Chapter 94
One of the retainers was looking at her with a polite face.
Was his name Daren Dru Siarkan?
The man, said to be a distant relative of Varkas, carefully continued.
“If there is an item you like, I will purchase it for you.”
“No need. I don’t need…”
Thalia was about to refuse out of habit when she suddenly closed her mouth.
She had been growing tired of sitting still like an ornament.
She glanced at Varkas, who was surrounded by the administrator and council members, then pulled the hood over her head and rose from her seat.
“Fine. Lead the way.”
When they left the meeting room through the back door, a wide space bustling with hundreds of merchants was revealed.
Thalia stood before the railing and looked below.
On the tightly arranged stalls, wool fabrics and felt of splendid colors were piled like mountains, and behind them, carts and chests loaded with goods were lined up in long rows.
“This way, please.”
The man guided her toward the stairs.
Thalia gripped the railing with one hand and stepped carefully.
When she reached the bottom of the last stair, the lively scene of the auction hall filled her vision.
Thalia walked along the crowded passage and watched merchants competing in bidding.
While men dressed no less finely than nobles haggled with spit flying from their mouths, brokers used scales and abacuses to calculate fees and taxes, and transporters carried the neatly stacked fabrics onto carts.
She felt as if she had been dropped into the middle of a frenzied banquet hall.
She looked at the spices sold by foreign merchants, then turned toward a relatively quiet shop.
On a somewhat shabby sales counter, poorly made craft items were displayed.
As she looked over them with indifferent eyes, the man who had been quietly following her like a guard spoke.
“The jewelry stores are in the side aisle section. Shall I guide you there?”
“No need. I don’t wear anything unless it’s dwarf-made jewelry anyway.”
“Ah. I see.”
The man scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed face.
Ignoring him, Thalia stepped into an alley lined with small shops.
At that moment, a tapestry hanging on the wall caught her eye.
Thalia approached it and stared up at the decorative cloth with its unique pattern.
On fabric woven intricately with gold, red, and dark reddish-brown threads, the figures of a young woman with snow-white skin and a black beast with three heads were embroidered.
As she examined the somewhat eerie picture closely and frowned, an unfamiliar voice came from nearby.
“Do you like that tapestry?”
Thalia turned her head and found an eastern woman inside the stall, then wore a wary expression.
The woman set down the ledger she had been holding and offered a deal in a respectful tone.
“It is listed at thirty soldem, but if you purchase it, my lady, I will sell it for twenty-six soldem.”
“Who would buy such a strange tapestry?”
At her blunt remark, faint curiosity appeared on the woman’s face.
She tilted her head and looked carefully at Thalia’s face.
“My lady seems to be from another region.”
Thalia shot her a wary look.
“How do you know that?”
“This tapestry depicts the most famous folktale in the East. Since you did not recognize it, I thought you must be from elsewhere.”
“A folktale?”
Thalia looked up again at the fabric hanging on the wall.
Perhaps pleased that she had shown interest, the merchant immediately began the story.
“Long ago, a gigantic beast that tried to swallow even the stars in the sky lived in this land. That beast, filled with greed, tried to devour every living thing on this land.”
The woman, who had begun convincingly, paused briefly and watched Thalia’s reaction.
Thalia gestured with her chin as if telling her to continue.
The clear voice with a strange resonance slowly continued.
“One day, the earth spirit awakened to put the beast threatening the world to sleep. She sang without rest for one hundred days and nights to tame the beast, and at last, a great warrior was born between them. The ancient easterners believed themselves to be descendants of this warrior.”
Thalia remembered hearing a similar story from the maids of Raedgo Castle and furrowed her brows.
The merchant rummaged through a neatly folded pile of fabrics, took out a handkerchief, and spread it over the counter.
“Even now, among easterners, there are quite a few who believe that if they carry the pattern of the black beast, bad luck will avoid them. My lady, how about buying one as a souvenir?”
On the reddish fabric, a beast with three heads was embroidered.
It was a pattern that looked somehow familiar.
Thalia narrowed her eyes, then soon remembered that it was a crest she had seen in a book when learning the history of the Era of the Kingdoms.
It was the symbol House Siarkan had used before being incorporated into the Roem Empire.
As if drawn by something, she picked it up.
It was an item quite far from her taste, but it was also awkward to ignore the merchant’s enthusiasm.
She sent a glance over her shoulder.
“What are you doing not paying?”
At that moment, a sleek hand with prominent knuckles reached out right beside her.
“Will this be enough?”
Along with the cool voice, several glittering gold coins were placed on the counter.
Thalia flinched and turned around.
Varkas, wearing a dark navy cloak, was looking down at her with an indifferent face.
With his body close against her back, he let a low, beautiful voice flow near her temple.
“Is there anything else you want?”
Thalia looked up at him blankly, then slowly shook her head.
Varkas stared intently at her face, then turned his gaze to the merchant.
“Is the price sufficient?”
“I-it is sufficient. More than sufficient.”
As the merchant hurriedly gathered the gold coins, Varkas turned without delay.
Led by his hand, she left the narrow passage and entered the now relatively quiet auction hall.
He stepped into the passage at the center of the building and quietly opened his mouth.
“The jewelry stores are over there. They say merchants from the Southern Continent have also opened shops, so you should be able to find something Your Highness likes.”
Thalia looked up at his face blankly.
At that moment, the man who had been silently following them cut in without tact.
“Your Grace, Her Highness says she does not wear anything unless it is dwarf-made jewelry. Would the goods of heretics even satisfy Her Highness the Princess?”
Thalia glared at the man through the gap in her robe.
She could not lose an opportunity to receive jewelry from Varkas because of an idiot like that.
She spoke somewhat hastily.
“Now that I think about it, I suppose it would be fine to have one unusual piece of jewelry.”
Varkas looked down at her over his shoulder for a moment, then turned his gaze forward again.
They passed dozens of stalls and moved to the side of the building.
Before long, the entrance to the precious metals exchange guarded by fierce-looking guards appeared.
Varkas led her inside.
“Welcome.”
The merchant standing before the display case gave a clumsy greeting without even raising his head.
Despite the rude attitude, Varkas showed no particular reaction and brought her before the counter.
“Tell me if there is anything you like.”
Thalia slowly looked over the red velvet.
Large and small gemstones of fairly excellent quality were neatly arranged.
Among them, there was an item that looked unusual even to her eyes, which had seen all kinds of rare treasures.
As she unconsciously picked it up, the merchant, who had been checking the quality of a gemstone through a small magnifying glass, spoke in a sharp voice.
“Customer! If you touch that carelessly…”
The merchant belatedly recognized Varkas, gasped, and sprang to his feet.
Varkas spoke in a dry tone.
“We will purchase everything Her Highness touches.”
“N-no, Your Grace the Grand Duke! Please do not mind me and examine them as much as you like. I failed to recognize you and committed discourtesy…”
Without even glancing at the babbling merchant, Thalia turned her gaze to another gemstone.
Then suddenly, she discovered a faintly glowing blue mineral and stopped walking.
When she picked it up and held it to the light, a mysterious silver shimmer moved over its smooth surface.
It was a beautiful moonstone that reminded her of Varkas’s eyes.
“Do you like that one?”
As she stared at the gemstone as if bewitched, Varkas spoke.
Thalia flinched and set the gemstone down.
At his gaze, which seemed to see straight through her thoughts, the nape of her neck grew hot.
“N-not really.”
Thalia snatched up the red ruby placed beside it.
“I’ll take this one.”
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