Chapter 101: Romance Is Expensive

Chapter 101. Romance Is Expensive

I smiled casually. "I said I wouldn’t use them to make accessories to sell. I never said I wouldn’t use them to make accessories for people I care about."

Nia blinked.

I reached into the box and ran my fingertip over one of the silver bangles. "I already used the same material to make the King’s signet." Then I leaned toward Nia. Slowly.

Her fox ears twitched as I entered her personal space, and I gave her the most shamelessly seductive smile I could manage. "What makes you think I’d give the King something better than what I give to my own wives?"

Nia’s mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

Nice.

Fox defeated.

I leaned back with considerable satisfaction.

Nobody spoke.

Ariel watched me with that gentle expression of hers. Lily had forgotten the piece of bread she was holding halfway to her mouth. Liora’s attention remained fixed on the bangles, though the subtle softening around her eyes betrayed her better than any dramatic reaction could have.

"So..." I took the first bangle. "Nia."

Her ears twitched again.

I caught her hand before she could say anything and slipped the bangle over her wrist.

The moment the artifact touched her skin, the S-rank Mana Crystal flashed softly.

Silver-white lines briefly spread through the metal before the bangle contracted, adjusting itself perfectly around her wrist.

Nia stared at it. Her other hand slowly touched the crystal. "This is... a protection bangle."

"Yes."

I tapped the center gently. "Automatic barrier, emergency healing, and a distress signal connected directly to me."

Her expression changed. The merchant disappeared. The teasing fox disappeared. Nia simply looked at the gift.

I moved on before she teased me again.

Liora.

I took another bangle.

She didn’t extend her hand immediately. Instead, she looked at me.

I took her hand anyway. "You’re getting one too."

I slipped it onto her wrist.

It adjusted instantly.

Liora raised her arm slightly, examining the craftsmanship from different angles. Her face remained composed, but I knew her well enough now.

She liked it.

A lot.

I moved toward Ariel next.

She didn’t make me reach for her hand. She offered it herself.

I slid the third bangle over her fingers and onto her wrist.

The metal contracted gently.

For a moment, I found myself staring at her hand in mine.

Ariel had done so much for Rey. For me. She’d stayed when staying made absolutely no sense. She’d managed this household while I deteriorated. She’d watched me suffer, watched me withdraw from everyone, watched the curse transform every attempt at normal life into another miserable battle.

I ran my thumb lightly over her knuckles.

"I can’t let anyone hurt you," I said quietly. "Not after everything you’ve done for me."

Ariel’s fingers tightened around mine.

That was enough.

If she said something sweet now, there was a dangerous possibility I’d develop emotions before eating.

I grabbed the final bangle.

Lily was already looking at me. Her eyes had become suspiciously bright.

I winced.

Oh no... Fairy emotions.

My greatest weakness.

Lily smiled sweetly.

I immediately caught her wrist and put the bangle on before she could launch some devastating emotional attack like last night.

"There. Done."

The silver-white glow traveled around her wrist.

Four bangles.

Four wives.

Complete.

For several moments, nobody spoke.

Nia kept turning her wrist beneath the morning light, watching the crystal catch the sunlight. Ariel touched hers with a tenderness that made my chest feel strangely warm. Lily traced the silver metal with one fingertip, her wings giving the smallest happy flutter behind her.

Liora simply stared at hers.

But her thumb kept brushing over it. Again. And again.

Gratitude.

Happiness.

Something deeper than either.

I could see all of it even when they didn’t say anything. That was enough. I didn’t need dramatic thanks. I didn’t even need them to understand how much pain making those damned things had caused. Actually, preferably they never discovered that part.

"What about you?" Liora suddenly said. Her voice cut through the silence.

I looked at her. "What do mean?"

Liora lowered her wrist. "You’ve given all of us protective artifacts. And this isn’t the first time."

"You made artifacts that enhance our abilities. Others improve our defenses. Some compensate for our weaknesses," she continued.

She had me.

Damn.

Ariel reached across the table and took my hand. "You forgot about yourself, didn’t you?"

"No."

Five women stared at me.

Okay, wrong answer.

"...Yeah," I corrected myself. "I mean, I’ll make something for myself sooner or later." I shrugged. "I just haven’t thought of anything useful yet."

I did want to create something for myself.

Just not something ordinary.

If I was going to make a personal artifact, I wanted it to be extraordinary, something that could genuinely change what I was capable of, not merely give me another layer of protection.

Especially since these materials were ridiculously rare. Even with money and connections, I couldn’t simply walk into a merchant’s shop and buy more whenever I wanted.

Wasting them on something replaceable would be stupid.

Whatever I eventually made for myself had to be worth every piece of rare material I sacrificed for it.

Something that solved an actual problem.

For example... An artifact that reduced the curse’s reaction whenever I used normal Mana.

Now that would be useful.

If I could create an intermediary mana regulator between my core and pathways, perhaps normal Mana could be filtered before circulating through my body. Not enough to eliminate the curse, obviously, but even reducing the destabilization rate by twenty percent would dramatically expand my combat options.

Or...

My eyes narrowed.

Something for the Chimera Project.

A stabilization artifact capable of maintaining several incompatible mana signatures simultaneously. If I integrated it into the evolution chamber, I might be able to prevent rejection during higher-stage fusion.

Then there was the Core Imprint Project.

That one had an even larger problem.

The mana core needed to survive the imprinting process while Forbidden Energy forcibly rewrote its structure. A stabilizing external matrix could potentially keep the core intact long enough for the transformation to finish.

Which meant...

An evolved creature beyond SSS-rank.