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Chapter 01
On one of the days in December when the bitter cold was at its peak.
People lined up in a long queue along the colorful exterior of a grand building, staring only at the hands of the clock.
8:59:10.
30 seconds.
55 seconds.
Ding!
At the sound of the bell, the guard in uniform pushed the glass doors open with force.
“Move aside!”
“I came in first!”
“Stop pushing!”
The people rushed into the building as if someone were chasing them from behind.
Above their heads, a banner with ornate lettering fluttered in the wind.
<Le Marché des Rêves Department Store Year-end Customer Appreciation Festival>
Unlike the first floor, which was instantly filled with people, the second floor was relatively quiet.
It was a special hall allowed only to a small number of the department store’s important clients.
“Long time no see, Madame Revelle. Are you here to see the new arrivals as well?”
“Madame Lécion! How delightful to meet you here. My daughter insisted on coming. She wants to follow anything that girl does.”
“My daughter is the same. Well, the quality of Reves is trustworthy. It’s not a government-run merchant house after all.”
“I like it here because the prices are fixed. It’s not classy to haggle like people like us do… But if we just buy blindly, I’m afraid we might be overcharged…”
Two noblewomen, dressed in thick fur coats and silk dresses, exchanged greetings with bright smiles.
“Oh, have you heard? That fiancé turned out to be a prince!”
“Oh, come now. A prince? Do you really think the royal family would accept someone who grew up among lowly people?”
At that moment, a clear, ringing voice interrupted the noblewomen.
“Before that, shouldn’t we ask the person concerned for their opinion?”
The noblewomen’s faces turned pale when they recognized the owner of the voice.
“M-Mademoiselle Charmoise! And… Monsieur Belvoir…”
Adelaide gave a graceful nod and smiled.
Unlike the smooth curve of her lips, her lavender-blue eyes were as cold as ice.
The women hurriedly covered their faces with fans. But Adelaide had already memorized their faces.
Adelaide then tilted her head slightly toward her fiancé and asked.
“Are you going back?”
When their eyes met, a small flame flickered in the lazy red gaze that felt like it was submerged in water.
“Why bother?”
With a knife-like immediate answer, the man let out a soft chuckle with a flashy, smiling eye.
It was the attitude of someone who would not accept royalty even if it were offered to him.
The man lightly kissed the back of Adelaide’s hand and added,
“If you’re not there, why would I go?”
His low, languid voice filled with affection caused admiring sighs to rise from somewhere.
“Sepp. This is a public place.”
Yet even Adelaide, pushing him away slightly with her fan, could not hide the smile at the corner of her lips.
Like a mischievous boy, Sepp rested his chin on her fan.
“Prince wouldn’t let me do this, right?”
“Having your lips shine above my head is enough.”
His following words made the young ladies watching them hold their breath in astonishment.
Adelaide shook her head with a sigh, as if she was used to him.
But in her gaze toward her lover was undeniable warmth and affection.
“…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. Items suited to the lady’s tastes can be found on the first floor.”
It meant those who spoke ill of her lover would no longer be invited to the special hall.
Which would effectively mean social expulsion.
But the noblewoman could not even protest.
Her words were the law of high society.
“Let’s go, Bastien. We should check the first floor too.”
“Wait! Wait! It’s not like that…!”
Thud.
The man named Bastien lightly slapped away the noblewoman’s hand trying to cling to them.
“Sorry, madam. I’m just a lowly fellow, so my manners are probably as crude as my birth.”
The noblewoman, angered by the man’s attitude that showed no real apology, was about to explode despite her situation.
“Oh, right. About the price-tagging idea.”
Adelaide spoke as if she just remembered something.
“……?”
“That idea was proposed by Bastien. He’s a genius even greater than I am.”
Then goodbye.
Adelaide calmly passed by the speechless noblewoman.
Truly.
Having encountered him twice, she could guarantee it.
“Ungracious wretch!”
Splash!
Cold water was poured over my head.
Along with the chilling shock that snapped my senses awake came the stench of rotten plant stems from water that had not been changed for a long time.
“How dare you forget the kindness of being raised!”
Finally, with a crash, the sharp shards of a flower vase scattered everywhere.
A thin streak of blood appeared when I rubbed my cheek where a shard had cut me.
Seriously, what a crazy family.
“After being abandoned by your husband too, huh? How dare you crawl back here?”
“The one who cheated first was you. I was raised by my younger self, and this place is my childhood home, my inherited estate. And Uncle, aren’t you ashamed? How could you swallow your nieces’ inheritance so shamelessly…?”
Smack!
The burning pain of something hot scraping across my cheek made me scream internally.
Of all places, he had to strike where the shard had flown.
“Get out immediately!”
Driven away by the servants’ rough hands, I couldn’t move my feet for a long time in front of the mansion.
Damn Uncle.
After my parents died in a train accident, my uncle became the guardian of me and my younger brother. Then he quickly squandered all my parents’ fortune. Now he was trying to sell my younger brother’s noble title.
How could my own brother’s engagement news reach me only through a newspaper?
And my brother already had a lover he was promised to marry.
I rushed to the mansion with the newspaper, but all I received was rotten water thrown at my face and a slap.
In the end, I returned home with a heavy heart, filled with helplessness and despair because I had solved nothing.
What greeted me when I returned with exhausted steps was not an empty house, but Antoine’s tired-looking face.
“Antoine? Why are you home at this hour? D-Did you get fired…?”
“Fired? Me? No, sis. I just came back to find some documents I left behind. But why is your face like this? Don’t tell me Uncle did this again…?”
“Sorry… I tried to persuade him one last time, but it didn’t work.”
“Why are you apologizing? Let’s put some medicine on it first. If a scar stays, it’ll be a disaster.”
“It’s fine. More importantly, what did the boss say?”
“He said whether I become a son-in-law or a live-in husband doesn’t matter to him, so just go to work since he’s still my employer.”
“…That’s a relief.”
As expected of him. Yet strangely, his arrogance made me feel at ease.
Sebastian Belvoir, commonly called Bastien.
He once again saved our siblings.
He was a noble who hired nobles but was the owner of the Belvoir Department Store, and above all, a genius who first created the concept of a “department store.”
Generally, he treated nobles and royalty as if they were insects, but there was one exception—he was generous only to those who proved their own value.
Antoine was one such case.
If Bastien had not recognized my brother’s talent, he might now be trembling somewhere in a back alley instead of living in a modest but neat company residence.
“He’s truly a great man. Right? Please convey my gratitude to him.”
“Okay. Oh, right. The boss said once the work is settled, we should have a meal together. You should come too, sis.”
“Me too?”
The unexpected invitation made tension return to my shoulders.
I had only met Bastien once.
‘Antoine? Who is behind you…? S-Seriously, it’s not Uncle borrowing money under our name again, right? The money I can give you is not even a single coin, so come in only if you want to starve—’
‘This is our boss…’
‘…Please come in and eat! Even if I don’t have a coin to spare, there’s soup that could make two people die happy together.’
And it was such a first and last memory.
“Yeah. It seems he has something to say. I should go now. See you later, sis.”
“Be careful on your way.”
After seeing Antoine off, who looked like he would collapse if touched, I froze when I saw the documents neatly placed on the table.
That… isn’t the document he said he came to get?
“Antoine! You forgot your documents!”
The moment I ran out in an attempt to chase him—
Boom!
With a deafening sound, my body was thrown into the air.
The next moment, the sounds of something being crushed and shattered followed.
Ah, I’m going to die.
I realized death was approaching.
Scenes of my life flashed before my eyes.
But… the flashback was rather long.
Passing through happy childhood memories, the flashback began to show even more distant past.
Wait, what is this.
Unfamiliar scenery, unfamiliar people, unfamiliar languages surged like waves and flowed into my mind.
I remembered.
This was the world inside the book I had been reading.
‘Are you kidding me? Things like this… should have been remembered earlier…!’
That was my last memory.
