Seo-ah wondered what kind of place a “department store” actually was. With a faint mix of anxiety and doubt, she climbed into the carriage. The destination turned out to be closer than she had expected.
Not far from the mansion stood a cathedral. It was said to be over a thousand years old, called St. Roel Cathedral, and the department store had been built directly across from it.
The square in front of the cathedral was crowded. People flowed toward the cathedral and toward the department store in equal measure—far more than she had ever seen at any market. Seo-ah, who had assumed markets were the most crowded places in the world, was taken aback by the sheer number of people.
From a distance, the cathedral—undergoing exterior repairs—already looked tall enough to dominate the skyline. Up close, it was overwhelming. The pointed roof seemed to stretch all the way to the edge of the sky.
“It’s a feast day.”
At the sudden voice, she turned. Abel was smiling at her.
“There’ll be fireworks later. Let’s watch them together.”
Seeing how cheerful he seemed, she felt a faint sense of guilt, as though she had wronged him somehow over the past week.
She gave a small nod and smiled, and—
Abel’s smile deepened.
The carriage stopped in front of a set of ornate doors.
The place called a department store looked nothing like anything she had known. If someone had told her a king lived there, she might have believed it.
As they passed through the revolving doors, staff in suits greeted them politely.
“Welcome to VS Department Store.”
She forgot to return the greeting.
Beyond the doors, the world changed completely.
The splendid world overwhelmed her senses.
The center of the building was hollow, exposing the height of every floor at once. The scale pressed down on her, making her feel small, like an ant.
Inside, everything gleamed.
The pillars, railings, and even the walls were finished in gold. For a moment, she wondered if real gold had been melted and poured over them. Red flower baskets hung from every railing, their color standing out sharply against the gold.
Seo-ah stood there, oblivious to the curious looks around her, stunned by the unfamiliar surroundings. The interior of the department store was astonishing, overturning all her previous notions about buildings.
“Is this really a place where they sell things?”
While she murmured to herself, Abel exchanged subtle signals with backup agents already positioned inside the store.
Then he smiled at her, amused as if to melt the blankly murmuring Seo-ah.
A country girl seeing civilization for the first time.
The moment she stepped inside and caught the faint scent of polished floors and perfume, his professional instincts—which he had desperately clung—to returned all at once. What he had forced himself to treat as a mission began to feel strangely like a calling.
“You didn’t even know what a department store was. Only markets.”
She looked at him in surprise. When their eyes met, she quickly looked away.
That small reaction was unexpectedly endearing.
Barbara had told him to keep her here as long as possible and only leave after the crowds had thinned. For Abel Sting, who treated department stores like his own living room, that was an easy task.
“I don’t really know what to do here, so…”
“You mean I can go wherever I want?”
“Yes.”
She answered softly, then glanced around again, curiosity overtaking her hesitation.
Abel decided he would love this target.
No—he already did love her.
“Let’s go.”
Clutching her bag with both hands, she followed behind him.
He led Seo-ah up the staircase covered in thick velvet carpet to the floor that specialized in suits. The moment they stepped onto it, the atmosphere changed. The place carried a heavy, gentlemanly air.
The rotten carts and desolate cemeteries she had visited recently suddenly felt like scenes from another lifetime.
Abel moved forward as though this were second nature.
“Welcome.”
In the store, where they were greeted with warm smiles and hospitality, he guided Seo-ah to a sofa for customers, sat down naturally, accepted the welcome drink, and began explaining his preferred style. At once, the staff started bringing out clothes.
Meanwhile, Seo-ah sat stiffly with her hands folded in her lap, blinking quietly.
Abel crossed his legs with the ease of a count in some distant land, examining the garments one by one. He pointed at one casually.
His elegant and natural demeanor prompted the staff to escort him straight to the fitting room.
“Winter is coming soon. There’s nothing better than Atun Mountain cashmere. It suits you very well.”
As the lustrous suit settled over his body, the memories of the past few days—so distant they felt like another lifetime—faded cleanly from Abel’s mind. And as those days receded, the habits etched into his bones over months surfaced again, as though everything in between had been nothing more than a lie.
“Honey, how is it?”
Turning with a bright smile, Abel paused for a moment.
Wasn’t that like accidentally calling out to a former partner during sex?
Realizing he had slipped into an old reflex, he held his breath and looked at his target.
Seo-ah sat with her hands neatly folded on her thighs. She tilted her head, then glanced up at him, uncertain whether she had been the one addressed.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman—likely the store manager—stepped in encouragingly.
“Isn’t he magnificent?”
Seo-ah tilted her head again, almost as if nudged into agreement, then nodded.
“Yes, it suits you well.”
“It must be wonderful to have someone so magnificent by your side.”
A deeper suspicion crossed Seo-ah’s face. Still, she had no words to deny it, and perhaps finding it strange to argue, she eventually nodded again.
The corner of Abel’s lips, which had stilled for a moment, slowly curved upward.
Tilting his head as he watched her, his mind began to race.
It felt as though he had stumbled onto the perfect method—one that would allow him to swallow this naive foreigner whole without her ever realizing it.
—
VS Department Store.
The first department store of its kind in East Norfolk, was a historic department store and it now carried the titles of both the largest in scale and the highest in sales. But it had not always been successful from the beginning.
Even now, elderly nobles disdained department stores. In their view, anything sold in a place accessible to the public was unfit for noble use.
It was only about ten years ago that the store began to dominate the VS commercial district.
The turning point came when news spread that Marquis Reihnhardt had invested in the struggling business.
At the time, the nobles whispered among themselves. They said the young marquis—who had never even attended the academy—had managed to build a steel company by chance, and that this investment merely exposed his limitations.
Soon after, that same steel company acquired a railway company. The rail network expanded rapidly, routes growing denser by the month. At that time, few nobles had interest any connection between that and the department store investment.
They began paying attention only when, along the dense railway network, new and novel items from all over the country, unfamiliar goods—no one had seen before started appearing along those railway lines.
Even Luhas wild strawberries, which spoiled within a week of harvest, could now be purchased there.
New things. Strange things. Things no one had imagined possible.
The younger nobles, who were particularly sensitive to art and culture, responded immediately. Visits to the department store became fashionable.
Most trends spread like fire across dry grass, then vanished without leaving even warmth behind.
But some did not fade.
Some lingered, settled, and eventually took root under the name of culture.
The Marquise, once deeply displeased with her son’s decision, had now become one of the store’s most frequent visitors.
In the VIP lounge on the top floor, a holiday exhibition was underway.
Seats for Marquise Charlotte von Reinnhardt and her daughter, Sabine von Jerome, were naturally placed at the head table. Sabine seemed to have stepped away, leaving the Marquise alone, surrounded by ladies like drifting clouds.
“Marquise, I’m considering buying that piece. What do you think?”
Charlotte took a slow sip of champagne and glanced at the sculpture being indicated.
“Where do you intend to place it?”
“The right side of the main floor is rather empty, isn’t it?”
“The right side of your main floor…”
Charlotte paused briefly, considering.
“If it were me, I’d place it at the center of the landing instead.”
The lady imagined it for a moment, then clapped softly, delighted, as though she had just found the answer herself.
—