Sicar set down the needle and thread he was holding with a somewhat gloomy expression, awkwardly smiled, and spoke.

“Grandma mentioned that sewing is not necessarily a virtue exclusive to women, so I was trying my hand at sewing.”

Grandma chuckled a bit, then glanced at Sicar and studied him for a moment.

“Now that I think about it, back then, I thought you were asleep, but you were pretending to be asleep.”

Perhaps not anticipating that Grandma would figure it out so quickly, Sicar twitched and stood up from his seat.

“Grandma, I’ll go outside with Yura for a bit. I need to meet someone.”

Grandma seemed displeased with Sicar’s tone.

“Yura! Why do you use that term when referring to your wife? Can’t you address her properly?”

“I’m not used to it yet…”

“Oh, excuses!”

In response to Grandma’s scolding, Sicar flinched a bit, then lowered his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry, Grandma.”

Seeing Grandma making such a fuss was a first for me. Perhaps because of that, her stern demeanor felt more imposing.

“Haven’t you mentioned that you are a husband responsible for a household and a father? Be more careful from now on.”

“I will keep that in mind, Grandma.”

“Then go and come back. By the time you return, I might be at the worship hall with Kian, so keep that in mind.”

“Yes. We’ll be back soon.”

“We’ll be back, Grandma.”

We went outside and headed to the second floor of the Solarium that Jeremy had informed us about. The bright sun was now obscured by the building, and a chilly wind began to blow.

“Sicar, I’ll handle the talk with Jeremy.”

“That pest will probably listen to you.”

“I assure you, he’ll listen to me more than to you.”

“Well, if he doesn’t listen to you, then I’ll speak.”

“I’ll be the one to talk, so you just measure the dimensions.”

“I’d rather be a scarecrow.”

“Well said. Just stay like a scarecrow.”

Sicar glanced at me as if questioning the sincerity of his words, but it was just words. I’ll say it again; no matter how reluctant he may seem, Sicar indeed listens to me.

Jeremy seemed surprised at our visit.

“Oh, isn’t it the Duke and Duchess?”

“We’re here because we have something to discuss with you, Jeremy.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“There will be a coming-of-age festival in the small village of Repel, and we hope you could install magical streetlights there.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about it.”

“If you could provide magical streetlights to that village, it would be appreciated.”

Jeremy, who had been listening attentively until now, brightly smiled upon hearing my request.

Due to Sicar muttering behind me, “Should I just kill this son of a bitch,” I had to barely restrain him and enter Jeremy’s room.

Once in Jeremy’s room, I first placed the gem Sicar gave me on the table. Seeing that, Jeremy, along with Sicar, stared at the gem on the table with widened eyes.

Jeremy might have shown such a reaction because I handed him the gem, but Sicar didn’t expect the one he gave to be used like this, so his eyes widened.

Sure enough, Sicar, looking at me, furrowed his brows in disbelief.

“Madam. This is the gem you gave me…”

“Yes, it is the gem that the Duke gave me to use as I see fit.”

Sicar made a bewildered expression, but since it was used when needed, as he had said, he didn’t say anything more.

However, the expression he made when he saw me using it for Jeremy was somewhat unpleasant.

“Jeremy, if you install magical streetlights in the village, I’ll give you this gem. What do you think?”

Jeremy nodded his head vigorously, as if saying that words are unnecessary.

“Would there be a need? Duchess. This gem is enough as a gesture of goodwill. I will gratefully accept it.”

Jeremy tried to take the gem right away, so I grabbed the gem pouch. However, Jeremy also held onto the gem pouch and didn’t let go.

As a result, the table became a situation where Jeremy and I were each pulling the gem pouch from both sides.

Then Sicar snatched the gem pouch and tossed it up and down.
“Listen to my wife’s words until the end, Jeremy. Otherwise, I’ll turn this gem into dust. I’m not sure if a gem turned into dust will be worth as much.”

Even though it would be challenging to turn a gem into dust, even for the Citar family, I heard those words as if she were saying, “If you don’t properly listen to my wife’s words, I’ll turn you into dust.”

It seemed that Jeremy, who had been listening, felt the same way, as he immediately stopped his casual laughter and straightened up as if tense.

“I apologize for being presumptuous. Please, speak, Duchess.”

Now, the conversation should proceed smoothly.

“When installing streetlights in the village, we request that you wear the uniforms we provide.”

“Uniforms?”

“Yes, Jeremy.”

“I am a wizard, so I do not wear uniforms. As you can see, even here, the Duchess does not impose uniforms on me. But uniforms…”

“It’s a festival day. While installing streetlights, it might somewhat dampen the festival atmosphere, so we hope you could wear special uniforms.”

“Then, couldn’t we do the work on the day before the festival?”