I Don’t Need a Dad Like This! - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 106】

Rie stared intently at Countess Rioletta hiding the broken fan.

While Evelyn, or rather Serena who had possessed her body, was breaking out in cold sweat, Jair arrived in front of a building with Count Gilren in tow.

It had a modest but elegant atmosphere, with flower decorations embroidered throughout.

On a wooden plank sign, alongside a drawing of a dress, the phrase [Madam Clere’s Wardrobe] was written in cursive script.

Though he hadn’t come in an imperial carriage, he hadn’t bothered to hide his identity, so people walking downtown had gathered around.

He couldn’t possibly like this kind of crowd. Unnecessary futures cluttered his mind.

But the boy had a clear reason for not hiding his identity.

“This is the clothing store that Countess Rioletta frequents often?”

Visiting a clothing store with his status as Crown Prince would make it easier to enter the VIP room.

At the boy’s nonchalant question, Count Gilren, who had been hunching his shoulders, nodded.

“…Yes. When I organized Evelyn’s belongings after she went out, there were always business cards from Madam Clere’s Wardrobe. Especially VIP room cards.”

“Then let’s go in. Mill. Show the way.”

“Yes!”

When his assistant opened the door first, he could see the tops of the heads of staff members waiting in a line.

The staff seemed to have already identified Jair’s presence due to the crowd gathered in front of the store.

“It’s an honor to serve you, Crown Prince Jair. If you wish to browse, we’ll be happy to guide you. Please let us know if you need anything.”

At their response that seemed willing to do anything, the boy’s gaze became sharper instead.

“Then take me to the VIP room.”

“…Pardon?”

“You said you’d do whatever I wanted. Then guide me to the VIP room. Countess Rioletta told me this place was quite good.”

Of course, it was a lie.

The Countess had never said such a thing to Jair. Count Gilren had only mentioned that she ‘frequently went to the VIP room.’

“Well, um.”

At the Crown Prince’s attitude that was more brazen than expected, Gilren suppressed the cough that was about to come out and blinked.

The staff members looked shrewdly between Count Gilren and Jair.

“…So Countess Rioletta told Your Highness about our store. What an honor.”

“Yeah. She introduced it saying there were many nice clothes. I have a child I want to give clothes as a gift to.”

“Then we’ll guide you to a private room.”

They exchanged glances for about 0.5 seconds, reading each other’s expressions, but surprisingly answered obediently.

Deliberately maintaining a calm expression, the boy thought.

‘Since she supposedly frequents this clothing store so often, I wondered if there was something… Could she really just be a shopping addict?’

Following the staff’s guidance, when the door opened, a modest but well-lit room was revealed.

Purple velvet sofas. A full-length mirror finished in a flower stem design.

A huge tapestry and ferns and vases decorated throughout.

Even a wide arched window where no crowds could be seen.

It was a room that any noble would consider a VIP room.

“This must be the VIP room.”

“Haha, we introduce this as a private room. May I ask the age and height of the young lady you’ll be gifting to?”

“Four years old. Her height is…”

The boy looked down at his chest level and shrugged his shoulders.

‘She’s smaller than I thought.’

“Since my gaze stayed around here… probably about 100 centimeters.”

“Four years old, I see. Yes, we’ll carefully select about twenty outfits from the latest fashions to classic styles. Would black tea be alright for refreshments? Or we also have orange juice available.”

“I won’t drink anything.”

“Yes, understood.”

When the staff left to prepare the dresses, only Jair, his assistant, and Count Gilren remained in the room.

The assistant looked around suspiciously and sighed.

“Your Highness. Surprisingly, there doesn’t seem to be anything strange here? When we entered the store, there were many customers, and the staff easily guided us to the VIP room.”

“No. It’s very suspicious.”

“Pardon?”

“Think about it. The staff never once said they would escort me to the ‘VIP room.'”

“But… didn’t they eventually bring Your Highness to this room?”

“They kept saying ‘private room’ from the beginning, never mentioning VIP room. They can’t lie to me, but they didn’t want to let me into the VIP room, so they cleverly changed their words.”

“Pardon?”

Jair answered without blinking an eye.

“Since I don’t show my face in high society, the staff must have seen me as a clueless little one.”

Unfortunately for the staff, while Jair hadn’t been exposed to high society, he was quicker and more astute than anyone.

Though he had few direct conversations with nobles, whenever their eyes met he could see their futures, and among those he had often seen them engaging in psychological warfare.

Thus, he identified the staff’s way of addressing him earlier as the typical ‘different dreams, same bed rhetoric’ of ladies skilled in high society.

When the other party wanted A, they would subtly mention B, which was similar to A, and speak as if it were A.

Probably since most of the store’s customers were nobles, they had seen and heard a lot, so they seemed to resolve difficult situations this way.

“Anyway, since we’ve confirmed that the VIP room is suspicious, we’ll leave in a bit.”

“Not right now?”

Jair shook his head.

From Count Gilren’s perspective, the boy was sitting with his back against the sofa as if he were really a customer.

“Since we’re here anyway, I want to buy a few dresses for Rie.”

And so, an hour later.

Behind Jair coming out of the clothing store, staff members emerged carrying what seemed to be dozens of paper bags.

While the maids waiting in the carriage were moving over dozens of dresses.

The boy, who had put Count Gilren in the carriage first, subtly ordered his assistant.

“Have the maids tell the people in buildings near the clothing store. That a fire is scheduled to break out at [Madam Clere’s Wardrobe] building within an hour, so they should evacuate outside. Of course, also tell them to rest assured that their buildings won’t be damaged.”

“Yes. Understood.”

If he couldn’t enter the VIP room, the answer was simple.

Set the building on fire to make them come out. Then the cockroaches hiding in the VIP room would flee. He planned to watch their identities directly.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Countess Rioletta’s residence.

The staring contest between Rie and Serena was still ongoing.

“Hooo…”

“Why, why are you doing that, Rie?”

“Hmm…”

“What kind of game does Rie want to play with this a… lady?”

Serena, who had possessed Evelyn’s body, felt like the corners of her mouth would twitch.

Because it was truly burdensome to have those blue eyes, which took up half her face, looking at her with curious gazes.

‘Could she have noticed something strange? But how?’

This was why she didn’t want to meet with Rie.

She had to somehow make those round eyes look elsewhere.

Serena rang the bell to urgently call a maid.

“Bring all the desserts the child likes. Bring milk and black tea too.”

“Yes.”

Shortly after.

“Huh, huh?! There’s lots of yummy stuff-!”

“You can eat everything here. Drink milk while eating so you don’t choke.”

“Yesss-!”

Fortunately, Rie’s persistent gaze ended with the appearance of desserts.

Rie, whose attention was captured by the desserts, began eating while puffing up both cheeks like a squirrel.

Cake in one hand, cookies in the other.

Though she was a small child, judging by her momentum, she seemed ready to completely empty Countess Rioletta’s dessert warehouse.

‘Seeing the child so happy makes me feel somewhat annoyed and like I’m at a loss… but since she’s absorbed in the desserts, she won’t keep looking at me strangely, right?’

Serena could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However.

Munch munch, gulp!

Unlike her small mouth that was busily devouring desserts, emergency alarms were still blaring in Rie’s head.

That’s right.

Rie had just seen Evelyn get upset at the ‘auntie’ comment, and was now 20% convinced that she was Auntie Serena.

About 20 percent or so.

‘Other ladies would also dislike being called auntie. So this much isn’t enough.’

Rie rolled her eyes around.

A way to make the Marquis’s wife say with her own mouth ‘I’m a suspicious person!’?

‘That kind of method is… hmm.’

“Huh!?”

“What’s wrong, Rie?”

A good idea had come to her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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