Chapter 36: Gratitude


    "Uhming in~" I said as I entered the boutique


    Just earlier, I first visited Uncle Rafael''s shop but I found out he was a weaponsmith, so there wasn''t a chance that he would be able to make what I wanted to do. Luckily he told me that Uncle Luo was an artisan skilled in goldsmithing, so I should just go to him instead.


    Thus, I''m currently at Uncle Luo''s boutique.


    Surprisingly, it''s also at the same area as Aerin''s shop, which is the more ''high-end'' ce of our vige. Seeing that, my expectations were raised a little bit.


    "Oh? If it isn''t Lucielle''s kid~ How may we help you?" Uncle Luo''s wife greeted me, before asking


    "Well, I wanted to ask if I could have something made for me."


    "Oh, cing an order? What is it that you''d like to be made for you?" she asked as she showcased the store''s collection


    I saw pocket watches, ornaments, pendants, and many more. It was exactly what I was looking for, but I wanted something a little bit more special. I didn''t know if the term ''music box'' already existed so I had to use vague terms when describing it-


    "Do you have something that can keep ying a musical piece on repeat?" I asked


    "Hmm? Now that''s Well, luckily for you Luo should be on his way home from the capital by now, you can talk with him directly~" she said


    It seems like it was a pretty strange request so I''m assuming either music boxes doesn''t exist yet or it''s not widely known just yet.


    It turns out that their main shop was actually located at the capital. Her husband would open the store there during the weekends, sometimes taking orders, before going back here during the week to smith and spend time with his family.


    That gave me a little bit more of hope, because it meant that his products were good enough to be able topete at the capital. It also meant that he should have a little bit more knowledge regarding rarer metalwork.


    She said that he should be arriving home by now, so I just decided to wait for him.


    After about half an hour, Uncle Luo finally arrived. He and his wife had a little reunion as they kissed before she directed him to me about my strange request. I then told him about my specifications-


    "I see, I''ve heard about those but I never really had anyone request it from me..." he said


    "Uhm can you perhaps add it in a pocket watch?" I said as I didn''t want to give a true music box as a gift


    "Hm? Usually I saw it on box shapes, but in a pocket watch that would be interesting" he said in thought


    "Why would you want something that ys music anyway?" his wife was still standing beside him, as she asked


    "He''s the pupil of the rich woman down the street, right? I''m fairly sure she''s a musician." he exined, he then had a thought before he asked


    "Oh? Are you perhaps nning to give this to her as a gift" Uncle Luo asked


    I was pretty shocked that he quickly pieced things together but it wouldn''t do me any harm, so I just agreed.


    "I''ve seen her store before and I don''t think I can make anything that could impress her though..." he said in a little bit of worry


    "Oh shut it Luo, for people like her, it''s not the price that matters. Teachers would be happy that their student even gave them a gift in the first ce, let alone him doing something special like this" his wife said to him


    "I see, I see well do you have any other special requests?" he added


    "That''s about it..." I confirmed


    He then continued asking me for specifications, about what patterns I would like to be engraved. The color and if the image that would be carved in the back. Plus the actual musical piece itself.


    I knew that music boxes had a limitation of their length, so what I gave was a condensed version of Salut D''Amour, Op. 12. It was originally written by Edward Elgar, but in this world of course, it would be an ''original''position by me.


    I even changed the name of the piece to ''Rinea'', as I gave him the musical sheets.


    "Well, can I pay for it monthly?" I asked as I was still nning to sell some of the other stuff that those poachers had


    "You''re Lucielle''s kid right? Consider this as repayment for her helping me find a ce at the capital." he smiled


    "What?" I was surprised at the unexpected discount


    "I can''t remember that well, but it was a few decades back that we met each other" he looked back in his memories


    "Have you seen her sword? It was actually a coboration work from me and Rafael. She then told people it was made by me, so it really helped my business grow" he said


    "I see..." I didn''t expect it, but it was a pleasant surprise


    "Come back every now and then okay?" he said onest time as I was about to leave


    "Un, Thanks for everything~" I said as I finally left


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    After that my day went on as usual, I practiced magic before going back home to eat dinner


    "Mom, Uncle Luo said that you helped him a while back?" I asked at the table


    "Mm? Oh I told my peers about his skills that''s about it." Mom said shortly


    "Also Mom, Riel will be sleeping on my room again" Celine said


    "Again?" Mom asked


    I never slept away from Mom this many times, so she was pretty surprised.


    After Dinner has ended, I once again went to Celine''s room.


    After that day when we first started reading, Sis became a lot more open and affectionate. Usually she didn''t actively call for me, but now she was actually the one calling me to read with her.


    "Fufu~ let''s wait a little bit okay, until Mom is asleep" Sis giggled as she sat on the floor once again


    "Why?" I asked as I sat down next to her as well


    I had some expectations about what we would be doing once Mom is asleep, but it turns out she just took the cookies from the table as she brought them onto her room.


    "Shhh, Let''s stay up a little bit morete tonight okay?" she said as she brought themp down to the floor.


    "Also I hid some juice from earlier, you can get them at the drawer" she added


    "The apple juice?" I asked


    "Un make sure we clean up everything after this okay? Mom will get angry that we''re eating at the bedroom" she said as she took out the Illnada book that we still haven''t finished


    "Let''s finish this tonight okay? We''re at thest few chapters already" she said as she opened the book, at thest page we read


    I wanted tough about how cute this situation is. A 15 yr-old and a 22 yr-old stayed up at night so they can read a book together. I mean there isn''t any movies so this is the most we could do, but it was still pretty funny from a modern perspective.


    ---------


    -Lucielle POV-


    I was pretty suspicious of why Riel would want to sleep with Celine for almost a week straight now. I was worried that perhaps he identally made her do ''things''. So I decided to pretend that I was asleep before checking up on them.


    ''Fufu~ let''s way a little bit longer okay, until Mom is asleep...'' I heard Celine''s voice as I focused on my hearing


    It was already night, so there were no other sounds that would serve as distraction. I could easily hear their conversation if I focus like this. After some time, I can hear footsteps as one of them walked out.


    ''Are they gonna check up on me? What are they doing that they don''t want me to see?'' I got even more nervous.


    I got into the bed silently, Celine was also pretty sharp with her senses, so I have to make sure my steps were quiet. But the footsteps just went past my room, and instead went downstairs. After some time, it came back before once again going past my room. I then heard the door close, before hearing Maelriel''s surprised voice.


    ''Cookies? wouldn''t Mom get angry?''


    ''Shhh, Let''s stay up a little bit morete tonight okay?'' Celine shushed her brother as she said


    ''Cookies? Why are they having cookies? Wait, what goes along with cookies. Oh god, Milk. Is Celine-?''


    Thinking about the situation of Celine blowing her brother, my heart almost dropped out of my chest.


    ''I should have checked up on them earlier. I can''t allow my children to do such sinful acts with each other, not to mention I would be royally screwed if Maelriel said that I was the one who taught him about that.''


    I already screwed things up with my son, I can''t let it go any more worse than that.


    ''Also I hid some juice from earlier, you can get them at the drawer'' I heard Celine''s voice again, as I was about to rush off


    ''The apple juice?''


    ''Un make sure we clean up everything after this okay? Mom will get angry that we''re eating at the bedroom''


    ''Let''s finish this tonight okay? We''re at thest few chapters already''


    To truly confirm things, I jumped out of the window beforending on one of the branches silently. I then spied on Celine''s room and saw the two of them sitting on the floor eating cookies as they read a book together.


    "Thank God." I heaved a sigh of relief


    Earlier I could almost see my family falling apart once more, but the Gods must''ve had pity for me this time.


    I was prepared to fully scold them, and give them ''the talk'' then and there. But luckily they weren''t doing anything that bad. Sure they were eating at the bedroom, but I would rather have that than have my children performing sexual acts with each other.


    I already told Riel that he shouldn''t be doing to those things to other girls. I should have known, he''s a good boy so he''ll probably listen to me.


    But I''m not so sure just yet, what if he thought that he wanted his Sister as his wife? Then he''d have a reason to make his Sister suck him off. Seeing how close they are, there is a possibility that he might think such things.


    I''ll have to ''exin'' a little bit more of it to him, especially about ''rtionships'' in the family. Now that I narrowly avoided that, I can''t allow any possibility of that scenario happening again.