?”

“That’s not the issue. These stones were given to me by you. I’ll gratefully use them for practice and give you the finished amulets.”

Samuel blinked.

“Then you won’t make any profit at all.”

“Of course not! Why would I make money off magic stones you risked your life to gather, and charge you for it? I’d be angry, you know.”

“You already look angry. I… I’m sorry.”

He apologized with an unusually sincere expression.

It was irritating, but Alicia supposed that his sense of what was normal simply differed from hers.

Still, the more she spoke with him, the less he felt like a typical son of a ducal house.

“I’m sorry as well. It will probably take about a week to make each one.”

“Eh? You’re being that proper? Don’t worry, there’s no deadline.”

Just then, a voice called out from behind them.

“Sister, what’s going on? Are you arguing with Sam?”

Mariabelle’s voice, heard for the first time in weeks, was so sweet it almost made Alicia feel ill.

No one in the magic department spoke like that, which only made it stand out more.

“We’re not arguing. And my name is Samuel, not Sam.”

Samuel smiled as he said it, and Alicia felt a jolt of surprise.

(Is he… forcing that smile?)

It was different from his usual expression, as though a thin veil had been placed over his face.

“Alicia, it’s been a while.”

Joshua was the one who spoke.

Her heart gave an unpleasant thump.

“Yes. It has been some time, Your Highness.”

Joshua had brought along two classmates besides Mariabelle.

While Alicia had avoided the cafeteria, the distance between Joshua and Mariabelle seemed to have shrunk even further.

“Why don’t we eat together in the cafeteria tomorrow? You’ve been dining in that shabby magic building, haven’t you?”

“Joshua, that’s rude. Calling it shabby is unfair to my sister,” Mariabelle said, sounding mildly offended.

Watching the exchange, Alicia emptied her mind.

(This isn’t an invitation. It’s an order. I’ll have to leave class early. And ‘shabby’? It’s very comfortable, actually.)

She felt deeply frustrated.

Even a short meal of thirty minutes felt endless when spent with them.

(It’s strange. The me in the mirror loved His Highness so desperately. Yet ever since entering the magic department, my feelings keep drifting away. Or did it start the moment I looked into that mirror?)

As Alicia sank into thought, Mariabelle’s sharp eyes caught sight of the leather pouch in Alicia’s hand.

“Sister, what’s that pouch? Did Sam give you something?”

At those words, the atmosphere froze.

To her own surprise, Alicia’s mouth moved on its own.

“No. It’s for a class assignment.”

It was her first time lying on the spot, and her heart pounded loudly in her chest.

“Oh? May I see it? I don’t really understand what the magic department does. There are so many strange people there, and I rarely get to talk to them.”

She did not want to let it be taken, but she could not refuse in front of everyone.

Alicia opened the pouch.

Mariabelle let out a disappointed sound.

“Oh. Just worthless stones that aren’t even jewels. What would you use these for?”

Alicia was genuinely surprised. Mariabelle clearly could not tell the value of magic stones at all.

(Isn’t that odd? You can’t enter this academy without magic power. She’s said to use holy magic, but is her mana that weak?)

Alicia closed the pouch, thinking that would end it. But Mariabelle spoke again.

“Oh, right! Sister, look at this!”

She held out her arm.

A bracelet made of colorful glass beads shimmered in the light. It suited Mariabelle’s healthy complexion beautifully.

“How lovely, Mariabelle,” Alicia said with a smile.

Mariabelle beamed.

“This is a gift from Sam! And the others received brooches from him. So I thought maybe you’d received something too.”