Lumi closed her mouth and bit her lip hard.

She genuinely couldn’t understand how men worked.

In her head, she replayed every memory of Ren showing up uninvited with gifts and declarations, only to now stand here demanding everything back the moment she chose someone else.

The logic didn’t track at all... in fact the entitlement of it made her jaw tighten.

’You bought me gifts... you told me you loved me... you wanted to be with me..’ she thought bitterly. ’And now because I’m not interested, you want it all returned? Whatever. Jace can buy me better gifts anyway... Nicer ones, that come from someone who actually understands what no means the first time it’s said.’

She inhaled sharply, sat up straight and forced her expression into something that looked neutral from a distance.

"Fine, I’ll give it back..." Lumi said, tapping her storage ring with two fingers.

Items materialized beside Ren’s shoes in a flash of light.

Dresses with enchanted embroidery spilled out first, folded neatly and followed by matching jewelry sets, fine robes and a framed portrait of her smiling that she had never displayed anywhere and was now deeply embarrassed to have kept.

Mana stones rolled out last... more than twenty gleaming crystals, each one worth more than most people earned in a month.

"There... Take it." Lumi kept her voice steady even though something in her chest was twisting.

She wasn’t attached to Ren but she was very, very attached to expensive magical items.

"You said you were wearing some," Ren replied with his eyebrow raised like he was reviewing a receipt and finding discrepancies.

Lumi exhaled slowly through her nose.

She lifted her hand to her golden hair-tie and slid it off, letting her dark purple hair fall loose around her shoulders all at once.

She immediately felt less put-together and she hated that feeling almost as much as she hated him right now.

"What are you even going to do with a hair-tie?" she muttered, placing it in his palm.

Ren grabbed it and casually used it to pull his own hair back into a ponytail pettily.

"I can do this," he said simply. "Now hand over the rest." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Her heart dropped... He was completely serious.

Lumi unhooked both necklaces, worked each bracelet off her wrists, tugged every earring loose, and dropped each piece into the growing pile beside his shoes.

Every soft clink landed on her pride like a small hammer, the violinist in the corner had stopped playing and several waiters had completely forgotten they were supposed to be working.

"Are you happy now?" Lumi asked, her voice wavering slightly despite the fact she tried to keep herself calm.

"The staff." Ren said, extending his hand toward the ruby-topped relic resting beside her plate.

Lumi froze completely.

The staff was not just an item to her... It was the first truly powerful thing she had ever held.

When she was still a commoner girl in the church with a magic title and no name that meant anything... receiving it had felt like the world acknowledging that she existed... that she mattered as well.

The ruby caught light differently depending on the angle, she had noticed that within the first hour of having it and she had studied its engravings late at night when she should have been sleeping.

Lumi had carried it so consistently that her shoulder had a permanent memory of its weight.

The fact that Ren had given it to her first meant nothing now... She had made it hers through every moment since, through every prayer she had offered, every blessing she had given, every time she had stood in front of people who needed something to believe in and held it steady.

"Hand it over..." Ren said flatly.

Her hands were shaking as she lifted it.

She held it close for one more second... just one with her thumb moving over the ruby the way it always did without thinking then she pushed it toward him because she had no other choice and she absolutely refused to let him see her cry over it.

Ren took it the moment it left her fingers and slid it into his storage ring without even glancing at it.

"Thank you for doing business with me..." Ren said pleasantly then sucked up the rest of the stuff before turning back toward his table.

His boots clicked against the floor as he walked away. Lumi sat with her hands in her lap, looking at the space where the staff had been and felt something inside her chest go very quiet and very cold.

Ren sat down.

Alina and Rowan were both staring at him with wide eyes then Rowan placed a slow hand on his son’s shoulder and nodded and his eyes were noticeably wet.

"What a man... you’re making me proud... Very proud."

『You have completed the Side Mission』

『You have received Spell: Lightning Blade (B)』

Knowledge poured into Ren’s head all at once... Lightning Blade.

He could coat his sword in crackling lightning or fire compressed arcs of it outward as projectiles or he could even create a blade made out of lightning as well.

’This is really nice,’ he thought with satisfaction, now he no longer always needed a sword on him plus he could always call it Chidori, who would stop him after all?

Alina tugged gently on his ponytail.

"Brother, that hair-tie looks weird on you... give me my handsome big brother back."

"Are you calling me ugly?" Ren asked, his eyes going wide. Did having a ponytail make him ugly?

"No, but you look better with your hair down." She loosened the tie with careful fingers and let his hair fall naturally then she held the tie up, turned it over, and sniffed it once. "It’ll fit me better... once we wash it."

Rowan let out a full laugh and Ren grinned at her.

Their food arrived shortly after. The waiter set everything down precisely and the aroma hit Ren immediately... spaghetti and grilled chicken with buttered sides.

Why did this world have the same food as Earth despite being medieval? Go ask the author.

His entire posture relaxed the moment it landed in front of him... Back on Earth, a meal like this would have cost more than his monthly budget but here it was just Tuesday.

"It smells incredible." Ren looked at the waiter. "Dad will give you a generous tip for this."

Rowan made a sound like a man who had just been stabbed politely and the waiter bowed with genuine delight, backing away before Rowan could object.

Ren picked up his fork, ready to finally eat, when Alina’s hand appeared in his peripheral vision.

She was holding a chicken wing toward his mouth with both hands and her head tilted slightly with a cute smile on her face.

She had clearly been planning this since the food arrived.

"Big brother, say ah~"

Ren stared at the chicken wing then at her face then he opened his mouth. There was no shame to letting your little sister feed you after all.

"Ah~"

Meanwhile, across the restaurant, Lumi sat with her hands folded in her lap staring at the table.

’I hate him... I hate him... I hate him...’ she repeated in her head spitefully. Why was he doing all of this to her?

Lumi’s fingers moved without permission toward the space where her staff usually sat and they found nothing.

She pulled them back and pressed them flat against the table.

"Hey, open wide..." Jace said, lifting a forkful of pasta toward her with a gentle smile.

Lumi looked at the pasta then down at her empty side and back at the pasta. The weight of the staff’s absence was more distracting than she wanted to admit and the fact that it was distracting her made her angrier.

"Jace," Lumi said softly. "I’m sorry... but I’m not in the mood for lunch anymore."

The last word came out low and she stood, grabbed her robe off the back of her chair pulling it back on.

"I’ll communicate with you later."

She walked out before he could respond and the door swung behind her.

Jace sat alone with a forkful of pasta suspended in the air and no idea what had just happened.

He stayed like that for a full three seconds then he lowered the fork slowly and looked across the room toward the Crowhurst table.

Ren was twirling spaghetti with complete concentration while Alina was pointing at something on her plate and talking, on the other hand, Rowan was reaching for more bread with contentment on his face.

Nobody over there looked remotely troubled by anything at all.

Jace set his fork down on the table slowly.

『Congratulations for placing a gap in the Hero and Saintess’s relationship』

『You have received 5,000 SP』

Ren caught the notification from the corner of his eye and looked at it briefly.

’So I get SP just for creating distance between them?’ he thought.

He glanced over at Jace sitting alone at that large empty table, staring at food going cold in front of him with nobody across from him anymore then Ren took a long, completely peaceful bite of spaghetti.

’Fuck you, hero.’