Just as she breathed a small sigh of relief, everyone’s gazes suddenly shifted behind her. She turned to see a woman with ivory-white hair approaching.
“Afternoon, Dahlia.”
“Vice-Guildmaster, good afternoon,” Dahlia replied with a small bow. “Thank you for all your support.”
This woman was Gabriella Jedda, the vice-guildmaster of the Merchants’ Guild. Though she was of mature years, she had an undeniably commanding presence. The finely tailored deep-blue dress and long string of baroque pearls she wore suited her well. Dahlia’s father had dealt with her at the guild ever since he was a young man; Dahlia had been a student when she’d first met her.
“If you’ve a contract to discuss, you’re welcome to use the meeting room next door. I think the third-floor rooms may be booked this afternoon.”
“Thank you very much.”
From “may be booked,” Dahlia surmised that at the moment, they weren’t. She happened to know that, for safety reasons, the meeting room attached to this office was not soundproofed. In other words, you want to hear everything. I see. Dahlia kept that thought to herself. However, Gabriella’s scarlet lips gently curved into a smile.
“Everyone seems terribly busy today. You wouldn’t mind if I filled in as one of your witnesses, would you?”
“Not at all. That would be very kind of you.”
A novice toolmaker like Dahlia could hardly refuse such an offer from the vice-guildmaster herself.
Tobias entered the meeting room at precisely two o’clock. Dahlia, the two guild witnesses, and the scrivener were ready and waiting. Dahlia and Tobias sat opposite each other at the large table, both with a witness at their side. The scrivener sat one seat apart.
The witness at Tobias’s side was the first to speak. “We will now proceed with the dissolution of your engagement to marry, as stipulated in the engagement certificate, and the liquidation of your joint account. There are two guild witnesses present: Vice-Guildmaster Gabriella Jedda and myself, Contract Administrator Ivano Badoer.”
Ivano and Gabriella both bowed. Gabriella sat at Dahlia’s side, Ivano at Tobias’s.
“My name is Dominic Kämpfer, and I will be your scrivener.” After introducing himself, the elderly, gray-haired man also gave a small bow.
Dominic was the Merchants’ Guild’s longest-serving scrivener and its most in demand. Both Dahlia’s and Tobias’s fathers had employed his services for many years.
“Now, in order to dissolve your engagement, we must first liquidate your joint account with the Merchants’ Guild through which you receive your work orders, then apportion the balance. The current balance of the account shared by Mr. Tobias Orlando and Miss Dahlia Rossetti comes to forty gold. You will each be apportioned half of this total; is this satisfactory?”
Once both of them had assented, Dominic unwrapped a parcel that sat on the table beside the account documents. Dahlia and Tobias each had a blue cloth laid in front of them, upon which were stacked twenty gold coins. In yen, Dahlia estimated the value of each stack to be around two million. These were the profits Dahlia had earned from the original magical tools she had registered with the guild, payments she’d received for custom orders, and so on.
Most people would consider this quite a handsome sum of money, but for a magical toolmaker, maintaining a large amount of savings was a necessity. Their materials were expensive, and research quickly ate up funds as well. Furthermore, given that there was no such thing as insurance in this world, it was also important to have a safety net in case of illness or injury.
“Now, let us proceed to the dissolution of your engagement. The engagement certificate stipulates thus: ‘the party responsible for the dissolution shall be liable to pay the sum of twelve gold in damages to the other party.’ Which of you will be paying?”
“I will.” There was a cold formality in Tobias’s voice, quite different from his usual manner. “Twelve gold...” Dahlia heard him mutter to himself.
Was it more expensive than he’d expected, or cheaper? She couldn’t tell.
“Very well, Miss Rossetti will receive twelve gold. Do you wish to pay from the balance returned from your joint account?”
“Yes, please.”
From Tobias’s stack of twenty gold coins, twelve were transferred to Dahlia.
“We will now proceed to the contract regarding the house built during your engagement. The total cost was one hundred gold, with fifty gold paid by Mr. Orlando and fifty gold by Miss Rossetti. At present, the house is jointly owned by you both. It may be sold and the proceeds divided between you, or if one of you wishes to retain ownership of the property, you must compensate the other party with the amount paid at the time of purchase. How do you wish to proceed?”
“I will retain ownership,” Tobias replied as though it were obvious. Dahlia stayed silent.
“Very well. Please pay fifty gold to Miss Rossetti.”
From a bag he had brought with him, Tobias took out twenty gold coins and placed them alongside the stack of eight he had remaining. Then, he slid the whole amount toward Dahlia.
“I’ll get you the rest soon, Dahlia. I don’t have enough for the house right now. I swear I’ll pay you back once I can afford it.”
“Wha—?!”
The outburst came not from Dahlia, but from Ivano, seated at Tobias’s side. Gabriella stepped in.
“We cannot transfer ownership until the full amount is repaid, Mr. Orlando.”
“I know. I intend to pay the full amount. As long as Dahlia agrees, we can transfer ownership now, can’t we?”
Dahlia was speechless.
Was there truly a man alive who would think to take out a loan from the woman he’d just broken up with so he could live in their house with his new lover? Was there really a man so stupid and so shameless as to ask her this here, at the Merchants’ Guild, in front of two official witnesses and a scrivener, as if it were the most natural thing in the world?
Yes, unfortunately, there was—and he was sitting right in front of her. Dahlia couldn’t believe this was the same Tobias she’d always known.
Dominic loudly cleared his throat twice.
“Transferring ownership of the property before full payment has been made can lead to very serious problems. I strongly recommend against it, but it is your decision. How would you like to proceed?”
“We will wait until the payment is made in full,” said Dahlia, flatly refusing Tobias’s proposition.
“But it has to be done now! I promised Emilia we’d move in right away!”
Silence fell. Even Tobias, clearly aware that he’d blurted out too much, suddenly seemed at a loss for words.