The invitations were clearly intended for the 'top 10% of [Lagione Costume Shop] customers'. It was based on the purchase amount.
But when we actually arrived at the party venue, the conversation at the entrance was different.
“No, why can’t we go in?”
CEO Caruso protested to the gatekeeper.
“I’m sure I brought an invitation!”
The gatekeeper looked him up and down as if he found CEO Caruso's haoche funny.
He seemed to have a high status as an employee of a nobleman. He answered slowly and without sincerity.
“You are not a noble, are you?”
The gatekeeper answered curtly.
“This is the Fiorucci family mansion. Non-nobles are not allowed to enter. It is a family rule.”
Camellia came forward.
“No, wait a minute. If you look here, it says ‘based on purchase amount.’”
The invitation indirectly included the ranking of the customer's purchase amount along with the words "based on purchase amount."
The envelope containing the invitation contained a three-digit number, which indicated the order in which it was sent, and which corresponded to the order of purchase amount.
“If it’s based on purchase amount, doesn’t it matter whether you’re a noble or not?”
Camellia's number was 004, which actually ranked her higher than most nobles.
For reference, the person who had made the most purchases at Lagione's tailor shop in front of Camellia was Duchess Rubina, who had been a regular for nearly 30 years. Right behind her was Ariadne, who was in hot pursuit, and Cesare, the Duke of Pisano, who had come in third place in purchases despite not wearing a single item of his own.
“I don’t understand why I’m not allowed in!”
Among the people in front of Camellia, there was not a single one who was actually a noble in the traditional sense.
In the Etruscan kingdom of today, title and wealth were separated. However, the gatekeeper of the party hall was still stiff.
“I don’t know about that. You should complain to the store that chose the Fiorucci mansion as the party venue. The Fiorucci mansion is off-limits to non-nobles.”
“...!”
CEO Caruso's expression changed at the gatekeeper's arrogant words and actions.
He was not a man easily excited, but the gatekeeper acted as if he were deliberately trying to provoke them.
“The door you return to is on the left.”
The gatekeeper added, grumbling.
“Shall I guide you?”
He thought it couldn't get any worse. But it was better to be alone with the arrogant gatekeeper than to be surrounded by other onlookers.
A middle-aged noblewoman with patchy white hair held the invitation and timidly observed the situation from behind.
When there was a loud noise, she seemed to be trying to determine whether she could go in or not.
When another guest appeared, the gatekeeper greeted the lady cheerfully.
“Come in, Countess Rondinelli!”
They seemed familiar. The lady asked the doorman.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked around meaningfully. The gatekeeper answered briskly.
“Oh, well, there’s nothing wrong except for the commoners causing a bit of a commotion. It’ll be over soon. Come on in.”
"Thank you."
Countess Rondinelli smiled at the doorkeeper and went inside.
The fact that he didn't even glance at Camellia's side revealed his attitude of treating her like a piece of furniture or a horse, not a person.
Camellia, as Camellia, was shocked by just one word.
'Commons'.
Camellia's expression immediately turned pale at those words. She knew it in her head, but her heart could not accept it.
Camellia, the daughter of a Baron, lived her entire life as a noble lady.
It is true that after losing Ottavio de Contarini to Isabella, she was unable to find a husband of Ottavio's level anywhere, so she hurriedly turned to the commoner but wealthy Caruso Vitali, but it was a struggle for survival.
It was a decision made in a hurry, so there was no time to think it over or to process her emotions.
By leaving her father and becoming the mistress of her husband's household, she was able to enjoy all the things she had enjoyed as a young woman, and now she had a husband who was obsessed with her and her life itself had become more comfortable, so the shock waves that she had been putting off without thinking about them finally erupted.
CEO Caruso listened without much interest, then realized that Camellia's expression next to him was unusual.
“Honey...”
He felt a mixture of sadness and anger at the same time.
His blood slowly ran cold at the thought that his young wife was being subjected to an unnecessary humiliation.
To make matters worse, someone he didn't want to meet showed up.
“Oh my, who is this?”
It was Leticia de Leonati of the House of Leonati. She walked slowly and stood in front of Camellia, smiling broadly.
“No, Camellia. Long time no see, honey.”
Camellia's expression crinkled. She had long since deleted Leticia from her friends list.
Camellia was never an entirely kind person.
As expected from a leading figure in San Carlo society, she was quite calculating, but, apart from friendship, Leticia was a level below her.
At least Camellia thought so. The Leonati family was of low rank and not very influential.
Besides, in terms of wealth, which was the criterion for invitation today, Lady Leonati was clearly not qualified to come here.
Because Viscount Leonati was just a minor nobleman in the capital, she was definitely not at the level of buying whatever she wanted.
They had a hard time even getting on the list of customers, let alone the top customers, of Lagione's costume shop.
Camellia ignored Leticia's greeting cleanly. Instead, she looked at the gatekeeper and protested.
“Didn’t you clearly say it was in order of purchase amount?”
In fact, it was a protest she wanted to make a while ago, even during the time of Countess Rondinelli.
Camellia was certain that she had spent more than Countess Rondinelli, but she was cautious about speaking about it publicly, as she did not know the inside story of the Rondinelli family.
But Leticia was different. Camellia even knew the number of spoons in the Leonati family.
“How did she come here?”
Camellia pointed her finger at Leticia and scolded the gatekeeper.
“It’s outrageous that Viscount Leonati has the highest purchase price?”
Leticia was upset by Camellia's ignorance. She had been warned by Isabella that something like this would happen, but she couldn't help but feel angry.
Although Leticia was not present, she proudly stuck out her broad chest like a rooster.
“I bought something too?”
She took out a small fan, the ribs of which were made of delicately carved ebony instead of ivory.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
Camellia smiled rottenly.
The ivory version was expensive, but the ebony version was produced in large quantities at a lower price for general sale.
Isabella bought her own white fan and also bought Leticia a black fan. That was the purchase she had made.
And Camellia didn't know the exact details, but she had a rough idea that there would be something like that.
As Camellia was about to chew Leticia out and ask the gatekeeper to let her in again, a voice like jade beads was heard.
“It’s thanks to guys like you.”
It was Isabella. Behind her stood an army of noble ladies.
“No matter how high the purchase price is, there are people in the middle who can’t get along with us.”
Isabella chuckled.
“Because of those people, if you drop out of the line, people who wouldn’t have been able to get in will end up moving up in the line. Thanks to you, Leticia is doing well, too, you know.”
It was a remark that no one could tell who was being fed. But Leticia was already on Isabella's boat.
She couldn't come down now because she was in a bad mood. Leticia responded positively to Isabella's words and looked CEO Caruso up and down.
“Yeah! Isabella’s right. Who would want to come to a party where they have to stand in the same room as someone like that?”
Isabella added to Leticia's words.
“This has nothing to do with money. It’s like a guy wearing boots and catching fish at the fish market.”
In fact, CEO Caruso kept his mouth shut because he was a former tobacco smuggler.
Isabella frowned as she said this, thinking that CEO Caruso would agree with her words.
“You can’t drink champagne while smelling fish, right? Don’t you, Gabriele?”
Only then did Camellia's eyes fall on Gabriele, who was trembling in the back row.
They had been sharing tea together just yesterday. Gabriele hurriedly lowered his head at Camellia's gaze.
Camellia felt her heart skip a beat as Gabriele averted her eyes. Isabella urged her again.
“No, we are not that close. What do you think, Marchioness of Montefeltro?”
Gabriele froze rigidly and bit his lip, staring at the floor. This was the maximum resistance he could muster.
And Camellia saw a glimmer of hope in Gabriele's hesitation. Here at least she had one person on her side.
“Lady Montefeltro?”
But Isabella urged Gabriele once again.
“Hey!”
Her mother-in-law urged Gabriele on with a menacing voice. When Gabriele hesitated, she raised her voice even higher.
“You can’t even take care of your children, and you’re not a good husband, so you’re trying to disgrace your family like this? Should I reconsider my eldest child going to Padua?”
Gabriele finally opened his mouth in a crawling voice.
“...It would be right for nobles to gather with nobles, and merchants to gather with merchants.”
“Gabi!”
Camellia looked at Gabriele with a face full of astonishment. But Gabriele turned her head away and avoided Camellia.
Camellia was overcome with anger and shed tears. She could understand Gabriele with her head, but her heart was filled with resentment.
“How could you do this to me!”
Gabriele didn't apologize. It wasn't the situation.
Isabella looked down on all this with a victorious smile, while the ladies whispered among themselves behind her.
Later, it may be said that Countess Contarini was too much and that the Marchioness of Montefeltro and Madame Vitelli were pitiful, but this is assuming that no trouble breaks out here.
But Camellia, who was furious to the point of tears, didn't have the luxury of calculating such things.
“Gabi...!”
Camellia, who was about to approach Gabriele and question her, was stopped by the gatekeeper of the Fiorucci family.
In an instant, she was pushed aside and sat down, holding onto her stomach.
"Ah!"
“Camellia!”
CEO Caruso jumped in, taken aback.
“Camellia, oh, are you okay?”
“Ugh...”
Bright red blood was spotted on the hem of Camellia's yellow silk dress.
But when we actually arrived at the party venue, the conversation at the entrance was different.
“No, why can’t we go in?”
CEO Caruso protested to the gatekeeper.
“I’m sure I brought an invitation!”
The gatekeeper looked him up and down as if he found CEO Caruso's haoche funny.
He seemed to have a high status as an employee of a nobleman. He answered slowly and without sincerity.
“You are not a noble, are you?”
The gatekeeper answered curtly.
“This is the Fiorucci family mansion. Non-nobles are not allowed to enter. It is a family rule.”
Camellia came forward.
“No, wait a minute. If you look here, it says ‘based on purchase amount.’”
The invitation indirectly included the ranking of the customer's purchase amount along with the words "based on purchase amount."
The envelope containing the invitation contained a three-digit number, which indicated the order in which it was sent, and which corresponded to the order of purchase amount.
“If it’s based on purchase amount, doesn’t it matter whether you’re a noble or not?”
Camellia's number was 004, which actually ranked her higher than most nobles.
For reference, the person who had made the most purchases at Lagione's tailor shop in front of Camellia was Duchess Rubina, who had been a regular for nearly 30 years. Right behind her was Ariadne, who was in hot pursuit, and Cesare, the Duke of Pisano, who had come in third place in purchases despite not wearing a single item of his own.
“I don’t understand why I’m not allowed in!”
Among the people in front of Camellia, there was not a single one who was actually a noble in the traditional sense.
In the Etruscan kingdom of today, title and wealth were separated. However, the gatekeeper of the party hall was still stiff.
“I don’t know about that. You should complain to the store that chose the Fiorucci mansion as the party venue. The Fiorucci mansion is off-limits to non-nobles.”
“...!”
CEO Caruso's expression changed at the gatekeeper's arrogant words and actions.
He was not a man easily excited, but the gatekeeper acted as if he were deliberately trying to provoke them.
“The door you return to is on the left.”
The gatekeeper added, grumbling.
“Shall I guide you?”
He thought it couldn't get any worse. But it was better to be alone with the arrogant gatekeeper than to be surrounded by other onlookers.
A middle-aged noblewoman with patchy white hair held the invitation and timidly observed the situation from behind.
When there was a loud noise, she seemed to be trying to determine whether she could go in or not.
When another guest appeared, the gatekeeper greeted the lady cheerfully.
“Come in, Countess Rondinelli!”
They seemed familiar. The lady asked the doorman.
“Is everything okay?”
She looked around meaningfully. The gatekeeper answered briskly.
“Oh, well, there’s nothing wrong except for the commoners causing a bit of a commotion. It’ll be over soon. Come on in.”
"Thank you."
Countess Rondinelli smiled at the doorkeeper and went inside.
The fact that he didn't even glance at Camellia's side revealed his attitude of treating her like a piece of furniture or a horse, not a person.
Camellia, as Camellia, was shocked by just one word.
'Commons'.
Camellia's expression immediately turned pale at those words. She knew it in her head, but her heart could not accept it.
Camellia, the daughter of a Baron, lived her entire life as a noble lady.
It is true that after losing Ottavio de Contarini to Isabella, she was unable to find a husband of Ottavio's level anywhere, so she hurriedly turned to the commoner but wealthy Caruso Vitali, but it was a struggle for survival.
It was a decision made in a hurry, so there was no time to think it over or to process her emotions.
By leaving her father and becoming the mistress of her husband's household, she was able to enjoy all the things she had enjoyed as a young woman, and now she had a husband who was obsessed with her and her life itself had become more comfortable, so the shock waves that she had been putting off without thinking about them finally erupted.
CEO Caruso listened without much interest, then realized that Camellia's expression next to him was unusual.
“Honey...”
He felt a mixture of sadness and anger at the same time.
His blood slowly ran cold at the thought that his young wife was being subjected to an unnecessary humiliation.
To make matters worse, someone he didn't want to meet showed up.
“Oh my, who is this?”
It was Leticia de Leonati of the House of Leonati. She walked slowly and stood in front of Camellia, smiling broadly.
“No, Camellia. Long time no see, honey.”
Camellia's expression crinkled. She had long since deleted Leticia from her friends list.
Camellia was never an entirely kind person.
As expected from a leading figure in San Carlo society, she was quite calculating, but, apart from friendship, Leticia was a level below her.
At least Camellia thought so. The Leonati family was of low rank and not very influential.
Besides, in terms of wealth, which was the criterion for invitation today, Lady Leonati was clearly not qualified to come here.
Because Viscount Leonati was just a minor nobleman in the capital, she was definitely not at the level of buying whatever she wanted.
They had a hard time even getting on the list of customers, let alone the top customers, of Lagione's costume shop.
Camellia ignored Leticia's greeting cleanly. Instead, she looked at the gatekeeper and protested.
“Didn’t you clearly say it was in order of purchase amount?”
In fact, it was a protest she wanted to make a while ago, even during the time of Countess Rondinelli.
Camellia was certain that she had spent more than Countess Rondinelli, but she was cautious about speaking about it publicly, as she did not know the inside story of the Rondinelli family.
But Leticia was different. Camellia even knew the number of spoons in the Leonati family.
“How did she come here?”
Camellia pointed her finger at Leticia and scolded the gatekeeper.
“It’s outrageous that Viscount Leonati has the highest purchase price?”
Leticia was upset by Camellia's ignorance. She had been warned by Isabella that something like this would happen, but she couldn't help but feel angry.
Although Leticia was not present, she proudly stuck out her broad chest like a rooster.
“I bought something too?”
She took out a small fan, the ribs of which were made of delicately carved ebony instead of ivory.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
Camellia smiled rottenly.
The ivory version was expensive, but the ebony version was produced in large quantities at a lower price for general sale.
Isabella bought her own white fan and also bought Leticia a black fan. That was the purchase she had made.
And Camellia didn't know the exact details, but she had a rough idea that there would be something like that.
As Camellia was about to chew Leticia out and ask the gatekeeper to let her in again, a voice like jade beads was heard.
“It’s thanks to guys like you.”
It was Isabella. Behind her stood an army of noble ladies.
“No matter how high the purchase price is, there are people in the middle who can’t get along with us.”
Isabella chuckled.
“Because of those people, if you drop out of the line, people who wouldn’t have been able to get in will end up moving up in the line. Thanks to you, Leticia is doing well, too, you know.”
It was a remark that no one could tell who was being fed. But Leticia was already on Isabella's boat.
She couldn't come down now because she was in a bad mood. Leticia responded positively to Isabella's words and looked CEO Caruso up and down.
“Yeah! Isabella’s right. Who would want to come to a party where they have to stand in the same room as someone like that?”
Isabella added to Leticia's words.
“This has nothing to do with money. It’s like a guy wearing boots and catching fish at the fish market.”
In fact, CEO Caruso kept his mouth shut because he was a former tobacco smuggler.
Isabella frowned as she said this, thinking that CEO Caruso would agree with her words.
“You can’t drink champagne while smelling fish, right? Don’t you, Gabriele?”
Only then did Camellia's eyes fall on Gabriele, who was trembling in the back row.
They had been sharing tea together just yesterday. Gabriele hurriedly lowered his head at Camellia's gaze.
Camellia felt her heart skip a beat as Gabriele averted her eyes. Isabella urged her again.
“No, we are not that close. What do you think, Marchioness of Montefeltro?”
Gabriele froze rigidly and bit his lip, staring at the floor. This was the maximum resistance he could muster.
And Camellia saw a glimmer of hope in Gabriele's hesitation. Here at least she had one person on her side.
“Lady Montefeltro?”
But Isabella urged Gabriele once again.
“Hey!”
Her mother-in-law urged Gabriele on with a menacing voice. When Gabriele hesitated, she raised her voice even higher.
“You can’t even take care of your children, and you’re not a good husband, so you’re trying to disgrace your family like this? Should I reconsider my eldest child going to Padua?”
Gabriele finally opened his mouth in a crawling voice.
“...It would be right for nobles to gather with nobles, and merchants to gather with merchants.”
“Gabi!”
Camellia looked at Gabriele with a face full of astonishment. But Gabriele turned her head away and avoided Camellia.
Camellia was overcome with anger and shed tears. She could understand Gabriele with her head, but her heart was filled with resentment.
“How could you do this to me!”
Gabriele didn't apologize. It wasn't the situation.
Isabella looked down on all this with a victorious smile, while the ladies whispered among themselves behind her.
Later, it may be said that Countess Contarini was too much and that the Marchioness of Montefeltro and Madame Vitelli were pitiful, but this is assuming that no trouble breaks out here.
But Camellia, who was furious to the point of tears, didn't have the luxury of calculating such things.
“Gabi...!”
Camellia, who was about to approach Gabriele and question her, was stopped by the gatekeeper of the Fiorucci family.
In an instant, she was pushed aside and sat down, holding onto her stomach.
"Ah!"
“Camellia!”
CEO Caruso jumped in, taken aback.
“Camellia, oh, are you okay?”
“Ugh...”
Bright red blood was spotted on the hem of Camellia's yellow silk dress.
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