CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 15 PRINCESS SQUARE CUT

The early morning sun streamed through the castle windows, spilling onto the walnut table and reflecting into Miss Rabbit’s eyes from those beautifully colored translucent pebbles, making her dizzy.

"Rubies?!" the girl exclaimed, "One, two, three, four... seven, there are seven in total! They are not small, and what’s more crucial is that their size and shape are exactly the same. Whose master jewel-crafting is this?"

As is widely known, gems are very hard and not easily worked.

Miss Rabbit herself had a ruby, right on a small knife, which was pretty much just a raw stone, unprocessed but simply mounted on the handle.

On the Bratis Continent, Dwarves mastered the most advanced gem crafting techniques. They could not only polish and change the shape of the gems but also make them more dazzling and pure, stunningly beautiful.

And only a very few Dwarves at the pinnacle of their craft could hold the title of master jeweler.

The gems they created were said to attract even the gods with admiration, let alone the multitude of nobles on the Bratis Continent.

The major families competed fiercely to purchase and collect the masterpieces of these jewelry masters, not hesitating even to wage wars, among which the most famous was the Goddess’s Tears War.

Duke Theodore’s only daughter, the first beauty of Golden Valley, known as the Lark, Miss Lilania, declared on her sixteenth birthday that she wanted the last masterpiece created by the Dwarf master jeweler Władysław before his death—a necklace called Tears of the Ocean Goddess.

The person who found the necklace could become her husband.

Upon hearing this, all the single male nobles of Golden Valley were thrilled, beginning a frantic search for the Tears of the Ocean Goddess.

The first to find the necklace was a knight, who was not particularly wealthy. There were many doubts about how he had gotten his hands on such a priceless necklace, but that no longer mattered because he lived for less than a day after obtaining it, and the Tears of the Ocean Goddess then fell into the hands of a second owner.

But that fellow didn’t fare much better; as soon as he grasped it, he paid the price of an arm, so the necklace was snatched away by another...

The subsequent owners of the Tears of the Ocean Goddess are now a matter of much debate, with some saying a dozen, others twenty some, and even some of Miss Lilania’s admirers claiming that hundreds of nobles died because of this necklace.

Setting aside whether these numbers are exaggerated, in reality, the war truly erupted half a month later when Charles Lorraine, the finest young man of the Lorraine Family, was assassinated.

This shocking event eventually ignited the thousand-year-old grievances between the three ancient families of Golden Valley, who then summoned their vassals, prepared their forces, and the bloodshed was tremendous, nearly blowing minds out.

Ironically, in the end, the Tears of the Ocean Goddess fell into the hands of a downtrodden little-known noble, and Duke Theodore, unbothered by his low status, promptly married his only daughter to this lucky man.

It is said that the two were wed the very next day, the whole affair reeking of conspiracy. By the time the three major families realized what had happened, it was too late.

The Goddess’s Tears War had greatly weakened them, rendering them unable to challenge Duke Theodore and the Campbell Family behind him for dominion over Golden Valley.

But I digress, exceptional gems are rare, and jewelers capable of elevating and rejuvenating them are even rarer. Every piece they leave behind is cherished through the ages.

However, as Ireya knew, no master jeweler had ever possessed such miraculous skills.

The girl carefully picked up a synthetic ruby between her thumb and index finger, examined it under the sunlight, and was startled once more.

"How is that possible? How did you do it? Why does your gemstone have so many facets, and it looks even more dazzling and pure than an ordinary ruby?"

"This is the princess cut, which only started to appear in my homeland in the last century. It has 76 facets, which can reflect sunlight better, so it looks more brilliant."

As for purity, could a man-made one not be pure?

Li Yu did not mention the latter sentence. After receiving the goods sent from the manufacturer, he also did some research online and asked Miss Rabbit, "What do you think, how much can it sell for?"

Ireya fell into a deep thought, which was rare for her.

It was not until Li Yu asked again that Miss Rabbit snapped back to reality, her eyes filled with fervor and her ears trembling at a high frequency.

Just like when she realized she had miraculously escaped death during the election.

"We’re going to be rich!!! How much? These things are priceless, seven identically sized and shaped rubies, each with... what did you say just now, that princess something."

"Princess cut."

"Right, princess cut. Although the Arias family does not collect dwarven gemstones, I dare say that even those dwarven jewelry masters don’t have such exquisite skills."

"Such unparalleled treasures... It would be such a waste to sell them in the Western lands, where most of the nobles are clueless bumpkins, coarse and stingy, who like to haggle over everything."

"......"

"Indeed, if we want to find a big, naive buyer... no, a connoisseur with taste, we still have to go to the Royal Capital. That’s where all the big nobles, royals, and dukes are, each wealthier than the next. It’s said that the noble ladies there bathe in milk and replace every tree in their yards with pure gold.

"In the early morning, when you open your window, ah, the air is filled with the scent of money, and everywhere you look, it’s shimmering gold. Living in such a place, your mood must be joyful all day long."

"What emperor’s golden banner literature is this? You’ve never been to the Royal Capital, have you? Don’t just imagine people’s lives," Li Yu reminded.

"You haven’t been there either, what makes you think I’m just imagining?" Miss Rabbit retorted righteously, "I am a noble from the Bratis Continent, and I obviously should have more say in how nobles live. I plan to have someone take these seven rubies to the Royal Capital and collaborate with a business guild.

"Promote it heavily for seven days and nights, let all the nobles in town know about this rare treasure, then specifically set up a grand auction. Put them together and sell them for a sky-high price, then we don’t have to worry about money for the rest of our lives."

"Is it necessary to be so high-profile?" Li Yu asked.

"It’s not me wanting to be high-profile; it’s your items that are too high-profile. Such treasures can’t be hidden. Even if you sell them for cheap in the Western lands, they will still end up being taken to the Royal Capital. Those big shots in the Royal Capital also have ways of tracing these gemstones back to the Arias family, so this time I want a 50% cut."

Miss Rabbit stretched out five fingers.

Unexpectedly, Li Yu collected the jewelry on the table and told her, "Then I won’t sell them."