TVBDS 01

Chapter: 01

One bitterly cold day in December.

People lined up in a long queue along the outer walls of a luxurious building, staring only at the hands of the clock.

8:59:10.

30 seconds.

55 seconds.

Ding!

At the same time as the bell rang, the doorman in uniform forcefully opened the glass doors.

“Move aside!”

“I got here first!”

“Please stop pushing!”

As if someone was chasing them from behind, the people rushed into the building all at once.

Above their heads fluttered a banner with beautifully decorated letters.

Unlike the first floor, which instantly became so crowded that there was no room to even set foot, the second floor was relatively quiet.

It was a special section only accessible to a select group of important department store customers.

“It’s been a while, Madam Revelle. Did you come to look at the new arrivals as well?”

“Madam Rusion! It’s even more delightful to meet you here. My daughter has been making such a fuss. She tries to imitate everything you do.”

“My daughter is the same. Well, you can trust the quality of Rêve, after all. It wouldn’t have become a royal supplier for no reason.”

“I like how the prices are fixed here. It would be unbecoming for people like us to haggle… But if we simply buy things without question, there’s always the worry that we might be overcharged…”

The noblewomen dressed in thick fur coats and silk dresses exchanged greetings with bright smiles.

“By the way, you heard the news, right? That fiancé of hers was actually a prince!”

“Come on. A prince? Do you really think the royal family would accept someone who was raised among commoners?”

At that moment, a clear voice interrupted their conversation.

“Shouldn’t we ask the person involved about their intentions first?”

The faces of the noblewomen who recognized the owner of the voice turned pale.

“M-Mademoiselle Charmois! And… Monsieur Vellour…”

Adelaide smiled elegantly and slightly tilted her head.

Unlike her smooth, curved lips, her bluish-purple eyes were chillingly cold.

The noblewomen hurriedly covered their faces with their fans. However, Adelaide had already memorized their appearances.

Adelaide simply tilted her head slightly and asked her fiancé.

“Are you going back?”

The moment their eyes met, a tiny flame flickered inside his crimson gaze, which had looked languid as though submerged in water.

“Why would I?”

With that sharp reply, the man let out a small laugh, his beautiful eyes curving playfully.

His attitude made it clear that even if the royal family offered him the throne itself, he would refuse.

The man lightly kissed the back of Adelaide’s hand and added,

“Without you there, what would I even do?”

A low, lazy voice filled with affection caused someone nearby to let out an envious gasp.

“Oh my…”

“Seb. We’re in front of people.”

However, even as Adelaide pushed him away with her fan, an undeniable smile remained on her lips.

Like a mischievous boy, the man chuckled and rested his chin on top of Adelaide’s fan.

“You couldn’t do this to a prince.”

The only thing I need shining above my head is your lips.

At his following words, the girls who had been secretly watching them widened their eyes even further.

Adelaide sighed and shook her head as if she was already used to him.

But the affection in her gaze toward her lover could not be hidden.

“…Anyway, that’s the opinion of the person involved.”

“……”

Adelaide spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

“Please look forward to the spring sale as well. I’m sure you’ll be able to find items matching your tastes on the first floor.”

It was a declaration that those who had insulted her lover would never again be invited to the special section.

And that meant only one thing.

They were being expelled from high society.

Yet the noblewoman couldn’t even protest.

Adelaide’s words were practically the law of society itself.

“Let’s go, Bastian. We should look around the first floor too.”

“W-Wait! Wait a moment! That’s not what I meant…”

Tap.

When the noblewoman tried to grab onto them too late, Bastian casually brushed her hand away.

“I apologize, Madam. Since I am a lowly fellow, I suppose even the manners I learned are rather crude.”

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of apology in his attitude.

The noblewoman was about to explode in anger, forgetting her own situation.

“Ah, right. About the fixed-price system idea.”

Adelaide suddenly added as if she had just remembered something.

“……?”

“That idea was Bastian’s. He is an even greater genius than I am.”

With that, Adelaide leisurely walked past the completely speechless noblewoman.

Truly.

Having experienced him twice herself, she could guarantee it.

“You shameless little thing!”

Splash!

Cold water was poured over my head.

The shock of the freezing water instantly woke me up, and the rotten smell of plant stems that had decayed because the water had not been changed stung my nose.

“After everything we did raising you! How dare you!”

In the end, the flower vase shattered with a crash, sending sharp fragments flying in every direction.

When I touched my cheek because of the stinging pain, a thin line of blood stained my fingers.

You really are doing everything you can.

“You were even abandoned by your husband, huh? How dare you crawl back here? Do you even know where this place is?”

“You were the one who cheated first. I was the child when you raised me, and this is the mansion where I grew up and which I inherited. Aren’t you the one who should be ashamed, Uncle? How could you swallow up your own nieces’ inheritance and still…”

Slap!

The pain felt as if a heated poker had been dug into my cheek, and a scream escaped my mouth.

Of all places, he had to hit the same side where the glass fragments had struck.

“Get out right now!”

I was dragged away by the servants’ rough hands, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave the front of the mansion.

Damn uncle.

When my parents died in a train accident at the same time, my uncle became the guardian of me and my younger brother. He quickly squandered all of our parents’ wealth.

And now, he was even trying to sell the noble title that belonged to my younger brother.

Could it really make sense that I learned about my own brother’s engagement through the newspaper instead of from him?

Especially when he already had someone he had promised to marry.

I immediately took the newspaper and rushed to the mansion, but the only things waiting for me were a shower of rotten water and a slap.

In the end, the helplessness and despair of accomplishing nothing made my steps home incredibly heavy.

When I returned with exhausted footsteps, I wasn’t greeted by an empty house.

Instead, I found Antoine, whose face was worn down by fatigue.

“Antoine? Why are you home at this hour? D-Don’t tell me you got fired…?”

“Fired? Me? No, sis. I just came back to get some documents I left behind. More importantly, what happened to your face? Don’t tell me Uncle did something again…”

“Sorry… I tried to convince him one last time, but it didn’t work.”

“Why are you apologizing? Let’s put some medicine on it first. It’ll be a disaster if it leaves a scar.”

“It’s fine. More importantly, what did your employer say?”

“He said whether I become a live-in son-in-law or just a kept man, he’ll still be my employer, so I should go back and work.”

“…That’s a relief.”

Honestly, his personality was something else.

But strangely, that very arrogance comforted me.

Sebastian Vellour, commonly known as Bastian.

He had saved my younger brother and me once again.

He was a commoner who employed nobles, the owner of the Vellour Department Store, and above all, the once-in-an-era genius who created the very concept of a “department store.”

Most of the time, he looked down on nobles and royalty with the same contempt one would show insects.

But there was one exception.

He showed generous kindness only to those who proved their own worth.

Antoine was the perfect example.

If he hadn’t recognized and acknowledged my brother’s talent, we might have been shivering somewhere in a back alley by now instead of living in this modest but clean employee residence.

“He really is an amazing person. Don’t you think? Make sure you tell him how grateful we are.”

“I will. Ah, right. The boss said that once everything is settled, we should have a meal together. You too, sis.”

“Me too?”

At the unexpected words, tension returned to my shoulders.

I had only met Bastian once before.

‘Antoine? And behind you… who is this…? D-Don’t tell me Uncle borrowed money again using our names? I don’t have even a single coin to give you, so leave immediately…!’

‘She’s our boss…’

‘…Please come in and have dinner! I may not have a coin that’ll let me eat and die, but I do have soup so good that one of us could die while eating it.’

Of all things, that had been my first and only memory of meeting him.

“Yeah. It seems like he has something to say. I should get going now. I’ll be back, sis.”

“Be careful.”

After seeing Antoine off, his face looking like he would collapse if touched, I returned inside and froze when I saw the documents neatly placed on the table.

Those…

Aren’t those the documents he said he came back to get?

“Antoine! You left your documents!”

The moment I ran out without thinking to chase after him—

Bang!

With a deafening roar, my body was thrown into the air.

The next moment, the sound of something being smashed and crushed followed.

Ah.

I’m going to die.

I instinctively knew death was coming.

A flash of memories began passing before my eyes.

But…