Chapter 62

(Still, I thought she was either incredibly honest or just too rigid to think of lying about being sick, but to actually come and apologize in person... Could it be that this girl is just a bit too much of an enthusiast in her hobbies?)

Zenjiro, facing the 'wedding ring', 'beads', and 'Japanese coins', watched as Princess Bona's eyes sparkled with excitement.

After that, he had expected the conversation to naturally lead to, "So, for that reason, I would like to cancel today's meeting, as it is rather impertinent of me." However, Princess Bona, blushing and looking down, raised her eyes to meet his and said, "So, if you would allow it, I would like to continue our conversation from here. Would that be alright?"

"Uh? Ah, yes, that's fine."

Zenjiro's response was a reflexive answer, as he had not fully grasped the unexpected words.

Princess Bona, dressed neatly in a thin sleeveless dress from the neck down, but with her hair tied up in a messy bun, looked like a personification of the word 'incongruous' as she gazed at the rings and beads on the table.

"Amazing. When you look closely at these transparent beads, they are almost perfectly uniform in size and shape. And the holes in the middle, how small they are..."

Her eyes, which were clearly different from those of a typical woman admiring jewels, were those of a craftsman, focused on the beads on the table. Zenjiro, sitting across from her, watched her silently.

Princess Bona, with her gaze fixed on the table, inevitably showed the top of her head to Zenjiro.

(Hmm, her hair is a mess, but she has silver powder all over it. It's sparkling. Well, that's to be expected. She must have been preparing to welcome me, but gave in to temptation halfway through. Hmm?)

In the silver powder on Princess Bona's hair, Zenjiro noticed a piece of silver that was too large to be just powder. It was long and curled, resembling the wood shavings that come off when carving with a chisel.

(Hmm, wood shavings from a chisel? I remember Princess Bona was doing metal engraving just before this. Could it be...?)

The piece of silver, shaped like chisel shavings, stuck to her hair along with the silver powder.

Realizing this, Zenjiro's thoughts began to connect.

Come to think of it, Princess Bona always had silver powder in her hair, and her hairstyle was straight on top and wavy below, a unique shape.

The boundary between the straight and wavy parts seemed to be right where the 'messy bun' was tied.

(Could it be that her usual 'half-straight, half-wavy hairstyle with silver powder' is actually the result of engraving shavings and untamable hair from the bun?)

While it might be too disappointing to be true, it was quite possible that she deliberately styled her hair this way to hide the shavings and untamable hair.

Recalling, Princess Bona's hairstyle had always been the same—straight on top and wavy below, with silver powder.

While it wasn't strange to have a consistent hairstyle, it was unusual for a noble girl of her age to have the same hairstyle every day, usually changing it to match the occasion or the dress.

Considering this, Zenjiro's hunch seemed plausible.

"Amazing, these coins are also perfectly uniform in size and shape. Your Majesty Zenjiro, could you tell me more about them?"

Seemingly unsatisfied with just admiring them with her eyes, Princess Bona had raised her face and looked straight at him, pleading.

(Well, there's no point in pursuing the hairstyle issue; it won't make anyone happy.)

"Yes, to the extent that I know. However, as I mentioned before, I am a complete layman when it comes to jewelry, so I doubt I can meet your expectations."

"No, thank you. Even the smallest details can lead to new ideas."

Realizing this, Zenjiro deliberately ignored the information about her hairstyle and went along with the conversation.

The meeting went smoothly after that, as long as they didn't focus on Princess Bona's hairstyle.

"Interesting, you use diamonds to polish diamonds. It's a very simple idea, but I never thought of it.

How do you turn scrap diamonds into powder, and how do you attach that powder to make a file? There are many challenges, but if it works, it might be possible to process diamonds without magic."

Princess Bona's smile, which seemed to exude excitement and anticipation, made Zenjiro smile in return.

"If I could be of any help, I'm glad. However, can't you process diamonds with magic, Princess Bona? I heard that an excellent earth mage can polish diamonds with magic."

Zenjiro's naive question was met with a wry smile from Princess Bona.

"That's not possible. While I am confident in my precise use of earth magic, my magic power is insufficient to interfere with diamonds. Conversely, those with enough magic power to interfere with diamonds tend to have difficulty with precise control, so only a select few genius mages who meet these contradictory conditions can polish diamonds with magic. I doubt anyone has actually done it, but perhaps Prince Francesco could."

"Wow, that's impressive."

Zenjiro showed genuine surprise at the high evaluation of Prince Francesco, which exceeded his expectations.

If Princess Bona's magic power was insufficient, then, to his knowledge, the only people who could possibly do it were Queen Aura and the head court mage, Espiridion. However, the difference in magic power between Espiridion and Aura was significant, and even Aura's magic power was clearly inferior to Prince Francesco's. Moreover, Aura was a typical example of a powerful mage with difficulty in precise control.

In reality, it was highly likely that there was no one in the Kingdom of Carpia who could polish diamonds with magic.

Considering this, it was clear that Prince Francesco was truly outstanding as a mage.

Princess Bona, with a complex expression,

"Well, he has many issues, but he is undoubtedly a top-tier mage. I am confident that I am better at precise control, but his magic power is far superior to mine. In fact, it is astonishing that someone with such immense magic power as Prince Francesco can perform precise control to a degree only slightly inferior to mine."

She praised the heir of her own country.

While she was not aware of it, the praise also applied to Princess Bona to some extent.

As a user of 'Bloodline Magic', Princess Bona had a magic power level that was at the bottom of the royal family's standards, but compared to the general public, she was a powerful mage.

Despite this, she was confident in her precise control, indicating her exceptional ability.

Whether her self-evaluation was unfairly low or she was deliberately reminding herself to avoid arrogance, Princess Bona maintained a low self-assessment and picked up a bead from the table to change the subject.

"Still, these beads are fascinating. Small grains strung together to make intricate objects. My country has similar folk crafts, but they use drilled colored stones, which are irregular in shape and color, and are too large to make anything more than simple bracelets or necklaces. In contrast, these are all uniform in size and shape, making them very beautiful."

"Yes, skilled craftsmen can make rings, brooches, bracelets, and more. There are several designs, so if you're interested, Princess Bona, you could try making one."

The most common recent bead craft was a mobile phone strap, but Zenjiro omitted this as it was difficult to explain.

"Really? Thank you!"

The conversation continued in a warm and friendly manner, gradually narrowing the distance between them.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

As Aura had previously worried, Zenjiro and Princess Bona were indeed a good match.

Zenjiro, from a modern Japanese family, had unexpectedly become a royal consort, while Princess Bona, born into a minor noble family, had been welcomed into the royal family due to her latent 'Enchantment Magic' ability.

Both were essentially serious and had the intelligence to understand their positions and the rationality to act accordingly.

In short, they both felt a sense of sympathy in their struggle to adapt to a higher social status than their birth.

"Really? So, Princess Bona, you lived with your family until you were ten?"

"Yes, I was welcomed into the royal family at the age of ten. Before that, I lived a normal life as the second daughter of a minor noble family. Although, I had a considerable amount of magic power, so my parents had high expectations for me."

"I see. So, you must have been quite surprised when you were recognized as a royal?"

"It took me and my family several days to accept it as reality."

In the dual kingdom, if a child with royal-level magic power was born into a high-ranking noble family, they would be checked to see if they could use either of the 'Bloodline Magics' as soon as they were old enough to understand. However, in Princess Bona's case, her family's status was too low.

As a result, she was not discovered until she was ten years old.

Incidentally, many lower and middle-ranking nobles had harbored faint hopes that their children might be like Princess Bona, but unfortunately, there were no second comers.

"So, Princess Bona, did you master 'Enchantment Magic' in six years? And the jewelry-making skills as well?"

Zenjiro's exclamation of admiration was met with a shy smile from Princess Bona, a mix of modesty and pride.

"Yes, it was a struggle. But learning proper etiquette and manners was much more difficult. The etiquette for a minor noble's daughter and a royal is completely different."

To be honest, it still makes me break out in a cold sweat, Princess Bona said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I understand."

Zenjiro nodded in genuine agreement.

"In comparison, learning 'Enchantment Magic' and jewelry-making was indeed challenging, but it was very interesting and fulfilling. Of course, I am still very inexperienced."

Starting at ten and now sixteen, mastering a professional skill in six years was certainly worthy of praise.

While there were members of the Shalowa royal family who had become proficient in enchantment, jewelry-making, and armor-making at a younger age, they had started their training from a very young age. Princess Bona's starting point was different.

At this point, Zenjiro thought of something that bothered him.

"Then, what about Prince Francesco?"

"Yes, he was recognized as a proficient enchanter at the age of twelve. And he can handle both jewelry and weapons, so he is undoubtedly a top-tier talent in this field."

Princess Bona's smile was tinged with a hint of envy, but Zenjiro was too preoccupied to notice.

(As expected! So, Prince Francesco, despite being a direct royal, received the education of a collateral royal from the beginning.)

Unlike direct royals, who were drilled in 'Bloodline Magic' but not forced to learn jewelry-making or armor-making, collateral royals received a different education.

While learning magic was not a quick process, the time required to master jewelry-making or armor-making was incomparable.

These were skills that could only be acquired after years of daily practice with iron and silver.

It was unrealistic to expect direct royals, who were supposed to be at the heart of the state, to spend that much time learning such skills. If they had the time, there were other things they should be learning.

However, Prince Francesco, at a young age, had mastered not only enchantment but also jewelry-making and armor-making. Unless he was an extraordinary genius, it was clear that he had been trained in these skills from a very young age.

(In other words, Prince Francesco must have been excluded from the line of succession at a very young age. This means that the reason he was not given the right to the throne is not because he is 'stupid'.)

It would be more foolish to write off a child just because they were 'stupid' at a young age.

There was definitely a secret surrounding Prince Francesco's birth.

(I should report this to Aura later.)

"Prince Francesco is truly a master of his craft."

While keeping this in mind, Zenjiro nodded in agreement with Princess Bona's words.

Although his response was somewhat mechanical, Princess Bona did not seem to notice.

"Yes, as a magical artifact maker, Prince Francesco is my goal. Still, the most striking is this ring. The more I look at it, the more impressive it is... The three diamonds are perfectly uniform, and the goldwork on the band is so intricate. How do they create such fine patterns?"

As Princess Bona's attention returned to the wedding ring, Zenjiro seized the opportunity to join in.

"Moreover, the number of the continuous mesh patterns is actually the same."

He repeated what he had learned from a jewelry shop clerk, and Princess Bona's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? 1, 2, 3..."

Princess Bona pinched the ring between her thumb and middle finger of her right hand and brought it close to her face, trying to count the mesh patterns on the band.

However, the mesh patterns on the ring were not something a human could count with the naked eye.

Still, seeing Princess Bona's earnest effort, Zenjiro felt a sudden urge to help.

At that moment, the 'coin on the table' that entered Zenjiro's field of vision was fortunate for Princess Bona but unfortunate for Zenjiro.

(Ah, right.)

With his usual caution and tension greatly diminished, Zenjiro acted on his impulse without any consideration.

"Excuse me."

With that, Zenjiro picked up a five-yen coin from the table with his left hand, placed a drop of water from the water pitcher on the tip of his little finger, and carefully dripped it into the hole of the coin.

"Hmm, no good. It formed a concave lens. Let's try again... Yes, this time it worked."

After a few failed attempts, the water droplet successfully covered the hole of the coin, forming a small 'convex lens'.

"Okay, it worked. Princess Bona, please use this. It might make it easier to see. Hold it gently and look through the hole in the coin at the part you want to see."

"Uh, yes."

Princess Bona, who had been trying to count the mesh patterns on the ring, obediently took the five-yen coin and looked through the hole at the ring.

Her reaction was dramatic.

"Uh? What? What is this!?"

Seeing the world through the convex lens for the first time, Princess Bona exclaimed in surprise.

Pleased with the expected reaction, Zenjiro, slightly carried away, explained.

"Water lens. It uses the refraction of light to make things appear larger. You know, when you look down into clear water, the bottom of the river appears distorted, right? It's an application of that principle."

"Really? You can see things so much larger just by looking through water?"

"No, it's not just water. The shape is important. It needs to be a disc shape that is bulged in the middle and gradually thins out towards the edges."

Princess Bona, listening intently to Zenjiro's clumsy explanation, suddenly began to chant a spell, her excitement causing her to breathe a little faster.

"Um... Is it like this? 'The water in the container stays on my fingertip and takes the shape I desire. In exchange, I offer 356 units of magic power to the water spirit.'"

"Uh!?"

This time, it was Zenjiro's turn to exclaim in surprise.

Princess Bona, touching the water in the pitcher with her index finger, smoothly chanted the spell, and a part of the water wriggled like slime, quickly forming a lens the size of a magnifying glass on her fingertip.

"Wow, it's true. This is amazing, Your Majesty Zenjiro!"

Princess Bona, forgetting her etiquette, exclaimed in innocent delight as she tested the effect of the simple water lens she had created with her water magic.

"......"

On the other hand, Zenjiro was too shocked to respond.

(Oh no. I've made a terrible mistake...!)

Realizing his blunder, Zenjiro broke out in a cold sweat, but it was too late.

Unaware of Zenjiro's expression, the excited Princess Bona was using the water lens to magnify the grain of the table when the magic effect suddenly wore off.

"Ah!"

The water lens, losing its shape as the magical power ran out, splashed onto the table.

"I'm sorry, I was impolite. Still, normal magic has a short duration, so it's no good. And 'Water Free Transformation' consumes too much magic power. If we could create a dedicated magic and incorporate it into a magical artifact..."

Princess Bona, thinking of the method Zenjiro had feared, came up with a very ordinary idea.

Creating a magic to form water into a lens and incorporating it into a magical artifact would mean that the important technology of lenses would be monopolized by the dual kingdom.

(Oh no. This is a real blunder. I need to confess to Aura and come up with a plan.)

"Yes, I'm glad I could be of help."

Shaken