IFAHWIPUTML Chapter 19

"……."

Verasielle pretended not to hear, coughing deliberately to make it clear she wanted nothing to do with this. She didn't pick up the handbag.

"Thump-thump!"

But Raphel, who'd apparently emptied his pockets the moment before, scooped it up in a flash.

The jewels dangling from the handbag caught the sunlight, glinting bright enough to snag his attention. He grinned that innocent, gap-toothed grin of his and came running over with his prize.

"Raphel, put that down!"

Verasielle pressed her fingers to her temples. A headache incoming, definitely.

"Thank you so, so much!"

The handbag's owner came rushing over in a panic, bending down to retrieve it from Raphel's hands. Verasielle was already moving to intercept—

"If it weren't for you, I would have lost it!"

—when the woman cut her off, gripping Veras's hand before she could even get the words out.

"I didn't actually do anything. The thief just happened to trip and—"

"If it weren't for you, I would have lost it!"

The woman steamrolled right over her objections, her eyes already glistening with the particular sheen of someone approximately two seconds away from crying actual grateful tears.

"Really, I have no idea how to repay you."

Veras tried extracting her hand. "Look, you don't need to. I genuinely didn't do anything worth repaying—"

The woman wasn't listening. She was already rummaging through her handbag with the determination of someone on an actual mission, and her expression had gone absolutely steely with gratitude.

"Thump-thump. Whimper……."

Poor Raphel watched his saved treasure get snatched away, his face crumpling instantly into that devastated expression only five-year-olds could really perfect.

'At least gently take it back,' Verasielle thought, gathering him into her arms and giving the woman what she hoped was a pointed look.

The woman had sleek red hair styled elegantly upward, and she looked to be about ten years Verasielle's senior. Her dress was a tasteful sage-green with understated patterns, but the fabric screamed noble family the way only expensive materials can.

So why weren't there any manners to match?

Shouldn't she have introduced herself? Asked for names? Done literally anything a person of her apparent station would normally do?

Instead, here she was, being remarkably rude while excavating her handbag like it contained the answers to life itself.

"Here! Please take this!"

The woman extracted something with the air of someone who'd just solved a world crisis. She held out a bracelet studded with multicolored gems—expensive-looking, definitely, but also—

"Um?"

Why are you giving me this?

Verasielle lifted her bewildered face, and the woman grinned, tugging her hand forward.

"Take it. Please. I need you to take it so I can feel like I've repaid this debt."

"There's really no reason for me to—"

"Thank you so much! You'll take it, right? I'll never forget this kindness!"

"Look, I—"

The woman shoved the bracelet onto Verasielle's wrist before she could finish, then walked away so quickly she vanished into the crowd like some sort of gratitude-dispensing ghost.

"What the—"

Verasielle stared at the bracelet now adorning her hand.

That had been the strangest interaction. She'd received both thanks and a gift, and yet she felt vaguely, inexplicably worse for it. Probably because the woman had the energy of someone checking items off a to-do list: Save handbag? Check. Thank benefactor? Check. Fulfill social obligation? Check. Depart. Done.

The bracelet itself looked expensive, sure, but it was uncomfortable to wear and genuinely ugly. She'd rather have left it at home.

Also, the woman's desperation-to-leave energy had been deeply insulting.

"Veras! Star! Star!"

Raphel tugged at her skirt, breaking her spiral. He was staring fixedly at a music box shaped like a star, just sitting there in a jewelry shop display case.

Verasielle let him drag her over. The shop owner smiled as they approached, the kind of smile that said he'd been waiting for exactly this moment.

"It's the last one I have," he said. "I'll give you a good price."

"How much?"

"One thousand shillings."

"……."

Verasielle's mouth went dry.

One thousand shillings was literally everything she had left. If she spent this, her wallet would be empty. Completely empty. No emergency funds, no backup plan—just broke.

She started mentally calculating ways to convince Raphel they didn't need it, that maybe they should go look at something else instead, something free—

"Wow! Music!"

Raphel had already popped the music box open. He clapped his hands, delighted, as a beautiful melody spilled out.

It was such a pretty song. She'd never heard it before, but something about it made her chest feel warm. Like comfort had somehow been set to music.

"Veras…"

She looked down. Raphel was gazing up at her with those enormous red eyes, all wet and shimmering, silently begging.

Asking.

That particular expression—the one that looked equal parts baby rabbit and kitten—hit her directly in the heart like some kind of emotional ammunition.

"More?"

Verasielle opened her wallet without hesitation. There was no defense against eyes like that. No strategy that worked.

And honestly? One thousand shillings spent or not spent, it didn't matter. She couldn't deny him this one thing.

"Yay!"

Watching Raphel practically vibrate with joy as she completed the purchase, music box now safely in his hands, definitely confirmed she'd made the right call.

She was smiling that ridiculous proud-parent smile when she glanced down at the bracelet on her wrist.

'I wonder how much this would sell for.'

Her eyes lit up.

Actually, that looked like it could be worth something decent. And she definitely didn't want to keep it—it felt wrong, all heavy and clingy. Plus her wallet was now completely empty. And she could really use some emergency funds…

Verasielle's head snapped up. Convenient timing: there was a jeweler's shop down the street. Almost like the universe was suggesting she pawn it.

She grabbed Raphel's hand. "Come on. Let's go."

A few minutes later, she exited that same jeweler's shop with a distinctly unimpressed expression on her face.

"Fake?"

The frustration in her voice was only slightly less than the frustration on her face.

What.

The woman had been so grateful, so desperately thankful, and the bracelet she'd pawned off was completely fake. The gems weren't real. The thing was already worn, the design was terrible, and everything about it screamed disposable gift from someone who didn't care.

Verasielle had absolutely zero patience for that kind of deception, even if it was unintentional.

She'd sold it to the jeweler on the spot anyway. Fake didn't get much value, but she'd managed to squeeze twenty thousand shillings out of him. Enough for emergency funds, at least.

"Raphel, we can buy whatever you want now. Let's go!"

"Yay! Veras is the best!"

The two of them spent the next hour wandering through shops like a couple of kids on holiday, buying sweets and treats and things that made them ridiculously happy.

"So. The item was delivered successfully?"

"That's the thing…"

The man sitting across from his employer swallowed hard at the cold tone of the question. He'd been bracing for this.

"What do you mean, 'that's the thing'? Did you complete the task or didn't you?"

"I did! I delivered it!"

"Then why do you sound like you failed?"

Crash.

The glass his employer had hurled shattered against the floor with a violent sound. The man flinched, tensing every muscle in his body.

He had completed the task correctly. The problem was everything that came after.

There was definitely going to be more anger. He could feel it. But he had to report this anyway.

The man swallowed, his voice shaking. "The bracelet she received… she… she sold it."

The words came out barely audible, like they were being dragged out of him one syllable at a time.

"SPEAK UP."

"The woman who received the bracelet sold it to a jeweler!"

Silence.

His employer's mouth fell open. For a long moment, nothing. Just stunned, disbelieving quiet.

"What?"

"She sold the bracelet immediately after you gave it to her, to a jeweler…"

It was almost funny. Almost. If it wasn't a complete and total disaster.

A magical artifact specifically crafted and placed inside that bracelet. A tracking tool. With the matching crystal he kept, he could see the surroundings of whoever wore it.

And she'd just... sold it.

"I understand this was unexpected. I apologize deeply."

The man pressed himself to the ground in the universal posture of someone hoping not to get hit.

"Ha. Ha, ha."

His employer laughed. It was not a good laugh.

This insane woman. Did she even know what she had? What the bracelet was supposed to do? What the plan had been?

He'd given her an expensive bracelet from a renowned designer specifically to gain access to her movements, and she'd decided to treat it like a piece of used furniture.

He'd known she had a thing for money. He'd known that. But he hadn't expected her to stab him in the back quite so effectively.

His employer's hands clenched into fists, trembling with barely contained rage. The sapphires embedded in his mask seemed to shimmer with the force of his anger.

"Get it back. Now."

The command cut through the air like a whip, all his fury condensed into two words.

"Yes! Yes!"

The man bolted from the room, moving with the panicked efficiency of someone who'd just realized his life expectancy had gone down significantly.

His employer's neck was flushed with fury. The sapphires in his mask flickered like his rage was physically making them vibrate.

"Heizen. You'll handle this personally."

"Yes. Understood."

The man's heterochromatic eyes blazed with determination. Whatever order came next, he would execute it perfectly.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious, Verasielle was ringing a shop bell with Raphel, already lost in the simple joy of buying things they wanted.