I Like These Two Pieces

"Well..." Shannon glanced at Evan Xiao, who had been cold as ice these past few days, and said, "I'll try my best to arrange it, but they're in the palace—it won't be easy to get them out."

"Oh..." Grace said, sounding disappointed. "Then forget it! I don't want to trouble you guys. Anyway, there are about ten days left before I have to go back."

"Cutie Pie is with him, so you don't need to worry about her," Shannon comforted Grace.

Grace finally felt relieved. "That's good then."

...

Now that Grace knew where Cutie Pie was, she could finally relax.

The very next day, Byron White suddenly said to Grace, "Come out with me for a bit!"

"Where to, President?" Grace asked.

"I have a younger sister, and she asked me to buy her some pretty jewelry from outside the palace. She wants to wear it for our mother's birthday banquet. But I have no idea how to pick! You're a girl, so I was hoping you could help me choose something!"

"Your sister? You mean Yvette Whiteshire?"

"You know her?" Byron asked.

"Yeah," Grace replied. "She once came looking for Shannon."

Byron nodded. "Exactly! Since you've met her, you must have a better idea of what kind of jewelry would suit her!"

Grace raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Sure!"

There are plenty of nice pieces in the shops around town.

But compared to the court's custom-made jewelry, they're nowhere near as good.

Court jewelry isn't just about the materials and craftsmanship—the designs, with dragons and phoenixes, are symbols of status. Ordinary folks wouldn't dare copy them.

His sister, Yvette Whiteshire, is the legitimate princess of the Eastern Luo Empire. There's no way she'd wear mass-market jewelry from some shop for her mother's birthday banquet.

Byron didn't invite me out just to buy jewelry for Yvette Whiteshire.

I'm really curious what he's up to.

So I agreed.

The two of them went out together. Byron took her to a Treasure Pavilion, which really did have a lot of rare items you wouldn't normally see in the Vermilion Kingdom.

Grace picked out a few nice pieces, and Byron had the shopkeeper wrap them up.

Then Byron turned to Grace and said, "Grace, if you see anything you like, feel free to take it."

Grace looked genuinely touched and happy. "Really? I can take anything I like?" she asked.

"Of course," Byron replied.

"Thank you so much, President!" Grace said, then headed into the back room.

Just as expected, the back room had even finer jewelry.

Grace even spotted two treasures made from Celestial Spirit Jade.

One was a gold filigree hairpin shaped like a butterfly, with a bead made of Celestial Spirit Jade.

The other was a necklace, dotted with tiny Earth Spirit Jade stones. In the center was a larger piece of Celestial Spirit Jade.

Both pieces sparkled brilliantly and were absolutely eye-catching.

"I like these two," Grace said, pointing at them.

"Alright! Shopkeeper, wrap them up!" Byron said without even blinking.

"Oh dear, sir! None of the jewelry in here is for sale!" the shopkeeper said. "These are all custom orders!"

Byron frowned. "Do you have any other pieces made from Celestial Spirit Jade?"

"Nope!" The shopkeeper waved his hand. "Celestial Spirit Jade? That's not something little shops like ours could ever get!"

"Well then..." Byron looked at Grace. "You'll have to pick something else!"

Grace frowned. "But I really want these!"

"Sorry, there's nothing I can do! They're custom orders for someone else," Byron said, trying to be patient.

"With your status, how could there be nothing you can do?" Grace said with a disappointed look. "You just don't want to go out of your way for me, do you?"