Chapter 58: A Reunion no one was meant to see.

I have imagined the moment of welcoming the Duke. Receiving the news of his return, and going to the dock to meet him together with Housekeeper Anna and Butler Philip who are still guarding the mansion.

Not in a messy state like when I sent him off, but with hair and clothes neat, imagining watching the crowds cheering for him after hearing the news of victory. I had thought I might see far more people than when he left, shouting and applauding sincerely for the confirmed victory, not a vague wish.

I never imagined meeting him in my basement workshop without anyone knowing, like now. Not even once.

No, it wasn’t that no one knew.

“Did Nathan open the door for you?”

There was a reason the guy hesitated today. Nathan must have received a hint from Philip in advance.

“…I made, a mistake.”

Did my voice come out as cold as I wanted? The Duke’s expression, perfect like a picture, faltered.

“I’m sorry.”

A low voice like a sigh rang clearly as if whispering next to my ear. Just like in the dream.

“I acted according to my greed. …Honestly, because I wanted to surprise you.”

Was I his greed? Did he want to see my raw reaction, not a prepared appearance knowing the news?

What we wanted from each other was too different.

It felt like something was caught in my throat. I couldn’t look straight into his eyes. Afraid I would be caught realizing the identity of my feelings, yet still fearing to stand by his side.

Wandering with lost gaze, what I found was the yellow diamond placed solely on the workbench. With contamination cleanly removed, scattering light boastfully even in low illumination. To the point where it was colorless that I had completely forgotten it.

A large hand was placed next to the yellow diamond where my gaze was fixed. It looked exactly like what I saw in the dream. Long fingers without protruding knuckles, neatly trimmed nails. At a glance, it seemed he had never done rough work, but calluses were embedded here and there on the inside of the palm and fingertips. Even excluding the right middle finger bent from much paperwork.

“This, was it perhaps contaminated originally?”

At the words pointing to the diamond, my head lifted automatically. With all contamination gone, it now just looked like something polished with an old method. The traces of the past the Duke wanted to hide from me had disappeared as if they never existed from the start. I couldn’t help but be surprised.

Our gazes met immediately. The Duke was looking at me. His eyes curved subtly as if troubled.

“Did you, know?”

The moment I spoke, I could remember. Encountering the young Duke’s red eyes in the fantasy shown by the contamination. It means the Duke at that time was looking at the gem, the medium of magic, not the mage who owned the gem.

“I remember seeing it.”

It was a voice soft enough to mistake for mishearing.

“Other mages brought rubies or transparent diamonds, but it was strange that he alone held a yellow gem. He was ashamed of his gem. Unlike other mages who chose one suitable for their attribute among several gems, it seemed to be the only gem he had.”

The boy who blocked the guy’s breath so he couldn’t speak anymore the moment the King’s spy leaked the past, who suffered covering his face, had now become a young man who could talk about those days in a calm voice.

“It wasn’t this clean back then. It was already eroded because he tried to handle all magic with a single gem. Although his knowledge of magic itself was the best among mages in the lab, his internal mana amount was the smallest. Because he could barely use magic relying on a large gem, even I at the time could feel other mages disapproving. Even though he was the one designing and coordinating the experiments.”

I didn’t ask if he was okay. Even if he became able to look back, even if he stopped blaming himself, that experience couldn’t become okay. So I couldn’t ask a question forcing the answer ‘I’m okay.’

However, I tried to guess a little what the war that changed him was like. As Han Jay, and as ‘me,’ what I knew about war was only indirect and fragmentary knowledge. War was something deemed only terrible even with that little knowledge.

“…I am glad you returned safely.”

Eventually, all I could bring out was the word ‘glad.’

Even though it was a word brought out without context after swallowing words I shouldn’t say, the Duke answered with a comfortable face.

“Because you told me to survive. By any means necessary. So I could make an effort. To return safely.”

I shut my mouth again. I couldn’t say thank you for doing as I said.

“Thank you. For letting me return.”

The words I swallowed again flowed from his mouth. Yet the weight of the words I swallowed didn’t lighten. Rather, it left a dull pain as if embedded in my heart.

However, this time I couldn’t avoid his eyes. I couldn’t. Because his eyes looking at me couldn’t hide the trembling.

The wavering blue eyes were more beautiful than gems.

“Um, Manager.”

When I thought about sketching while the shop was quiet, Nathan called me cautiously.

“Why?”

Answering, I just picked up the pen. Although there was a clear image in my head, there were cases where it became awkward when imagination turned into reality. I postponed other requests to avoid being disturbed, but that didn’t mean I had ample time.

No, to confess the truth, it was just work I wanted to do.

“Excuse me, are you angry with me?”

“What?”

If I had slipped and drawn a wrong line due to the absurd remark, I might have gotten angry. Since I intended to transfer the image in my head to the plane without error and then modify it.

“I apologize.”

Looking up, Nathan was bowing deeply and apologizing. I could more than guess why the guy was whining like a dog that caused an accident.

“I’m not angry.”

Seeing him apologize for handing over the key while I remained in the shop, I just thought he wasn’t fully tainted by corporate life yet. Because the person who told him to hand over that key must have been Philip, or maybe the Duke himself. And Nathan knew Philip was the Duke’s butler. In this Pistoga where everyone does business with at least one backer, he also knew the fact that this jewelry shop’s backer was the Duke.

In short, the real owner with 100% share asked the clerk for the key. Nathan couldn’t have refused. There was no reason to refuse either. If it were the Duke, he surely would have given generous compensation too.

“Why, aren’t you angry?”

I just didn’t get angry because there was no reason to be angry at the guy, but Nathan seemed unconvinced.

“Why should I be angry?”

The guy’s expression changing according to my answer was clearly revealing disappointment. Like Ian whom I taught before. It was the same emotion shown when he asked if there was a need to study after knowing the fact that he was my bodyguard.

That I am not disappointed or angry is because I expected nothing from them.

Conversely, Ian or Nathan must have expected something from me.

A bitter smile formed inwardly.

“I will work, harder from now on.”

Nathan, drooping like a dog in the rain, bowed abruptly and walked almost running to a corner. The guy who fetched cleaning tools wiped the display stands, which had no fingerprints, until they squeaked.

Seeing him start wet cleaning the show window, I picked up the pen again. Trying to put the pen where the line broke, I stopped once again.

Looking up from the paper, I saw Nathan meeting and greeting a clerk from a neighboring shop outside. Even while conversing, he was moving his arm to wipe the window. I exhaled lightly and bowed my head again.

Maybe customers were sparse today, or my concentration was decent; I could finish the sketch and modify it to complete the design before closing the shop. Actually, there wasn’t much to change from the image I thought of. The image was firmly set from the beginning.

The main stone is a Radiant cut, which becomes a rectangular shape with cut corners when viewed from above. A cut developed only in the late 20th century on Earth, so naturally a cutting method never seen before here.

I plan to use twelve 1-carat round cut diamonds, ten 1.5-carat Marquise cut diamonds, and one 3-carat pear cut diamond as auxiliary stones to entangle around the main stone like vines. I will also use melee diamonds unsparingly.

The overall shape is an inverted pentagon shape, with the pear diamond becoming the vertex at the bottom.

“H-hello!”

Just as I completed the design and was about to close the notebook, Nathan greeted someone with a very tense voice.

In the posture trying to close the notebook, I stopped as if frozen. Nathan’s voice, completely different from when dealing with usual customers, told me who the visitor was.

Clang—. The bell on the closing door seemed to make a sharp sound.

I repeated deep breaths counting numbers inwardly.

One, two, …nine, ten.

The numbers I counted were also the number of steps the visitor took.

The steps stopped about two paces away from me.

Following the meeting last night, I knew I would meet him soon. But I didn’t know the parting at dawn would return as a meeting in the evening.

Light created by the sunset entered through the wide window and dyed the floor.

Red light shimmered at his feet. Just like being submerged in water. As I was in the dream last night. Just as I couldn’t move until my name was called, he also stood stopped in place.

The person who entered the shop wasn’t a customer but the owner of this jewelry shop.

And also the owner of the gem to be created with the design I just completed.

I slowly raised my head.

Blue eyes turned to me.