Chapter 280. Epilogue, Part VIII
"Well. His Majesty can never object when the Empress has made up her mind." His lord was probably defeated even before the talk began. Oswald looked at Killian playing with his two sons with sad eyes.
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At that time, however, Julietta was completing the two tasks at once. "Molly, you have brown hair today? Is it a wig? It must be expensive."
Julietta smiled at the envious gaze of the woman she worked with. "It’s not that expensive. It’s not made of hair. It’s a wig made with the juice of fran plants on a thin thread."
She smiled at the thought of the opportunity of making artificial wigs.
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Julietta became well-versed in tea leaves and plants when she took over the Kiellini family’s tea business in earnest. In the meantime, she found that the Fran flowers did not yield any profit compared to their hard work, because they took too long to grow. So, she started to write a letter asking them to stop cultivating them, but decided to look into the flowers in detail.
"Your Majesty the Empress, the tea His Excellency Marquis Rhodius gave you is dried flowers of Fran. It’s a little bit bitter, but it’s a great tea for a woman."
Julietta opened her eyes wide at Vera’s words. "Really? Then it should be popular, but every time only a small amount is sold, and the rest is discarded?"
"I think it’s because older people know it, but younger people don’t. These days, they enjoy scented tea more than what is good for their health. Moreover, it’s expensive. It’s hard to buy, except for the aristocrats who only look for the best quality items."
Fran was a very delicate plant, and if it was too hot or too cold, it died quickly. It was right to sell it at a high price because it couldn’t stand being dry or wet. On top of that, the best of the harvested products were less than ten percent of the harvest.
Julietta wondered how Vera knew in detail. "How do you know so well?"
"I lived in Tilia for over twenty years. As I worked for a family in the tea business, I heard many things," Vera replied, playing with Philip on the floor.
"It’s a pity that the report shows that it is the only plant sold exclusively by the Kiellini family. If we abandon growing it, they won’t be able to get Fran tea at all, so should we continue to grow it even if we lose money? Isn’t Fran used elsewhere? For example, if we put it in a dish, would it taste better?"
"How can we put it into the dish if it is bitter if we brew it in tea? Ah, the juice from the fran stem is transparent. Applying it to furniture or fabric makes it glossy and strong. So, it was useful in Tilia mansion."
"If we apply it to cloth, is it shiny and durable?" Julietta’s eyes flashed as if something had come up.
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A few months later and after several attempts, Julietta showed off her wig before Maribel and Vera. Wearing a yellow wig dyed with flowers, Julietta said, "How is it? It’s a wig made of thread It looks like real human hair, doesn’t it?"
The wigs currently sold on the market today were made from real human hair. They were hard to find, and the price was too high, so Julietta kept using the red wig that she had used since she was young, which was as stiff as a broom.
"It looks great. It’s not blonde, but quite similar. It will sell like hot cakes as soon as we offer it,"
Maribel replied, muttering that she was born with a money-making talent.
Eighty percent of the population had black or brown hair. A wig of different color would naturally become popular.
"I have to display it in Chartreu. I will also make a factory that only produces wigs."
It would not be a mechanical factory that she had seen in modern times, but rather a huge workshop, but Julietta decided to call her planned workshop a factory. Like Chartreu, the division of labor needed to be settled.
Unlike other dressing shops, Chartreu was divided into people for patterns, sewing, and measuring. She planned to do it that way at the wig factory.
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More time passed. Julietta came out wearing a brown wig among the colored ones made for prototypes.
"Where did you buy it?" The cafe staff gathered around Julietta.
"They are selling them at the Chartreu."
At Julietta’s words, the staff showed their unwillingness. "Oh, my God, it’s not where people like us can go. How did you get it?"
Julietta smiled bashfully at the staff, who looked at her as if this was sudden and unexpected. "Actually, my aunt works at the Chartreu and told me to try it out before they show off the wig. Maybe they’ll sell it elsewhere soon."
Julietta invented a good reason, thinking that she had better hurry up and open her ready-made clothing store.
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Months after the first trial of the artificial wig, a clothing store named Fran opened on Eloz Street in Austern.
Unlike the traditional dress shop, the store sold clothes that were already made, like a second-hand clothing store in the countryside or remote areas. What was different from the second-hand dressing shop was that they had different sizes of clothes of the same design, and they only sold new clothes.
All of Fran’s clothes had little patches on them. They were embroidered with the name of the clothing store, and the word Chartreu.
Fran soon became very popular because it was designed by Chartreu, the most famous designer on the continent. Labels on clothes became a coveted mark for people, and wigs made in the Fran were also selling like hot cakes.
When Fran became so popular with the public, Julietta decided to open branches in Vicern and other kingdoms. She asked the Duke of Oswald, who often traveled abroad for the management of Raefany’s branch, to find a place to open a store.
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A few weeks later, Oswald visited the Imperial Castle early in the morning, after he had found the right place. Oswald, wearing a clear yellow jacket and pale purple pants, took off his hat as he held something in his hand.
"Wow, Your Grace the Duke!" Phoebe and Vera were delighted to see Oswald.
Oswald’s colorful blonde hair was covered in a black wig. The yellow jacket and purple pants looked nicer than they first thought.
"What do you think? Do I look like an Elozian?"
"What’s an Elozian?"
When Vera asked that, Oswald held a paper cup in one hand and posed like a model for a fashion show, with the other hand behind his back. Because of Chartreu’s annual fashion show, it had become a big trend to imitate the movements of the models.
"It’s a common term for trend-conscious young people. If you go to Eloz Street, you can find they are all like me," Oswald answered, taking the tea in a paper cup held gracefully in his hand.
"Her Majesty the Empress must be very pleased to see Your Grace. I’ll let her know you’re here."
Vera went inside and a moment later Julietta came out.
"Duke Oswald, welcome. The wig suits you very well." Julietta laughed, looking at the paper cup Oswald never put down.
"How does it feel to drink tea while you’re walking around and holding it?"
"It’s great, especially when I am busy. Even though there was a magic thermos in the wagon, it was so bothersome. I love the idea of ordering tea at a cafe and drinking it as I leave right away, without having to prepare a busy tea service."
She smiled, thinking it was a surprise. She thought packaged drinks would never be popular with aristocrats who enjoyed their refreshments elegantly. The product was aimed at ordinary people, semi-nobles, and lower-class aristocrats who worked in break time, but it was unexpectedly popular among young high-ranking nobles.
The number of people coming to work with paper cups gradually increased during the meetings of each department, starting in the morning, and gradually it became a culture. The imperial servants had been busily running around preparing tea for the nobleman’s chambers every morning, but now they had some spare time.
"What are you going to surprise us with next?" Oswald asked, as if he was looking forward to it.
"For the time being, I’m going to focus on maintaining my current business and parenting." Oswald had a regretful expression at Julietta’s words. "So, there’s something I want Your Grace the Duke to take care of."
"What is it?" asked Oswald, who had been sipping tea with a sullen air.