The Abandoned Heiress Gets Rich with Alchemy and Buys an Enemy General
Vol. 1 - Ch. 4 - Julius Craft, the Black Prince - 4

I headed to Julius's room with the completed prosthetic eye in hand. Well, calling it 'heading to Julius's room' is a bit strange because it's technically my room and my bed. But it looks like the owner of that room has been switched to Julius. Perhaps it's a former general's dignity at work.

Well anyway, I entered my room and saw Julius lying down with the setting sun streaming in, making regular snores. I hesitated on what to do, but the desire to try out the prosthetic eye overcame the desire to let Julius rest, so I decided to wake him up.

And to avoid dropping it, I temporarily placed the prosthetic eye on a tray on the table.

"Julius-san, please wake up. It's already night. It's time for dinner."

I approached him casually, leaning in to peek at his face. Suddenly, Julius, who had been sound asleep, woke up and twisted my arm just as I was about to tug at his robe.

Our eyes met as he gave me a cold, piercing stare, and I responded with a sheepish smile.

"Good morning, Julius-san."

"What? It's just an idiot."

"Please stop giving me strange nicknames. Call me Chloe-chan or Master."

"Don't approach me so recklessly, you idiot. I might kill you."

Julius let go of my twisted arm, sighed, and then sank into the pile of cushions stacked on my bed. The cushions had colorful butterfly and floral patterns, giving the bed a somewhat fancy appearance.

"Don't casually call people idiots. I am Chloe-chan, who created the miraculous Balance of Truth in just three years and is reputed to be a genius alchemist in town."

"Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable about alchemy. So, no matter how amazing you claim to be, I don't really care."

"I have absolutely no desire for Julius-san to say 'Chloe-chan is an amazing genius~' and then pat me, so it's perfectly fine," I said with a pout as the beautiful Julius occupied my bed.

I hadn't come here to pick a fight, so I rubbed my sore right hand and brought the prosthetic eye on the table over to Julius, holding it out in front of him.

"Please take a look, Julius-san. This is the specially crafted prosthetic eye that I made just for you, complete with the added effect of 'True Anagram.' To activate this effect, you'll need to obtain the 'True Glasses of Anagrams,' which involves defeating the 'One Who Understands All' that only inhabits the northern caves. This is an extremely rare and valuable material, so please be delighted, Julius-san."

"Stop making so much noise when I've just woken up. It's giving me a headache."

"Julius-san, were you even listening to me? This is a special effect that would make any ordinary adventurer cry tears of joy, you know."

"Get to the point."

"What? Are you trying to be my boss now, Julius-san?"

"Just cut to the chase."

"Julius-san, you're being too straightforward. In alchemy, you need a variety of materials, and for the effects to manifest, you have to explain them properly to your customers. In other words, storytelling is important because it's a customer service job. Well, I don't think customer service is your strong suit, Julius-san, but with your looks, you might attract a crowd of girls if you worked in a shop."

Actually, that's a good idea. That way, Chloe-chan's alchemy shop might make even more money. I grinned while considering whether to develop more cute automatic lamps for the female customers.

"...If I were to stand in front of the shop, people might get scared and stop coming."

"Only high-ranking generals who served in the military, border counts, and members of the royal family know what the Black Prince Julius looks like. And maybe some wealthy enthusiasts who enjoy going to the slave arena might have seen you too. But the girls in town, when they see Julius-san, they would probably just think, 'Oh my god, what a handsome man!'"

"I understand that my appearance suits your taste," Julius said, teasingly.

I thought he had been listening to my talk with disinterest, but then he suddenly started teasing me. I need to be on guard and avoid being surprised every time he does that.

"I'm talking about general preferences. Anyway, I came to get this prosthetic eye fitted, so please cooperate with me."

"Do as you like," Julius said, leaning back on the cushion with his eyes closed. I stood by the bed, unable to reach him from my position.

"Julius-san, could you move a bit closer over here? I can't reach you."

"I'm tired. I don't want to move."

"I'm your master, you know. Please listen to me."

"I don't want to move, but other than that, you can do as you please, dear master."

I can't believe this guy. I brought him here, and yet on the first day, I'm already at his mercy.

"I heard rumors about you being a cruel, ruthless, and terrifying Black Prince, but you seem quite capable of having a normal conversation," I remarked.

"...Do you really think a man who can't even hold a conversation can lead an army as a general?" Julius responded.

"Well, I guess that's true. Then it seems the rumors were just rumors."

I thought about moving closer to Julius, who was responding with his eye closed. With the tray in one hand, I climbed onto my bed. Although it's my own bed that I sleep in every day, it was surprisingly uncomfortable. When I got on it, it was so soft that I felt like I might drop the prosthetic eye from the tray.

"Now then. I can take the King's head anytime you command me to. How about it, Chloe? Shall I exterminate all the people you hate?"

"Please don't speak like you're some kind of demon king. Why is it that you're ready to follow my orders only when they're violent? Please stop being selectively obedient. I'm not looking for something like that."

"What a boring woman."

"Is the type of woman who'd say, 'Slaughter all of the royal family for my sake~!' your preference, Julius-san? You have a quite unique taste," I said.

Julius sighed and remained silent, not responding to me.

I wished he would stop teasing me because it seemed that my acting was getting a bit awkward, and the silence in the room became uncomfortably loud.

I was grateful that Julius had his eye closed; it spared me from the embarrassment of blushing in front of him.

I didn't want him to think I was inexperienced with men just because I was sitting on his knee to get closer to him. I had already learned my lesson from Cyril, that traitor, and I couldn't help but remember his face and how many times I'd pounded my pillow in frustration. I had even failed with alchemy, creating dark artifacts several times because of that guy.

"I'm going to touch your eye, so it might hurt a bit."

I grasped the prosthetic eye with one hand and used my other finger to gently open the hole where Julius's right eye used to be. I inserted the prosthetic eye into the hollow. From the back of the prosthetic eye, which adhered to the shape of the hollow, several thin yellow tubes, similar to optic nerves, extended and entered Julius's body. The artificial eye snugly fit into the hollow with a pop. It had a beautiful scarlet iris made of ruby that shone in the center of a clear white eyeball.

I touched the slightly twitching skin around the eye after the prosthetic had been inserted. Placing my hand over the eye, I whispered a healing spell.

"O Goddess of Healing, Panakeia, heal the wounds of this individual with your power."

The palm of my hand on Julius's face became slightly warm, emitting a green light that overflowed and slowly faded away.

I removed my hand and examined Julius's face. Upon closer inspection, the skin around the red prosthetic eye was still twitching, but it had been repaired quite beautifully. His long eyelashes and eyelids had returned to their original state, it seemed.

I looked intently at Julius's face, now with two eyes, as I stroked his bangs.

There was no discomfort. Even with one eye missing, he had a beautiful face, but with both eyes in place, he became even more stunning. There was no awkwardness in the arrangement of his eyes. I was very satisfied with how my prosthetic eye had turned out.

Julius blinked, and both of his eyes opened.

His dull blue eye and the crimson prosthetic eye met mine.

"How is it? Can you see properly?"

"I can see a perfectly normal woman."

"See? I told you. My prosthetic eye is different from a mere decorative one that can just be inserted. It's properly connected to the optic nerve and functions as an actual eye. I was also able to repair your face quite nicely with healing magic. Do you want to see yourself in the mirror, Julius-san?"

"No, it's fine. Your eyes reflect my face, so let me see."

"Hm?"

Well, given our proximity, I guess my eyes do reflect him.

I blinked a few times. Julius's beautiful face was very close. Suddenly, his hands tightly gripped my waist, catching me off guard.

Is it because he spent so long in the slave arena, so he's pent up with desire or something? Does he just see any woman as a potential target? Is that what this is?

"Chloe... I can see your completely normal face, but I don't quite understand the effects of this 'True Anagram' thing," Julius said after scrutinizing my face.

After staring at my face intently and making his comments, it seemed that he was just confirming the prosthetic's effect. I wished he wouldn't, as it left me feeling confused. 

Julius, who seemed to have lost interest, released his hand from me. I quickly moved away from his lap and got off the bed.

"Well, Julius-san, it seems you're quite curious about the effect of the artificial eye, aren't you? Would you like to hear an explanation? If you do, please get off the bed, and let's have dinner," I said.

"Tell me about the effect first."

"Are you going to obey me?"

"As you wish, dear master."

"Being straightforward is the best approach. Today's dinner is bean soup. Now, regarding the effect of the 'True Anagram,' it allows you to see through the true form of malevolent spirit-type monsters. Malevolent spirits don't have physical bodies, so usually, they can only be defeated with sacred magic. However, with the True Anagram's effect, you can defeat them even without magic. It's a rare and valuable effect, especially for people who can't use magic."

"That's all? Doesn't seem like much."

"It's quite expensive, you know! Eventually, Julius-san, you'll be crying with gratitude to me. Malevolent spirit-type monsters usually infest caves, you know."

Julius didn't respond and got off the bed, though he didn't look particularly pleased.