Free Web NovelChapter 34: Darius appears
Unedited*
"Will you be staying to watch, gentlemen? Or have you found what you were looking for?" asked the man in charge with a professional smile.
His face seemed to say: Keep watching...
He just wanted to get through his shift without having to deal with annoying people. And these two had been well-behaved; they respected him and didn’t ask too many questions. It would be wonderful if they could stay with him as long as possible...
Just as Lucius was thinking of asking him to take them to the top floor, all three of them frowned when they noticed several figures entering the floor.
The man hurried out to greet them. "Manager Khoy, Young Master Asturias." freёweɓnovel.com
He was surprised. What were these two people doing here, entering through the main door and not the VIP entrance?
"I see you’re working, right there." Manager Khoy patted the bowing man on the shoulder before walking past him.
He was a gray-haired man who had achieved remarkable business success. As a member of the Morwen family, he was one of the store managers. Despite his gray hair, he looked powerful.
In Lucius’s eyes, the system told him why.
’Ranked 233 in the City, huh.’
He was a strong man.
When Manager Khoy arrived in front of Lucius, he frowned, and the man beside him—who was specifically from the Asturias family—froze.
"Bastard Lucius," he said through clenched teeth the moment he saw him.
Lucius looked up at him and sighed. ’Why do I keep running into these annoying guys?’
Next to him was Kenneth, who looked away.
Lucius sneered. "You’d do well to tell your dogs to stop chasing me, Darius. I won’t be held responsible if anything happens to any of them... Well, I suppose I’ll just have to let the beasts eat them."
Darius clenched his fists in anger. "What are you doing here, you damn pauper?" he retorted.
"What else would I be doing in a hardware store, Darius? Playing?"
"Given how stupid you are, I wouldn’t be surprised... But there’s no way you’re buying..." he said, before glancing at the woman standing next to Lucius. Suddenly his expression softened slightly at her beauty, though he quickly regained his composure.
He smiled and looked back at Lucius. "So you decided to trick the young lady into buying you things... Aish, I feel sorry for you." He looked at Clara once more.
"Miss, you are beautiful, talented, and intelligent. Even though your family did that, you are not like this trash. You shouldn’t associate with people like that; it will lower your status and intelligence."
Clara turned to look at him with a hint of annoyance. "It’s none of your business who I associate with. I no longer belong to the Founding Families."
"Hahaha." Darius burst out laughing. "Unlike Lucius, who is a bastard expelled and rejected by his father, you were simply expelled in a fit of anger by your family. If I’m not mistaken, Lord Alaric didn’t agree. So sooner or later, you’ll be back."
"Whereas he..." Darius looked at Lucius. "It’s impossible for him to return. He’s just a discarded piece of trash who’s using a chance encounter to pretend he’s strong... I wonder how much time he has left."
Lucius laughed right then and there. "I’m sure I’ll outlive you. You don’t need to worry."
Just hearing him speak struck a nerve with Darius. But when he heard him mocking him, he felt like smacking him right in the head. However, he had better ways of dealing with this guy.
He looked at the fossilized tool in his hand and frowned. "Why did you sell that tool? My family had clearly sent a request to buy it." He roared angrily.
"Huh? A request, sir?" The man who had attended to Lucius was perplexed. Since when had that happened?
He never knew.
And no one could blame him. Manager Khoy himself had no idea about it. Clearly, the Asturias Family hadn’t requested anything like that.
He looked at the magical tool and realized it was that item that had been sitting there, ignored, ever since he arrived. Not a single family or entity had shown any interest in it, despite its low price.
"Why did he decide to buy it?" Manager Khoy wondered, but decided it wasn’t his problem.
He cleared his throat and smiled. "I’m sorry, Young Lord. I didn’t inform my subordinates. This is my negligence."
Darius snorted. "Hmph. Next time I’ll speak to my father so they can be punished. What is the cost of that tool?" he roared.
Manager Khoy clenched his fists slightly. ’This bastard thinks my Morwen Family fears the Asturians...’ If it weren’t for the fact that they had good agreements with the Asturians and that he wasn’t a high-ranking member of his family, he would have slapped him for being disrespectful.
He saw that the purchase had already been made, but the price was still displayed.
It was the man who had assisted Lucius who replied. "That tool cost a thousand credits, Young Master. Young Master Lucius purchased it himself, so..."
"A thousand credits? Fine, give it to me. It’s rightfully mine. I’ll pay you 1,100." Darius didn’t let the man finish speaking before making an offer to Manager Khoy.
"Um... sir, that tool has already been purchased..."
"So? Do you think I care? The one who bought it was the one cast out by my family. Just take it away from him!"
Manager Khoy took a deep breath to calm himself. "You’re putting me in a difficult position... I can’t just take a tool away from someone who’s already bought it..."
"You’re a Morwen, the owner of this shop. Of course you can." He retorted fiercely.
Although Manager Khoy wanted to say something, he understood Darius’s personality. He was young, arrogant, bossy, and spoiled. Denying him anything would give him a reason to cause a scene.
And the reality was that Manager Khoy couldn’t afford to offend the Asturians.
Even though he was from such a prestigious family, he wasn’t in the main line of succession. His standing was so low that the family wouldn’t defend him against an attack from the Asturians.
He looked at Lucius, who was ignoring them as he examined the tools and discussed them with Clara.
He gathered his thoughts and approached Lucius.
"Young man... This tool was previously requested by the Asturias family. It was my mistake that it remained on the shelf. How about this? I’ll give you a refund plus 100% as payment in exchange for it. It’s so that it goes to..."
"No," Lucius replied flatly. "Your store’s policy states that refunds for this type of case must be five times the amount spent."
Manager Khoy nearly choked, but then quickly smiled. "Yes, that’s right. You’re correct. I’ll refund the amount..."
"But even if you gave me ten times that amount, I wouldn’t take it. For starters, if the Asturians asked you for it, aren’t I one of them? Legally, since I haven’t been able to sign the document to renounce the surname, I’m still an Asturian. So forget it."
"Well..." Manager Khoy didn’t know what to say.
Although refunds in these cases were possible, it was only if the buyer agreed. If they didn’t, no matter who the other party was, he couldn’t force them.
However, looking at Darius behind him with such an arrogant and authoritative gaze left him with no choice but to sigh.
"Guards." He called out to the nearby guards to come forward, and they surrounded Lucius and Clara. "Young man, it’s not that I don’t understand what you’re saying. I’ll reimburse you ten thousand credits for this, but that tool must be in the hands of Young Lord Darius. So if you’ll excuse me..."
The guards heeded his call and moved toward Lucius to grab him.
Lucius frowned and looked the Manager in the eye.
However, before he could speak, another voice did.
"How ashamed I would be to have a relative like you, given that we are a family as prestigious as the Morwens," Clara said suddenly, surprising everyone.
"You..." Manager Khoy pointed at her, but she ignored him and looked at Darius.
"And you—you were raised to be a spoiled brat by your mom and dad. Why don’t you come and take it from him yourself? It’s already been bought at the store. If you want it, why don’t you take it with your own hands? Is the Academy’s top student afraid of his useless older brother?"
Darius trembled with rage. "Who’s afraid of that trash, Clara Thorne?! Even if you’re a Thorne, you have no right to talk to me like that—you’re an F-Rank!" he roared angrily.
"So what? At least I do things on my own and don’t let others do them for me. You’re just a little man. That’s why all your fiancées dumped you." Clara taunted him, striking a nerve with Darius.
"How dare you!" Kenneth roared from behind and tried to step forward to confront her, but Darius stopped him.
"Leave it to me," he said coldly and walked toward her. His hand moved quickly toward her neck. "Repeat what you just said," he said coldly.
However, his hand never reached Clara’s neck. It was grabbed firmly just before it touched her.
"If you keep up this nonsense, I’ll have Valerius Asturias reprimand you. You’re bringing shame upon your family!" the voice roared.
It was a deep, powerful voice.
It was a voice that struck right to the soul with its vibrations.
It was a voice... that sent shockwaves through her.
.
.
.
"Thalion Morwen!"
