Chapter – 39
Madame Rochette’s Salon Rochette
“Sigh… what am I supposed to do with a review that just says it’s boring?”
Madame Rochette dropped the “letter of complaint” from the Tillard family onto her desk.
At best, it was a polite complaint—but it also implied that if it escalated, all five major houses would get involved…
Although Madame was a branch of the Boliver Dukedom, there were limits to the protection she could expect.
For now, she could only keep quiet.
“After all, there’s no one who can surpass Iris Tillard.”
So this article was just a passing matter.
“…Anything new?”
At that moment, Madame Rochette’s assistant called out.
“Madame Rochette, a package arrived today.”
“What is it?”
“There was no explanation. It’s just… a sample introduction like this…”
“Hah.”
Sometimes people did things like this—trying to draw attention among countless sponsored items with some clever trick…
But when Madame actually saw the box, she couldn’t help but pause.
It was a small purple box, neatly tied with a white ribbon.
As she untied the ribbon and lifted the lid, she felt a subtle delight.
‘Did they even scent the wrapping?’
It was a very clear, elegant fragrance.
Inside was a pair of beautifully polished silver earrings.
The silver petals gleamed, and the purple gem set in the center shimmered softly.
Moreover, the butterfly charm dangling from the delicate chain was three-dimensional, sparkling as it swayed.
However…
Everyone huddled around Madame Rochette looked confused.
“The shapes are different on each side?”
“They’re mismatched?”
“Was it sent wrong?”
Fernies had always assumed earrings had to be identical on both sides.
At most, the difference was just like mirrored surfaces.
But Madame held the explanatory card and let out a small, incredulous laugh—one of those laughs that came when something was unexpectedly beautiful or clever.
[Silver Spring]
[Target: Individuals with supernatural abilities]
[-A product for those whose ability side-effects manifest on the skin.]
“One side is a flower, the other a butterfly. It’s intentional.”
“…!”
How had no one ever thought of this before?
“They call them ‘Unbalanced Earrings.’”
Not only was the concept unique, but the design was also stylish.
“Check these for safety immediately!”
Whenever writing articles about artifacts, tools for inspection were always on hand.
Soon, an employee carrying the earring case came rushing in.
“It meets all the palace standards.”
“How so?”
“It’s suitable for anyone from at least C-rank to A-rank ability users!”
“…!”
Madame’s mouth slowly dropped open.
With such sensibility, and an artifact wearable by the three main ability ranks?
‘This is true talent.’
She shouted at her subordinates.
“We were the only ones to receive it, right?!”
“I’ll check!”
“See if anyone else got it first—go find out immediately!”
“Yes!”
At Madame’s command, her subordinates scrambled out of the office.
“Who could have made this…”
Madame flipped over the back of the explanatory card.
<Mariposa>
Cute and simple—it had only that one word.
Running your own business meant you had to do everything yourself.
Cleaning the store, market research, buying ingredients, organizing, making the products, packaging, shipping, customer service, hosting one-day classes, throwing out troublesome clients… and so on.
Sigh…
Just remembering this briefly made Lirian’s precious blood pressure spike.
‘Even promoting products has to be done alone.’
She didn’t understand how her past self had lived so diligently.
Why had she never realized that self-employment was hell?
Well, there had been no one to restrain her in her past life.
Anyway, Lirian decided to put what she had learned back then to use.
‘Here, people still think that promotion means explaining everything individually.’
You hang it on someone popular in a salon, and nearby nobles all scramble to ask questions.
‘That’s fine, but then it’s too limited, isn’t it?’
What good is it if only the people in the capital know?
Lirian didn’t want that.
If she wanted to shake the Tillard family, she needed more people to know at once.
And if she wanted to spread it quickly, newspapers were the answer.
‘I sent it to several places anyway…’
Still, she set her expectations low.
‘It only needs to get through to one place.’
Honestly, she hoped Madame Rochette would be the one to pick it up…
‘It would be great if it got into Salon Rochette!’
‘The most authoritative magazine—everyone in the Empire reads it!’
She knew it was greedy to expect a hit right away.
But humans need to dream.
Lirian’s heart fought a fierce battle between humility and desire.
After a while, humility won.
Lirian, the happiness in life comes from setting your expectations low…
‘If even one article can irritate Iris and the Tillard family, that’s a good start.’
Finally resolved, people gathered in Lirian’s room, rushing around with scissors, busy at work.
“Here! Another article!”
“Where does this Orin illustration go?”
“Over here!”
Margaret and Jeanne supervised all the handiwork.
Among the helpers were even shadows.
They didn’t hesitate to waste their martial skills on neat scrapbooking…
Lirian was a little stunned at this display of wasted talent.
“Uh… uh…”
And she was somewhat overwhelmed by the number and titles of the articles.
Most astonishing of all was Salon Rochette.
“Miss! It’s incredible…!”
Margaret showed the neatly mounted and dried articles, marveling.
“Fifty of them! Fifty!”
“Uh…”
“Should we make the articles from Salon Rochette extra large and use them as wall decorations?”
“Uh… okay.”
“Yes, I’ll order that from the craftsman!”
It was dizzying.
Unlike in her past life, when subpar media flooded the market, Fernies still held enormous trust in printed media.
For a first attempt, having an article entirely filled with praise and no criticism was a massive success…
But then…
“Margaret, something’s strange.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t distribute fifty copies.”
“Excuse me?”
“With the materials I had, I only made six sets to give as gifts.”
Considering the cost and time, that was the only possible number.
Everything was handmade.
Then where did the remaining forty-six copies come from?
Madame Rochette, and the six places that initially received the “seeding product,” were also cautious.
‘Looks like Madame Rochette got it too?’
‘We’ll get the scoop first!’
‘Did only we receive it? Probably…’
But their eagerness was obvious.
Other competitors poking around to see if anyone else got the “mysterious package”?
It looked extremely suspicious.
“What’s going on? Why is that newcomer snooping around?”
In any era, in any place…
Newcomers always showed their inexperience.
Wherever this was understood, everyone rushed to copy it.
