“How dreadful. And the tenth?”
Emily watched Colton with curious eyes.
“Your wealthy nobility — when a woman picks something, they buy it. Usually the most expensive piece, but they pay without flinching. They buy that one thing, though. Just the one. But recently, I met a man who belongs to the 0.00001 percentile.”
“What sort of man?”
“None other than Duke Hardeion himself. That man didn’t ask a single question. His aide came in and purchased every last piece of jewelry in my shop.”
“……”
I met the eyes of the jewels with a hollow gaze. They were beautiful, certainly. Beautiful, but —
“You see, having money and spending it on one’s fiancée are entirely different matters. There are men who toil on a construction site yet pour every coin they have into the woman they love. And there are noblemen who pinch every penny where women are concerned.”
“That’s true. When a person cares about someone, they naturally give their time and money.”
Colton was speechifying like a dam that had burst its walls. ‘I don’t have time for this.’
‘I’ve fallen in with the wrong person. This is absolutely maddening.’
I stole an anxious glance at the clock. Over an hour had already slipped by.
“Exactly. That’s why I always tell my daughter — when a man loves a woman, he doesn’t scrimp. That is the great truth of life. I’ve done this work for thirty years, and I can tell you, it’s the real thing. A man who’s visibly stingy even before the wedding? That’s the man who’ll hound his wife to account for every single-silver hair pin she buys at the market.”
“How dreadful.”
“Mark my words. If you remember nothing else, you can filter out more than half the men in this world with just that one principle.”
I couldn’t afford to waste another moment.
“Right, yes, I understand, Colton — so we’ll go ahead and complete the purchase of everything here, and since I have my personal allowance, if we could simply reprocess the payment—”
“Hmm? No, no. My lady, that won’t do. Has my explanation been insufficient thus far?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“A man like His Grace is truly rare. Wealth, honor, power — and still spends on his woman like water? And you want to refuse that? I don’t see how that makes any sense. Because—”
“I understand! I’ll accept that His Grace purchased these for me and wear them with happiness! Go ahead and keep everything as is!”
“Oh my, you grasped it already? I still have quite a bit more to say—”
“Colton! I’m a little tired today. Let’s talk again another time!”
I all but pushed Colton out the door.
Staring at the mountain of jewel cases piled high around the room, I could do nothing but sigh.
“When exactly do I get to be extravagant?”
“Indeed.”
“What else is there to spend money on, besides dresses and jewelers?”
“Perhaps we should hurry and go out? At this rate, someone will come along and rob us of yet another opportunity to spend.”
“You’re right! Let’s go right now! Quickly!”
I grabbed Emily and we ran out of the annex together. Then we boarded the carriage and set off toward the square in haste.
* * *
“I have all this money and nowhere to spend it.”
“Hmm.”
The most extravagant thing we’d managed was chicken skewers.
In our best attempt at lavish spending, the two of us had each eaten three — a very bold number — but our stomachs were full and there was nothing more we could do about it.
From Madame Antroi to Colton, I had spent the entire day exchanging words with more people than an introvert like me was built to endure. I was not merely drained; every last ounce of energy had seeped out of my body.
“Come to think of it, why bother allocating a personal allowance at all, if he’s just going to buy everything in advance? What on earth is it even for?”
“My thoughts exactly. Usually a personal allowance covers dresses, accessories, jewelry — things like that, doesn’t it? My mother and father used to argue about it endlessly. ‘Increase the amount. It’s already too much.’ On and on.”
“Quite. In that sense, the duke is really quite something, in his own way. And after hearing what Colton had to say — knowing that not everyone with money behaves this way — it’s all the more striking.”
We wandered aimlessly, racking our brains for somewhere to spend money.
Nothing presented itself.
And so, exchanging aimless, inconsequential chatter, we drifted without quite noticing into a part of the street lined end to end with tea houses and dessert cafés.
Then, all at once, a rather wonderful idea struck me.
“Wait. The personal allowance — there’s no rule that says I have to spend it all in a single day, is there?”
“There isn’t, is there?”
“So then — what about that?”
I pointed to a high-end dessert shop nearby. Right next door was a well-known tea house; the tea sets sold there were imported from abroad, which made them quite expensive.
“Let’s go in and buy out whatever’s left. Being extravagant with food — what do you think?”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea.”
Emily and I visited both establishments one after the other, purchasing the remaining desserts and full sets of tea bags. The total barely made a dent in the personal allowance I had received — but what mattered, at least a little, was that I was seen to be spending freely and without restraint.
* * *
The carriage was packed full of dessert café boxes and tea bag boxes. Even the spacious interior of the ducal carriage felt rather cramped.
“There’s so much of it. Will we actually be able to eat all of this?”
“The two of us alone couldn’t possibly manage it.”
“Right? But leaving food to go to waste is its own kind of sin. What are we supposed to do?”
I turned the problem over in my mind. I genuinely wanted to be extravagant, but wasting food was out of the question. Thinking of the people in this world who struggled through each day without enough to eat…
“Wait. Aren’t there almshouses on the outskirts of the capital? I seem to recall there were two or three of them clustered together.”
“That’s right. One run under the auspices of the temple, and one supported by the Capital Merchants’ Guild.”
“Perfect. Then let’s donate all of these desserts and drop them off as a charitable contribution on our way. What do you think?”
“That’s a lovely idea. Children love sweets, don’t they? High-end desserts like these — they’ve probably never tasted anything like them.”
I knocked on the carriage door and gave the driver instructions to make for the almshouse on the outskirts of the capital.
Six o’clock in the evening. The drive took about an hour.
“You’re donating all of this?”
The consultation room was filled to the walls with boxes. Along the right wall, pink boxes bearing the dessert café’s name were stacked nearly to the ceiling; along the left, orange boxes printed with the tea house’s crest rose just as high.
“Yes. The boxes on the right are sets of macarons and financiers. They’re perishable, so I’d ask that you distribute them to the children as soon as you can.”
“Goodness. Thank you so much. The children will be absolutely delighted.”
The nun bowed deeply. I waved my hand and bowed back — even I could tell it was an awkward posture.
“Oh, it’s nothing really. I just had some money left over.”
After all, the purpose had been extravagance, and nothing more. I hadn’t arrived with any grand moral mission like noblesse oblige, and it wouldn’t have been right to accept her gratitude with a straight face.
“And — the boxes on the left are all tea bags. Allow me to explain them briefly.”
I reached into my pocket and produced a sheet of notes, crumpled from being folded so many times. I had copied it out from a tea house guidebook.
“The dark orange boxes contain black tea. Black tea contains caffeine, so please avoid giving it to the children — set those aside for the adults who work here.”
What else had I bought?
I shuffled through several pages of notes.
“Ah! Chamomile, rooibos, peppermint, and lemon balm — those are in the yellow boxes over there. All of these are perfectly safe for children to drink. To begin with—”
I went through each number I had written down beside the different varieties, explaining them one by one.
“Chamomile is good for children who have trouble sleeping or who suffer from anxiety. Rooibos is beneficial for the skin, so children with eczema would do well to drink it. It also strengthens the immune system, so it’s good for children who fall ill frequently — and if any of the adults here happen to be expecting, they’re welcome to have it too.”
‘Let’s see, what’s next.’
“Peppermint helps with digestion, so it’s a good choice for children who tend to have stomach troubles. Lemon balm is also a gentle, easygoing tea — give it to children who are anxious or who don’t sleep soundly. These four varieties can all be drunk in place of plain water, so children who don’t like water will probably enjoy them.”
“My goodness, how thoughtful of you. Thank you so very much. We’ll make good use of all of this and make sure the children have what suits them best.”
“I’m glad. Here — I’ll leave my notes with you as well. Please do match each one to the right child as best you can. There are likely quite a few among them who struggle with sleeplessness, or who carry wounds of one kind or another.”
I handed the notes to the nun as I spoke.
“Thank you, my lady. Might I ask your name?”
‘If I donate anonymously, no one will even know I spent the money. To make it visible as extravagance, I’ll need to leave a name.’
I spoke clearly and without hesitation.
“I’m from the House of Hardeion.”
At that, Emily gave me a subtle nudge in the ribs and whispered close to my ear.
‘You’re going to donate under the duke’s name?’
I whispered back in turn.
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Because… it was his money.’
* * *
