TCRDG 01

Chapter 01 …

Ding-a-ling.

As the door opened, the bell hanging over the entrance rang loudly.

I was slicing strawberries with a paring knife to prepare a customer’s drink when I heard the sound and looked up.

“Welcome.”

“Oh ho, there’s a shop in a place like this? I came out for a walk and happened to find it. The exterior was so pretty that I just had to come in.”

With an expressionless face, I looked over the dim shop, where only the seats by the windows received any sunlight. The old furniture looked like it might collapse if anyone sat down too hard.

“I’m sorry, but there aren’t any seats available.”

It was true.

There were only five tables to begin with, but every single seat—which should normally have been completely empty—was occupied.

Each table was taken by elegantly dressed young ladies who looked as though they had come straight from a grand banquet, gracefully sipping their drinks.

“Oh no… Would it be possible to share a table…?”

The young lady who had just entered cried out pitifully, looking as though she were about to burst into tears, but not a single person inside met her gaze.

“I’m afraid the other customers don’t seem to want that.”

“But I came all the way here…”

“Didn’t you just say you happened to find this place?”

“My, your memory is excellent. Hoho. Actually, I’m the second daughter of Count Edria’s family…”

The young lady, who had been whispering quietly to me, suddenly noticed the identity plaques the other ladies intentionally displayed at their sides and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Ahem. Then… where does Seniel usually sit? What’s Seniel’s favorite drink?”

Apparently she had never intended to hide her true purpose. Her eyes sparkled as she bombarded me with questions.

Ignoring her, I returned my attention to the cutting board.

“Seniel doesn’t come here.”

“I know that already. I paid a very expensive price to obtain that information.”

I was wondering how to send her away since she showed no signs of leaving despite continuing to chatter beside me.

Ding-a-ling.

The door opened again.

And the one who entered this time was none other than the very person responsible for attracting all these expedition-like visitors to my shop.

The young lady clinging to me and every customer inside the shop screamed in unison.

“Kyaa! Kyaaaah!!”

“I can’t believe I’m seeing Lord Seniel from this close… I could die without a single regret now!”

His skin was so pale that his veins were almost visible beneath its translucent whiteness.

His bold yet refined facial features, his silky silver hair that reached his neck and made his skin appear even fairer, and his dark blue eyes—

His appearance alone was enough to provoke this kind of reaction.

‘Why did you have to show up yourself at a time like this?!’

Every single customer filling the shop was an obsessive fan of Seniel.

“Noona! I’m here!”

Beaming brightly, Seniel ran toward me.

I immediately grabbed him and dragged him behind the counter.

“What brings you here? I told you not to come during the daytime.”

“I had something to do nearby, so I was just passing through. But…”

Seniel suddenly stopped talking and glared toward Kayden, who was quietly preparing drinks in the corner.

“Why is that guy here again? Shouldn’t a priest be praying at the temple? Actually… is he even really a priest?”

I cupped Seniel’s cheeks with both hands and turned his face back toward me.

“Seniel. Do you realize the shop keeps getting busier because of you? The customers who have to leave because there aren’t any seats… they’re all your fans.”

“So what?”

“If you keep coming here, word will spread even more. Then the shop will become even busier!”

“Isn’t it a good thing if the shop’s doing well?”

Watching Seniel tilt his head in genuine confusion, I barely swallowed the words that almost escaped my lips.

‘Because this isn’t an ordinary shop!’

What kind of nonsense was it for a branch of the Dark Guild to be overflowing with customers?

“Hmm… If you don’t like having so many people around, should I chase them all away?”

Apparently upset after being scolded by me, Seniel immediately began releasing an ominous aura.

The problem was that even that wouldn’t work.

Everyone who had come all the way here was such a die-hard fan of Seniel that they’d probably love seeing that side of him too.

I hurried to stop him before things backfired.

But then…

The door opened once again.

“There aren’t any sea—”

I was about to frown and tell the newcomer there were no seats, but the moment I saw who had entered, I collapsed into a chair.

“Rosia, the usual.”

Ignoring whether there were seats or not, he marched straight to the counter and exchanged a nod with Seniel.

I was speechless.

“Since when did you have a ‘usual’ order?”

“Wasn’t I a regular here?”

The Prince blinked innocently.

I completely lost the will to argue.

“Noona, should I mash the rest of these strawberries for you?”

“Where do you think you’re going? Please leave the kitchen. This is my territory.”

“Territory? You’re talking about territory while standing next to my noona? Want to settle this?”

Before I knew it, Kayden had become my assistant.

Considering that he wasn’t lacking in looks either, seeing the three handsome men growling at each other created a scene.

A very eye-catching one.

Maybe that was why.

The young ladies in the shop didn’t stop at merely screaming anymore.

Some declared they could die without regrets.

Others became so excited that they literally slipped out of their chairs.

At that point, I decided to let fate take its course.

Sinking into my chair, I blankly stared at the scene unfolding inside the shop and muttered,

“…Should I just shut the place down?”

***

When I was little, my family ran a shop.

It wasn’t a place that sold specific items.

If a customer wanted food, we served food.

If they wanted drinks, we served drinks.

So what was the shop called?

It didn’t have a name.

My parents never even put up a sign.

To make matters worse, it was located deep within a rugged mountain where the air and water were exceptionally clean.

The only customers we ever had were travelers who had gotten lost or herbalists gathering medicinal plants.

The shop was almost always empty.

But I actually liked it that way.

It became a playground for me and my younger brother, and it meant we could spend plenty of time with our parents.

Because of that, I honestly believed my family was incredibly rich.

Who else could afford to run a shop with no sign in a place where hardly anyone ever passed by?

Surely only someone treating it as a hobby.

But when my parents died in an accident when I was eight years old…

The truth came out.

“N-Noona… Waaaah… We can’t see Mom and Dad anymore?”

“Yeah. This is where we say goodbye to them for the last time.”

I tightly held Seniel’s hand as he sobbed uncontrollably before our parents’ graves, doing my best to hold back my own tears.

Then a woman dressed entirely in black approached us.

“You’re Rosia, aren’t you?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m someone who lent money to your father. Read this.”

She lent Dad money?

For a moment, my tears stopped.

Even the grief of losing my parents froze in place.

I carefully examined the document she handed me.

It was a contract.

The handwriting and signature were unmistakably Father’s.

He had taught me how to read and write himself.

“There can be no mistake…”

“Your father passed away, so a debt of 1 billion Jeri has now been inherited by you.”

One billion Jeri!!

My mouth fell open.

It was an astronomical amount.

The kind of money someone might never even touch after working their entire life.

Dad borrowed that much?

What on earth did he spend it on?

The question barely formed before another thought came first.

I absolutely cannot inherit this debt.

I immediately tried to deny it.

“I’ve never heard my father mention any debt. And besides, he’s already dead. How can it possibly be inherited?”

“See this clause here? ‘Upon death, the debt shall be inherited by the deceased’s children.’ That’s the law.”

“Is there any way to refuse the inheritance?”

“There is exactly one.”

She smiled.

It was a chilling smile.

“You both die here.”

“So… there’s no other way?”

“There isn’t. Come with me.”

The place she took us to was filled with children around my age.

There, Seniel and I underwent brutal physical training and learned strange techniques.

Every single day, we fought.

Again and again.

It was a system of endless competition.

Only those who ranked high enough were allowed to eat.

If someone starved to death…

Their body was simply thrown away.

Neither Seniel nor I had ever fought another person before.

The environment was far too harsh for us.

As the days passed without making the rankings, we often went hungry.

Little by little, Seniel’s body grew thinner.

‘This can’t go on.’

No matter how enormous the debt was, we couldn’t survive living like this.

I tried escaping several times with Seniel.

But we never succeeded.

The place was practically a fortress.

There were guards watching us everywhere.

Both where we could see them…

And where we couldn’t.

The first time we were caught, I begged the woman after she locked us in a cell.

“Please… I’ll work as hard as I can. I don’t know what you’re trying to raise in this training camp, but I’ll do it. Just… please let my little brother go.”

I clenched my teeth as I pleaded, hoping that at least Seniel could escape.

The woman answered indifferently.

“Don’t misunderstand. The weak don’t have the right to choose.”

If there was no way to escape…

Then I had no choice but to survive first.

If I were alone, that would be one thing.

But I couldn’t let Seniel die in a place like this.

So…

I trained like a madwoman.

I sharpened my techniques.

I strengthened my body.

One month later…

I defeated a huge boy who hadn’t once fallen out of the rankings for over a year.

The adults said no child had ever risen so quickly after entering the training camp.

They called me a genius blessed with extraordinary talent.

Step by step…

I climbed the rankings.

And on the day I finally reached first place…

I went back to the woman.

“…Can I choose now?”