"What is this?"
“It's a storage room.”
She stared at Liam with a deadpan expression at his obvious answer.
Just one day after I asked the Grand Duke about Pauletta's skin, Liam came looking for me and led me to a small cottage located in the back garden of the Grand Duke's estate.
Calling it a shack was an understatement – it was, he said, like a storage space filled with miscellaneous unused items.
The problem was...
“There's… a lot more than I expected?”
The hut was filled with finely treated bolita hides.
She stared at the piles of rawhide, sorted by color, pattern, and size, with a slightly exhausted expression.
“Ahem, His Highness the Grand Duke has kindly ordered that all of Pauletta’s skins scattered throughout the Duchy be collected and brought here for the Princess.”
“Ah…”
This was a bit exaggerated.
Is he doing this to get revenge on me for refusing to share information?
Even after Liam left, I remained standing outside, hesitating to enter the storage room.
Then Bonita, who was nearby, spoke up.
“But why do you need so much Boletta skin?”
“Okay...”
I stopped talking and took a step forward.
Inside the wide-open hut, the amount of skin was greater than it first appeared.
Since they had not undergone any washing or treatment yet, the rawhide was covered in residue and gave off a strong, unpleasant odor.
“Oof.”
“…I’ll prepare a tissue for you to cover your nose next time.”
Bonita, who entered unprepared, frowned and took a step back.
Ignoring the stench of animal hides, I moved deeper inside.
Bonita let out a terrified scream from behind me.
"Ms?"
“Hmm.”
I pulled out one of the nearest piles of skin. Boletta's skin, much taller and heavier than the average man's height, slid out.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bit rough due to its untreated state, but it is somewhat similar to the blackout curtain material I made at SALT.
You need to test it properly to be sure.
“Bonita.”
I turned to the Bonita, which had become my walking encyclopedia and my personal fast car.
"Yes?"
“How do you turn this leather into fabric?”
It was a vague question, but Bonita, assuming I was testing her, shrugged and answered confidently.
“Of course, there are specialists in this. Lady Lenny is the best seamstress in the Duchy of Blair.”
"…truly?"
I looked at her admiringly before rushing out of the hut.
If I stayed in that stench any longer, I was afraid my nose would rot.
“Can I meet Ms. Linney?”
“Since she supplies the Grand Duke’s household with luxurious fabrics, she will probably visit us again early tomorrow morning!”
Early in the morning, huh…
I thought for a moment before nodding my head.
I was going to wake up at the crack of dawn anyway.
* * *
The night before, I had spent hours in the library researching information about Pauletta's skin before being dragged to a meeting of artists, which lasted until the morning.
Honestly, I was planning to sneak out and get some sleep, but with Ashley next to me, looking like a lifeless zombie, I couldn't leave.
This means that today I was also suffering from a lack of energy.
I feel very sleepy.
They say sleep deprivation is the worst kind of torture.
Even as I faced Ms. Linney, I couldn't hold back a yawn.
After a while, the plump woman, who was carefully examining the skin, shook her head vigorously.
“Hmm...this will be difficult.”
That was unexpected.
When I saw her troubled expression, I asked her, more desperate now than yesterday.
"Why...? What's the problem?"
“Transforming buletta leather into fabric is not difficult in itself, but it is not worth the effort. The pay is not commensurate with the amount of work – it is just regular leather.”
So, he was basically worthless?
After she completely got rid of the skin, she wiped her hands with a wet tissue and continued her work.
“In this hot weather, demand for light and flowy fabrics such as chiffon and lace increases dramatically.”
Since she was dealing directly with the Blair Duchy, she was tempering her words, but her message was clear: no.
'Impossible.'
Was my dream of a warm, sunless morning simply fading away?
After carefully considering my options, I decided to put it off to buy time.
“Bonita, can you bring some cold tea for the lady?”
“Yes, of course, miss!”
As the quick-witted Bonita left the room, I began to think quickly.
After I thought about it, I realized that all the projects I took on—manga printing, blackout curtains—were driven solely by my personal desires. There was no real business structure in place.
Up until now, my manga earnings and artist salaries have been completely managed by Liam.
But the one thing I was sure of was…
“I must have a huge amount of intellectual property saved up.”
If money is what Ms. Lenny wants, I can offer a lot.
Even if this blackout curtain project cost me a fortune, I can easily recover the losses.
I mean, does a duchy just need blackout curtains?
Even in the Salt Kingdom, countless exhausted officials barely get any sleep.
“Mrs. Lenny.”
"…Yes?"
I was alarmed by the change in my tone of voice, so I put the tea cup aside.
“What is the most expensive type of fabric you work with?”
“…Unless there are special circumstances, lace is usually the most luxurious.”
Then the price of boletta leather had to be higher than the price of lace.
After I had made up my mind, I announced:
I'll pay you much more. And if you end up working overtime, I'll double your pay.
"…What?"
Wow!
Was that Bonita? Or help her?
The sound of someone's breathing increased noticeably.
Mrs. Lenny, who had remained steady until now, began to visibly waver.
I knew that look well.
“This is the face of someone torn apart by money.”
She knew that buletta leather was cheap, unprofitable, and tedious to process.
She wanted to refuse.
But…
“It's an offer you can't refuse, isn't it?”
Honestly, everyone here knew that working with boletta leather was much easier than making lace by hand.
“Of course, we will need to hire skilled tanners and additional workers for processing.”
Now it's my turn to have a leisurely sip of tea.
slurp.
When I looked up again, Ms. Linney was staring at me in disbelief.
Nice - good.
“...What exactly are you trying to make?”
“Blackout curtains.”
"curtains?"
She was probably thinking, would she offer extra pay just for the curtains?
But I had my reasons.
“It's an investment.”
I will use the proceeds from the intellectual property rights as capital, launch a new project to manufacture blackout curtains, and…
Besides, having worked hard in the Salt Kingdom, I knew exactly how to make deals with merchant guilds.
For example:
1. Buy boletta leather in bulk at very cheap prices.
2. Hire skilled, affordable leather craftsmen.
3. Once the blackout curtains are made, distribution agreements are concluded with major trade networks.
“There is no way this can not be profitable.”
Late-night work isn't just a 21st century phenomenon.
Here, where labor laws did not exist, night shift jobs were ubiquitous.
“This will be my lifelong work.”
I hated being the center of attention, but if losing sleep was going to literally kill me, I had no choice.
If I'm going to do this, I might as well overdo it.
And perhaps... achieving independence.
Yes, independence.
Then I wouldn't have to live like an intruder anymore, and I could fill my entire house with blackout curtains.
Plus, I had to stay in Blair's Duchy to get the latest manga updates first, but still—
“Hehehehehehehehehehehe”
Lost in pleasant fantasies, I let out an evil laugh.
Completely oblivious to the strange looks I was receiving.