Chapter 1 – The Young Master’s Circumstances: Who’s The Sinner Here? Certainly Not Me

The Noctus family was a fallen noble house that had lost its land and title. In her great-grandfather’s time, they sold off land, mansions, and even silverware, and by her parents’ generation, they’d managed to sell off their title as well.

They scraped by with occasional help from distant relatives abroad, but her parents never worked, even though they had two extra mouths to feed. They couldn’t let go of their useless pride.

Lucy Noctus, who didn’t really consider herself a noble, had an older brother four years her senior.

The siblings, awkward with each other, at ages ten and fourteen, became burdens their parents wanted to reduce, and so were sent to live with a mage from the Eastern Magical Engineering Tower.

The mage apparently just needed some quick, clever assistants. Out of all the hopefuls, why he chose these siblings was unknown—maybe he saw some talent in them.

The Noctus siblings were recognized for their talents in alchemy and magic. Growing up at the tower, they spent their adolescence being worked like slaves under researchers—professors, they were called.

It wasn’t a nightmare. She lost plenty of bright, creative ideas to them, but Lucy didn’t mind the warm food and a place to sleep at the tower. She didn’t consider it home, but she did dream of someday becoming the tower’s master and conquering it.

But Sybil Noctus didn’t feel the same.

Sybil insisted they had to leave the tower, but Lucy opposed him. Not only that, but when Sybil kept causing trouble, Lucy coldly told him to disappear if he wasn’t going to be any help in her life. Her brother, who never listened to her, obeyed that one command.

Seeing the tower as a cage, Sybil, at twenty-two, destroyed his registered name tag (which had a tracking spell engraved on it) and left Lucy behind.

After that, all contact was lost.

They hadn’t been a loving pair of siblings, but it would be a lie to say she didn’t feel abandoned. Lucy was secretly deeply hurt, but for self-defense, she sometimes muttered,

“He was never any help to my life anyway.”

If he did something wrong at the tower, he’d blame her, or he’d do weird things like slip a mana stone charged with electrical magic into her clothes.

But even though she said those things, she must have missed her brother.

At twenty-three, for various reasons, Lucy was kicked out of the tower without conquering it, and after much thought, headed for the capital of the Lurian Empire.

On the surface, she claimed it was to start fresh in the “City of the Golden Compass,” famous in the era of Grand Magical Engineering, but in truth, it was to chase Sybil Noctus’s last traces.

Unfortunately, Lucy couldn’t find her brother there. Her investigation into his trail in the capital stalled.

“How did I even get this far? What do I do with my life now?”

Depressed about her uncertain future, Lucy went to a beer house, cried, and made a scene. If that wasn’t enough, half-drunk at the bar, she’d ask passing women, “Do you have an older brother or a younger brother?”

If they said yes, she’d advise, “Don’t be good to them. They’ll never be any help in your life.”

“What’s with her?”

Most people thought Lucy was a weird drunk, sticking her nose in other families’ business.

“Ugh…”

Lucy barely stifled a burp from the beer, spun her chair around, and leaned her elbow on the bar. She raised a hand to the bartender, ready to order, “One vodka maltese, shaken, not stirred.”

“Ahem!”

A deliberate cough came from right beside her. Turning her head, Lucy saw a young woman about her age, looking at her with curious eyes.

Long black hair, and a rather upscale appearance. Lucy eyed her suspiciously, thinking she must be a daughter from a wealthy family.

The woman spoke.

“I agree.”

“With what?”

“With what you were loudly ranting about, like a madwoman on the steam train’s loop line.”

“What?”

Was she saying Lucy was just a useless, washed-up person, spouting garbage because she had nothing better to do?

Just as Lucy was about to snort in indignation, the woman gave her a warm, sympathetic look.

“I have a male relative too. He’s only ever gotten in the way of my life.”

“……”

‘Cease fire! She’s friendly!’

Lucy held out her hand for a handshake.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Me too.”

They greeted each other politely. The black-haired woman introduced herself as Cassia Cervantes and shared her background.

Cassia, the only daughter of a wealthy Baron in the provinces, believed she was the heir to her family until she was fifteen.

But after years of heir training, Cassia learned her mother was pregnant with a younger brother. About ten months later, with his birth, she lost her place as the next family head and experienced her first heartbreak.

“I took my rightful inheritance and came to the capital. I vowed I could succeed without the Cervantes family.”

Once conversation started, the two quickly realized they got along well.

Cassia, an engineer and inventor, became Lucy Noctus’s business partner that very day. Together, they opened a shop on the outskirts of the upscale shopping district.

Three years passed, and business flourished. Lucy thought this way of living, managing on her own, wasn’t so bad.

Still, she never gave up searching for her brother’s whereabouts.

Every quarter, Lucy placed an ad in the newspaper. The fee was expensive, but for money-obsessed Lucy, she paid it without hesitation.

She vowed to beat her brother senseless if she ever found him.

***

Baker Street, No. 221.

This street was known for its famous detective office, but those who knew the City of the Golden Compass well were aware of a more discreet, famous place.

Lucy and Cassia usually left shop management to their manager, spending their time in their respective home laboratories. Whenever inspiration struck, Cassia would disappear for days on end to focus on inventing.

Lucy, having stopped by the shop for the first time in a while, decided to go find Cassia, who was absorbed in inventing a new product.

On her brisk walk, a leisurely airship passed overhead, casting a shadow. The midday street was noisy, filled with both mechanical carriages and traditional ones.

Before reaching the shop, Lucy lightly tidied her wind-tousled reddish-brown hair. At that moment, she spotted two ladies hesitating in front of the shop.

With peacock-feathered, luxurious hats, dresses adorned with pearls larger than fingernails, and lace-trimmed parasols, it was clear the ladies had come to Lucy’s shop for an outing.

First-time visitors always reacted like that.

“Hmm-hmm!”

Lucy announced her presence with a polite cough, then approached the two ladies with a friendly merchant’s smile.

“Hello, ladies. Were you looking for our shop by any chance?”

The three of them glanced over the shop’s sign. It was a tea house with a sign reading ‘For Quality of Life’.

The ladies’ gentle eyes wavered slightly, clearly feeling awkward.

“Ah, we…”

Lucy kept her kind smile and nodded.

“I understand. Please, come inside first.”

She courteously escorted the ladies. When she opened the iron door, flamboyantly shaped like flames, a clean and sophisticated tea house greeted the guests.

Thanks to stained glass windows, multicolored light poured into the interior. The tea house was decorated in a geometric, distinctive style, typical of the Capital.

Yet, nowhere was anyone drinking coffee or tea.

The only person there was an employee in a bartender’s uniform. Rather than polishing cups, he was knitting with a bored expression.

“Good morning.”

When Lucy greeted him, the employee looked up and acknowledged her.

“Hello, President Lucy.”

“Yes.”

Ah! Being called ‘President’ is the best!

Surprised by the title, the ladies turned to look at Lucy. Many customers were astonished to see such a young owner.

Lucy composed her twitching lips and asked the employee authoritatively,

“Has Sola come in?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Sola was the manager’s name. When Lucy nodded, sending a silent order, the staff set down their knitting and pressed a button under the bar.

A sound of movement came from nearby, and one of the nervous ladies let out a small squeak. Lucy reached out her hand to gently relax their tension.

“It’s alright.”

Meanwhile, a wall niche slid open to reveal a hidden elevator.

“This way, ladies.”

The two women, faces flushed with anticipation, followed Lucy into the elevator. When Lucy pulled the lever inside, the lift immediately ascended.

With a ding, the elevator stopped. There was no separate door, so they didn’t have to wait for it to open.

The hidden second floor was the ladies’ destination, and the workplace of Lucy and Cassia.

Brightly lit by electric lamps, the interior welcomed the three. A trumpet phonograph played stately classical music to liven up shopping.

Unlike the first floor, this place bustled with customers.

“Oh my.”

Lucy listened with satisfaction to the exclamations behind her.

Women with flushed faces debated between d*ldo sizes, others tested gel on the back of their hands to see if it was too sticky, and so on.

This was the Capital’s most popular upscale adult shop, named ‘For the Life of Quality’—a reversal of the tea house’s name. There were products for men, but 99.9% of the customers were women.

Seeing the shop packed as usual, Lucy proudly straightened her shoulders, filled with pride and satisfaction.