books44 Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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 time with Penelope than anyone else at Y&P Trading Company. A gift, at least, he thought he could pick out in no time.
"Hmm……."
And the moment he realised that had been an arrogant miscalculation was after he had been wandering the Nortaris shopping street aimlessly. Come to think of it……
"I have never given a proper gift to a woman……."
He had absolutely no frame of reference. The women he had spent long periods of time 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 something along those lines.
Meanwhile, Lily too.
'A gift? Please, there's no need. The time I get to work alongside Hanbin is the greatest gift I could ask for.'
Likewise, nothing there.
"Hmmmm……."
Around the time Jurgen was standing with his arms folded, looking as though he had bitten into something 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 men 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 memories 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 me — lining up!'
'How to ask someone out? Ha…… I suppose I'll have to teach you step by step, from the beginning.'
'Love, you see. It's not something you can just hand over on demand. Yes, it's exactly like fishing, come to think of it.'
Hmm. He certainly had memories of that sort.
Though of course it had all been bluster. Men 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 memory 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 something."
"I didn't think it would be this difficult either……."
Aiden gave it some 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 department.
"Well, I suppose I can help."
And so Jurgen made his way around the shopping street with Aiden as his escort.
"How about this? Women 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, gentlemen, what a fine taste. This piece only just came 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 merchant 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 some precision, but the light refraction index is different. Here, look here. This is the refraction index of the real thing."
This was merchandise the jeweller only brought out when people who seemed not to know better came in. Watching Jurgen immediately 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 women'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 Merchant 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 measurements roughly?"
"Of course."
Measuring a subject's physique by eye and committing it to memory was second nature to a trained operative. And what was more, Jurgen had once seen Penelope in a Bikini.
"Oh hoho! Welcome, welcome!"
"W-we'll browse on our own, thank you."
There was an inexplicably uncomfortable atmosphere about two men 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."
Something 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 me? 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! Come back! The perfume 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 came hurtling back and made some suggestion to Jurgen.
"Hmm, something about it doesn't sit quite right."
"No, no. She'll definitely like it, I promise you. Just trust me this once!"
Listening through, Jurgen thought there was some merit 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 something 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 became 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 time 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 come 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, something like that."
Penelope was already every bit a proper CEO. The plans springing to mind the moment 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 seemed noisier than usual somehow.
"Where are we going right now?"
"The Townhouse."
Probably to hold a strategic meeting there. But wait a moment.
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 some 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 tremendous 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.