Chapter : 4
“That adulterous customer complained?!”
“Elly allegedly laughed at her.”
“What?!”
“So.”
That adulterous couple argued when they parted ways yesterday. Yes, while you were selling handkerchiefs to that handsome customer. The man told the woman, ‘Don’t send me letters with lipstick marks to the house anymore, my wife might find out.’
Elly was loading a packaged dress into the carriage at the time. Then, suddenly, the woman said:
‘Excuse me, why are you laughing?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?’
“And she wrote a letter of complaint right in front of Elly, claiming Elly laughed at her for being a mistress.”
She demanded that action be taken against an employee who lacked basic manners, saying she would follow up until the end.
‘So that’s why Elly looked upset yesterday.’
But still.
“Did they really go as far as firing her?!”
“It was Mrs. Scrooge’s decision.”
“That’s outrageous!”
“What kind of law is this? They should be protecting their employees, not this!”
“It’s too excessive!”
Everyone protested on Elly’s behalf, but the manager just shook his head.
“There’s nothing we can do. Mrs. Scrooge is firm.”
“……”
“Anyway, Elly is not entirely blameless for giving the customer a pretext, is she?”
“Ha.” I clicked my tongue in disbelief.
Elly, who had dressed in her uniform and arrived early to sweep the first floor—unaware that she was about to be fired—looked dazed.
This is truly unbelievable. I grabbed a colleague’s arm and whispered.
“Is Elly really going to be fired like this? Is there no way?”
“None… unless someone tells the adulterous man’s wife.”
“The adulterous man’s wife? What does that have to do with Elly being reinstated… Ah.”
Then the adulterous woman would be too preoccupied to care. Too busy to worry about Elly. And then Mrs. Scrooge might reinstate Elly. After all, there’s no talent quite like Elly—she’s skilled and diligent.
“But we don’t know who the adulterous man’s wife is. Don’t we even know his name?”
“Right. Who would commit adultery while revealing their name and address… Oh? Wait.”
“Why, why?”
“The adulterous man bought a bonnet for his wife yesterday, too, and wrote down an address asking for it to be delivered to his mansion.”
“Oh, then…”
“But so what? There’s no way for us to know that address. It’s in Mrs. Scrooge’s office, isn’t it?”
“That’s useless…”
Only Mrs. Scrooge can go in there. My colleague patted my shoulder as I felt despair.
“Seraphina, I’m truly angry too. But there’s nothing we can do here.”
Stop thinking about it and give up. If you keep dwelling on it, you’ll only hurt yourself.
“We could lose our jobs like this at any time, too, so avoid difficult customers no matter what.”
My colleague gave me that advice and disappeared to prepare for the opening.
But I couldn’t just let it go. I watched Elly, who was crying blankly, being chased out by the manager.
“……”
‘…while you were selling handkerchiefs to that handsome customer.’
Originally, I was the one who handled that adulterous couple. So, it could have been me who lost my job overnight like this. If Arden hadn’t walked in and pulled me away.
‘Why should this happen?’
Why should Elly or I lose a job over a customer’s petty outburst?
“……”
Do you know that feeling? The desire to punish someone, even if it causes me some inconvenience or personal loss. If this is what you call implementing justice, then I want to implement justice right now.
So, I made a decision. I will find that address.
Night. 1 a.m., when the streetlights were sparsely lit or out. The exterior walls of the building were tinged with blue from the moonlight. Yellow light occasionally leaked through the window cracks. Against the backdrop of the city’s nightscape, I was…
Swoosh.
…walking sideways back toward the Scrooge clothing shop I had just left after closing.
‘Don’t touch anything else, just look at the order form and the address and get out.’
I haven’t done anything yet, but I’m already shaking. I was glancing around the deserted area and turning onto Marci Street, where the shop was located.
Thud.
“Ah!”
I bumped into a man who was just emerging from the alley. The man lightly caught my elbow to steady me as I stumbled backward in surprise.
“Excuse me.”
He nodded and disappeared first. I watched the back of the man wearing a gray hood.
‘His eyes…’
They were light blue. A clean, light blue like a glacier in a fairy tale book.
“……”
A hooded man popping out of an alley at this hour. A pickpocket? I suspiciously checked my body.
‘Ah. I have nothing to be pickpocketed.’
I didn’t bring even one Gold coin. Because I didn’t have any. What a relief!
“Now, where could the documents be… ♪”
The 5th floor, the unlit office of Mrs. Scrooge. I used the sharp pin on the back of the brooch I brought to pick the lock and entered.
‘Just in case, I’ll lock the door behind me.’
I was searching through the desk piled high with files when—
Clink.
“!”
My body moved faster than my mind. The door opened just as I hid under the desk.
“I’m telling you, can’t you trust me, Oppa?”
I thought it would be Mrs. Scrooge alone.
“I trust you. It’s that woman I can’t trust!”
It was Mrs. Scrooge, alright. But she had company.
“She’s so arrogant, not even realizing Oppa is just using her… She even sent me a letter yesterday telling me to fire an employee… I felt so miserable…”
“Don’t worry. Once this deal goes through, we won’t have to see her anymore.”
Mrs. Scrooge was whimpering, and the man hugging her and pressing his lips to her forehead was… the adulterous man from yesterday?!
Are you kidding meeee… I clapped my hand over my mouth. I peeked at the couple through the mirror standing in the corner of the room.
Hahaha. Hahahahaha. What a soap opera!
‘So that’s why his wife was so quick to fire Elly.’
The man was juggling three women: his wife, the mistress, and Mrs. Scrooge.
“But Oppa, you weren’t really interested in our employee, were you? The letter said you were.”
“Of course not! Your employee showed interest in me, and I pretended not to notice.”
“Then you won’t care that I fired her?”
“Of course not!”
Wow, seriously. The conversation between the two continued even as my jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Anyway, moving on, baby, Oppa is getting thirsty.”
I’m going crazy. He calls Mrs. Scrooge ‘baby,’ too?
“Heat the milk to 70 degrees, mix in two spoons of matcha powder, add ice, and then pour espresso over it. Please use sugar from the Eastern Continent.”
Sir, you ask a ‘baby’ to make you that?
“Ugh, honestly. Oppa can’t do anything without me.”
The woman left the office. Leaving her lover alone in the office containing all the sensitive documents. The father of two ‘babies,’ left alone, maintained his smile until the door closed, and then—
He walked toward the desk I was hiding under.
“Let’s see~ Where is that beautiful employee’s personal file I saw yesterday~”.
“……”
“The young employee next to her was cute, too. Since she’s fired, I should ask her out privately~.”
There was no time to hide. And, naturally, no time to be outraged by the adulterous man’s corrupt words.
The adulterous man and I made eye contact across the desk chair. The adulterous man’s eyes widened.
“Wha—!”
Take that!
Thud!
I quickly attacked before the adulterous man could recognize my face.
“Aargh!”
The adulterous man, whose knee was kicked by my foot, tumbled into the corner. I used that moment to crawl out from under the desk. I was about to open the door and run, forgetting the address and everything else, when—
“Don’t move!”
Clack!
The adulterous man pulled a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at me.
“Hands up and stop right there! Turn on the light!”
“No…!”
Why are you suddenly so extreme!
“I said turn on the light! Hands up!”
How can I turn on the light with my hands up?!
“Does what I say not sound like words?!”
It was then.
“Seraphina!”
“Maltese?!”
“Catch!”
I instinctively caught the object flying toward me. The cool sensation of a necklace chain wrapped around my hand. Attached to the end of the chain was a shimmering, light-up, locket-style hand mirror, lavishly decorated with various gems I couldn’t even name, a red heart, and adorable wings!
“Hey!” You stop bullets with a mirror?!
“Seraphina! Recite the spell!”
“The spell?! What spell!”
“The spell that can make people happy!”
“Happy?!”
“Yes! Dreams! Love! Justice! Things like that! Bright and hopeful!” Think of what you want most!
“Ah!” That’s easy!
I grabbed the necklace and shouted:
“Money! Fame! Health!”
“Are you serious?!”
“Of course!” I even made sure the syllable count was 1/2/2!
“I’ll give you a chance to correct it!”
“Is this the time for that?!”
“Ugh! Fine, woof!”
In that case! The Maltese, jumping on its short legs, shouted:
