PVMC 20

Chapter 20

“Alright, please wait just a moment!”

The woman who had taken the blueprint I gave her, clutching it tightly with both hands, went back into the shop.

At a glance, she looked absolutely delighted at the thought of getting her hands on some money.

“So, what are you planning to do? With that?”

Matthias, who had been watching my actions, asked in a curious voice.

I shrugged once.

“I’m going to make a mousetrap.”

“…A trap?”

“Yeah. I’m going to make him swallow it whole.”

What Xavier was after right now were the remaining heirlooms of the Countess.

‘He’s probably planning to monopolize them.’

Then he’d sell everything off himself, stuff his pockets full, and start hounding me to hurry up and pay back my debt.

“So I’m thinking of making one hell of an art piece.”

Did he really think he was the only one who could use his head like that?

A fake.

The method I chose to make Xavier swallow the bait was simple.

‘Make fake heirlooms.’

But they couldn’t be made sloppily.

He was someone who prowled the underworld, so he’d definitely seen all kinds of gemstones.

The reason he coveted the heirlooms was probably because he judged the jewels to be worth a considerable amount.

So they had to be as similar as possible. They couldn’t be completely identical, but at least the overall feel had to match.

“These are all the gemstones I have!”

The woman who introduced herself as Selina brought out several more jewelry boxes.

Even among imitation stones, their colors and sizes inevitably varied.

Of course, with precise cutting, those differences could be reduced a lot—but the inherent color of a gemstone itself couldn’t be changed.

So if you wanted to make a perfect fake, you had to choose stones with colors as close as possible.

“You came to the right shop. It’s rare to find a dealer as knowledgeable about gemstones and as meticulous with their work as I am.”

“Hm. Is that so?”

“Yes! I don’t know how you heard about us, but you really found the right place!”

Selina clapped her hands and beamed. I smiled back lightly and looked down at the jewelry boxes spread across the table.

‘I really did come to the right place.’

In the original story, Selina was a fairly significant supporting character.

Though not in a good way.

The protagonist tried to gift a necklace to a member of the imperial family, but Frombel hired this woman to make a fake, resulting in a massive humiliation for the protagonist.

In other words, she played the role of giving the protagonist a trial.

That also meant she was one of the foremost artisans when it came to making counterfeits.

She could even fool the eyes of most appraisers.

At this level, even Xavier wouldn’t notice.

“By the way, the design is really pretty. Are you going to wear it yourself? It would look absolutely gorgeous on you!”

“Is this all the gemstones you have?”

“I scraped together everything from the shop!”

“Really?”

I examined the gemstones she’d handed me once more. Still, they all felt just a bit lacking compared to what I was looking for.

‘Feels like there should be more.’

They say people always hide the best stuff in the back, don’t they? Even in past meetings with business partners, they only showed the best goods after dragging things out.

And this was the back alleys, no less. I didn’t believe for a second that people like this would show all their cards from the start.

So what choice did I have?

“I’m disappointed.”

Time to scrape a little harder.

“Pardon?”

Selina looked genuinely startled by my words.

I pulled out a small pouch from inside my clothes. Clink, clink. Sensing the aura of capital, Selina’s eyes lit up.

I placed the heavy pouch down in front of me, deliberately in her view.

“I was planning to pay the down payment first if there was a gemstone I liked.”

“……”

“Oh, and here, the down payment is separate from the advance. It’s just free money.”

In other words, I was saying I’d hand her cash for nothing.

“But if this is all you’ve got… I guess I’ll have to look elsewhere.”

“W-wait.”

“It’s a shame, but what can you do? It’s not the shop owner’s fault. It’s just that you don’t have the gemstone I’m looking for…”

“There’s more!”

Selina shouted, cutting me off. I pretended not to notice and picked the money pouch back up.

“But you just said there wasn’t—”

“I said I scraped the shop clean. I didn’t say I scraped my room too, did I?”

Wow. She really was just as thick-skinned as I was.

‘Business really isn’t easy.’

Selina, who had apparently expanded her “territory” all the way to her bedroom, gathered up all the jewelry boxes she’d brought out so far.

“P-please don’t go anywhere, just wait a moment!”

Her eyes stayed glued to the money pouch until the very moment she disappeared inside, her feet moving in a hurry.

Taking advantage of her absence, I whispered to Matthias.

“You shouldn’t learn from things like that, okay?”

From now on, I needed to raise him carefully, pampering him properly. He didn’t need to learn that kind of capitalistic corruption.

“Just look at pretty things and learn from those.”

“Pretty things?”

“Yeah. Pretty, upright, and pure things.”

At my words, Matthias tilted his head slightly. Then, without blinking, he stared straight at me.

“Why?”

When I asked, wondering if he had something to say, Matthias moved his lips.

“You told me to learn.”

“Huh?”

“You said to look only at pretty things and learn.”

Without taking his eyes off me, he spoke calmly.

“Pretty things.”

“……”

“Here.”

The corners of Matthias’s lips lifted gently. His eyes, which had been looking straight at me, curved into crescents.

The moment I saw that smile, I jumped to my feet without thinking.

“Customer?!”

Right then, Selina came back out and cried out.

She went on pleading, begging me not to leave now that she’d brought them, but none of that reached my ears.

I hurriedly turned my gaze away and sat back down.

Thump, thump. My heartbeat sounded absurdly loud.

I clenched the hand hidden inside my robe.

‘T-that scared me.’

Where did he even learn to say things like that…!

“This is the highest-grade sapphire we have in our shop. You’d be hard-pressed to find such precise cutting even in a regular salon, you know?”

Selina spread open a jewelry box with a very confident expression.

I forced myself to calm my still-racing heart and examined the gemstones before me.

The sapphires and diamonds contained in the transparent case shone so clearly that just looking at them made one’s mouth fall open.

The sapphire, in particular, was a deep blue, as if someone had scooped up the very center of the ocean.

‘I expected as much.’

Once you squeeze her a bit, something proper really does come out.

She’d said it was the best among everything she’d shown so far.

‘This is the closest.’

Naturally, it was still different from the genuine article, but for something meant to deceive someone temporarily, it wasn’t bad.

The rough diamonds to be used as auxiliaries also had an exceptional luster—convincing enough to pass as real.

“Alright. I’ll go with this.”

“A very wise choice…! I really don’t show things like this to just anyone!”

Selina wiped her chest in relief and pulled over a nearby notebook.

“Then I’ll start working immediately according to the blueprint. Do you have a specific date you want it by? I’ll do my best to accommodate—”

“Four days.”

“…Excuse me?”

Selina asked back, looking completely dumbfounded.

But I didn’t back down.

“I’ll give you four days.”

The auction was coming up soon.

Even that was me stretching things as much as possible.

“B-but!”

Selina hurriedly protested, her face turning pale.

“How could I finish such precise and delicate work in just three days? And a necklace and earrings set would normally take at least two months…”

“I’ll pay by check. A blank one.”

At my words, Selina broke into a radiant smile.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, ma’am!”