The Villainess Builds a Department Store - Chapter 44

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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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The Villainess Establishes a Department Store

Chapter 44

“What do you think?”

Laurent didn’t answer immediately. As he read through the sentences, unfamiliar scenery began to emerge in his mind. The scenes were so vivid, as if he had been there himself, that he had no choice but to acknowledge that Adelaide needed a secretary, not a maid.

“May I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

Laurent hesitated for a moment, then asked about something that had been bothering him.

“Why me specifically? I think there are many others who could serve as Miss’s secretary…”

“Ah, that.”

Charles smiled with satisfaction as he looked the giant man up and down.

His height was so tall that bowing his head when passing through doors had become a habit.

His build was such that no uniform fit properly – if tailored to fit his shoulders, the waist would be too loose, so he had given up on wearing uniforms altogether.

And there was one special note written on his resume.

“If anyone tries anything inappropriate with my daughter, feel free to break their bones. After all, the human body has over a hundred bones.”

Who would have thought that his boxing career, which he had written down just to fill another line, would be put to use like this.

Laurent groaned and clenched his fists tightly, hiding them behind his back.

* * *

With each changing season, green glass like new sprouts was fitted onto the bare framework, decorations more splendid than flowers were added, and finally, after two years, the fruit of completion was achieved.

The elderly artisan who served as the general supervisor of the passage construction gazed with emotional eyes at the young masterpiece he had created.

From the artisans and technicians above to the low-level construction workers below, and even Bastian who had taken care of all their errands.

Though they had fought daily about this not working for this reason and that being impossible for that reason, today they all looked in the same direction with the eyes of parents seeing their newborn child.

“It’s finally finished.”

“You’ve worked hard all this time, Guillaume.”

“You too, kid, you worked hard.”

A thick, dusty hand patted Bastian’s head and then thoroughly ruffled his blonde hair.

“Kid, you’re definitely going to make it big.”

Though it was a blunt and clumsy blessing, it was a wish filled with sincerity.

Now that the passage construction was finished, it was time for the shops to move in.

Rumors mixed with the luggage carried by workers filled the alleys – that a certain restaurant was moving in after doing well with lunch box sales, that another shop had given up on the passage and just set up permanently in the temporary vacant lot market.

And finally, the opening day of the passage.

Nantes was completely saturated with people who had come since dawn.

The sea, overwhelmed by the dazzling energy of people all dressed up in their finest, turned pale blue and fled far away, but unable to overcome curiosity, it repeatedly hid behind high waves and stealthily approached the port again.

The people filling the alleys gasped in admiration at the massive iron gate blocking the passage entrance and the quiet scenery beyond it.

Even this iron gate alone was a work created directly by an ironwork artisan who was called upon when building royal palaces.

And that wasn’t all. Rumor had it that each shop had marble floors and crystal-decorated lighting, creating an illusion of visiting a royal palace rather than a market.

The early morning sunlight poured over the clear glass, laying a carpet of white light beyond the iron gate. Along the long continuous path, similarly shaped buildings stood side by side, politely tilting their roofs as they stretched endlessly.

The sight was like servants in stiffly starched uniforms without a single wrinkle welcoming the master of a distinguished estate.

“All the shops look exactly the same.”

“How will we know which is which like that?”

“At least each sign is made differently. That one looks particularly old – is it a sign they’ve been using from before?”

“Oh, the gate is opening!”

Wahhh! Like a bursting dam, people flooded in, filling the alley in an instant.

Reading the unfamiliar foreign words hanging on new signs and familiar names that had remained unchanged for decades with only their location changed, before they knew it, the street ended and a plaza appeared.

In the plaza that everyone had to pass through at least once regardless of which entrance they started from, there was a large fountain along with particularly large and splendid buildings occupying each corner.

Famous restaurants and boutiques known by name alone, a bank, and…

“My love. It’s a bit early, but happy 14th wedding anniversary.”

“My goodness! Who in the world gives a shop as a wedding gift?”

“Right here. In your heart.”

At Charles’s gesture, the construction workers on the ladder released the cloth covering the sign.

Then, above Eleonore who was overcome with happiness, a sign engraved with 【Maison De Rêve】 was revealed.

Adelaide smiled warmly and clapped at her parents’ lovey-dovey behavior, just as usual.

House of Dreams.

It was a fitting name for a place where someone’s dreams would sprout and grow.

* * *

Looking up, I could see the name of the passage written on promotional flags hung throughout the alleys.

I tried pronouncing it in my mouth.

Galerie des Perles.

Literally translated, Pearl Gallery.

It was a new name befitting the newly born alleys of Nantes.

Sunlight sliding down the round glass roof pooled transparently on the pure white marble floor like its name, and whenever people strolled over it, cheerful shoe sounds echoed lightly.

There was no worry about getting wet even when it rained, no chance of clothes getting ruined by muddy water, and even the gas lamps installed along the path served not only to illuminate the darkness but were excellent objects in themselves.

The reliefs on the arches decorating the alley entrances were each as elegant and delicate as if brought from a cathedral.

Since artisans who mainly handled cathedral commissions participated in the construction, it was perhaps a natural result.

The round arches and relief decorations filling the walls seen from afar naturally evoked words like majestic and overwhelming.

The entire alley was beautiful, elegant, and expensive like pearls.

Now people from all over Loire would flock to see this gallery.

Galerie des Perles would more than satisfy their overflowing desire to consume and show off.

Glancing around, I could see that the well-dressed gentlemen were thinking similar thoughts, each with faces full of dreams.

‘So this is what it looked like when it was first built.’

It would take at least 10 years for it to become the Pearl Gallery I remembered.

I wanted to look around a bit more at this scenery that was familiar yet strange, welcome and nostalgic yet awkward.

“I’m going to look around this area. Camille and Laurent are coming with me, so it’ll be fine. Though you probably can’t hear me…”

My parents were still completely absorbed in their own world. I shrugged my shoulders lightly and set out on a proper street exploration, accompanied by much more reliable guardians than my parents.

“I heard that the merchants who had left during the construction period returned, but it seems that’s not entirely the case.”

Perhaps the unfamiliar street was fascinating to Camille as well, as her usually calm expression was filled with excitement like a young lady making her debut in social circles for the first time.

Camille belatedly cleared her throat at her own somewhat excited voice. But that couldn’t hide her flushed cheeks.

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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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