Living Happily After

70: A bit of a stand

(A/N: And we've reached the 70th chapter. I hope you enjoy the chapter. 😊)

"Excuse me." Violet said unto the man sitting in the booth.

The man looked bored in his seat, and lazily stood up towards her. "Yes?"

"Can I take a look at that one please?" She said, pointing at a box.

The man took the box and showed it to her. "It's an exclusive set of tea leaves from the capital of Leidenshaflich."

"Yes, I know, these are already sold out in Leiden. How much are they?" Violet asked, reaching into her bag.

"It's not like you can afford it." The man commented.

Violet looked up, "Excuse me?"

"You don't look like a Leidenshaflich lady nor do you look like you come from a rich family. You don't look like you could afford it, just saying."

'Oh how very wrong you are, kind sir.'

Violet furrowed her eyebrows, "I was asking for the price, not what you think, kind sir."

The man sighed, "You're still at it? It's 60 euros, you get it? If you aren't buying, go elsewhere."

"Why is it a 60 euros, when the original price is 35 euros? The person who made brewed it even told me it was only 35 because he wants anyone to be able to reach it." Violet stated.

"Hah...well, it's in my shop now, so pay 50 euros and we're done." The man stated, still insisting on the price that is higher.

Violet doesn't like the man's attitude.

"Alright," but she also doesn't want to cause racket so, "I'll pay the 50 euros."

The man hastily grabbed the money of her hands and pushed towards her the box. "Yeah, thanks, good bye now."

Violet sighed at him, and turned around to walk the other way, but when she did so, Gilbert was in front of her.

"Violet."

Violet curiously looked at him and listened to the tone of his voice.

"Yes?" She answered.

"Did this man act unkind towards you?" Gilbert asked, keeping his glance on the merchant. "Tell me and I can do something about it."

Gilbert almost never raised his voice and, was most often or not, is calm in any situation. But you could tell, he wants to confront the merchant if he did something that might upset his wife.

"He was a bit rude, but it's alright, I don't to cause a commotion." Violet explained.

"Right." But it seemed he didn't mind the commotion, if he let something through his fingertips again, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

He walked towards the merchant and asked, "Pardon my abruptness, young sir."

At the note of Gilbert's presence, the man looked more willing to sell to him than Violet, was it a judgement in appearance?

"Yes, sire, anything you are willing to buy?"

"Oh?" Gilbert expressed, "Nothing I'd like to buy that is within reach..."

"Then, would you like some jewels? I have them for a good price." The merchant perked.

'Ah, so it was judgement in appearance...' Gilbert thought.

"No, no, I'd like nothing of the sort." Gilbert was about to talk to him about his behavior, but the man interrupted his thoughts.

"They are a good gift for a lover, or a maiden perhaps?" The man offered.

Gilbert smiled, "Well, speaking of which, have you met my wife?"

"I don't know who you mean, sire."

"Oh," Gilbert took Violet by her waist and introduced her to the merchant. "you see, this is my wife. She told me that you were a bit on the passive-aggressive side of matters when you were to sell to her."

The man's face paled. "Ah, I didn't know she was your wife, I beg your pardon and apologize on my vice towards her."

"So, you say you apologize..." But, Gilbert saw through his facade. "and yet I don't see nor hear a hint of sincerity in your voice. Should I get your neighbourhood's district officers and let them take your license for your misconduct towards your customers? I'm sure they would care to listen."

"Please don't do so, I beg you, I've already gotten a warning from them." The merchant pleaded.

"Then, why don't you change that unfortunate attitude of yours, before you get into more trouble? You know you've been pardoned, right?" Gilbert said, calmly.

"Yes, yes, thank you, I'll do better." The merchant bowed.

"Good, if that's all it took, I'll be leaving." Gilbert turned away, "Let's go, Violet."

She didn't know what to say about that, she doesn't have any need to.

"Alright."

"Seriously Violet, you should've told him that yourself." Gilbert told Violet. "If he had the gall to act like that towards a lot of people, they should have reported him. I'm surprised he's still standing. If he lived in Leiden or Gardarik, he would be cursed out by the more passionate and reliable businesses, he wouldn't stand a chance."

"Yes, but I have any energy to argue. I just wanted to buy what I wanted and go. Honestly, you didn't have any need to confront the man, it seems he isn't the owner of the booth." Violet stated.

"Alright," he pecked her forehead, "sorry..." (A/N: Let's add that in...)

"Mm, in any case, what did you buy?" Gilbert asked, glancing at what she bought.

"Oh, it's a box of this exclusive tea leaves set from Leiden, it was sold out about a month ago, and I wanted to gift this to President Hodgins and Cattleya." Violet explained, "It seems, these days, they like drinking tea."

"Hm, that's nice, they did help us a lot with ton of things." Gilbert commented.

Then, "Bougainvillea, why'd you run off all of the sudden?"

Gilbert remembered, "Right, the 'lady' you saw from across the street is my dear wife, Violet Evergarden."

"Violet, meet my former commander in the military, Sir Siberus."

(A/N: Thank you for reading up until the 70th chapter, hope you liked it. See you in a week.)

(A/N: Just kidding, there's more, I need to progress this...)

"Miss Violet," he introduced himself, "my name is Peter Siberus, I was once Mr. Bougainvillea's superior, though I wasn't his superior long enough to learn his first name. Shall we talk inside my shop?"

They entered his shop and walked inside the workshop, and sat down.

"Sorry, it's dusty here, I haven't cleaned up since not much people go here."

"It's alright, Sir Siberus. Can I ask what you do now?" Violet asked.

"Hah, nobody asked me that for a while, I make chairs, tables, desks, but I used to make prosthetic arms and legs for some army vets I saw." He said.

"Right," Violet and Gilbert looked at each other, "so you're the person we were looking for."

"Pardon? You were looking for me?"