Chapter 117: A Gift Measured in Time

“I’ll be back.”

Jay neither particularly liked nor disliked lilacs.

Before manifesting, he realized the season was spring when he smelled the scent, but he didn’t seek them out intentionally.

Nor did he harbor any special sentiments about the fact that his scent was lilac.

Just as the seaside smells salty and one can smell wet earth anywhere after rain, he simply accepted the fact that his pheromone was a lilac scent.

However, since Philius was planting lilac trees because of him, Jay also came to harbor anticipation.

After Philius left the room, Jay also got up from the bed soon. It was quite an early rising compared to usual, but he didn’t feel like sleeping more.

He took off his pajamas and changed into a shirt and pants made of soft cotton. Judging by noble etiquette, it wasn’t an appropriate attire to meet guests. And nobles living in mansions were supposed to maintain attire ready to meet guests whenever they visited.

But there was no one in this mansion to rebuke his attire. This place is now his home, and there are no longer guests barging in unexpectedly without his or Philius’s permission.

Duchess Mare, who will ascend to the position of Queen in name and reality after the coronation soon, wasn’t in a position to send a servant suddenly and make unilateral demands like the former King. A significant part of the support for Duchess Mare was formed because Philius, the Commander-in-Chief who led the war in the New Continent to victory, supported her. Duchess Mare wasn’t incompetent enough to pretend not to know that fact.

Moreover, she is under the illusion that she became indebted to Philius regarding the establishment of the bank.

If the Queen is like that, the members of parliament, where 1/3 of the quorum is still empty, are in a position that goes without saying.

Saying it’s difficult attire to meet guests was also a problem of material being cotton instead of silk or wool, but design-wise, there was no problem at all. Rather, it was clothes made with quite some attention to silhouette. The tailor who took charge of making these clothes properly executed the demanding order that it shouldn’t hinder working movements while maintaining style.

Actually, even if he spent all day in pajamas, there was no one to point out Jay’s laziness. Still, dressing up naturally was because there was someone he still wanted to look good to.

And Jay knew that Philius liked this appearance of dressing up pretending not to dress up. To be precise, that he sweetly regarded Jay caring about how he looked to him.

Feeling the gaze staring at him intently, he feels embarrassed enough to want to scratch his eyebrows, but on the other hand, it was also true that he felt relief that his gaze still lingered on him.

Seeing that he couldn’t completely let go of anxiety even after imprinting, he must indeed be a tremendously greedy person.

Even in that sense, the work he is doing now was important. More than any work so far.

And there were just as many worries.

Even though the theme was clearly set.

Jay opened the door of the workshop, the room next to the bedroom, arriving after walking only a few steps. The things worked on the previous day were well organized and stored in a case with a locking device.

Although he puts effort into handling and storage due to the nature of works being gems and precious metals, he doesn’t organize this obsessively originally. Not to the extent where he couldn’t immediately recall what state of gems were placed how without unlocking and checking.

It wasn’t out of worry about theft or design theft. There were no employees in this mansion with circumstances urgent enough or thoughtless enough to sneak into the workshop located right next to the mansion owner’s bedroom, and even if someone intruded, it was a space where traces would inevitably be left.

So this was a result born of Jay’s shyness.

Because the person who should least know the progress of the current work is Philius.

Jay looked down quietly at the ring on his left ring finger. What was he thinking when making this ring?

Looking back, it’s a design revealing his desire blatantly.

The illusion as if the gem is floating in the air reveals the gem’s brilliance most beautifully while simultaneously giving a precariousness that it seems likely to fall any moment. But in reality, the gem is fixed very firmly.

What he is working on now is also as explicit as this ring.

He spread out the gems organized on the workbench again. Among melee diamonds of color almost identical to the blue diamond of the ring, red and purple 0.1-carat diamonds took their place.

The red one is for him, and the purple one will be for Philius.

The blood-red diamond intuitively transferred Philius’s eye color turning red when using pheromones.

And the purple one was chosen for the same reason Philius is planting lilacs in the garden now.

The red and purple diamonds will each be markers indicating 12 o’clock. A pair of watches with completely identical designs but only one diamond having a different color.

The watch embedded with the red diamond will fill his wrist, which has been empty since the first Westell limited edition, Blue Lake, was ruined by sudden manifestation.

Tap, tap.

Unknowingly since when, Jay was tapping the workbench with his finger. Only after hearing the sound of wood vibrating could he realize he moved according to the habit learned from Philius.

The movement tapping the workbench stopped, and Jay scratched his eyebrow with that finger. Because he felt embarrassed even though no one was watching.

The watch will form a pair with the ring on his hand.

Jay stopped the effect of the noise-canceling magic circle installed in the workshop. Clang, clang. The sound of digging still-hard ground entered through the window covered with thick curtains.

As soon as he looked down below the window, his gaze collided with Philius immediately. As if he had been paying attention to the workshop all along.

Even though it wasn’t a close distance, the smile appearing on his face was clearly visible, so Jay had no choice but to smile back while feeling shy.

The watch he is making was, in short, a wedding gift.

Just like the garden Philius is making now.

****

“I knew the price would rise more than previous years, but this is too much.”

Jay smiled bitterly looking down at the statement.

In the season when spring hasn’t come yet, I understand that the price of fresh flowers has to be expensive. Since only magic can overcome the season and make flowers bloom.

Moreover, a coronation ceremony is scheduled to be held this year.

Red roses didn’t have a large fluctuation range as they were planned to be covered by dismantling the Rose Garden, but as if in exchange, prices of all other flowers rose tremendously. Especially the price of white flowers to harmonize with red roses was enough to be expressed as terrifying.

“I apologize.”

Ian, who brought the statement, bowed his head. The very last line of the statement, the final expenditure amount, was surprising even to him who had become somewhat accustomed to the household affairs of this mansion, so he showed such a reaction.

“Don’t bow your head unnecessarily for something not your fault.”

But as soon as he uttered an apology, the master’s rebuke fell. It was quite a cold tone, and therefore Ian could be rather relieved.

Ian knew the fact that he was lucky. If he hadn’t caught the eye of the Duke of Westell, the owner of this mansion, by chance, he would have had to do unpaid labor in exchange for room and board at a back-alley pub for quite a long time. With a much higher probability, his body wouldn’t be intact somewhere already. Or maybe already buried in the ground. It was a life where early death was much closer than becoming a butler candidate for a ducal family.

Ian recalled the thin knife he still hides in the heel of his shoe.

He doesn’t remember when he first held a knife in his hand. That’s how early he had to be responsible for his own life.

“The fault lies with Phil. Acting like a person who doesn’t know what a budget is.”

Ian corrected his mind trying to wander into the past. The master’s grumbling voice sounded like speaking ill of an immature kid’s prank. Yet clear affection was pooled at the base.

Some people whispered that the master standing before him was the lucky one. That he once lived as a Beta and was a jewelry shop manager, of course, and even the fact that in the more distant past, he was a child working at a back-alley pub like Ian himself, there was no one in Noberten who didn’t know.

There were not a few people gossiping carelessly toward him who manifested as a dominant Omega only after passing adulthood and came to stand next to the Duke of Westell.

Ian frowned without realizing it. Remembering that even among those working in this mansion, there were those who ran their mouths wickedly.