Granted, I could certainly see the appeal of a soulmate, but I couldn’t help but wonder why they cared that much. After all, if Bondmates were really that unique and special, then would Ray have mistaken me for his? I somehow doubted it.
Unfortunately, by the time I realized precisely what we were discussing, the air between us had already grown stiff and awkward.
Ray pointed at a nearby shop to break the tension. “Hey, look. There’s a jewelry store. They might have hair ornaments.”
At first glance, the store in question appeared to be entirely out of my price range, but I didn’t have it in me to argue the point, so in I went.
“Welcome. Can I help you find anything?” an older gentleman asked as we entered—likely the owner, if I had to wager a guess. His probing gaze was fixed on Ray; perhaps he’d deemed my male companion worthy clientele. I, however, was just here to window-shop.
I really hope the owner doesn’t mind.
“Do you have any hair ornaments?” Ray asked while I was busy feeling out of place.
“Right over here.”
I took one look at the display case and let out a gasp of admiration. “Wow...!”
The case was filled with luxurious ornaments made of gold and silver, some with jewels or pearls embedded in them. They sparkled under the display lights, dazzling my eyes—but I couldn’t see any price tags, which meant they definitely cost a ridiculous amount far beyond my personal budget. Maybe I’ll ask about the price next time I’m shopping for Patricia.
Since I couldn’t afford anything, I decided the least I could do was take careful note of their designs. That little bird ornament is so darling... Oh, and I like that one there with the tear-shaped jewels hanging from it... I bet I’d look like a chandelier wearing that...
They were all perfectly lovely...but then I spotted something that stole my heart.
“Oh, wow!”
With no precious metals or encrusted jewels to be seen, it was quite possibly the most ordinary item in the case, but I could innately sense its value.
“This is iridian whiteshell, isn’t it?”
“It is indeed... You have a sharp eye, miss,” the owner replied, looking a bit surprised that a commoner like myself would be so well-informed.
Iridian whiteshell, as the name suggests, is a shell material harvested from beaches. Normally it’s white in color, but under the light, it faintly shines with all the colors of the rainbow. And of all the shells popularly used in crafting jewelry, this one is by far the most rare and valuable.
This particular accessory took the shape of a cluster of small flowers, each petal its own separate piece of whiteshell. The shells themselves were normally quite large, so the designer would’ve had to carefully break it and then sand the fragments into the perfect size for every single piece. In the center of each flower sparkled a tiny pale jewel of some sort—possibly a diamond.
“These flowers are meant to be miniature Nemophila, aren’t they? I can tell by the shape,” Ray observed as he admired the accessory with me.
Personally, I was impressed he knew them by name. I was quite fond of the little blue blooms myself, but they weren’t popular like roses, and as such, they weren’t exactly the sort of flower the average person could recognize offhand.
“Why, yes. I’m surprised you knew that.”
“They’re fairly common here in Vaxwald. As a boy I would always see them around town, but I never knew what they were called until recently, when I finally became curious enough to look it up. Apparently some countries refer to them as baby blue eyes, too.”
“Interesting...”
His comment reminded me of the time when my mother told me I had “the sweetest baby blue eyes, just like the flower.”
Something stuck out to me, however—why now, of all times, would Ray suddenly take an interest in some common flower? He didn’t really strike me as the plant-loving type.
As I pondered this, I turned to the owner and asked a slightly more pressing question: “Pardon me, but how much are you asking for this?”
I braced myself, ready to pick my jaw up off the floor, but the figure he quoted was actually a lot more reasonable than I was expecting. That said, it was still very expensive, so if I was going to buy it, I needed to be one hundred percent committed to the purchase. Still, at the very least, I could afford it.
It probably helped that it was made from a shell. While iridian whiteshell was valuable in its own right, I imagined its jewel-studded neighbors all had an extra zero at the end of their price tags.
“This is the only iridian whiteshell ornament that I have for sale, and once it’s sold, I can’t guarantee when or if I’ll get more in stock. I doubt my competitors would carry any, either.”
“Nngh...”
I hesitated. As much as I wanted it, I didn’t have the entire sum on hand. Granted, I could ask him to hold it for me and return with the full amount another day, but this was a great deal more than I was comfortable spending on an impulse purchase. I needed to think this through rationally.
“I really, really love it, but I think I need to sleep on it and come back another time.”
Dying inside, I wrenched myself away from the display case and left the store with the full knowledge that I might never see that beautiful ornament again.
“You sure? I thought you really liked it,” Ray asked curiously, as though he sincerely had no idea what was stopping me from buying it.
“Didn’t you hear the price he quoted?” I asked.
“Yeah, so? What about it?”
Oh, you sweet, ignorant aristocrat.