Chapter 146. The Party (2)
Jurgen left the Townhouse and strolled through the shopping street.
Serena and Brigitte had each taken on an important role for the party — it was only right that Jurgen prepare a good gift to match, was it not?
What was more, he had spent more ti with Penelope than anyone else at Y&P Trading Company. A gift, at least, he thought he could pick out in no ti.
"Hmm……."
And the mont he realised that had been an arrogant miscalculation was after he had been wandering the Nortaris shopping street aimlessly. Co to think of it……
"I have never given a proper gift to a woman……."
He had absolutely no fra of reference. The won he had spent long periods of ti with, other than Penelope, were Isolde and Lily.
Looking at their respective reactions.
First, Isolde's case.
'A gift? What a bother. Too much trouble. Let's agree not to give each other anything.'
It had been sothing along those lines.
anwhile, Lily too.
'A gift? Please, there's no need. The ti I get to work alongside Hanbin is the greatest gift I could ask for.'
Likewise, nothing there.
"Hmmmm……."
Around the ti Jurgen was standing with his arms folded, looking as though he had bitten into sothing foul, he ran into Aiden, coming from the other side.
"Oh? Captain? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
This was a stretch of the shopping street that housed jewellery shops and dress shops. The sort of place that made n feel oddly self-conscious wandering alone.
Still, Jurgen was quite glad to see Aiden.
"Good timing. You were popular during your active service days, weren't you?"
"……Pardon?"
"You were always boasting whenever you had a drink, weren't you? Going on about dancing at balls with this lady and that lady."
"……Did I really do that?"
Aiden rolled his eyes around and dredged up mories he had stuffed away in the dustiest corner of his mind.
'Hahaha! I was a genuine heartthrob in civilian life, I tell you! Ladies were lining up just for a chance to dance with — lining up!'
'How to ask soone out? Ha…… I suppose I'll have to teach you step by step, from the beginning.'
'Love, you see. It's not sothing you can just hand over on demand. Yes, it's exactly like fishing, co to think of it.'
Hmm. He certainly had mories of that sort.
Though of course it had all been bluster. n in the military bragged about how popular they had been in civilian life — that was just the way of things.
"O-of course."
"Right, I had a perfectly clear mory of it, didn't I?"
"But…… what's this about, out of nowhere?"
Jurgen brightened up and explained the full story to Aiden.
"So…… you're all putting together a party for Lady Penelope who's been a bit down in the dumps, and the Captain is in charge of the gift — is that it?"
"Strictly speaking, everyone will prepare small personal gifts, but mine is the main one."
"Even so, why that role…… Why not just cook sothing."
"I didn't think it would be this difficult either……."
Aiden gave it so thought. Even if the tales of heroism he had spun during his Secret Burial Unit days were all lies, he figured he was still a step above Captain Hanbin in this departnt.
"Well, I suppose I can help."
And so Jurgen made his way around the shopping street with Aiden as his escort.
"How about this? Won like things that are big and sparkly, don't they?"
"Is that so?"
"Obviously!"
The first candidate was jewellery.
A diamond necklace laid on red velvet. A high-grade diamond with excellent cutting and a generous carat count.
The jeweller grinned broadly and rubbed his hands together.
"Oh my, gentlen, what a fine taste. This piece only just ca into our shop…… A genuine diamond from the mines of Marquis Ashford's Family, crafted at the first-rate workshop of……"
"Do you have a certificate of authenticity?"
"But of course!"
Whether the rchant spread out the certificate or not, Jurgen studied the diamond closely.
"Ah, you're not looking at the certificate?"
"No need. This is an Alchemy-made imitation."
"What?"
At the casually delivered remark, the jeweller's face went rigid.
"Wh-what kind of nonsense is this! Do you have any idea how many noble patrons frequent our shop!"
"I hope that is a lie, for your sake. If nobles file a class action suit for fraud, you'll be in serious trouble."
The jeweller raised his voice, but Jurgen clicked his tongue.
"Really? You can tell just by looking at it?"
"It's made with quite so precision, but the light refraction index is different. Here, look here. This is the refraction index of the real thing."
This was rchandise the jeweller only brought out when people who seed not to know better ca in. Watching Jurgen imdiately identify the genuine article among the counterfeit diamonds, the jeweller went pale.
"Shall I deal with him?"
Aiden slid a hand inside his coat.
Here he had stepped forward as the 'romantic expert on won's gifts', and they had nearly bought a fake. His dignity was in tatters.
"Deal with him how."
"I'm joking."
Aiden smoothly withdrew his hand.
"Do business honestly from now on."
"Yes, yes sir……! Thank you! I will absolutely ensure nothing like this ever happens again!"
Watching the jeweller break out in a cold sweat, Jurgen turned away without a backward glance.
"You're letting this go just like that?"
"What, were you actually planning to deal with him?"
"No but…… he's a fraudster, isn't he? You're just going to walk away and do nothing?"
Aiden followed after him with wide eyes. The Captain, who was a strict man of principle toward himself and others alike, was letting a swindler off this easily? Between this and the Order business earlier — had the man changed?
"What are you saying? Naturally I'll be filing a report with the rchant Association."
Ah, of course.
Satisfied, Aiden led him with great confidence to a dress shop carrying the most lavish gowns in Nortaris.
"If jewellery is a bit much, what about a dress? Do you know her asurents roughly?"
"Of course."
asuring a subject's physique by eye and committing it to mory was second nature to a trained operative. And what was more, Jurgen had once seen Penelope in a Bikini.
"Oh hoho! Welco, welco!"
"W-we'll browse on our own, thank you."
There was an inexplicably uncomfortable atmosphere about two n walking in alone. After struggling to peel off the aggressively attentive dressmaker, they stood before the rows of samples.
"Is this really the latest fashionable selection?"
"Absolutely! The most trendy designs in the Social Circles."
Sothing was rather off. Sky blue silk with an excessive quantity of pink ribbons attached. Dresses with cotton candy-like lace festooned around the collars and sleeves.
Jurgen imagined it.
If Penelope wore that……
'What's this? Did you actually think this would suit ? This fussy, childish thing?'
That would be her reaction. It might suit Serena, but it was entirely wrong for Penelope.
"……Let's leave it."
"Pardon?"
"I appreciate your expertise, but I'll manage from here on my own. Thank you for today."
Jurgen gave Aiden a pat on the shoulder and disappeared into the crowd before another word could be gotten in edgeways.
"Wait, Captain! Captaaain! Co back! The perfu shop is still next!"
An empty street.
"Hmm……."
Jurgen folded his arms. All references exhausted. His helper proved useless.
"Was choosing a gift always this difficult of a thing……."
"Th-then, what about this?"
Aiden ca hurtling back and made so suggestion to Jurgen.
"Hmm, sothing about it doesn't sit quite right."
"No, no. She'll definitely like it, I promise you. Just trust this once!"
Listening through, Jurgen thought there was so rit to it and agreed.
***
"Haaa……."
Penelope closed the Y&P Trading Company ledger and let out a deep sigh.
Cola, CCC, and now Royal Kitchen — all explosive successes. The figures written in the ledger were now breaking new records day after day.
The Northern nobles were clamouring for ribs as though possessed, and reservations were booked solid for three months. They were already giving thought to a second, third, and fourth location.
Unambiguous success. The kind of success that the Penelope of the past would have leapt for joy over.
But now……
"I feel miserable…… You're pathetic, Penelope."
The reason Penelope was feeling low was precisely as Serena had surmised.
Y&P Trading Company. It had been the new goal chosen by Penelope, who had been cast aside by her family — the very new reason for her existence.
She had run night and day to build this kingdom, and at last she had succeeded.
Yet now she had been confronted with Belheim's betrayal. The betrayal of a comrade she had trusted was deeply painful — but what had truly begun to unravel her was sothing else.
The cold, hard reality that even Y&P Trading Company, her newly found goal and nest, could not last forever.
She had known that yesterday's friend beca today's colleague, and that in this world there were only enemies and enemies of enemies — and yet……
"I'm exhausted."
Looking back, perhaps her spirit had been wearing away little by little from the very beginning. Perhaps it was descending upon her now, as Burnout, together with the collapse of the reason she had been averting her eyes from reality — the successful launch of Royal Kitchen.
Just then, the office door flew open with urgency.
"Penelope! This is terrible!"
It was Jurgen. His usual composure was nowhere to be seen, his expression severe.
Penelope's heart lurched. This was the first ti she had ever seen Jurgen, of all people, in such a fluster.
And moreover — was not the core of Jurgen none other than Hanbin himself? Going by what she had squeezed out of Aiden, it was Hanbin who had distinguished himself greatly in the annihilation of the Order's Northern branch.
If he was this rattled……
"What? What! What! What! What! Is there a war?!"
"A war……? That's right! There is a war!"
Ah, so the long era of peace had finally co to an end. The Empire must have surely crossed Britannia's border and launched a preemptive strike at last.
Penelope leapt from her seat and hurried after Jurgen.
"What do you think about canned goods?"
"Hmm?"
"We provide Cola as supplies too. The bottles break too easily, so. Setting up a new factory on-site, sothing like that."
Penelope was already every bit a proper CEO. The plans springing to mind the mont she heard the word war.
Thinking over Britannia's leading joint-stock companies, half of them had been born in the age of war. Military supply contracts were an unimaginable gold mine in precisely that sense.
Penelope quickened her pace to keep up with Jurgen. The streets seed noisier than usual sohow.
"Where are we going right now?"
"The Townhouse."
Probably to hold a strategic eting there. But wait a mont.
If war had broken out, wouldn't Jurgen be leaving? Try as she might, she could not imagine him lingering over Y&P Trading Company when affairs of national importance were at stake.
And there were so odd things too.
Why would they suddenly need to go to the Townhouse?
Mulling over this and that, she opened the door of the Townhouse.
"Ahhhh! What is all this!"
'Flash!!!' was the only word befitting the trendous burst of light that stabbed at Penelope's eyes.
— Bang! Bang! Kaboom!
"Happy birthday, Lady Penelope."
"Happy birthday, Lady Penelope!!"
"Happy birthday, Penelope!"
From the ceiling, brilliant multicoloured Confetti rained down like a shower.
The room was filled with Serena's rainbow-coloured lights and a loud, cheerful birthday song. And at the centre of it all, Brigitte was beaming as she held up the towering three-tiered Strawberry Cake she had made herself.
"……Huh?"
Penelope stood there, utterly dumbstruck.
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