NOVEL NEXT Volume 2, 9: Trouble at the store.
Volume 2, Chapter 9: Trouble at the store.
The sound of glass breaking resounded through the café, followed by a piercing shriek.
Risa ran out of the kitchen to see what was going on.
The deafening silence, usually filled by the usual bustle of customer small talk, was now filled with Helena’s apologizing voice and a female customer’s whining voice.
Risa ran to the center of the commotion while all the other customers watched on.
“What is the matter?”
She stopped next to Helena to see there were bits of broken glass on the ground.
A plump female customer sat as if perched on her throne next to the glass.
She sized Risa up, scrutinizing her from head to toe before saying, “You’re the store owner?”
“Yes.”
“Is that so. Then fire this rude employee on the spot.”
She said, glaring at Helena as if that was Helena’s just desserts.
Although Risa wasn’t sure what had happened, she politely bowed and apologized.
“I’m terribly sorry if she caused you any dissatisfaction.”
She felt Helena bow next to her.
“Thanks to you, my newly tailored clothes are ruined, ruined I say! I doubt people like you can understand, but custom orders are the most luxurious clothes out there, okay?!”
“I deeply apologize. Allow me to wipe it off for you.”
Risa looked at Helena and sent her to grab a dry cloth.
Fortunately the spilled liquid was water, and the small part of the customer’s clothes that had been wet was slightly darker than its surroundings.
Risa stooped over her and gently dabbed at the wet spot.
“I’m sorry that your clothes got wet. By the way, have you ordered?”
“Do I look like I have? Of course I haven’t!”
“I see. I’ll take your order now, then.”
Once the customer calmed down a bit, Risa quickly took her order in hopes to quickly fill her stomach. Perhaps she was just hangry.
The customer immediately pointed to some things on the menu, ordering for the quiet girl sitting across from her as well.
It seemed the girl was her daughter. Unlike her mother, the girl looked frail and delicate and sat still as if trying to erase her own existence.
Her quiet demeanor was the complete opposite of her fiery mother.
Said mother was still irritated by all the attention, and shooed Risa away with a “what are you waiting for? Take it away” after giving her the menu.
Thanking her lucky stars, Risa returned to the kitchen with Helena, who had just finished cleaning up the broken glass.
“I’m so sorry.”
Helena hung her head in dejection.
“It’s okay. She’s calmed down for now.”
“But…”
“Ah, don’t worry about getting fired. There’s no way I would fire you over something like that, so rest easy.”
“I placed the glass in a bad place. The customer’s wrist just happened to knock it over…”
She must have such a fiery temper to be angry over such a small thing.
Helena had always been very talented with improvising on the spot with customers. It was very rare for Helena to be so troubled.
“I will take care of that customer, so could you support Zeke in the kitchen while she’s here?”
Risa looked at Zeke who had been watching them from the worktable, and he nodded.
She left Helena to Zeke and brought the cake tray he made out of the kitchen.
The mother and daughter calmly accepted and cleaned up the cake tray before jauntily leaving the café. Risa gave them an assortment of cookies on their way out as an apology, and they received it despite their incessant complaints.
The other customers were all tense from the mother’s outburst, and the air was significantly relaxed once the pair left.
One of the regulars, the wife of the neighboring hardware store owner, came to pay the bill soon afterwards. Her husband was the one who made the hanging signboard for the café.
She often brought the other wives of the tools street, or came to cool her head after fighting with her husband. She was alone today, so it was more likely for the latter reason.
She overheard everything from her seat at the counter, and she whispered to Risa as she paid the bill.
“Helena did nothing wrong! My, that customer made a waterfall out of a few droplets of water. What a troublesome bunch nobility are!”
As Risa had suspected from the holier-than-thou attitude and the expensive clothes, the customer was nobility.
“I believe she is part of the family of the lord who has land to the west of the capital. Well, she’s the wife of the lord’s son. She came to visit the capital just recently and had been causing quite the disturbance in the shopping districts.”
It appears the customer had been raising an uproar in other stores as well. The hardware store lady sighed and bemoaned her woes to Risa.
“Even if her husband is the son of the lord, that’s a lord out in the country! They don’t even know if the son will be the successor. It’s been whispered up and down the streets that she came to drive a hard bargain and sell her daughter into marriage with the crown prince.”
Risa’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing “crown prince.”
Just then, a new customer came in.
The hardware store lady said, “sorry to keep you,” and left, not noticing Risa’s paled face.
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The mother and daughter pair came the next day as well. Seeing them drained Risa’s energy, but she couldn’t chase them out. Meanwhile, Helena saw the pair and retreated into the kitchen.
Risa switched with Helena and went towards the customers in question. She smiled warmly and combatted the holier-than-thou attitude with grace and humility. The mother seemed pleased by Risa’s attitude and left in high spirits with her daughter after eating.
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The incident happened the next day.
It was busier than usual, and there was a long line of customers waiting to be seated.
The mother pushed past the line into the store and immediately threw the fan in her hand at Risa, hitting her in the chest. It didn’t hurt much, but the suddenness of it all surprised Risa, who stiffened at the impact.
“Why this young lass?! Of course my daughter is more suitable! How dare you! What lowly tactics did you use?!”
The mother screamed in a high pitch whine. Risa failed to grasp the situation.
“I have no idea what you are talking about…”
Risa replied, to which the mother flew into a fury and shrieked louder.
“How shameless! It’s as clear as day that you seduced His Highness the crown prince! A peasant like you can only hope for a position as a concubine, and you dare reach for the throne?! Know your place!”
Risa was surprised as to why she knew about the talks that Lucius said were still confidential.
The mother suddenly smiled triumphantly as if Risa’s exhaustion signaled victory. She began to defame not only Risa, but also the café, tearing it to shreds with verbal accusations and petty criticisms. There was no sign of the pleased customer from yesterday.
Her screams could be heard from outside the café, and soon there was a crowd outside the entrance.
Risa stood petrified by her yells. Then Zeke stepped in front of Risa.
“You are affecting the business. It would be best that you leave.”
“E-excuse me?!”
“Can you not see that you are bothering the other customers? If you refuse to step down, I will call in the Chivalric Order.”
Zeke said firmly, his face kept passively blank yet his eyes glinting.
Just then, a familiar face pushed out of the crowd.
“What’s going on?”
There was no way he should have been on the streets on a weekday at lunchtime, but he must have ditched work as always. Yes, it was Risa’s stepfather, Gilford.
He took one look at Risa, who was shielded by Zeke, and the customer who stood with her legs apart and her arms crossed. He nodded, understanding the situation.
“You are… the wife of the eldest son of Viscount Sylvares of the Western Territory, yes?”
“Yes, I am.”
She stared suspiciously at Gilford, who appeared out of nowhere, and puffed her chest out and her chin up in pride when he guessed her position correctly.
“I see, I see. Perhaps this is the first time we have met? I am the Head Royal Magician, Gilford Hyde Claude.”
Gilford said, bowing respectfully. The blood drained from the customer’s face.
She was from the family of a viscount, one of the lowest ranks of nobility. On the other hand, Gilford was the Head Royal Magician and held the title of a marquis. She finally understood what she had done after not even recognizing his face and forcing him to introduce himself before her.
Gilford hammered in the last nail on the coffin.
“Did you have some problem with my daughter’s café?”
“D-daughter…”
She shook like a leaf upon hearing Gilford’s words.
“U-uhm, I…”
“Please leave.”
Despite her utter and complete defeat, the customer still tried to inch out a few words. However, she was cut off sharply by Gilford, and wandered out of the café.