Chapter 107 - The Night of May Flower

Azriel hurriedly interrupted her. She gave a look beyond Rhema’s shoulders. ‘Please keep it a secret about receiving a confession for now.’

‘Okay,’ Maylie quick-wittedly understood Azriel and nodded. “Then, I’ll go back to the outhouse, Mr. Wizard. Azriel, I’ll come back later. Wait for me in the dress room.”

“Eek, again?”

“You didn’t choose your dress yet! You have to pick a dress to pick jewelry pieces and decide what to do with your hair.”

“We still have more than two weeks left.”

“Two weeks is short! Have you already forgotten about preparing parties at Colte? Oh…”

Ever since the incident in which Azriel was accused of stealing the earrings,  she was excluded from any grooming-related work. It would be accurate to say that she could not even go near the dress room. Maylie swallowed her words and waved her hand. “Anywho, I’ll see you later!”

After Maylie left, Azriel and Rhema headed to the cafeteria. He asked her quietly. “Who invited you?”

“It’s Charles. I met him again today because I needed his help.”

Rhema faintly knitted his brows. The name he did not want to hear came out again. It seemed that she had added a new person on ‘the list of people she knew.’ “Are you saying he invited you to a masquerade?”

“Yes. I’d like to go for once,” Azriel nodded and studied his face. “Rhema… Are you against it?”

He did not like it. He did not like the idea of her going into other people’s company. He wished that she would continue to stay here, next to him only. Was it not enough for her to flow together with the people in the outhouse? He looked at her with such a feeling in his mind. Golden eyes were blinking and looking up at him. His twisted feeling subsided. Rhema reflectively answered her softly. “Why would I be against it? If you want to go, anytime.”

“Thank you!” Azriel beamed. The corners of Rhema’s mouth were also raised involuntarily.

“You don’t have to thank me. Of course, it’s up to you,” Rhema said.

“I still thank you.”

Azriel seemed happy. Rhema was quite satisfied about that. His satisfaction was more than enough to crush his displeasure. So, he recalled the conversation she had with her friend not long ago. “It will be the first ball you attend, like a debutante.”

“It’s nothing like that. I don’t even have to reveal who I am because it’s a masquerade. I’m just going there to have fun.”

“But it’ll be better to prepare properly. I’ll get the dress and jewelry.”

“What? Why would you buy a new dress? There are plenty of dresses that I haven’t even tried on. Please don’t buy any more,” Azriel said, taken aback. Rhema tilted his head and asked. “Isn’t it hard to choose? It sounded like you were having trouble a little while ago. Your friend also sounded like she was having a hard time too.”

“There are just too many. I will choose one soon.”

“You are choosing one by trying on all of them?”

“Rhema, why did you buy so many? I don’t even wear them often.”

“Since you don’t ask for anything, I have to fill anything up for you.”

“Is it my fault, then?”

“Yes, it’s your fault. You should’ve asked more.”

“No. If I tell you I want a blue dress, you’ll make a room full of all kinds of blue dresses. It’ll get worse.”

“A room is not enough. It’s better to build a new tower. Wouldn’t it be better to have more things you like?”

Azriel looked at him with a tired look. “…I think you’ll spoil me soon.”

He let out a brief laugh. “It’s okay for me even if you get spoiled.”

Rhema thought for a brief moment that it might be better if she got a little out of character and could not get along with other people. “Anyway, I’ll get your dress for the masquerade along with a mask and jewelry. Since you won’t have to go through the trouble of choosing, it’ll also be convenient for you.”

Judging by his doggedness, she was sure that he would buy them even if she refused. Azriel sighed. “Don’t get me anything too flashy.”

“Okay.”

“I really don’t want an overly flashy dress. It’ll draw people’s attention.”

“I will take that into consideration.”

Even though Rhema answered meekly, Azriel could not help but look at him suspiciously. She felt uneasy because he had a long history.

*

Generally, trends in the countries near the Backbone Mountain Range began in San Triae, the capital of the Talasin Empire. Hence, Rhema requested Azriel’s dress and jewelry there. He had received Azriel’s measurements from the boutique where her clothes had been made all along. A breath was all it took for him to get to the capital of the empire. As for money, there was a mountain of money piled up in the underground storage of the castle. But Rhema felt too lazy to pack it in large quantities, so he went to San Triae with empty hands. Then he picked up a chipped brick in an alley, which caught his eye just at the time, turned it into pure gold, and paid the price. Changing a material into another was way easier for him than carrying a crate of gold coins.

The designer and seamstresses who received a brick-sized pure gold out of nowhere began making a dress all day and night, pouring their heart and soul into it. A similar phenomenon occurred in a craftsmanship workshop. There was a more surprising event to craftworkers. It was because what a silver-haired man handed them to jewelry was a pocket of diamonds. Inside of a fist-sized pocket, priceless diamonds in a variety of fancy colors were loaded carelessly as if they were pebbles. What the man stated as a condition as he handed them was groundlessly absurd. Paying a tremendous amount of money and exorbitant materials, he ridiculously asked them to design not to draw too much attention. His request became a legend among the master artisans in San Triae in many ways.