The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 74
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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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Her hair was pinned up and she wore a large floppy hat, so her face wasn’t clearly visible.
But even just her silhouette showed she was a stunning beauty.
More importantly, is she someone who knows me?
She seems somewhat familiar, but I don’t think we’ve ever met.
‘A complete stranger suddenly acting like she knows me and striking up a conversation… this gives me some déjà vu…’
I started with a greeting first.
“Welcome, Customer. Was it that obvious?”
Did it show that I was concerned about that fake pawnshop?
I asked while feeling somewhat embarrassed inside. However, the woman lightly shook her head.
“No, quite the opposite. It’s obvious you’d be bothered by a competitor, but it doesn’t really show on your face, so I’m asking out of curiosity.”
“I can’t provide service based on my whims. I have enough sense to manage my expressions in front of customers. There’s no need for customers to know the owner’s personal affairs either.”
When I spoke with a bright smile, the woman raised one eyebrow.
It was an expression that seemed to say ‘look at this,’ so I deliberately smiled even more brightly.
‘I can’t tell if she’s just a customer with a strange personality, or someone from Rosaline’s side who came here to openly get under my skin.’
Either way, I needed to manage my expressions.
As I smiled while staring intently at the woman, she chuckled and put on sunglasses.
“I didn’t know this pawnshop was quite famous.”
“Really? What is it famous for?”
“I heard there are many good items here. They say the owner has quite good taste.”
Whatever this customer’s identity might be, that’s a comment that subtly makes the corners of my mouth turn up.
But I didn’t need to control my mouth corners.
Because my expression hardened after hearing what came next.
“So try to guess. What would I be most interested in at this shop?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Bring something over on your own. Use that good taste of yours.”
‘No way, this person…’
This is a fresh new type of difficult customer.
While my brain was frozen, the customer’s red lips curved into an alluring arc.
“Whatever the price, I’ll buy it. If you guess correctly, that is.”
“You really mean that?”
“Why are you asking again? Don’t you have confidence?”
“No, I have too much confidence, that’s the problem. No take-backs, right?”
I don’t know if she’s trying to humiliate me or if she has some other intention.
‘But she says she’ll buy it, right?’
There are so many people who act difficult without even paying!
This much seems worth doing, doesn’t it?
There are no other customers right now anyway.
‘I’ll think of it as gaining experience.’
When I readily accepted, the customer’s eyebrows went up again.
“Then excuse me, but I’ll observe you a bit.”
“Go ahead.”
‘Generally speaking, what female customers of this age group usually look for are jewelry or accessories…’
The customer wasn’t wearing any earrings or necklaces.
She didn’t even have any traces of pierced ears.
Is it confidence that she doesn’t need accessories since her appearance is naturally glamorous?
The only thing the customer was wearing was a ring on her left ring finger.
‘Does she have a job that uses her hands a lot? It looks like a wedding ring but it has many scratches.’
Yet she hasn’t had it reset?
‘The memories associated with the ring itself must be precious to her. Someone like that wouldn’t buy secondhand accessories that contain other people’s memories.’
Next, I looked at her clothes.
‘At first glance it looks like ordinary fabric, but that’s Delaney satin. That’s extremely expensive fabric, isn’t it? Adding brooches or buttons to clothes like that would be a waste of fabric, so clothing accessories are also ruled out.’
Then tea sets? Or books?
‘Hmm, that’s not it either. If she came all the way to a pawnshop, she’d be looking for vintage teacups or old documents, but she came empty-handed without even a bag to carry things.’
Then what?
As I was thinking, I smiled.
At the sound of my laughter, the customer stared at me with her sunglasses halfway down.
“What?”
“It seems like it’ll be difficult to make money from you, Customer.”
“Are you giving up already? How disappointing.”
The customer was holding out one hand.
It probably meant something like ‘put whatever you found on here.’
“No, that’s not it. It’s just.”
This person is used to ordering others around. She’s probably nobility or incredibly wealthy.
But instead of bringing servants as usual or receiving proper treatment, she posed a quiz.
She’s showing herself off as if telling me to observe her openly, but she’s hidden all the things that could be clues.
From her clothes that are luxurious but lack details, to covering her face with sunglasses and a hat.
“What you’re looking for, Customer, can’t be sold.”
“…What?”
“What you’d be most interested in at our shop.”
There’s one reason.
Because this customer’s purpose isn’t to get item recommendations.
So.
“It’s me, isn’t it?”
It’s me.
More precisely, she’s curious about ‘what kind of person’ I am.
I lightly placed my hand on the customer’s fingertips and winked slightly.
“Ha.”
The customer who had been looking at me made a deflating sound and laughed.
She seemed both exasperated and impressed.
“Not bad? How did you know?”
“I’m quite popular with people of all ages and genders. It’s an inference based on experience.”
“How cheeky. But well… it doesn’t seem like a completely unreliable statement?”
So, she’s saying she likes me?
‘She doesn’t seem to be one of Rosaline’s people, does she? If it were that woman, there’d be no need to test me like this. Above all, her attitude is refreshingly straightforward.’
But still, if she has something to ask, she could just ask directly instead of testing people like this.
And saying she wants to buy me, even if it’s a joke?
This time too I felt some déjà vu, but my thoughts were interrupted by the customer’s voice.
“Jokes aside. How did you know?”
“The details are a trade secret. But I’ll give you one hint – it was because of your expression, Customer.”
“My expression?”
“Yes. Earlier, when I said ‘customers don’t need to know the owner’s personal affairs,’ you raised your eyebrows. So I thought, does this customer want to know my personal affairs?”
“Aha… you have a talent for reading non-verbal expressions?”
For some reason, the customer seemed to find that amusing.
After laughing for a while, she muttered.
“Finally someone appeared who can pay that guy back. Someone who can figure out his true intentions even when he speaks sarcastically…”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind. Will you give me a cup of tea? This time for real, bring some recommended products too. I’m sorry for teasing you.”
“It’s fine, it was quite fun in its own way. Is black tea okay?”
“I may be picky about alcohol, but I drink any kind of tea well.”
My first impression was a bit poor, but she seems to be a more generous and easygoing person than I thought.
I was shrugging my shoulders while brewing tea.
Click, click.
I heard familiar shoe sounds.
This slow but irritating footstep sound was…
‘No way.’
I turned my head and froze.
“Where is the owner?”
Elegant light purple eyes, but at the same time cold as a blade.
“Are you deaf? I asked where the original owner, Michele, is. Ah… no. Should I ask where he’s hiding?”
It was Rosaline.
This was the first time I faced her since my regression.
I wasn’t scared or afraid.
Just.
‘I’m angry.’
Rage was boiling up.
‘I need to hide myself as much as possible. That way she’ll underestimate me. Only then can I properly strike her from behind.’
Seeing how Rosaline regarded me as just some annoying, troublesome girl, my strategy had worked properly.
However, thinking of what she had done while wearing that noble and aristocratic mask made my hands tremble.
What she did to Chloe, to Nicholas, to the people of Ashen Street, and to Grandfather.
I bit the soft flesh inside my mouth to regain composure, but it didn’t work well.
“Who are you to be looking for our grandfather?”
“Oh, are you going to pretend you don’t know me?”
Rosaline still doesn’t know that I intervened in Nicholas and Chloe’s matter.
Even if she noticed, she would think I was just doing what Grandfather told me to do.
The reason she’s interrogating me like this is a warning.
“Right, since you don’t know me, there’s nothing to discuss with you. Call Uncle immediately.”
“He’s away. He won’t be coming for a while.”
“Well, we’ll see about that.”
A warning sent to Grandfather.
“If his granddaughter is screaming in pain, wouldn’t Uncle’s journey become a bit shorter?”
When Rosaline’s gaze that was looking me over reached around my neck area.
For a moment, her eyes gleamed eerily.
I was glaring back at her without backing down and was about to open my mouth to retort.
‘Huh?’
I felt a faint vibration from the dagger at my thigh.
What is this? Why is this suddenly acting like this?
‘I’m not even trembling, so why are you shaking?!’
Just as I was confused, Rosaline was about to grab me by the collar.
“Hey.”
Thud, Rosaline’s arm was caught.
When I looked back, there was.
“Can’t you see there’s someone who came first?”
A customer who seemed even angrier than me.
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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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