Chapter 34

Chapter 34

“Yes. Cosmetics and the items needed for grooming are sold on Essex Street.”

“Really? Then come there with me.”

“But it’s a rather chaotic neighborhood. If you tell me what you need, I can go and buy them for you.”

I shook my head.

I wasn’t going there to buy something, but to conduct market research, so I had to see it with my own eyes.

Of course, I understood what Maya meant.

‘A noblewoman wandering around Essex Street pretending to know her way around would be a perfect recipe for nasty rumors.’

So today, I intended to become ‘Rosie Camden’ for the first time in a very long while, and in other words, that meant I had to be able to trust Maya completely.

And I trusted Maya. She was perceptive and clever enough to immediately think of the safety of her younger siblings when given my order to ‘never tell anyone.’

‘I’m sorry, Maya. I’m this despicable of a person.’

So, the part where I told her to stop looking at me like a savior…… I would put that off for now.

In any case, I completely changed my appearance and put on a veil to shield myself from the sunlight before heading to Essex Street with Maya.

***

Just as Maya had said, Essex Street was crowded with young women. There were some women who appeared to be nobles, but they were clearly not high-ranking aristocrats, and most were maids sent out to run errands for their mistresses.

And unlike the marketplace in Tessis, a fairly wide variety of products were being sold in different shops.

‘Could my business plan already be outdated in Herona?’

I had come out full of confidence, but seeing that there were more things available than I had expected made me nervous.

The first place I entered was a shop selling powder.

There were many people browsing, but the shrewd shopkeeper approached me quickly as a new customer without neglecting those who had arrived before me.

“Welcome! Are you here to buy some new face powder?”

“Uh, yeah. What do you have?”

“There are three price ranges. If you look over here…….”

“No, the price doesn’t matter. I mean, are there different shades of powder?”

The merchant tilted his head with an expression that made it clear he had no idea what I was talking about.

“Powder is supposed to be white, isn’t it……?”

“Really? So there aren’t any other colors?”

“Yes……. There is powder with pearl powder mixed into it, but we don’t carry it at our shop. It doesn’t sell very well.”

The reason he had stocked only such simple products was obvious.

The current trends were either skin that was pale to the point of looking white or cheeks with a rosy flush, and even to create a flushed complexion, the base had to be white.

But my thoughts were a little different.

‘For there to be light, there has to be darkness.’

If you created artificial shadows along the jaw and neck, the face could look so much smaller and whiter.

Originally, this was a makeup technique intended to alter one’s appearance on stage, but the change when I applied it to Rosalyn had been truly astonishing.

That was probably why Rosalyn, who normally replaced her maids every six months, had kept me by her side for more than two years.

‘Good. So the types of powder here are the same as in Tessis?’

Then this time, it was time to look at rouge and cheek color.

The place Maya had taken me to sold not only color cosmetics but also powder puffs and fake beauty marks.

Looking over the displayed products, there was certainly a little more variety.

“I’d like to see the rouge colors.”

At my words, the owner smiled brightly and opened seven small, round containers.

Along with the generally popular varieties of ‘red,’ there were also coral and vermilion shades.

“I hear cylindrical rouge is also being developed these days, but the ones in jars look a little more luxurious, don’t they? Hoho!”

Cylindrical rouge…… I couldn’t quite picture it, but it must have some advantages over the jar type, which was why it was being developed, right? I should look into that as well.

Having obtained interesting information from a shopkeeper who could never have imagined that I would become the owner of a competing business, I responded appropriately to his sales pitch and examined every product in the shop.

There were more varieties than in Tessis, but they were far too standardized to satisfy the diverse desires of women.

‘There must be people who complain that even this is far too much.’

Makeup was truly fascinating. If you prohibited it, people would want it even more, but when cosmetics and makeup techniques advanced, there would also be people who pointed fingers at them and called them vulgar.

Especially to old-fashioned elderly people and rigid moralists, how much would various color cosmetics look like vain garbage?

‘Still, I believe human desire will be stronger.’

Everything I knew about history came from reading a script for a play, but I knew at least that during the era of Prohibition, bootleg liquor flourished, and during the era of banned books, handwritten copies were sold for the price of gold.

Humans are creatures who remain faithful to their desires even if they have to risk their lives for them, so what about women whose desire to be beautiful was actively ‘encouraged’?

They would definitely open their wallets for the cosmetics I created.

“Maya. Let’s go back now.”

The bag Maya had brought was filled with cosmetic boxes from various companies.

I still had to conduct market research, analyze competing products, and then find workshops or factories capable of producing the products I wanted, so from this point on, I couldn’t afford to be lazy for even a moment.

***

From the moment she became Rosalyn’s maid until now, Maya had always thought that she was an unusual person. She had never encountered a noblewoman like Rosalyn before.

For one thing, she did not put on airs of dignity in front of a maid or treat those beneath her carelessly. Even though she spoke informally, there was a sense of respect in the way she spoke.

Moreover, her behavior was subtly different from that of other nobles. It was somewhat freer and more approachable, somehow.

‘If the other young ladies are marble statues, Baron Tessis feels like a living person with a beating heart and flowing blood.’

That was why Maya had grown even more attached to her, and her days serving her as her mistress were fulfilling and happy.

At first, she had had no choice but to become Rosalyn’s maid, but now, even if there were another path available to her, she had no intention of leaving this mistress.

However, ever since she had begun accompanying Rosalyn to various places recently and they had developed secrets of their own, Maya found herself thinking about her even more.

“I’m thinking of starting a business, but I need to hide my identity. So when we’re outside, call me ‘Miss Rosie .”

On the day they went to Essex Street, Rosalyn, whose appearance had been transformed into something strangely different, had given her that order.

That much was not difficult. All Maya had to do was guide Rosalyn to famous shops, stand beside her, and put the things she bought into her bag.

But today, after visiting Frantin Village, where cosmetic workshops were concentrated, there had been several moments when Maya found herself tilting her head in puzzlement, forgetting that she had to pretend to be unfazed.

‘I knew she was unusual, but she seems even stranger than I thought.’

She had sensed it somewhat even on the day they went to Essex Street, but Rosalyn spoke with commoners far too casually.

In particular, the words she exchanged today with the older men who owned the workshops were not the kind of things a finely raised noble lady would normally say.

“Come on, don’t be like that. Just make it under 5,000 gulden.”

“Oh, forget it. If I don’t have enough to live on, I’ll just make porridge out of the powder and eat that.”

“Enough with the ridiculous boasting. If you make the powder for me for under 5,000 gulden, I’m telling you, you’ll have more than enough money to marry off your children.”

For some reason, Rosalyn had planned the cosmetics herself and coaxed and cajoled the makers to reduce the production costs.

In the process, some rather unrefined expressions would suddenly slip out, but the men who had initially tried to overcharge her because she was a pretty young noblewoman eventually laughed heartily and accepted Rosalyn’s proposal.

And Rosalyn ordered Maya to keep her mouth shut in the carriage on the way back.

“As you know, you mustn’t tell anyone about going to Frantin Village with me today, either. Everything you saw and heard there. All of it. Understand?”

Maya did not hear the reason, but she nodded that she would do so.

Going to Essex Street had already been a secret anyway, so she assumed that all the matters connected to it had to be kept secret as well.

The only thing that had bothered her a little was how natural Rosalyn had looked while buying and eating bread from a street stall.

“Ma’am, please drizzle plenty of condensed milk over it.”

It was surprising enough that a noblewoman would actually buy the tough brown bread, but it was even more unexpected that she knew it was a snack and that it was eaten with condensed milk drizzled over it.

Was it just her imagination that she had sensed a look of delight when Rosalyn saw that bread?

‘……It seems our mistress has many secrets.’

But so what? When Rosalyn had saved them after even their parents had abandoned them, Maya had sworn in her heart that she would follow her even if it meant betraying His Majesty the King.