Translator: Nox

Chapter 30

I'm a Homebody, But I Possessed a Dark, Captive Romance

Episode 30

“What is this?”

“It’s a storage room.”

I looked at Liam, who gave a perfectly obvious answer, with a face as cold as brine.

Liam, who had come to find me just one day after I asked the Grand Duke about Poleta Leather, led me to a small hut located in the backyard of the Grand Duke's residence.

While it was called a hut, it seemed to be, as he said, essentially a storage room filled with unnecessary miscellaneous items.

The problem was….

“There’s… more than I expected?”

There was so much well-tanned Poleta Leather that it completely filled the hut.

I looked at the bundles of raw leather, neatly sorted by color, pattern, and size, with a weary expression.

“Ahem, ahem. His Highness the Grand Duke, thankfully, ordered all the Poleta Leather wandering around the Grand Duchy to be gathered and transported here for the Princess.”

“Ah…”

I, I didn’t need it to this extent.

Could it be that he was trying to get back at me for firmly stating I wouldn’t tell him?

After Liam, his task completed, left, I still couldn’t bring myself to dare enter the storage room and stood still.

Just then, Bonita, who was nearby, spoke to me.

“But why did you need so much Poleta Leather?”

“Well….”

I trailed off and moved my steps.

Inside the hut-like storage room, with its door wide open, there was even more Poleta Leather than was visible from the outside.

However, it had not yet undergone separate washing or processing, so byproducts were still stuck to the leather, and the stench was considerable.

“Ugh.”

“…Next time, I’ll prepare a handkerchief for you to cover your nose.”

Bonita, who had entered without any preparation, took a step back, wrinkling her nose.

But I ignored the piercing animal smell and walked deeper inside.

Behind me, I could hear Bonita’s horrified gasp.

“Ah, Miss?”

“Hmm.”

When I pulled out one of the closest bundles of leather to inspect it, a Poleta Leather hide far longer and heavier than an average man’s body was dragged out.

Upon closer inspection, although it was a bit rough as it was unprocessed, it seemed somewhat similar to the material of the blackout curtains made in Salt.

To know for sure, I would have to handle it properly.

“Bonita.”

I turned my head towards Bonita, who had now become my walking encyclopedia and speed wagon for anything.

“Yes?”

“What should I do to make this leather into fabric?”

It was a rather abrupt question, but Bonita, perhaps thinking I was testing her, shrugged her shoulders and replied.

“Of course, there are experts who process it. Lady Rainey is a sewing artisan second to none in our Grand Duchy of Bleil.”

“…I see!”

I gave her my unsparing, impressed gaze and quickly darted out of the hut.

I felt like my nose would rot if I stayed in that place with its bizarre smell any longer.

“Can I possibly meet Lady Rainey?”

“Since Madam supplies high-quality fabrics to the Grand Duke’s household, she will probably… visit again tomorrow morning!”

Morning…

After a brief moment of thought, I nodded obediently.

After all, I had no choice but to wake up as soon as the sun rose.

\ \ \

The previous day, after going to the library alone to research Poleta, I was dragged into a meeting of painters after dinner and ended up staying up all night.

No, actually, I wanted to slip away and get at least a little sleep, but I couldn’t bring myself to get up with Ashley beside me, her face as hollow as a zombie’s.

That meant, in turn, that my condition this morning was also the worst.

‘So, so sleepy.’

They say that being unable to sleep is the greatest torture.

Even facing Lady Rainey, who was sitting right in front of me, I couldn’t suppress my yawns.

A little while later, Lady Rainey, who had been carefully scrutinizing the leather for a long time with her plump, rosy cheeks, shook her head.

“Hmm… I don’t think it will be possible.”

It was an unexpected answer.

Seeing her troubled expression, I asked with an even more desperate face than yesterday.

“Why… why is that?”

“While it’s not difficult to process Poleta Leather into fabric, the compensation is low compared to the workload. It’s a common leather…”

A kind of ‘chicken bone,’ is it?

She then continued, wiping her hands with a damp cloth, having completely given up on Poleta Leather.

“In this hot weather, thin and light materials like chiffon or lace are much more in demand.”

Although she seemed to be speaking indirectly because she had direct connections to the Grand Duchy of Bleil, the refusal in her eyes was clear.

‘No.’

Was my dream of a cozy morning without sunlight slipping away like this?

After much deliberation, I decided to buy time.

“Bonita, could you please get some cool tea for Madam?”

“Yes! Of course, Miss!”

While the quick-witted Bonita was away, I frantically began to rack my brain.

Thinking about it, the manga I had previously thought I needed, and the blackout curtains… I had just wanted to make them for myself, and there was no system in place.

Even now, the profits from the manga business or the painters’ salaries were all handled by Liam.

However, there was one thing I knew for sure….

‘The royalties accumulated in my name must be immense.’

If what Lady Rainey wanted was money, I could meet her demands.

And even if a large sum of money was spent on making these blackout curtains, it could be quickly recouped.

‘Are there really only people in the Grand Duchy who need blackout curtains?’

Even in the Kingdom of Salt alone, there were plenty of unfortunate administrators who could only lie down after exhausting all-night work, only to do so at dawn.

“Lady Rainey.”

“…Yes?”

The Madam, who had been silently drinking the iced tea Bonita brought, put down her teacup with a flustered look at my slightly changed voice.

“What is the most expensive fabric you handle?”

“…Unless there are special conditions, lace is treated as the most expensive.”

Then, I decided, the Poleta Leather must be priced higher than lace.

With my mind made up, I replied with more certainty.

“I will pay you more than that, and if you have to work overtime, I will pay you double the overtime allowance.”

“……Yes?”

Gasp…!

Was it Bonita? Or the assistant the Madam brought with her?

Breathing sounds, belonging to someone unknown, grew louder.

Finally, the Madam’s eyes, which had been firmly set, began to tremble.

I knew that look well.

‘The look of conflict in front of money.’

Lady Rainey clearly knew that Poleta Leather had no demand and was difficult to process.

So she must have intended to refuse somehow, but, well.

‘It’s quite a large sum to refuse, isn’t it?’

And in fact, everyone here knew that Poleta Leather was much easier to make than lace, which was painstakingly woven by hand.

“However, we will have to professionally recruit tanners for processing the leather and the necessary manpower.”

This time, I drank my tea with an air of leisure.

Slurp.*

After lowering my head to sip the tea, I looked up again at Lady Rainey, who had a very bewildered expression.

Nice.

“…Are you, really trying to make something?”

“I’m going to make curtains.”

“Curtains?”

All this for just making curtains, even with overtime pay?

…I could almost hear the Madam’s thoughts, but I had my own plans.

‘It’s an investment.’

What if I used the royalties I had received so far as investment capital and started a new business making blackout curtains from this Poleta Leather?

Moreover, I had momentarily forgotten, but having experienced the grind in the Kingdom of Salt, I was well-versed in how to collaborate with various merchant guilds.

For example.

One, buy the surplus Poleta Leather in the Grand Duchy at a low price.

Two, hire leather processing labor, which is also not very expensive.

Three, once the blackout curtains are made, directly contact merchant guilds that travel through various countries and entrust them with sales.

‘I don’t think I’ll incur a deficit.’

As I thought earlier, jobs that require working at night are not unique to the 21st century.

In this world where labor rights don’t exist, jobs that require working at night are actually abundant.

‘This will be my lifelong project.’

I hate stepping forward more than dying, but if I’m truly on the verge of death from lack of sleep, the story changes.

Since it’s come to this, should I just start a big business and make a lot of money?

If things go well, maybe even independence…

‘Yes, independence.’

If that happens, I could shed the image of being a freeloader who always lives off others, and perhaps I could decorate my precious home, which would be covered in blackout curtains from floor to ceiling.

For now, I’ll have to settle in the Grand Duchy of Bleil to always read the latest chapters of manga first, but anyway.

“Heh, hehehe…”

Lost in pleasant thoughts, I couldn’t help but let out a strange laugh.

Completely unaware that people were looking at me strangely.