“I want it, but not that much! There should be limits!”

Madame Spendal grumbled.

‘I could spend up to 50,000 but……’

I roughly calculated the amount I had planned to spend at the auction. But this wasn’t meant to be spent all on one item—I had planned to buy various things.

Even though I had won several items relatively cheaply earlier, spending over 50,000 was too much. And to spend it all on one necklace? That was nonsense.

At this rate, what’s 50,000? It seemed likely to reach 100,000 in an instant. I felt my sense of money becoming numb.

If I joined the bidding, I could certainly enhance my reputation as a Duchess who spent money like water, but the question was whether I could actually afford it. Considering the amount I had already spent, future banquet costs, future personnel expenses and mansion maintenance costs, I couldn’t recklessly jump in.

Let’s give up on that. It was never meant to be mine from the start. That’s just fate.

Fate is something people can neither change nor avoid. That’s why we must follow it, and have no choice but to follow it.

Having made up my mind, I leaned back against the seat.

“Alisa.”

“Yes?”

Once I gave up, the tension released and I felt comfortable. Let the price soar to the sky or whatever, it’s none of my business now.

“Do you want it?”

The auctioneer was in the middle of the countdown. It was obvious that the necklace would become the highest-priced item of this auction. The jewel around Patricia’s neck would look beautiful with her silver hair.

“No.”

“You can be honest.”

Really though……

I wanted to answer that it was true, but the words got stuck in my throat as if blocked.

What difference does it make whether I have it or not? I’ll eventually liquidate everything to add to my retirement fund anyway. The price has risen too high now, it’s uncertain whether I could recover the cost later. So I don’t want it. I don’t want it.

Ah, so this is how the fox under the grape vine felt.

The problem is that the grapes don’t look sour yet. Why does it still look delicious? Or is it so sour that it’s making my mouth water? I couldn’t tell.

‘No matter how beautiful, this is really strange.’

Why do I want that necklace so badly? For some reason, I kept feeling like I shouldn’t let it go.

“Alisa.”

Rashid urged for an answer. I closed my mouth, opened it, closed it, and opened it again.

“Just, my eyes keep going to it……”

After answering so honestly, I felt somewhat embarrassed and gave a small laugh.

Then Rashid raised his hand.

“100,000 freti!”

The auctioneer called out the price.

What? How much did he just say?

“110,000 freti!”

The auctioneer raised the price again. Patricia was frowning her pretty face deeply. For her, an unexpected competitor had appeared out of nowhere.

Rashid quickly gestured again.

“210,000…… freti!”

A sudden silence fell over the noisy hall. Everything was shocking. The necklace at auction, the price attached to it, and the person who called that price.

Patricia’s hand didn’t move. Neither did anyone else’s.

The countdown continues. 210,000, 210,000, 210,000. When the auctioneer calls the price three times, the sale will be confirmed.

“Sold!”

At the auctioneer’s words, Rashid nodded.

Then he looked at me. I could feel everyone’s eyes turning to him. In the silence that seemed frozen, he spoke.

“Are you satisfied now, Alisa?”

‘He’s crazy!’

There were many crazy people in the world, and the craziest of them all was right beside me.

* * *

The Meribi Auction ended successfully.

After the Celestial Necklace auction, I had to struggle to suppress the urge to run out of the auction house. I was so confused that I couldn’t bid on anything else besides what I had bought earlier.

Rashid bought one more ring. It was an intricately crafted ring in the shape of a snake swallowing its own tail.

When Rashid started bidding, several people including Patricia raised the price as if conscious of him, but they couldn’t break his purchasing will. Rashid instantly doubled, tripled the price and finally bought it.

“I’m so envious, Madam!”

Madame Spendal laughed brightly. Her laughter made my head feel like it would split.

“You must invite me to the banquet. You’ll surely debut the necklace then, won’t you?”

The scene of the banquet seemed to be clearly painted in Madame Spendal’s mind. She seemed to genuinely envy me, and also appeared truly happy.

On the way back to the mansion, I rode in the same carriage as Rashid. The carriage I came in carried Macy, who had come to serve during the journey, and Rashid’s servant.

Night had deepened by now. The full moon scattered silver light. The ebony carriage carved with camellia flower patterns cut through the darkness, crossing between lantern and lantern.

Throughout the journey on the way back, I pressed hard against my throbbing temples. Even though the auction was over, my head ached as if the commotion was still stuck in my mind. It felt like the arbitrarily broken sentences were floating around here and there.

“You don’t look well.”

“I have a bit of a headache.”

At my words, Rashid calmly raised his hand and rubbed my opposite temple.

“I’m, I’m fine.”

I slightly dropped my head to decline his kindness. Kindness…… The word didn’t suit Rashid. It was even more awkward because the target was me of all people.

‘Though he hasn’t really done anything wrong to me.’

Pressing hard a few times seemed to ease the pain somewhat. I kept pressing my forehead and the back of my neck while speaking.

“Didn’t you go too far today? It was extremely expensive.”

“Indeed, it wasn’t a small amount.”

“That’s what I mean! Why did you buy it?”

“You said you wanted it.”

“That’s because you kept asking! We can’t have everything we want. I’m not so naive as to not know that.”

“If you want something, and can have it, is there any reason not to?”

Can have it…… He said himself it wasn’t a small amount.

Well, even if trying to show off, 210,000 freti for one necklace is certainly not an amount worth doing so. It was enough material for people to talk about during dinner time, at banquets, at tea parties.

‘The direction this is taking is what bothers me.’

The word divorce seemed to be within reach before suddenly becoming distant. The key point was that he so calmly bought such an expensive item, and openly for me at that.

I already received the mansion, and now to publicly receive the Celestial Necklace too… At this rate, it becomes questionable whether the temple would accept the excuse that Rashid wants a divorce because of my extravagance.

What should I tell the imperial family? Would it work if we package it well as a Duke who tried his best to accommodate his extravagant Duchess but finally gave up? Various thoughts made my mind unsettled.

“It’s a bit surprising to hear such thoughts, since I’ve never expected to be able to have everything I want.”

“You can only have what you can have.”

Rashid said calmly.

But you can have so much. That’s how your character was set up. You were made to lose things early only because you were meant to have everything in the end. After all, he’s the male protagonist who will live happily for a long time.

‘First love…… that’s right.’

I recalled Alisa’s situation. If he would consider Alisa his first love after her death, he must have cared somewhat about her while she was alive. Whether out of pity, or real affection, or perhaps just courtesy toward someone sharing the Penvernon name.

Then Rashid’s current attitude made some sense.

Now that the original fate and flow have changed, it’s difficult to judge exactly what Rashid’s feelings toward Alisa—toward me—are.

But if he recognizes Alisa, me, as someone within his boundaries, then the attitude of ‘letting me have what I can have’ makes sense.

Feeling that any further response would just lead to long-winded zen-like conversations, I stopped talking.

“By the way, is that ring the magical artifact you mentioned?”

I changed the topic in a different direction. Rashid also didn’t try to continue the previous conversation and responded to the new question.

“Yes. People with magical power can recognize it.”

To me, it just looked like an exceptionally finely crafted ring. It was strange that a plain iron ring without any gem decorations would be a magical artifact worthy of his attention.

“What kind of magical artifact is it?”

“It’s a ring that can amplify magical power.”

“Ah…… that sounds like something incredible.”

“To some extent.”

He spoke so casually that I found it difficult to quickly comprehend what I was hearing.

“But why were you the only one who recognized it?”

“Because only those with powerful enough magic can recognize it.”

“What happens when you wear the ring?”