30 Mother-Daughter Bonding Time (2/2)
”I never have time since you're always bragging about your adorable Maria-chan. Which I'm finally happy to have met by the way. Mai says a lot of good things about you. I'm glad that she has a friend to confide in.” Hearing such compliments from a beautiful person, Maria bashfully looked away but in her heart, she felt warm and happy to hear such words.
'So this is the famous Duchess Dior... the beautiful woman who killed her husband. Though she had legitimate reasons for doing so.'
Due to her sudden transmigration, Maria was unable to finish the novel, but she knew of Duchess Dior's character. A woman whose past was filled with pain and her life only got worse when she was forced to marry a duke from a different country. There another key fact that Maria was reminded of when she saw the duchess and Mai together.
'The duchess is Mai's stepmother; Mai's real mother...' Maria stared dolefully at her best friend, masking her gloom with a bright smile once Mai rushed over and sat next to her.
”At first I didn't really wanna come here, but mother talked me into it. So what nails are you getting?”
”Strawberry pink, you?”
”Lapis!”
♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦*♦
”Ojou-sama's nails fit her perfectly~!” gushed Kuroka. Maria stared at her strawberry pink coated nails with her middle finger painted yellow with cute pink flower designs that had a tiny pink diamond in the middle.
”I think Mai's nails are really cute. It suits you.” Maria admired Mai's lapis blue painted nails with a yellow star design on her middle and thumb nail. After leaving Black Swan Boutique, Duchess Dior suggested that they all go and visit the capitol's second popular jewelry store called New Moon Palace.
”Your Grace, it's good seeing you again!” greeted a brown-hair woman and owner of New Moon Palace.
Once inside, Maria saw that the building was very luxurious; sparkling gems and diamonds lit up the place. It was as if they just walked inside an ornate and refined treasure chest. Every crafted piece of jewelry sold inside this building was pure art; it was no wonder this place was insanely popular amongst noblewoman here in the capital.
”This is Layla, owner of New Moon Palace, and a long time friend of mine. A few years ago, New Moon Palace was robbed but thankfully the stolen items were returned. Funny, how the thief was caught by my two daughters.”
Listening to the Duchess Dior story, Maria was reminded of the Amare Carnival and how it was thanks to Mai and Isis that the con artist who was cheating people out of their money and giving stolen magical items as prizes was finally put behind bars due to his crimes.
”Wait, so this is a magical item store?” Maria asked Mai, but since her question was overheard by the owner, she answered for Mai.
”Why yes, little ojou-sama! New Moon Palace was voted as the capital's second-best jewelry store but number one magical items store. Here we offer nothing but the rarest and best of acquisitions. We're also insanely expensive, so you better have money if your shopping here.” The woman smugly smirked and gestured for the group to follow her, leading them towards a glass display case.
Inside, Maria saw a sparkling green and pastel pink round crown embedded with colorful gems; the gold sun-shaped base in the middle had a large pink star-shaped crystal in the center. The shards' edges that jutted out at the top were each tipped with a white pearl. The star in the center twinkled, emitting a bright glow.
”The Fairy Queen's Crown. It grants the user potent healing powers. There are very few that exist, and only a limited number of people can afford such a rare beauty,” boasted Layla, pointing to the price tag that was displayed underneath.
A price that made the Countess gasp, Shirone and Kuroka face pale, Mai's eyes grew comically large, and Maria felt as if her soul almost left her body.
The price read: 10, 000, 0000 Gold Star Coins.
'So... So many zeros!'