“I apologize for losing my composure, Sir Reid,” Kris said, her voice no longer trembling.
She’d probably faced all sorts of struggles to get to where she was now. She’d likely been thinking about how she’d succeeded in establishing a relationship with the imperial family to sell to them directly—something she hadn’t been able to accomplish even while at the powerhouse that was the Saffron Trading Company—and had gotten a bit overwhelmed.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “Besides, I got to see a different but equally cute side to you.”
“Wh—?!” Kris turned bright red, perhaps embarrassed that I’d seen her in such a dispirited state.
Everyone cries. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“Excuse me,” a maid said, entering with the refill of tea that I’d asked for. She exchanged our old cups for fresh ones, then left the drawing room. By the time we were alone again, Kris’s face was no longer flushed.
I cleared my throat and resumed our discussion from earlier. “In the case of Count Roland, I think we’re fine to just see how things develop.”
“I agree,” she replied. “After this incident, Count Roland has lost his standing in the capital. There are people who like to benefit from the work of others—we can call them members of the Roland faction. That faction will be unable to make any big moves for a while.”
“The Roland faction? That’s a faction that would make my father grimace,” I said with a chuckle. “The next topic is the empress’s right to priority supply...” I never imagined Her Majesty would corner the market like this. “If I’m understanding correctly, we’ll be delivering a monthly supply of lotion and conditioner to her every month. Will we be okay in terms of stock? I’m sure we can get more of the oil used to make the conditioner from my father, but we only just started cultivating aloe.”
Our conditioner recipe required olive oil, so I would be able to get a decent quantity through my father. The potential problem here was acquiring aloe. We’d only just started cultivating our own aloe plants, so we didn’t have a lot of raw materials. Our original plan had been to produce only small batches of the products.
“I have some measures in place already,” Kris said with an undaunted chuckle.
She explained what she’d planned in detail. We weren’t currently growing enough aloe to sustain our production needs, so she had made use of her and the Saffron Trading Company’s business connections and found farmers who would grow aloe for us. She’d signed contracts with them guaranteeing that we’d pay a certain amount above market price to receive a monthly supply of aloe. She’d also set up job requests with various nations’ guilds to have adventurers forage the plant for us. That was how Kris was getting us all the aloe she could.
“You work terrifyingly quickly,” I remarked. “You truly are on top of things, Kris.”
“I’m sure that the price of aloe will surge, so we’ll need to buy as much as we can right now. Also, I’ve signed long-term contracts where I can. We’ll likely need to renegotiate prices in the future, but what’s most important is securing the raw ingredients to make our products.”
She did all of this to get ahead of any trouble, understanding what our priorities are. She really is an incredible businesswoman.
“Though we’ve secured materials, we’re going to be quite busy fulfilling Her Majesty’s monthly orders for now, so we won’t have very much product going to market,” she said.
“I see. Since you’re the face of our brand, you’re the next highest in priority. Make sure you get some of the products for yourself. It’s rare to find someone as beautiful as you, so people will definitely want our products after seeing what they’ve done for you.”
Kris gasped. “Sir Reid, you should think a bit more before you speak!” She averted her gaze, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Is something wrong?
“I definitely think before I speak,” I assured her. “It’s truly rare to come across someone as beautiful as you are, and using the conditioner and lotion will only make you more beautiful. Anyone who sees you will undoubtedly want to be like you.”
“Urgh, very well... I will make sure to prioritize getting myself some of the product, as well as securing some for anyone in the Valdia household who may want them.” Kris’s face was still red.
“Are you feeling all right? Maybe you’re still exhausted.”
“N-No, I’m all right!” she insisted. “Anyway, um, oh! Regarding what I said earlier about how we won’t have much stock available to sell because we’ll be busy supplying Her Majesty and ourselves...”
Kris forcibly changed the topic, but since she’d insisted she was feeling fine, I figured it was okay to move on.
“Yes. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll have to give up on selling to the public for now. We can revisit the issue once we’ve secured our access to raw materials.”
“I agree. Also, if we wait to make the product available to the public after it’s something only Her Majesty has had access to for a while, it will likely increase its popularity. We may even be able to raise the price a bit. Our lack of product may end up working in our favor.”
Kris was right. People were strange in that limited supply simply made them want it more. If a product that only the empress had access to were to become available to the public, it would cause quite a stir. And that wasn’t all she had thought of.