My mother nodded as if she could roughly guess the situation just from seeing a portion.

“Even if you have self-defense artifacts, I was actually worried about sending you alone, so that’s a relief.”

In fact, the surprise of being confronted by Sir Vieira might have added to my mother’s fear, who had gone out with me that day.
Seeing the crown prince seemed to have relaxed my mother a little.

“He’s a good person.”
“Of course, His Highness is said to be a kind person. But is it the same when he’s doing business? How was it when you were with His Highness today?”

My mother seemed to be proud and worried at the same time that I had started a business.

‘My mother stroked my hair, asking what she should do because I was all grown up but still looked like a baby.’

“I’m afraid it will be bothersome for you because I overprotect you too much.”
“No, Mother. I don’t… hate it.”

She didn’t know how much I had missed these moments in my past life.
Even though I was an adult at nineteen years old and could do business, my mother, who asked me many questions, didn’t bother me at all.
I excitedly babbled in front of my mother about what had happened today. However, I moderately left out the business conversation when it was about to come out.

“… And don’t worry. Even today when I was going to come back alone, His Highness forced me to be accompanied by him. I was with him the whole time.”
“You don’t like to be indebted to anyone… I thought His Highness was gentle, but I see he is firm about things like this. I’m glad.”
“Yes, I am also glad to be working with His Highness.”

Like that, we rode the carriage along the boulevard where the mana lamps were turned on.

To be able to do what I wanted to do for the first time in my life as a business, and to be able to tell my mother about these things…
It was a full evening, one where I couldn’t help but be happy.

***

Late evening.
Crown Prince Enoch returned to his residence, the crown prince’s palace.
There was an unexpected figure waiting there.

“Are you only coming now?”

His sister, Princess Vivian, was the only one who could enter and leave the crown prince’s residence without permission.
She had not yet been able to completely take off her veil in front of other people, but she was showing her face in front of her brother.
In the past, even her older brother could not properly see Vivian’s mischievous smile.
She was ashamed to be forced to receive medical treatment, so the only time Vivian took off her veil was when she was with him.

“Vivian, have you been waiting for me to come back? If you had told me in advance, you wouldn’t have had a hard time sitting down for so long.”
“Well, what’s so hard about sitting down and drinking tea anyway? But it’s true that I waited a long time!”

Princess Vivian stretched her body with a frown, but then asked again with a vigorous expression.

“You said you were only seeing a few buildings to set up business today, so you came later than I thought. Did you have a lot to talk about? How was Lady Primrose?”
“That’s…”
“You know, Lady Primrose seems to be fierce, but she’s also a bit timid! I’m worried that she won’t be able to give her opinion to you and get dragged away!”
“Dragged away…”

Yuria was someone who knew how to push through once she decided on something. And when she uttered those words, there was a clear power in her voice.
Of course, she also appeared to have no confidence sometimes.
It was probably because she was in an environment where she was being unfairly called a villainess and had no choice but to feel intimidated.

However, when she talked about her business, not her private life, her eyes changed.
She had also said this last time in a cold and provocative manner, because she assumed that the reason he was interested in the business was because of the reward.

“Please explain the benefits I can gain from Your Highness becoming my business partner.”

She asked back to the man who led the Imperial Merchant Guild, the person whom everyone wanted to work with.

‘She also negotiated well with me.’

Distribution fees, container production price division, and other details.
He thought that she was certainly capable of cosmetics research itself, but it wasn’t easy to stand out in that area.
Especially against the crown prince himself, whom even the elderly nobles were nervous to deal with.

“I don’t think you ever need to worry about that.”
“What?”
“She was cool.”

He honestly admired what she said as they looked at the building this evening.
The perception that a nobleman’s venture into commerce was something vulgar had not yet completely disappeared. Even now, when the imperial family ran their own merchant guild.

‘Even families that run a business, they do not get involved directly in merchant affairs.’

“I was worried that there were pubs nearby, but they’re not that close. It’s nothing to worry about. I was just wondering.”

The Primrose duchy was even more conservative, so even Jiksen, the successor, would never have received an education in commerce.
However, Yuria not only had expertise in cosmetics development… she also showed her business sense.

“The most important thing for me in the cosmetics business is to earn the trust of my customers. Lead poisoning has made people sensitive to cosmetic ingredients. That’s why I’m going to mark all the ingredients on the cosmetic package.”
“And I intend to make a sample and offer it for free. If I say they can try a sample for free, people who weren’t interested in cosmetics will also be interested.”

It was also good to show the strength that she had to do something, which she didn’t show on other occasions.
She seemed uncomfortable with the people’s gaze when walking down the street, but she looked calm when she looked at the building.

“We’ll see each other at the office from now on.”

So, after completing the commercial contract today.

“Yes, in ‘our’ store.”

Crown Prince Enoch said that inadvertently.

‘What was the lady’s expression like then?’

Her eyes, which had widened for a moment, soon curved to face him directly.

“Yes. Then, see you next time.”

It wasn’t just that she was happy to think that there would be no rumors of the duke’s daughter going back and forth to the imperial palace.
She must have liked the fact that she would finally have her own shop first and foremost.

“You don’t have to worry about Lady Primrose. She had no shame or hesitation in the area she was interested in.”
“No… It’s the first time I’ve heard you say someone is cool. You’re especially cold-hearted when it comes to business, right?”

Princess Vivian slammed her hand on the table in front of her and raised it firmly.
Then, she inclined her body towards her brother and said,

“Tell me in detail about what you did today! Don’t lie about anything…”
“I can’t. It’s a business secret.”

Crown Prince Enoch put on a relaxed smile.

“Instead of me telling you in advance, just wait. When Lady Primrose’s business is open to the public, it will be quite a buzz. There’s no need to be like that already.”

Only he knew the true face of Yuria Primrose, who people pointed fingers at as a stupid villainess.

“What, why are you acting so arrogant!”

Feeling good about that fact, Crown Prince Enoch gave his sister a rare slightly mischievous look and said no more.

***

In the Primrose duchy, children are occasionally born with the power of a blessing.
Jiksen was the first child to be born with the ‘blessing of the sword.’
When it became known that he had the blessing of the sword, everyone expected him to become a great swordsman.

But… some were quickly disappointed. Even if they didn’t dare say that out loud.
They wondered why the blessing of the sword had been given to the son of the duke.

People called Jiksen a genius.
An effortless genius.
It wasn’t like he had to exercise his immense willpower.
No matter which plain knight you caught passing by, he would have swung his sword much more than Jiksen.
He was the successor of the duke since his birth, and his skills quickly improved, so Jiksen didn’t know why he had to be passionate.

“The Prince will become a genius of the century even if he only does the basics.”

His teacher and several others who felt sorry for him tried to instill enthusiasm in him, but all failed each time.
He was lucky to be born with a blessing anyway, so unless he was aiming to be the best… he didn’t have to do it.
But was there any need to even shatter the enthusiasm around him?

“If I tried that hard and still had your skills, I would quit being a knight!”
“You must like swords a lot. You’re not giving up even when you have such skills.”

He intentionally made spiteful remarks and fooled around in front of the knights who cried when they reached the limit of their ability, or the knights who worked hard to train.
He was too lazy to train, so when the adults scolded him, he took his anger out on the knights for nothing.

——