Jewelry Beyond This World
The man with a bulging belly and a double chin let out a heavy sigh the moment he saw the lord of Grace. He shook his head as though the very sight of her troubled him. Every time he moved, the gaudy ornaments dangling from his clothes clinked and rattled together.
“My lord, I already gave you an excellent price on that pearl necklace last time. Any other shop would have charged you double. I only discounted it because I know the situation here so well.”
Each word dripped with irritation, making it painfully clear how much he hated coming to this place.
Listening to him spout off without so much as a greeting, Chloe felt a surge of annoyance rise in her chest.
The old Chloe would never have let her true feelings show on her face. But people were creatures of adaptation, and she was adjusting to her new reality with almost animal instinct.
“What was your name again?”
Chloe tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes, pretending she couldn’t recall.
Her languid tone carried an unmistakable note of arrogance.
“Pardon?”
The jeweler stared at her in open bewilderment. The Grace lord had never behaved this way before. His expression practically screamed Has she lost her mind?
Chloe paid it no attention. With the relaxed air of a Roman emperor, she asked again, short and imperious.
“Your name.”
She was getting rather good at acting haughty.
He twitched one corner of his mouth in disbelief, then answered in a bored drawl.
“Gold Rich.”
“Pfft!”
It was the most perfect name imaginable for a jeweler.
Chloe didn’t even bother hiding her laughter. She broke into giggles and asked, “Is that your real name?”
It sounded like an alias he’d invented for the jewelry business.
“Our family has run a jewelry shop for generations. You already know that, so why the surprise? Yes, it’s my real name. I doubt you called a busy man all the way out here just to discuss my name. What do you want? It’s not as if the lord of Grace would be buying jewelry. Don’t tell me you’re trying to sell back the pearl necklace I sold you last time? I can’t possibly give you full value for something that’s already been worn. I’ll offer half of what I sold it for. Nothing more.”
Before Chloe could get a word in, Gold Rich had already delivered the introduction, the main point, and the conclusion. He waved his thick hands and shook his head. The gold bracelet clamped around his meaty wrist flashed brilliantly, and his slime-like chin wobbled with every motion.
He was so repulsive that Chloe genuinely wanted to reach out and yank on that sagging flesh.
“I am planning to sell something, but it won’t be that cheap pearl necklace you palmed off on me.”
“C-cheap?!”
Gold Rich’s sallow face flushed crimson.
He took immense pride in the jewels he sold. While he may have overcharged the Grace lord slightly, his goods were never cheap. The insult clearly stung.
It was fascinating, really, how pleasant she felt while watching someone else turn red with rage.
Chloe waved her hand dismissively, barely suppressing another laugh, as if the whole thing were trivial.
Gold Rich’s face grew even redder, the color of watermelon flesh.
“Be quiet and look at this necklace. How much will you give me?”
Chloe set a necklace adorned with a large ruby on the table and studied his reaction.
Gold Rich had been staring at her with the expression of someone expecting another piece of junk. The moment his eyes landed on the ruby necklace, they bulged so wide they looked ready to pop out of his skull.
“Th-this is…!”
It must have been the exquisite craftsmanship—something impossible to find in this world. The technological gap was clearly enormous.
Judging from the pearl necklace he had once sold the Grace lord, Chloe had already suspected that jewelry-making techniques here were underdeveloped. But Gold Rich’s reaction—jumping as if struck by lightning—showed the difference was far greater than she had imagined.
Chloe smirked and placed a sapphire necklace, a diamond necklace, and a gold bracelet on the table one after another.
She hadn’t noticed while frantically sweeping them into her Inventory, but now that they were out, she realized Borimdang held far more valuable pieces than she’d expected. Small or not, a goldsmith’s shop was still a goldsmith’s shop.
“I have quite a few more like these. Well? Will you buy them?”
Chloe crossed her legs lazily, watching the jeweler stand there with his mouth hanging open. Her posture was even more slouched than before.
“Wh-what… whose craftsmanship is this?”
Gold Rich’s voice trembled with awe. His eyes shone with reverence.
The arrogant attitude he had displayed earlier had vanished without a trace. Staring at the necklaces made with techniques too intricate for this world to even dream of, his eyes actually grew misty with tears.
At the very least, it was clear he was genuinely passionate about jewelry.
He likes them?
Chloe straightened up, brushed off her sleeves with a couple of sharp taps, and answered as if it were nothing important.
“I have a private route. Naturally, I can’t reveal it.”
“Th-then… does that mean Your Lordship will continue to trade these items exclusively?”
“That’s right. Only me. It’s a secret transaction that no one else can do—only I can.”
“This isn’t the work of humans!”
Gold Rich, having drawn his own wild conclusions, spoke in a dreamy, enlightened voice.
Did that mean non-human beings lived here as well?
Chloe had plenty of questions, but she simply offered a mysterious smile, heightening the intrigue. This was the perfect moment to drive up the price.
Honestly, it wasn’t even a lie. The pieces weren’t one hundred percent handmade, so they truly weren’t solely the work of human hands.
I haven’t lied once.
Chloe repeated the thought to herself as she watched Gold Rich.
“So. Will you buy them or not?”
“O-of course we’ll buy them! How much would you like? I’ll offer you the most generous price possible!”
Gold Rich stepped much closer, his face earnest, answering with frantic speed.
His hurried manner—as though afraid someone might snatch the deal from him—only improved Chloe’s mood further.
“You have a discerning eye.”
She nodded with an outward smile of perfect composure, but inside she was sweating.
She had no idea what the currency was worth here, let alone how much these jewels should actually cost.
After racking her brain, Chloe called out in a solemn voice to the butler who had retreated earlier. If anyone understood money, it was him.
“You called, my lord?”
Scrooge entered with clear displeasure written across his face.
He had heard she intended to sell jewelry, but he hadn’t believed it. The impoverished Grace Castle possessed no jewels worthy of a greedy man like Gold Rich, and they certainly had no money to buy any from him.
Scrooge had walked into the reception room with a sour expression, but the moment he saw the jewels on the table his face crumpled. His already wrinkled features twisted so severely he looked like a shriveled chrysalis.
Scrooge had resolved not to open the vault no matter how much the foolish lord demanded. Even if it meant being thrown out of the castle, so be it. This was his final act of loyalty to the late marquis.
With his decision made, the butler’s hunched shoulders straightened with resolve.
“I plan to sell these to Gold Rich.”
“Absolutely not… Pardon?”
The answer he had prepared in advance flew out first. Scrooge whipped his head toward Chloe and blinked his wrinkled eyes rapidly.
“I said I’m selling these to Gold Rich.”
Only then did the meaning of the lord’s words sink in. Scrooge’s rigid expression shattered in an instant.
Chloe, focused on Gold Rich, missed the butler’s sudden change of face. She simply beckoned him closer.
Still doubting his own ears, Scrooge approached hesitantly.
When he drew near, the young lord gestured for him to come even closer.
It seemed she wanted him to lean in. Scrooge glanced at Gold Rich—who was practically drooling over the jewels—then slowly bent toward Chloe.
He still had no idea what was happening.
“You understand these transactions better than I do, so stay beside me. If he tries to lowball the price, stop the deal immediately. Understood?”
“Pardon? Ah… Yes.”
Even as he answered in a daze, Scrooge was dying of curiosity about where such expensive items had come from. But with the lord not alone, he couldn’t ask. His heart pounded with worry that she might have stolen them. Still, he couldn’t show any sign of it in front of the merchant, so he nodded slowly, feigning calm.
Aigoo, Marquis. What am I supposed to do about this?
Unaware of the butler’s internal wailing, Chloe smiled in satisfaction.
Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.
Meanwhile, Gold Rich finished calculating the prices. His voice trembled, yet remained careful.
“Twenty gold for the ruby necklace, ten gold for the pearl necklace, forty gold for the diamond necklace, and ten gold for the gold bracelet.”
“Eighty gold?”
“You’ve already finished the sum?”
Both Scrooge and Gold Rich jumped in shock as Chloe instantly stated the total the moment the values left the merchant’s mouth.