020 ※ The Jewelry Store [IX]

"DO YOU HAVE ANY BAD INTENTIONS towards my dad or me, Princess?" Her voice was a little shaky to ask that.

"Not at all. I just want the best for you and myself. And I need this to be extremely confidential, otherwise, if my family were to know, they would try to take this business from me. Moreover, no one can know that I'm your investor, or you guys would also become targets for my enemies, and I can't afford anything like that happening." Suddenly, I felt as if someone had taken an invisible weight off my back. And I could breathe again.

Hands held me by the shoulders and made me get up and sit on the couch. "I'm sorry for all of this, Your Highness. I just needed to be sure, after Theo told me to be careful around you," ugh, of course.

"Please, don't even speak of that annoying brat in front of me!"

And that, to my dismay, got the kid curious. "Why? Do you hate uncle Theo?"

I tried to close my mouth with my hands, but it was useless. "I don't hate him. I hate the fact that I'm attracted to him. He's infuriating! It makes me angry out of my mind!" No!

No! No! I covered my face with my hands. But the kid, being a… kid, didn't let me off the hook. "Have you never felt that before, Princess?"

"Of course, not!" I cried angrily and turned to her dad. "For Mikla's sake, please, make her stop. This is torture!"

But that damned mad was too busy laughing at my burning red face. "So, are you attracted to uncle Theo, Princess?"

"YES! YES, I AM," I yelled, angry at the fact that I couldn't do shit against a five-year-old's magic. "He's my type, is that what you want to know?"

She finally seemed satisfied, "Why are you Royals and Imperials so prideful?" Her dad asked and I wished I could bury myself. "You can stop now, Alisha. Or the Princess might get angry at us!"

She nodded and bowed to me then came closer. "Sorry, Princess Natasha," and I still can't get angry with her.

"It's okay. But you have to promise in the name of the Goddess, that none of you will ever speak of what I said to anyone. ESPECIALLY that annoying Theo! I can't let anyone know about that. A person of my rank can't get involved with someone like him!"

"But uncle Theo is-"

"Enough, Alisha!" She bit her lip. "Go inside, darling, I'll have to speak with Her Highness now," hm. What was that?

What was the kid going to say to me? Whatever, I don't want to know. I'm already too embarrassed thanks to her. "She won't say anything, right?"

"No. She won't." I let out a sigh of relief. "If it wasn't for her, you know that I wouldn't make a deal with you, right, Princess?" Does that mean he will?

I nod. "That's why I disguised myself, Mr. George. I imagined that you should be against the aristocracy, and I didn't want this deal not to happen because of the house I'm part of."

"Well, I imagined that was the reason. Sorry for being so disrespectful at making you tell the truth like that!" Now he's sorry, hm?

"It's not like that can undo what happened," I spoke sarcastically but covered my mouth right away. "Sorry, I shouldn't be so rude. In your position, I would have done the same."

He analyzed me for some instants, before uttering a word again. "Having to be around so many people who have a prejudice against you for not having your magic anymore, I believe you learned to use sarcasm as a weapon," I gulped.

Mr. George couldn't be more right.

"You said you had some mines in the north, can you tell me more about it?" A hopeful smile took over my lips and I agreed.

Thankfully, he will accept to make a deal with me. "You know that for being the second daughter of the Grand Duke, I was born as a Duchess, right?" A nod. "So, my territory, Astryn, has about eleven mines of different gems. Diamonds, rubies, and even gold. And thanks to my younger brother Valerian, who was born as Earl of Viddena, he sold his mines to me, because he thought I would make better use of them. I'm willing to give you full access to them, so you can work and craft all the jewels you want to!"

"As your Knight said before, you are something, hm, Princess," he said but he seemed captured by it. "Were you serious when you said that you want to buy all the jewels in the shop?"

"Yes! I need them as fast as possible because my sister has some dangerous intentions toward me. And if she was to get control over me, it would signify the downfall of… uh… the world!" I wish I was lying about it.

And by how he turned pale, he believed in me. I'm not used to it, but it feels good. "Once I heard of a prophecy that said that one of you would bring the downfall of the world and the other would be a Saintess bestowed with magic given by the Goddess herself," it's been a while since someone spoke about that because almost everybody avoids that topic. "Everyone thought you were the one who would be our downfall, but now I'm starting to think that we were all wrong."

I laughed anxiously, not wanting to think about that, once I, myself, always thought I was the bad one in my grandma's prophecy too. Especially when I kind of did cause everything with Dalilah in my past life. Moreover, I'm sure I wasn't bestowed with any magic from the Goddess.

"No one knows," I said, uncomfortable. "I don't have magic, so maybe it is me. Or maybe you are right."

"You also believed it was you who would bring the world downfall, right?" Ugh, he and his daughter and their disposition to make such questions.

"How could I not?" That was enough to install a not-comfortable-at-all silence in the room.

I heard the kid getting closer to us again and she turned to me. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping, dad. But, Princess, if you allow me to say, I believe you might still be bestowed with the Goddess magic. She works in mysterious ways. Let's not try to understand this prophecy in a naked way," damn she's way too smart for 5 years old.

"Are you sure she's only 5?" They both laughed at that. "Like, seriously. She's a genius for her age. If you would allow me, I can find a way to provide a rich education for her without anyone knowing who's helping you," that got him by surprise, while the kid got excited.

"That would be too much, Princess," nothing is too much.

"I insist!" He looked from me to the smile on his daughter's face and sighed.

"I'll think about it. Now, back to business. How would I be able to go into your mines without your family's knowledge?" Good question.

Crossing my legs, I explained what I had in mind to him, "All members of Royalty and above, have a dimensional magical tool that allows them to travel to places their owner have been before. I'll give you mine because the locations of the mines are all encrypted in them. Then I can just tell my father that I accidentally broke mine," and opening the bag I brought with my money, I gave the tool that looked like a fancy hairbrush, to him. "Here."

I then began to explain to him the locations of each mine and he wrote it down with a pen full of small jewels that he said he had created, and that allow only the people with his bloodline to be able to read its content. And the only two people alive with his bloodline were his daughter and himself. Making everything easier for me. So I told him that to use the magical tool, he would have to brush his hair with it, while thinking of the location he wants to go to.

After setting everything for our deal, he took a paper out of a drawer, and then he took a plan pen and a box full of small diamonds. Using his magic, he crafted all of them on the quill, and with a small knife, he took a drop of his blood and let it fall over the diamond. Then, to my surprise, he did the same with his daughter and then turned to me and ask for a drop of my blood, which I gave willingly. And after using his magic to encrypt the blood inside the diamonds, the bent down on the table and wrote a contract with it.

Leaving me stunned by such a demonstration. "Why did you get Alisha's blood too?"

"She knows your identity and she heard everything. By writing this contract with this pen, none of us will ever be able to utter a word about what we talked about here. Even about what you confessed towards Theo," now THAT is trustworthy. "We'll only be able to talk about it with you."

Quite extreme, but effective.

"Will you be making business with other people?" I nodded. "Then you might make good use of this pen. The ink is created with the blood of the people present, so when you make another deal with somebody else, you will bathe the diamonds with a drop of your blood and with a drop of theirs, as I did!" What an amazing creation. "Got it?"

"Yes. Thank you so much for this, Mr. George." He got back to writing the contract and when he finished I took a look at it had the point where I guarantee his daughter's education, making me smile. "I'm glad you accepted. So, only we can see the content, right?" He agreed, then gave me the pen and I sign, then he did, and finally, Alisha.

And I wasn't surprised to know that the kid already knew how to write and read. She is indeed a genius. It might be good to have such a talent on my side in the future.

"I can't help but feel that I'm closing a deal with an adult and not a thirteen-year-old kid," he mumbled making me smile.

That means my soul is having a stronger aura than my body because I am an adult in a way. "I'll take that as a compliment!" Holding the heavy bag, I gave it to him and his jaw dropped when he saw all the money inside.

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