IBMV – 49

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What he wants is to find and destroy the criminal who made him a slave for 20 years.

He had no desire to the guilty party try and atone.

But there was no need to tell this man that far…  …  .

“Do what you like.”

The man’s face brightened at Kian’s words that he had tossed out.

Kian left, sent off by a man who was motivated to find a clue.

* * *

After punishing the Countess Morris, Anna and I returned to the dressing room.

Unlike a few days ago, the dressing room’s store front was crowded with customers.

The clerks were busy carrying dresses from place to place, and customers were busy looking at their dresses in front of the mirror.

Anna went to serve customers, and I decided to take a look around the store while I was here.

I heard an aristocratic woman in a black dress looking at my reflection in the mirror and speaking anxiously.

“Won’t it look too simple?”

“You may feel that way because the dress itself has little decoration. However, if you complement it with ornaments, you will feel very sophisticated. Now, if you do this…  …  .”

The clerk matched the dress with a gorgeously designed necklace.  When she saw the outfit with a necklace, her impression changed drastically.

The customer’s face brightened as if she was satisfied with the change.

“Oh my, that’s promising.”

Upper-class women are accustomed to adorning themselves with glamor. To such a woman, a simple black dress may look poor at first glance.

Therefore, expensive necklaces, ornaments, and accessories were used.

Fortunately, the strategy seems to work.

Seeing the clerks serving customers as instructed and trained in advance made me proud.

I looked around the store slowly to see if there were any problems I hadn’t anticipated.

Suddenly, I saw a familiar face.

The back of the woman choosing clothes on the shelf looked familiar.

Coincidentally, she also found me.

“Olivia?”

Our eyes met and I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see her. Reluctantly, I addressed her.

“Rachel.”

Rachel and I were once friends, but now we were worse off than enemies.

She had become a terrible friend, riddled by jealousy and vanity.  And I had thought it would be better to be a stranger to her then to be in her company.

Rachel approached with her heels clicking against the floor. She asked with a sullen face,

“What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you came to pick up a dress too?”

I answered with a shrug,

“It’s not like that, I have some business to do.”

Rachel looked me up and down and pronounced,

“Really? That’s a relief. None of the clothes here fit you. It is too much for you to pull off such an unconventional design.”

Sure enough, Rachel was scathing.

Considering the last time I broke up with Rachel, I can understand why she was so impatient to pick a fight.

Apparently, she was trying to get even with me and trying to get revenge.

But she picked the wrong opponent.

I calmly accepted Rachel’s provocation.

“So, did you choose the clothes you liked?”

“Oh, of course. You know the dress Celine Claudel wore? That one suits me so well. Of course, it will be difficult for you to wear with your body type.”

Rachel laughed. When I didn’t object, she gave me a triumphant look.

It was as if she got a disease where if she didn’t bring down others and set herself higher than them she would die.

I let her taste her momentary victory and then opened my mouth.

“I’m glad you like the dress. I’ll give you a special discount if you want.”

“How amusing, you are talking as if this is your store?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

At those words, Rachel’s eyebrows twitched. She asked with a face ready to bite.

“Is this store yours?”

“Did you not know? I am the one who financed the designer and the dressing room.”

“…….”

In an instance, Rachel’s face crumpled up as if she found hair in her favorite dish.

She looked at the dress she had picked out as if it was a worm and then nervously pushed her dress to the clerk next to her, announcing,

“Put this back in its place.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The clerk did not put Rachel’s dress on the shelf right away, but unfolded it. Upon inspecting the dress, the clerk carefully opened her mouth.

“Ma’am,  I’m sorry, but you have damaged the merchandise, so you’ll have to pay for it.”

Rachel’s eyebrows rose wildly. Her chirping voice echoed through the store.

“Are you kidding me? Isn’t this a common scam to sell?”

While receiving Rachel’s venomous gaze, the clerk firmly pointed to the waist of the dress and explained.

“Customer, if you look here, the seams are torn.”

“What? Are you saying it’s my fault now?”

Rachel shot daggers at the clerk. And soon it looked like lasers would shoot out of her eyes. The employee seemed to be stressed under Rachel’s coercion, but in the end she braved through it and explained.

“I’m sure our staff recommended a bigger size for you. Instead, you  said it was okay and tried it on wanting to wear the same size as Celine Claudel.”

It was then that I realized how stupid Rachel was.

Her vanity wouldn’t even let her wear a bigger size then the famous actress, Celine Claudel. Perhaps she wanted to impress others by telling them they wore the same size.

Meanwhile, customers waiting for their turn watched and murmured as the checkout was delayed.

“What’s going on?”

“I think she was wearing the wrong size and tore the clothes.”

“Oh…  …  .  There is a lot going on.”

As people talked, Rachel’s face turned red like a volcano just before it exploded.

“So why did you try to force yourself to wear clothes that didn’t fit?”

I said to Rachel as if I was really apologetic. Whether it was out of anger or shame, Rachel’s lips twitch.

“According to the rules, you have to pay for the dress, but I’ll let it slide this one time. Instead, when you go to another dressing room and don’t do it again. It’s very rude.”

My words were like pouring oil on a flame.

Rachel, trembling with humiliation, finally exploded. She cried out,

“Who wants your charity? You don’t have to pay for it, I’ll do it!”

I don’t know why you’re getting so angry when you say you won’t accept the favour.

I shrugged my shoulders once.

“Then reimburse me.”

Rachel, who had been in high spirits just a few minutes ago, was now completely in tears.

I heard her family’s trading company suffered huge losses when her ship, returning from the eastern continent, encountered a Kraken and was wrecked.

Any thoughtful person will try to cut down on spending somehow until the company gets better, but…  …  How could a young lady with an immature personality like Rachel do that?

She didn’t want to be behind fashion, so she must have tried to buy the dress at any cost.

In fact, Rachel seemed to regret her loud mouth and what she just said.

I saw her postponing when she usually would have paid the money without hesitation.

However, she had a disposition that she could not give up her pride even if she was on the verge of death, and she would eventually pay for the clothes even if she had to eat dirt and cry.

“That’s enough, right?”

Rachel said impatiently, as if she wanted to get out of this position as quickly as possible. I replied with a smile.

“Thank you for boosting our store’s sales.”

“…  …  .”

Rachel’s expression was truly remarkable.

I waved as I could to her back as she ran away.

“Rachel! Come back soon.”

* * *