I was given a ride home from the mentally draining study session. Eva had left much earlier—as soon as she finished preparing the tea snacks, she’d walked home.
I’d also like to walk home, if the weather is nice. I don’t think Aunt Lilianna would ever let me do that though. I had to fight so hard just to refuse to stay for dinner when she insisted I did.
My exhaustion disappeared once I was reunited with my angels.
“Did your study session go well, sister?” Nassius asked, full of curiosity.
“Yes, however it seems I will be attending another study session next Saturday as well.”
Henry seemed saddened by the news.
He must be sad that his sister will be gone. I’m going to choose to believe that’s what he’s sad about, and not the fact that we gave away the strawberries.
“Please teach us Dehn as well, sister!” my brothers both asked.
I could never say no to my adorable angels. We went to the drawing room, and I played the hanon while teaching them songs in Dehn.
Their singing is so cute!
It was just my father and me at dinner. Nassius would turn ten in June, so we would all start eating together then. That would be nice, but that also meant that Henry would have to eat alone in the children’s room. I felt bad for him, but that seemed to be the norm for this world. Mary would stay there with him after serving him dinner, but it still seemed a bit lonely. Or perhaps it was actually more relaxing to be able to eat alone.
After dinner, I headed to my brothers’ room, where they were both tucked into bed.
I need to warn them to not kick the hot water bottle.
“This hot water bottle is so warm, sister,” Nassius remarked.
I know, right?! During my previous life, I saw a painting from the Middle Ages that depicted a metal box that you filled with charcoal to warm your covers, but the hot water bottle is way better! That other device made me nervous that it would start a fire.
“You both must be careful to not touch your feet directly to the hot water bottle,” I cautioned them. “If your skin is touching it for a long time, you may get a low-temperature burn.”
Nassius looked at me, puzzled by the term he’d never heard before.
“You know how touching fire would burn your hand, yes?” I asked. “You can also get burned by touching something warm for a long time, even if the temperature is low.”
After that, I gave them each a kiss and dimmed the lamp on their bedside table.
“Thank you so much for making this magic lamp for us, sister,” Henry said.
He was so cute that he ended up getting a second kiss.
The hot water bottle is so nice. I’m so warm and cozy.
I’d slept like a log and had been able to rest from the exhaustion of yesterday.
Young bodies sure do recover quickly.
The water in the hot water bottle had become the perfect temperature to wash my face with.
I spent the morning studying with my angels and picking strawberries in the greenhouse. The riding instructor would be coming in the afternoon, but I was going to be busy speaking to Wyatt.
It’s not like I adjusted my plans to be unavailable when the instructor comes because I hate horse riding. I swear!
“Wyatt, did you get a chance to use the hot water bottle?” I asked.
I could tell from the smile on his face that he’d had a cozy slumber thanks to the hot water bottle.
“Yes, I did. Your father was able to sleep soundly as well.”
All right, how do I proceed?
“I made those hot water bottles in alchemy club,” I explained. “Though I made them using alchemy, they do not require magic stones to operate. The club president is Duke Burns’s eldest son, and he asked if I would be interested in selling these hot water bottles through the Burns Trading Company.”
A serious look washed over Wyatt’s face when I mentioned the Burns Trading Company.
“That sounds like a wonderful proposal,” Wyatt remarked. “Are you planning to give the Burns Trading Company the rights to manufacture the hot water bottles, my lady?”
That’s what I wanted to talk to you about!
“I can only make so many hot water bottles at a time,” I replied. “I believe this item should be mass manufactured and sold at a low price.”
Wyatt smiled and nodded in agreement.
“In that case, I believe leaving the product in the hands of the Burns Trading Company is a suitable idea. If you can bring me any contracts before signing them, I would be happy to review them to ensure that you are not put in a disadvantage.”
That would be great, since I have no idea how contracts work in this world. I’ll have to learn about them moving forward.
The final thing I wanted to do today was work on some side jobs. I’d been too tired on Saturday to do anything. My side jobs had actually gotten upgraded. I was still painting details onto tea sets, but I also had a side job drawing magic circles for magic lamps, which made more money. I was also doing my embroidery side job whenever I had time in the dorms.
For these sorts of tasks, I intentionally used household magic from start to finish. I quickly got the details painted onto the tea sets and the magic circles drawn.
I believe I’ve made enough to afford some embroidery floss. I think I’ll also add some embroidery onto my own uniform, not just Nassius’s. I think the Granger family crest will be good for Nassius’s uniform. For my own uniform, maybe I’ll change things up a bit.
Similarly to how women had their own crests in the Edo period of Japan, perhaps I could come up with something a bit more flattering than the Granger crest’s book and pen, like a book and a rose.
I’ll ask Mary about this.
“Lady Julianne’s symbol was a white lily,” Mary said. “You should pick a symbol for yourself as well, my lady.”
I see. Women can just pick a plant or flower instead of having to wear the family crest. What should I pick?
“I’ll give it some thought,” I replied.
The original Patience would perhaps have chosen a rose, which I could also get on board with because roses made us money. However, I thought that something a bit more commoner friendly would suit me.
Strawberries have cute flowers, and they produce edible fruit!
I embroidered a white flower with five white petals and yellow stamen, then I added some leaves.
This looks good! I could maybe even sneak in a strawberry or two, since I’m still young.
After that, I began drawing a diagram for a needle threader. It wasn’t a complex automatic one, but rather the cheap kind: a piece of metal attached to a diamond-shaped loop of thin wire. During my previous life, my mother used the automatic kind, but when she’d gotten me a sewing kit when I’d moved out, it came with the basic kind.
Maybe this will sell well too.
I wanted to also make a magic iron—especially the small kind that my mother had used to iron out small pieces of patchwork.
A steam iron would be nice too.
Since I was thinking about clothing irons, I started thinking about hair irons as well. Curled hair was trendy right now, and it was styled using a curler that was heated with charcoal. The current styling tools caused burns and damaged hair, so a new tool would be nice. This one would need a magic stone to operate as well!
I remember hair dryers and irons that produced negative ions being expensive in my previous life. I’ll have to bring this up to President Caesar!
“It’s truly a hindrance to not be able to draw my own magic circles,” I mumbled to myself. “Even if I have to sacrifice other classes for it, I absolutely must take Magic Circles II during the fall term!”
Once I was done coming up with my list of things I wanted to make, I moved on to making a list of things I wanted to have. This second list was going to be items I felt I could make on my own, so they were mostly things that wouldn’t require a magic stone to operate.
“I wonder if I could make a treadle sewing machine. My grandmother had one, but I don’t know the specifics of its construction. It would definitely be nice to have!”
I drew out diagrams of what I could remember, like the bobbin and how the top and bottom threads would cross over to sew fabric. I also drew a general diagram of the entire sewing machine.
“I don’t think this is enough information to actually make a sewing machine. This will require further discussion. Actually, I feel like everything I want to make requires further discussion.”
If I can successfully produce a sewing machine, though, I might be able to make money off of it!
Just then, Henry appeared to summon me.
“Samuel and the riding instructor are here, sister!” Henry announced, his eyes beaming with excitement.
“Thank you,” I replied, my chest feeling heavy.
I’d rather spend my time thinking about my profitable sewing machine rather than horseback riding.
“You’re late, Patience!” Samuel energetically called out.
Since you have so much energy, why don’t you use it to study classical literature or math?
I wanted to say those things to him, but I was a mature noble lady, so I wasn’t going to be mean.