Gorgeous Carat Volume 1: (Yaoi): v. 1 - Tapa blanda

The volume starts off with Florian and his mother in a bit of a spot as their once rich aristocrat family has fallen into poverty. The family was entrusted with the Flame of Mughal, a 120 carat diamond. This diamond also, however, is said to be cursed and to bring misfortune to those who seek it. A distant member of the family, Ray (Noir) meets Florian at a family party and is instantly enchanted by Florian's amethyst eyes. A usurer, he convinces Florian's mother to trade in her son to salvage some of her pride. In the meantime, Florian's Uncle Morris attempts to murder Florian's mother by pushing her down a flight of stairs and setting the estate on fire. He is also after the Flame of Mugahl and exploits Florian when he is weak in order to find its whereabouts. Noir swoops in to retrieve Florian, and the two go off to find the diamond which has been hidden in an old and abandoned castle. Morris interrupts them, however, and takes the diamond for himself. However, when he removes it, the room is filled with poisonous gas. Florian's mother, having faked her own death, shows up and guides Noir and Florian to safety. The next chapter introduces Solomon Sugar and brings up the new "mission" of Petit Noel and his teddy bear, Betty Doo. It turns out Noel's father, the owner of the richest bank in Paris, attempted to take all of the bank's money as his own and substituted them with two rare stones (star sapphire) which he hid in the eyes of Noel's teddy bear. The baddies are after Noel, but Noel and Florian give him refugee where they find that Noel's mother-in-law is actually one of the sub-bosses of a powerful underground mafia, the Black Hand. Noel runs off on his own so as not to be a burden to anyone and Florian goes after him, but only finds him thanks to Solomon's help. At the end of the volume, Florian and company are the midst of rescuing Noel when Florian gets shot in the back! Or does he...?