Tough Competitors

No matter how you look at the lady, she looked influential.

Having good relations with him would support them a lot in the future. Olivia passed a meaningful glance to her sister who stood up and bowed her head as she greeted the woman politely.

"Mistress, they are here to sell the jewels not buying them. If possible, can you please give it a glance and fix the rate with them." frowning as to why she was being requested to such a minimal task when they all were trained in assessing the value of gems no matter how rare they are, she stared at the salesgirl but nodded her head as she did not want to embarrass her in front of the customers.

Relieved that she was able to convince the master, the girl stood up and brought the jewels towards her mistress when Olivia's eyes narrowed on the girl and a cold smirk formed on her face.

She leaned on the seat leisurely as she waited for the scene to unfold.

The salesgirl took all the jewels out one by one and passed them to the owner but frowned when she did not find the ruby ring.

She checked the whole box again thrice but the ring was not there.

"What happened?" sensing that something was not right, the lady asked her staff whose face was losing all her colors when she shook her head.,

"There was another ring in the box, mistress. There was a ruby ring with the mark of a dragon in the box." the eyes of the mistress widened as she stood up abruptly and stared at the couple who stared back at her in confusion.

"Did you have a ruby ring with you?" Though her voice was still calm, Olivia could see the shock in the eyes of the woman and realized that the ring was more precious than she had thought.

"No! I have only this much jewels. The lady must have misunderstood. I did pass her a ruby ring but it was not mine. I have caught it from a thief and that was why i returned it to its rightful owner.'' The lady frowned and stared back at her staff with a pressurizing look in her eyes that the girl trembled.

"But.. i.. I swear that I have seen the ring." she felt cold sweats all over her body.

She had thought that she would get a reward if she would share the news but who would have thought that their mistress would blame her instead.

"If you have seen the ring in the box. Then where did the ring go? You were holding the box all this time, right?" the girl nodded with a pale face as her mistress sneered.

"Then did it mean that you stole the ring of the ring just vanished my magic? Stella, this is the last chance I am giving you. If I hear you spouting such nonsense again, I will throw you out of the shop at that very moment." the girl trembled and bowed her head as she retreated from there.

She did not dare to raise her doubts that the pair must have taken it since she did not have any proof.

Saving her life was more important than claiming for a reward now.

"I apologize for her mistake. I will make sure to discipline her later." she replied in a clam voice as if the woman who was shooting daggers from her eyes were not her.

She sat down and noted the price of every jewel on a paper and passed it to Olivia.

"These are the best I can offer, my lord. Why don't you check it to confirm the agreement? So that I could ask my staff to prepare the money.`` With a clear smile on her face and voice like a spring fairy singing a song, the beautiful girl passed the parchment to Olivia but before Ophelia could hold it Olivia smiled apologetically.

"I apologize, my lady must have misunderstood us due to the rare jewels. We are not nobles, so we do not know how to read and write.

These stones are a reward given to us by the family who were ruined recently for our lifelong service.

We are new to this empire and did know if commoners can read but even if i check the numbers somehow i can not add and tell if it is right.

Why don't you read me the amounts." with an embarrassed look on her face, Olivia bit her lips and held her cap tightly in her hands as she looked at the lady surprising her.

The girl blinked and then smiled warmly.

"Oh, I understand. As an apology I would add 100 more gold coins to the total amount.

Rest assured no one would be able to offer you more than us since our shop offers goods only to higher nobles and royal palaces.`` She waved her hands and passed the bill to a girl standing nearby who took it away and brought a small bundle of gold packed in sacks in less than a minute.

"That is our honor. Though we would never be able to enter an esteemed shop like this. We hope that we will meet again someday." The woman smiled and nodded her head as she stood up after them and saw them leaving the store.

Once gone, she smiled mischievously as she walked back towards the fist floor where a man was waiting for her.

"Did you find the thief?" he asked with a look of annoyance on his face. His cold eyes were staring at her with authority and dominance while there was an aloof look on his face.

"Yes, and I got the ring back too. But I do not think that you need the fake ring anymore. I have found where your real ring is and even trailed my men behind the thief.

But I must say you have lost your heirloom to a tough competitor even I was fooled for a minute."