Chapter 869: Gifts [Bonus - ]

Chapter 869: Gifts [Bonus Chapter]

The cabin of the Zenith IVR was so quiet that the tiny click of the box’s silver clasp opening sounded like a twig snapping in a silent forest.

Martha’s hands trembled so badly that her knuckles grazed the edge of the center console, and her chestnut hair hung forward across her cheeks like a curtain.

…Resting in the molded black velvet was a gold ring.

It was slender and modest, with no big gemstone and no showy engraving.

The metal had a soft brushed shine, pale yellow gold that glowed gently under the amber lights of the dashboard and tucked into a smaller groove right beside it was an identical band, a little smaller and a little more delicate, made from the exact same gold.

It was a pair of rings.

Silas looked down at the velvet cushion, and a plain translucent tab flickered to life across his vision where only he could see it.

[Item:] Gold Band (Pair)

[Tier:] 1

[Effect:] Protects a Lord wearer from some low-level magic attacks.

It was an entry-level enchanted item, the kind sold behind glass counters in the mid-range jewelry shops.

Ordinary families pooled their wages to buy them for children heading off to academies, hoping a little protection might keep them safe however to any powerful Lord, a Tier 1 item was barely more than a trinket.

And yet, sitting in the quiet of the idling car, Silas felt like he was holding something that weighed as much as a mountain.

“I… I know it’s only a small thing, Master Silas,” Martha whispered, the words tumbling out in a frantic rush as she kept her eyes fixed firmly on the floor mat.

Her cheeks were on fire, the crimson spreading down past her collarbones beneath the soft cashmere as she gripped the edges of the velvet box until her thumbs went white.

“Since… since you became a Lord…” she stammered, “I read the news… I know people challenge each other, and that there are dangerous things in the Sovereign Realm that attack with terrible magic. I know you’re extraordinarily strong, Master Silas, but… even the strongest person can get caught off guard. I thought… even if it’s only Tier 1… even if it’s only a small barrier… it might stop one stray spell. It might give you half a second…”

She swallowed hard, a tiny nervous hitch catching in her throat.

“I’ve been saving my salary for a while to buy the pair,” she confessed, her fingers twitching against the velvet. “I bought the smaller one for myself so that… so that when I’m at the stove, or out in the garden with the girls, I’d have something that matches yours… But you don’t have to wear it, Master Silas! Really! It’s far too plain for the Lord of Blessed Land! If you just keep it in a drawer in your study… or even if you never put it on at all… as long as you’re happy with me… as long as you’re glad to have me in your home… That’s more than enough for this old woman.”

Silas sat completely still behind the wheel.

His hands stayed resting on the leather and his posture froze, and his thoughts went hazy.

’A gift…?’

The word drifted through his mind like smoke through an empty room.

’A gift… for me?’

It had never even crossed his mind that she might buy him something.

He was the one who bought the house, paid the hospital bills, looked after his sister and took care of everyone living under his roof… That was just how it worked, and he’d never once minded.

But nobody had ever taken their own wages, credits saved one by one from sweeping floors and washing aprons and scrubbing kettles, and secretly bought him a simple gold band because they lay awake at night worrying that a stray spell might hurt him…

A strange heavy warmth settled behind Silas’s ribs, so deep that his throat tightened as he slowly let go of the steering wheel.

He reached across the console and closed his broad fingers gently around Martha’s trembling hands, wrapping both of her palms inside his own.

Her breath caught in a soft gasp and her eyes flew up to his.

There was no teasing smirk on his face now. His expression was steady and clear, and the sincerity in it made the small cabin feel warm and still.

“Martha,” Silas said softly. “Thank you… Really. This means more to me than you know.”

A fragile teary smile touched the corners of her lips, and her eyes glistened in the dashboard light.

“Y-you like it…?”

“I love it,” Silas said simply.

Martha made a tiny wounded sound and pressed her lips together hard, and a single tear slipped free anyway.

’He loves it,’ she thought. ’He said he loves it… Oh no, I’m going to cry in his car… I’m going to cry in his very expensive car…’

Silas didn’t let go of her hands.

He lowered his gaze to the two rings sitting in the open box, and deep inside himself, he reached for his UP.

He didn’t hesitate or count the cost.

’She saved for months for this,’ he thought. ’Then I’m making sure it actually does its job…’

UP poured into the two gold bands in a silent concentrated stream.

Martha gasped.

Her hands jerked in his grip as a warm brilliant light bloomed out of the midnight-blue velvet.

The light was soft, a pulsing glow of deep gold and violet that beat outward like a heart, and the plain metal of the rings drank it in, shifting and refining right in front of their eyes.

The soft dull shine of the gold sharpened into a flawless polish that seemed to hum and tiny flowing script etched itself around the inside and outside of each band, glowing faintly like starlight before sinking into the metal and disappearing.

Martha stared at the box with her mouth falling open.

“M-Master Silas…? The… the rings! They’re glowing! What’s happening to them?!”

She didn’t know anything about UP, and she had no idea what a tier really meant.

All she knew was that the little rings she’d bought with her savings had just turned into something that looked like it belonged in a museum.

In front of Silas’s eyes, the tab updated itself.

[Item: Heartbound Rings (Pair)]

[Tier: 4]

[Effects: Blocks magic attacks up to Tier 4 with an automatic barrier, Each wearer can sense when the other is in danger, Grants a non-Lord wearer a small personal shield.]

Silas looked down at the upgraded rings, and a slow satisfied smile curved his lips.

’Tier 4… I’m really upgrading a lot of things these days.’

A Tier 4 defensive item was the kind of thing only clan elders and veteran Lords wore.

It would throw up a barrier on its own without the wearer even having to think about it.

More than that, the pair was linked now… if Martha was ever in danger, he’d feel it no matter where he was, and her unawakened body would have a shield of its own wrapped around it every hour of the day.

’Nobody’s ever touching her,’ Silas thought.

He turned his hand over and picked the larger ring up out of its velvet bed.

He held it out between two fingers with his wrist resting on the console, and that familiar wicked teasing light came back into his dark blue eyes, the one that always made her heart flutter.

“Well, Miss Martha,” Silas drawled, holding out his left hand to her. “You bought it… So you have to put it on me.”

Martha’s cheeks, which had only just started to cool down, instantly reignited.

“M-me?!” she squeaked, staring at his open hand.

Her mind started spinning in dizzy circles.

’His hand…?! He wants me to put it on his hand?!’

She looked at his broad strong fingers, at the neat nails and the faint dusting of dark hair along his wrist.

’Which finger…?! If I put it on his index finger, it’s just a ring… If I put it on his middle finger, it’s just a ring… But… but the ring finger…!’

Panic seized her throat.

’The ring finger is for engagements! It’s for marriage! A maid can’t put a ring on her master’s ring finger! People would talk! What would Lady Lia think?!’

Except… she’d measured that finger.

A while ago, she’d quietly slipped one of his old gloves over the jeweler’s sizing rod when nobody was watching and measured the fourth finger of his left hand.

That was the size she’d asked for… She’d chosen that finger before she’d even bought the ring.

’It doesn’t mean anything…’ Martha chanted desperately to herself, her heart hammering so hard she could feel it in her teeth. ’It’s just enchanted metal! It’s to protect him! It doesn’t mean anything at all…!’

With shaking pale fingers, she reached out and took the warm heavy ring from him.

She took his large left hand in both of hers, and the warmth of his skin sent a dizzy jolt straight up her arms.

Slowly, holding her breath, Martha lined the gold band up with his fourth finger and slid it down. It glided over his knuckle with perfect smoothness and settled snugly at the base of his finger.

The ring pulsed once in a warm chime that vibrated through both of their palms, and then it went quiet and settled against his skin like it had always been there.

Martha let out a long ragged breath of pure shuddering relief and stared at the gold gleaming on his hand.

“There… it… it fits, Master Silas…”

“It’s perfect,” Silas said, turning his hand slightly so the ring caught the light. “You even got the size right… How’d you know my size, Martha?”

Martha froze.

“…I have my ways.”

“Your ways, huh? You’re sure you weren’t stalking me or something…?”

“A housekeeper knows things, Master Silas,” she said with as much dignity as a woman can have while turning the color of a ripe tomato.

Silas didn’t pull his hand away, instead, his lips spread into a dazzling dangerous grin.

“My turn,” Silas whispered.

Before Martha could process the words, his right hand darted forward and plucked the smaller gold band out of the velvet box.

He didn’t hesitate or argue with himself about what was proper.

He just took Martha’s left hand, his long warm fingers supporting the back of her knuckles, and Martha’s eyes flew wide in absolute terror as she realized exactly what he was doing.

“Master Silas, wait—!”

He slid the smaller band straight onto the fourth finger of her left hand and it settled against her skin with flawless perfect fit.

A soft wave of warmth washed through her whole body as the barrier bound itself to her and wrapped her in an invisible blanket of protection she couldn’t see but could somehow feel.

Martha sat frozen in the passenger seat, staring down at her own hand.

The gold band gleamed softly against her pale skin on her left ring finger and right beside it, on his left ring finger, was the matching band.

A pair… worn on the exact fingers people saved for forever.

Martha’s nervous system simply gave out.

The blush that exploded across her face was so violent that her vision went white at the edges, and a high breathless squeak tore from her throat before she folded forward over her knees and buried her entire face in her lap with her shoulders shaking.

“S…stop!”

Silas threw his head back and laughed as he reached over and gave her hunched shoulder a gentle affectionate pat.

“You’re adorable, Martha,” Silas chuckled. “Come on, sit up before you hurt your neck…”

Martha uncurled herself slowly, keeping one hand pressed flat over her burning cheek and peeking at him through her fingers with wide teary brown eyes.

Her other hand, the one with the ring, she kept curled tight against her chest like she was afraid it might fly away.

“Y-you can’t just do that, Master Silas…” she whispered weakly.

“Do what?”

“Th-that! The finger! You know which finger that is!”

“I do,” Silas agreed calmly.

“Then why…?”

Silas just smiled at her and shifted the Zenith back into drive.

“Because it fits… Don’t you agree?” he said.

Martha stared at him then she stared down at the ring on her hand, still humming with that quiet pulse she could feel all the way up her arm.

She thought about every uniform hanging in her wardrobe, every early morning, every long night alone in her old flat listening to the kettle tick as it cooled.

’It doesn’t mean anything…’ She tried telling herself one last time.

She ran her thumb slowly over the gold band, and her heart answered back louder than her head ever could.

’…Liar.’

Martha pressed her ringed hand against her chest, turned her burning face toward the window, and smiled so hard it hurt.