CH 136

Chapter 136

Ian escorted Laritte into the store.

This place had been labeled as a boutique aimed at the middle class and above. All the sculptures that caught the eye were luxurious. A chandelier made of a hundred pieces of glass, like entering a noble mansion. Silver painted handle…

In addition, there were three more floors that were as wide as banquet halls. Even so, it couldn’t compare to the Reinhardt Mansion, Ian thought.

‘Once in a while, simple shopping like this wouldn’t be bad.’

It was a burdensome price to go down to the level of a petty noble in the province. From the eyes of the only duke in the empire, he was being infinitely modest.

In any case, he was going to spend as much money as possible here to please Laritte.

‘Let’s win her love…!’

Meanwhile, Laritte had a different idea. The maids’ faces flashed up.

‘What kind of clothes should I present to Alice…’

As Ian and Laritte crossed the entrance of the store and entered, a young male clerk joined them and bent down.

“Welcome! I am the staff, Fabius.”

It was a boutique that was not lacking from the latest fashion stores in the capital, where each customer had a staff member.

“Are there any clothes the distinguished guests are looking for? …Uhh.”

His conclusion was strange. Fabius furrowed his handsome eyebrows and glanced up and down at Ian and Laritte.

‘…Who are these beggars?’

He was thinking so. This store was targeted at the middle class. It was hard for commoners to buy even a single set of clothes… but look at these guests. It was the most foreign and worn-out outfit of all the staff and guests of this place.

Soon, Fabius’ heart cooled.

Why was he providing services to those who couldn’t afford them anyway?

“Please feel free to lock around.”

His job was to cling to his customers like a stamp and explain the dresses they admired, but he just kept his mouth shut and followed after Ian and Laritte. If it had ended like this, there would have been no problem with Fabius’ job.

However, when Ian took out a piece of clothing, he rushed to stop it.

“Because the material is good, you can’t just touch it and make it bad…!”

“….”

Ian laughed furiously under his hidden face.

Look at this…

Normally, he would have let it go, but now Laritte was next to him. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to give Laritte the best date but to start a fight? Meanwhile, the staff checked to see if Laritte’s hands were dirty so as not to give dirt on the clothes she was looking at as she remembered the maids.

Ian ordered.

“Hey, call the manager here.”

“What?”

“Call the manager.”

A slow voice choked Fabius.

Just as Ian could read Laritte’s feelings, she could read his feelings as well.

‘Why is this person so angry?’

She was very good at being ignored. Just this much… On the contrary, it was cute to see a man who commanded even across the sea get angry because he was ignored by an employee.

‘What is… let’s see what my husband calls the manager for.’

Ian didn’t seem like one to calm his anger with the intuitive method of revealing his identity. Before long, the manager, with his head more than half bald, walked slowly. Rather than ignoring the poor-looking couple guests, his original personality seemed to be like that.

“What is the matter, distinguished guests?”

The manager asked.

He wasn’t polite, but he didn’t have an air of disrespect.

Ian crossed his arms arrogantly. His whole body was tightly covered, so the usual sense of intimidation was not conveyed. Nonetheless, it was enough to make others secretly discouraged.

“I think several staff members will have to help us with our shopping. One person is not enough.”

“…Could you say it again?”

As the manager observed his behavior again, he seemed like an extremely poor commoner.

The manager wasn’t dismissing him as someone who had no money, but he felt it was inconsistent. Instead of repeating what he had said, Ian took out a bag of gold coins from his chest and showed it to him.

A wide smile appeared on the manager’s face as if they had magical powers. On the other hand, Fabius, who glanced at him, opened his mouth.

‘Uh, uh, uh…?’

Now, Ian and Larittee were perceived as strange rich people instead of a poor couple.

Judging by Ian’s hard and dark hands, the manager thought that he might have deserted and disguised himself as a great imperial knight.

‘Whatever. All we need to do is earn money!’

Unknowingly, Ian said as he rubbed his hands together.

“I’m saying it again. I’m going to spend a lot of money here, so get me several staff.”

“You have come to the right place!”

While Fabius, who ignored them at first, was at a loss for what to do, the manager busied himself. As several staff were attached to Laritte, the manager started showing Ian the catalog.

“How about this? It is a style that many women are looking for these days. The skirt is fluffed up without a pannier, and it’s comfortable in everyday life. It is also trending in the capital, but surely it’s even close to the beauty of the lady’s feet!”

At that, the manager pointed to Laritte and flattered her very sincerely even though Laritte hadn’t even shown a single strand of her hair! Even Ian was mistaken that this person was telling the truth. That was when he had roughly five dresses to choose from.

The manager wondered if he should introduce other items.

‘Even ordinary customers think that they overspent after buying three dresses…’

“Excuse me, distinguished guest. Exactly how much money are you willing to spend? A little or a lot?”

“A lot.”

Ian replied with a tone of saying, “What can I do for a ‘pretty woman’?”

“You are an amazing person. yes!”

Soon, the manager immediately brought out another stack of catalogs.

Meanwhile, Laritte was pretty interested. What was Ian going to do? Just buying a lot of stuff wouldn’t do any harm to the staff. It was when Ian was about to pay with gold coins worth a thousand gil that he finally behaved strangely.

“Ah, wife. Should I just walk out without buying it? Now that I think about it, I don’t really like the clothes.”

“What?”

The manager asked in bewilderment. Ian didn’t care and continued talking to himself.

“Still, we couldn’t do that, right? Because if we touched the clothes, our hands were already stained with black charcoal so the fabric would all be damaged… I guess I should buy them all.”

“What, what is the distinguished guest talking about…”

“If you’re not sure, ask the staff over there.”

Ian soon nodded to the employee Fabius, who was only rolling his eyes in the corner.

When his gaze reached Fabius, the staff didn’t say anything. In the silence, the manager’s eyes gradually grew fiercer.

“No, no way. Fabius! To the guests…?!”

“Uncle…wait a minute… Calm down…”

“Did you work with that attitude? Although this store is expensive, anyone can visit! This punk… I hired an idiot who’s been playing all his life because my sister took a break… Get out now!”

“Mother said that if I get kicked out here, too, she will really send me out. I have nothing to do now. Wait a minute, uncle! Ah, ah!”

Moments later, Fabius was kicked out with a slap on the back by the manager’s hands.

As Ian and Laritte came out on the road, it was completely dark now. Laritte shook her head, glancing at the paper bags filling his thick forearms.

“You can ask the staff to send the purchases to the mansion.”

“Wouldn’t it be more surprising to the employees if we returned home with a gift?”

As Ian shrugged his shoulders, at least, that was how he’d earn her favor, Laritte recalled what had happened earlier at the clothing store.

“And Ian, you were mean.”

“What?”

He doubted her ears. As he stopped in the middle of the road, a man from behind grumbled past.

“Did I look mean?”

“Huh? Of course.”

“…I was more afraid of hurting your feelings. I can’t believe you didn’t like it.”

“You’re naturally mean, so it’s okay. That’s what makes you cute.”

Even though Laritte was sincere, Ian was unwilling to move from the middle of the road.

“Still, isn’t it a long way from beating Joshua?”

“Beat your son with what?”

“Love. Your love, Laritte.”

This time, it was Laritte’s turn to doubt her ears.

“What more can I do to make you love me more than Joshua?”

It was only then that she realized the situation. There was more and less love between family members, at least for her.

Laritte patted Ian on the back.

“I love both of you equally, more than my life. I don’t know who I love more because there is no other way to love.”

“…I thought you loved Joshua more than me.”

“That’s because Joshua is young. Others were still learning to speak early, he was saying, ‘Mother, hungwy.’ He needed to be loved a lot when he was young.”

She continued as if it was natural.

“Didn’t you grow up this prettily with lots of love?”

What?

Silence prevailed again.

The only person in the world who would say Ian was pretty was Laritte. Where was he looking at such a strong and gigantic knight…

However, he had heard enough of that. A corner of his heart was moved.

“I can’t believe you thought this far… I’m a little worried about Joshua, but starting today, I’ll set aside Joshua’s bedroom.”

As Laritte was coming up with an alternative, uhp, her mouth was closed. It was because Ian couldn’t stand it and bent down to kiss her, in the middle of the street. At least it was covered by the long dress, so others didn’t know what they were doing.

After a while, the exchange of hot breaths ended, and Ian asked.

“Can I tell the mansion we are arriving tomorrow?”

His golden eyes blazed.

“I feel like I need to stop by the inn for a while.”

So, they headed to a small inn nearby…

The spring night was hot earlier.

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