There are four different grades of rooms in Lunatic. It wasn’t exactly knowledge I was dying to know, but I accidentally found out after living as a Mare Akera for 10 years.
“I’ll guide you to the Ruby Room.”
And after some time passed, the Lunatic staff guided us to the Ruby Room.
“What is the Ruby Room? Do you know?”
“How would I know?”
‘To think we’d be shown to that room…’
The rooms are ranked in order: Diamond, Emerald, and Sapphire, with the Emerald rooms being available only to members. One had to pass through several Emerald rooms to reach the Diamond room, and as for the Ruby…
“This is the best room in Lunatic. We hope you enjoy your time here.”
The Ruby Room was the best and most prestigious space in Lunatic. It was a legendary place that no ordinary customers had ever seen open.
From what I know, only the Sixth House could get access to this room.
‘Wow, they’re really giving this to us…’
It seems that 20 years ago, Lunatic hadn’t quite built the kind of standing it has now, after I came of age.
“Is Ruby a good thing?”
“Gold is better when you’re looking to make a clean sale, though.”
However, Nereus and Gilbert, unaware of this fact, were having a relaxed chat, which contrasted sharply with the cold and harsh atmosphere that usually surrounded them.
“Lala, do you know anything?”
“If she knows less than us, what could she possibly know?”
‘I know more than you…’
In normal attire, they wouldn’t have matched this space at all, but thanks to their clean and well-dressed appearance, Nereus surprisingly fit in quite well despite his rough demeanor.
‘But Nereus doesn’t look like any high-ranking noble.’
Was it the capital? Maybe Lunatic didn’t have much money at that time.
When you have no money, pride is the next thing to go. Pride doesn’t put food on the table, after all.
As I set aside my thoughts, the adults excitedly took out all kinds of dresses on display in the room.
“For our young guest, I recommend this cream-colored dress. It’s made from newly imported fabric, with pearl dust accents as a highlight…”
“Hmm, what do you think?”
“What if Polaris spills tomato sauce on it? That’s a no.”
‘I don’t spill things when I eat.’
But since that dress wasn’t to my taste anyway, I just let Gilbert continue talking and kept my mouth shut.
“Oh, this is good. Hey, look at this. Doesn’t the yellow look just like a chick? Doesn’t it suit Lala?”
“That’s so childish. I think this one fits Polaris better.”
Nereus picked a bright yellow puff dress with white lace accents and ribbons, while Gilbert chose a navy blue dress with white and red accents, and they started growling at each other.
“Lala! What do you think?! The one I picked is definitely better, right?!”
“Ha! Just because Polaris puts up with you more often, do you really think she’ll accept your ridiculous and childish taste?! This one is perfect for Polaris! How could she not love it!”
They glared at each other as if they were about to strike lightning, then swiftly turned their heads to look at me.
I glanced at them with tired eyes and pointed to another dress.
“I like this one.”
“………”
“………”
My finger was pointing at a simple gray dress. It was a neat design, with only a single ribbon attached and no frills, which I found appealing.
“L-Lala?”
“…Haa.”
Nereus looked at me as if the world had come to an end, and Gilbert let out a long sigh as if he didn’t know what to do.
“Ah, your dads have plenty of money, okay? There’s no need for our little Lala to try and save so much.”
“Yes, Polaris. Even though it may seem like these rascals, including this one, throw money around like it’s water, the ship’s finances are abundant, so don’t feel bad about it.”
“But I really like that one…”
It looked very neat and seemed quite practical. Clothes should be comfortable, after all. Once you buy them, you should wear them until they wear out, right?
‘It kind of reminds me of the casual clothes I used to wear during my navy days, so the more I look at it, the more at ease I feel with it.’
As I fiddled with the gray dress, a staff member quickly approached me and explained.
“Our young lady has a great eye! This dress, let me tell you, has an elegant design that suits all ages, and it comes in different styles for various age groups.”
“Oh.”
So, I could buy this in different sizes for the future and never have to worry about clothes again? I was quite tempted, no, very tempted.
“No way!!”
“Absolutely not!!”
“Huh?”
“I swear, even if all the blood in my body turns to seawater, that will never happen!! Lala!”
“Dad, if a person’s body turns into seawater, that’s a serious problem.”
“So you’re saying it will never work out for the rest of my life! Are you hoping something bad happens to me?!”
I had no idea what Nereus was talking about. I shook my head in slight confusion.
“Right?! That’s why it’s not happening. Gil, don’t just stand there shouting ‘No,’ say something! Come on!”
Nereus grabbed Gilbert by the arm, shaking him violently with the hand that wasn’t holding the dress. Gilbert, with a somewhat tired expression, allowed himself to be shaken before leaning toward me to speak.
“Polaris, the truth is, Ner has had a wish ever since he was young.”
“A wish?”
“Yes. He always wanted to dress his child in the most expensive clothes and feed them only the finest things.”
“………”
“So how about choosing a dress that’s even prettier than that one?”
Even that gray dress was probably more expensive than most other shops. Whether Nereus knew it or not, he pushed the catalog aside and shouted, ‘Just bring out the most expensive one!’
The staff brightened up as if they had hit the jackpot and hurried off elsewhere.
“If it’s Dad’s wish… okay, I get it.”
Spending so much money on me made me feel a bit uneasy, but since it was Nereus’s wish, I didn’t really want to refuse.
Gilbert, who had been watching me, reached out and ruffled my hair.
“You’re messing up my hair.”
“It was already a mess as soon as Ner tied it, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Well, I guess that’s true.”
At my response, Gilbert let out a breathy laugh.
“What are you two doing over there? Hurry up! The clothes have arrived!”
“We were just talking behind your back. We’re coming.”
“What?!”
Hearing that, Nereus opened his eyes wide like saucers and glared at us.
“Hey, don’t say things behind my back that you wouldn’t say to my face…”
“You’re terrible at tying hair.”
“Dad, you always tie my hair in a mess.”
We promptly repeated to Nereus what we had just said behind his back. Nereus glanced between Gilbert and me, then shook his head.
“Fine, as the more mature one, I’ll just let it slide. Geez.”
“See that, Polaris? That’s the reaction of someone who’s technically an adult but hasn’t quite grown up inside.”
“Oh…”
Nereus gave Gilbert a sharp look before scooping me up into his arms.
“Alright, alright, enough of that. Lala, look at this. These are all your dresses. What do you think?”
“Hmm?”
Gilbert casually browsed through the dresses displayed beside us.
“The fabric quality is a bit underwhelming.”
“If this shop is supposed to be the best in this area, does that mean others are even worse?”
“Well, they say bad fabrics can cause rashes, so I guess we have no choice but to buy this one. The only question is whether they have the right size.”
I looked at the row of dresses in front of me and felt uneasy.
‘Something feels off.’
One of the reasons Lunatic was so successful was its overwhelmingly superior quality compared to other shops. No wonder many noble ladies wanted to wear Lunatic’s dresses for their debutante balls, even though it was a franchise.
Moreover, I had heard that this had been one of their differentiation strategies since the company’s founding. They had enough business sense to pull off such strategies. And with the company growing larger and opening new branches, there was no way they would offer something subpar at this point.
Yet, the material of the so-called ‘premium goods’ brought by the staff with a bright smile was of similar, if not lower, quality compared to the gray dress I had seen earlier.
Of course, this might have been considered a good product in other shops, but considering Lunatic’s pricing, this was unacceptable.
‘Hmm?’
Looking closely, I noticed the display was slightly crooked, as if the items had been hastily replaced.
‘Something seems off with the dyeing too…’
I wasn’t entirely sure, so I kept my doubts to myself. But then, I saw the staff exchanging glances.
‘Huh? What’s with them?’
Nereus and Gilbert were good at recognizing the value of jewels and treasures but had rarely dealt with dresses up close.
Naturally, they couldn’t tell which items were of the best quality in a shop like this. Especially women’s dresses, which were not something the female crew of Caelum, aside from Clara, usually wore.
‘Clara’s dresses were generally inexpensive, so there’s no point in comparing.’
It seemed that these people had realized we were quite well-off and were trying to cheat us with this scam.
I was astounded.
‘Do they think they’ll get away with this?’
I looked up at Nereus with wide eyes.
“Dad, can I try one on here? It’s hard to try everything.”
“Huh? Sure. Since we’re buying everything, there’s no need to try them all. Should we try the most expensive one?”
Of course, Nereus equated ‘most expensive’ with ‘best quality.’ If we hadn’t asked for the most expensive dress, Lunatic might have tried to deceive us by providing a genuine item just to get us out of their hair, but now that I insisted on trying on the most expensive dress, they had no choice but to bring out a legitimate one.
Still, judging by their behavior, they were likely planning to hand over a fake dress regardless.
I entered the fitting room with one of the staff.
“I’ll help you get dressed~”
“Okay~”
Once I tried it on, it became clear. The so-called premium dress was terribly cheap.
‘This has been chemically treated.’
It wasn’t just any treatment; I could still smell the faint, unpleasant scent that lingered on the dress. It wasn’t the sweet smell of fruit, honey, or sugar, but a slightly stuffy, disagreeable scent.
‘This is the smell of herbs used to mask the odor of cheap dye.’
Here, ‘cheap’ referred to inferior dye. Some of these dyes could easily produce beautiful colors, but the problem was that they caused rashes after only a few wears.
This issue hadn’t yet become widely known and was mostly a secret shared among industry insiders.
‘If it weren’t for me, no one would have known.’
But these people had used it. I was completely floored.
They were clearly trying to rip off unsuspecting customers by selling substandard goods and pretending not to know anything afterward.
As soon as I put on the dress, I started scratching my body.
“Why are you scratching?”
“My body feels itchy.”
Scratch. Scratch scratch.
I even used my nails to dig into my skin.
“C-customer?!”
The startled staff grabbed both of my hands to stop me, but it was already too late. I had already scratched red marks all over my skin and then, with a loud cry, I burst into tears.
…Or at least, I made it sound like I was crying.
“It’s itchy!! It hurts! It’s itchy! Dad!! Daaaaad! This women is hurting me!!”
As soon as I shouted, there was a loud commotion outside, and within moments, Nereus and Gilbert burst into the room, looking furious.
“Lala!”
“Polaris!”
