The brisk, fascinating woman six years older than Olivia had spoken with passion when they first met.
“Men often give their fiancées magic jewelry, but the magic jewelry popular now is sharp or jagged or even plain old ugly—not the sort of thing you can use regularly! I believe the ideal bridal jewelry is something beautiful that the woman can wear every day and enjoy until she’s an old lady!”
The conversation left a strong impression on Olivia. She’d never spoken to someone whose ideals aligned so perfectly with the direction she wanted to go in. The two were in complete agreement.
“When I saw your magic jewelry, Olivia, I was awed. That, that was exactly what I was looking for. I just have to have you as a contract artificer with my shop!”
Olivia was entirely on board with Sally’s excitement. “It would be a pleasure to work with you!”
She became a contract artificer with Sally’s shop, meaning she took on commissions for her. And now they were here.
“Olivia, you made it! Take a seat,” exclaimed Sally with a grin.
“Thank you.” Olivia sat in the classy chair in front of the desk and took out several small boxes from the anti-theft satchel on her lap. “Today, I have the pieces for Lady Kathleen and Mr. Gardeen.”
“Oh! I’ve been waiting on the edge of my seat. May I look?”
“Of course.” Olivia gave her the boxes. Sally looked inside and was captivated.
“It’s amazing. The curves of this ring—it’s art. It goes so well with the dress, too, and you could even wear it when you’re just going out.”
Olivia chuckled. “Thank you. It was the result of much hard work.”
Sally signed the delivery receipt, then carefully placed the jewelry boxes in the safe.
After that, the two sipped on tea and shared information.
“The recent floral trend seems to have settled itself as a staple of fashion. I think the big thing this year is going to be hearts,” noted Sally.
“I have seen more people choosing heart shapes in their magic jewelry lately.”
“Which means the popular color is likely to be red or pink!”
They never ran out of topics, jumping from current trends to the wedding industry to market rates for magic stones.
Once the sun began to lower and the sky showed signs of evening, Sally announced, “Well, I’ll see you again in three days!”
“Yes. See you then.”
Sally walked Olivia out, where she boarded a carriage to take her home. Olivia looked out at the rose-tinted sky, thinking the only other thing she had to do was turn in some paperwork to Gordon.
The day had been a bit busy, but it had also been perfectly normal—until that evening.
“Olivia, you have any interest in running your own shop?”
The shock from Gordon’s question caused her to drop the papers she’d been holding.
“You dropped that,” Gordon stated, pointing to the paperwork on the lamplit floor from his seat at his desk.
Her eyes moved mechanically to the floor, then back to Gordon with an expression of disbelief. “Um. I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”
“I said, you have any interest in running your own shop?”
Olivia’s eyes couldn’t possibly have grown any wider.
“I think your eyes are about to pop out of your head,” joked Gordon with amusement.
It was so unexpected that Olivia found herself demanding explanations from him. “W-wait just a moment. Shop? My own shop? Here in the capital?”
“Yep.”
Olivia pondered in silence. It was tough to operate a shop in the capital. There were a lot of people, but also much competition. She’d seen new shops open and close shortly after several times.
My own shop? In the capital?
Gordon smiled softly at Olivia’s confusion. “It’d be treated as a sort of sister shop of mine. It’s about having different stores for different products, though maybe I’m getting ahead of myself talking about the specifics.”
“For different products?”
Gordon folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Who do you think is the primary client base of this shop?”
“Wealthy men and their families.”
“Exactly. That’s why the selection of items and even store layout are set up to be what a man would like.”
Olivia nodded. The shop’s decorations and furnishings were all geared to what that target audience would like.
“But we’ve seen a dramatic increase of another client base in our shop,” continued Gordon.
“Young women?”
“Correct. They are customers coming here specifically for the magic jewelry you’ve designed, and, based on my calculations, your magic jewelry still has potential for growth. The problem is, you’re going to hit a ceiling sooner rather than later if you keep selling from here.”
Olivia mulled that thought over. She wasn’t sure about this ceiling he mentioned, but she was aware young women might not feel comfortable coming into this shop when they were alone.
“So, a sister shop?”
“Yep. Going separate can help us both increase our sales. And I’ve found a good location for you.” Apparently, one of the artificers he knew closed his shop in the capital to move back to the country. “The old man’s done a lot for me, and he asked me to handle his old property. I don’t have the heart to sell the place, so I thought I’d like to make use of it as another item shop.”
“Where is it?”
“Lamilis Street.”
That was a hot spot for young women, filled with pretty classy shops. Not to mention, it was incredibly safe as well because there was a guard post there. You could say it was the perfect place for selling magic jewelry to women.
“And I’d just like to get you a shop here,” Gordon murmured, though it was so quiet as to be nearly inaudible. “What do you think? Doesn’t sound too bad, huh? Will you give it a go?”
Olivia let out a pent-up breath under Gordon’s intense gaze. It didn’t sound bad, no, but it was such a big deal that she couldn’t decide immediately. She wanted to really think it over.
“Let me…think about it.”
Gordon grinned. “Sure thing. Take your time.”