Chapter 130: Boring
At the counter of the boutique, the atmosphere was quiet and boring.
Behind the counter, the slim, younger saleswoman was working on accounting books.
While the mature, voluptuous senior saleswoman beside her was lazily leaning her huge bosom against the counter, twirling a finger through her styled hair.
"They’re still not out yet," the older woman remarked, her eyes drifting toward the VIP fitting room pavilion in the back.
The younger girl paused her pen, looking up with a slight frown. "You mean that handsome young lord and his three girlfriends? Well... they did carry an entire mountain of selections into the lounge. It’s natural for them to take time."
"Taking time is one thing, dear," the mature woman said with a devious, knowing smirk. "Taking forty-five minutes in a soundproofed VIP booth with three hot ladies is another."
The slim clerk sighed, setting her pen aside. "Yeah, I suppose you’re right. What in the world could they possibly be doing that’s taking this long?"
"What else?"
The younger girl turned her head, only to see her senior colleague casually making a hand gesture with her left hand curled into a ring and repeatedly sliding her right finger through it.
"Madam! Please maintain some basic professional dignity while working!" the younger squeaked, her face instantly turned red.
The voluptuous milf let out a dramatic, disappointed sigh, resting her chin on her palm. "Plain girls like you are honestly so boring. You get flustered by the most basic biological things."
"Those are not basic retail topics!" the girl huffed, shaking her head and desperately burying her face back into the ledger.
Silence.
The only sound in the boutique was the ticking clock and the faint rustle of paper. Finally, unable to contain her curiosity, the younger girl tapped her pen against her chin and asked hesitantly in a whisper.
"He... he looks like an extremely wealthy young lord from a prominent noble house, doesn’t he?"
The mature woman gave a teasing chuckle. "Why are you asking, darling? Are you planning to become his girlfriend number four?"
"N-No! Absolutely not!" the young clerk sputtered, crossing her arms defensively.
"I’m just saying... it’s genuinely strange. How does a man manage three completely different beauties simultaneously without them tearing each other’s throats out? Wealth really must be an absolute superpower."
"Money certainly helps, sweetie," the older woman replied, her gaze turning misty and scandalous. "Or... perhaps it’s the ungodly size of his tool and a stamina that doesn’t quit."
"Madam, please! I’m begging you!" The poor junior clerk looked ready to cry from secondhand embarrassment, pressing her hands over her ears.
"Ah, the innocent youth. You don’t understand the realities of life yet. Once you reach my age and get stuck with a deadbeat, middle-aged husband whose equipment can’t even stand at attention... you’ll understand the true value of a stallion."
"Excuse me... how much is the total bill for all of this?"
"EEK!"
The younger clerk was startled, practically jumping as a voice called her.
Standing right on the other side of the counter was the young guy himself. Eren was resting one elbow casually against the counter, an easygoing, perfectly polite smile struck to his handsome face.
Behind him were the three beauties, carrying several wrapped bundles of selected dresses.
However... the atmosphere was quite different.
Eren’s crisp white shirt was wrinkled. Behind him, a tall, tanned lady was looking at the ceiling with her arms crossed, her cheeks red. Petite was furiously adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers to hide her completely dazed, glassy-eyed expression. And the busty red-haired lady was practically glowing, radiating a satisfied, cat-that-ate-the-canary aura.
’They definitely did it in the trial room.’ Both sales ladies thought in sync.
The younger clerk cleared her throat and began tallying the numbers across her ledger before sliding the final receipt across the counter.
"T-The total comes to five hundred imperial gold coins, my lord... including the private VIP suite reservation fees and alteration charges," she squeaked out, not daring to make direct eye contact with the scandalous guy.
Without batting an eye or showing an ounce of hesitation, Eren pulled out a banking draft from his coat pocket and slid it over the wood.
The junior clerk’s eyes widened at the astronomical figure being settled like pocket change. She bowed low, her hands shaking slightly. "T-Thank you profoundly for your generous patronage, young master!"
"Oh, please, the pleasure is entirely mine," Eren replied as a wicked, unhinged smirk played on his lips as he rested his chin in his hand. "I should be extending my heartfelt gratitude to your shop. Your VIP changing lounge is exceptionally spacious, remarkably soundproof, and quite thoroughly comfortable for private recreat—"
Before he could finish his customer review, Emma grabbed his finger and began dragging him toward the boutique’s front doors, her grey eyes fixed dead ahead, embarrassed by his antics. "That is more than enough feedback!"
Norelia was practically speed-walking with her head buried in her hands pretending the entire universe didn’t exist.
But instead following them, Mira turned back toward the counter with a radiant smile.
"Please make sure to deliver all the wrapped parcels directly to the address written on the slip!" the busty maid chirped cheerfully, offering the stunned clerks a playful, conspiratorial wink before bouncing out the doorway. "Have a wonderful evening, ladies~!"
The voluptuous saleswoman leaned heavily against the counter, resting her chin in both hands as she looked at them walking out of the shop, shutting the door behind them.
"Uff, what an utterly magnificent sight," the mature woman murmured hopelessly as she stared at the empty doorway. "Ah, look at me now... I’m going to have to spend another lonely night taking matters into my own hands with my poor fingers again..."
The younger dropped her head against the desk with a muffled thud, cursing.
"...I am putting in my two-week notice tomorrow morning."
****
Meanwhile, on the exact opposite side of the imperial capital, at the Varellion Royal Palace’s main building, a single figure walking with stealth. It was the swordmaster from seraphina’s private team, the very same knight who had accompanied her in the raid just an hour prior.
The knight finally stopped before a room at the end of a private wing, his destination.
He slowly exhaled to settle the heart thumping. The risk of stepping into this room was too high, yet he had to do it. And he entered.
The private chamber was lavishly furnished, bathed in the glow of mana lamps. Few hooded people gathered around a table, all maintaining a disciplined silence around one guy.
Lounging back on a chair was a young man whose presence was impossible to ignore with his silver hair, sharp aristocratic features.
It was none other than Prince Theo.
"Ah, you’ve returned," Theo murmured. "I trust Seraphina’s little unannounced excursion went smoothly?"
Theo leaned forward, resting his chin on his fingers as his eyes narrowed. "Tell me... did you manage to secure the item I requested from her private seizure?"
The swordmaster pulled out his hand, opening his palm to reveal the glass vial.
The Substance.
____
{Image of saleswomen}
[Important announcement next Chapter]