Moonlight Ball

Iris clenched her teeth. For an hour, she had been saying, “Oh, how amazing!” And, “Such delicate technology!” But all of a sudden, her tune changed, and now she said, “None of these things are good enough.”

What kind of person was she? The merchant looked up in earnest and bowed again as he faced the disappointed looks from two people: one with crystal blue eyes and the other with cold red eyes. He could handle the blue eyes, but the red eyes were terrifying. The blue eyes reflected the truth, but the look from the red eyes warned that the wrong choice of wording would be considered perjury.

“I’m so sorry,” the merchant said. He wanted to say something more, but he didn’t know how to redeem himself.

Iris stood in front of the statue-like madman and stared at the objects. If she were honest, the products weren’t that bad. But she wasn’t in the mood to praise him now. “You’re not even as good as the other En Letaire’s. Even though you’re a Letaire yourself!”

The merchant didn’t say anything. He just sighed inside. But Iris heard it, and she gritted her teeth. She was mad and upset, but she had nothing to say. Oh, how upsetting!

“My Queen,” Sidrain called. He barely managed to hold back his laughter which felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. His first love truly warmed his heart and made him happy.

She seemed to be secretly stamping her feet because she had nothing to say in response to the merchant after her pride was hurt. “Shall we go see something else? I don’t think this merchant’s stuff is good, do you?” Sidrain asked.

Iris looked back in bewilderment. She forgot that she was the Queen and no longer Iris Elaine. She shouldn’t have spent this long in front of a merchant, and above all else, she should’ve been fair to him.

She didn’t want to say this, but she put her pride aside and said to the merchant, “Well, your things are good.”

Sidrain hugged Iris when she admitted that the items were good because he knew that it had taken a lot of courage for her to acknowledge her rudeness. He then led her away from the table, and she didn’t resist. Her body smelled good, and her embrace was warm and soft. And for a brief moment, it felt as if she wanted his comfort, and he thought it cute.

Sidrain rubbed her pink cheeks and whispered against Iris’s intricately braided hair, with red and jade detail, “I don’t think today is the day to buy any items from the merchant. You don’t have to buy items under this blue sky. Let’s go see the jewels.”

“What does the blue sky have to do with buying items from a merchant?”

“You must buy jewelry on a sunny day.”

“Is that so?” Iris’s face lit up. “Is that a custom for nobles and royalty?”

“Of course, we’ve always done that. Let’s go, my Queen.”

A rotten-faced magician watched from the shadows as Sidrain held Iris’s hand and led her to a jewelry stand. He spat on the ground, thinking that they looked like a pair of cockroaches.

Iris nodded with a smile as they approached the beautifully decorated table, but then her blue eyes narrowed. She was familiar with jewelry because she was a wizard, and each jewel had the power to preserve mana. That’s why Iris had a good eye for jewelry but was no longer admiring the items in front of her as she had done at the other merchant’s stall. Iris was looking at the jewels as if she didn’t want to touch them.

Sidrain assumed that she didn’t know much about jewelry and that she wasn’t interested in it, but this was unexpected from a lady. Because Iris Elaine was a wizard, he did understand her fussiness, as Wizards were the pickiest people in the world.

The jeweler thought the same as he observed the Queen, who looked at the jewels like a wizard would. She then took out her loupe and looked at the jewelry closely, asking him about the quality of the stones. But when she looked through the loupe for the first time, she said, “This loupe is a little out of focus.” So she asked the merchant, politely, if she could borrow his, even though it was smaller than hers. Then, like a wizard or a jeweler, she studied the gems with great focus.

“Your Highness. Do you like anything?” The jeweler asked.

“No, there’s nothing that catches my eye.”

After meticulously checking all the jewelry, Iris looked at the jewelry store owner with a disappointed expression on her face. It was all of poor quality. Although the quality of the jewelry was good enough for the general public and even the royal family, it wasn’t pure enough for wizards, especially in Iris Elaine’s eye. And Iris was no ordinary person.

“Are these jewels what you bring for the royal family?” Iris asked as she glanced at the merchant. The best jewels would’ve probably been handed over to the Magic Tower because they’d be the pickiest customers. And the royal family naively thought the quality of the remaining gems was good enough.

The jeweler couldn’t speak because he felt as if he’d been stabbed in the chest by a sharp knife. It wasn’t the Queen he was wary of, but rather, the King standing behind her who made his knees weak. The King had a powerful presence. He was tall, looked menacing, and he was the continent’s best knight and swordmaster. He was such a handsome man, yet his face was scary.

This handsome man, Sidrain, was entertained by Iris, and he silently watched his first love protesting at the stall. Iris had a wide variety of facial expressions today, and Sidrain found this to be quite amusing. He even considered setting up a market every day just so that he could see her different facial expressions. It would be easily affordable since he was a man of great wealth.

“But, Your Highness. All these jewels are of the highest quality.”

“The highest quality and the finest jewelry? Can you truly take responsibility for what you’re saying?”