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Chapter 71
Life’s Fourth Round Baby Builds a Flower Path
“You’ve really gotten addicted to spending money.”
“The more you spend, the better it is.”
“Go inside already. The wind is cold.”
Come to think of it, Noah was surprisingly caring despite his tendency to be a little snappy.
Looking at him like this, Elia felt that Noah had grown quite dependable. He had sworn that he would build up his muscles, and his body had indeed grown considerably larger.
“Is training manageable?”
“It’s fun.”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
In this life, Elia hoped Noah would live a long, happy life.
“Let’s work hard and make a triumphant entrance into the capital together.”
Everyone would be astonished.
They would have to open their eyes wide when they saw just how handsome and dignified the once-sickly Noah had grown.
“Get up already. Let’s go inside.”
“All right.”
At Noah’s urging, Elia chuckled and rose from her seat. Behind the two of them, the sunset stretched magnificently across the sky.
Inside the mansion of the Grand Ducal House of Prussia.
Grand Duchess Christina had been in a foul mood for several days.
“Why—why are the sales like this?”
In her hand was the sales report for Queen’s Cosmetics.
Grand Duchess Christina threw the report at Roen and shouted.
“Answer me. Why haven’t our sales increased even after the reopening?”
“The Beautiful Line has become much more popular than we anticipated.”
“You mean it’s more popular than our Queen’s?”
“I have no excuse, Your Highness.”
“There must be something special about the Beautiful Line that makes it more popular than Queen’s, right?”
“We investigated that as well.”
As though she had been waiting for the question, Roen handed the documents she had prepared to Grand Duchess Christina.
“They have this many different products?”
The difference between the Beautiful Line and Queen’s was the variety of products they offered.
Queen’s cosmetics focused mainly on makeup products such as foundation, powder, lipstick, and eyeshadow, while the Beautiful Line focused on skincare.
“The defining feature of the Beautiful Line is that it doesn’t cause skin irritation. It’s particularly popular among women with sensitive skin.”
“How did we fail to think of this?”
“Pardon?”
“Why didn’t the researchers at Queen’s think of something like this?”
“Well…”
“Where on earth have they been spending all the research funds they’ve been taking? Start researching immediately and release new products of our own. There’s no reason we can’t make products superior to the Beautiful Line, is there?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“If you understand, go tell them immediately. If they fail to release a new product by the end of this month, I’ll cut off their research funding.”
After sending Roen away, Grand Duchess Christina let out a deep sigh.
Queen’s was a business she had devoted enormous effort to building. In other words, it was the business she cherished most.
“I can’t let Queen’s go under.”
Queen’s was the first business to bring her wealth, so she had a particularly deep attachment to it.
“I need to find a way to either eliminate the Beautiful Line or take it over.”
She could no longer allow it to run rampant throughout the capital.
Her gaze shifted toward the window. The vast gardens of the Imperial Palace came into view.
“This is my kingdom. I won’t let anyone ruin the kingdom I built.”
Her goal was to sit higher than anyone else and build a kingdom of her own.
For now, she sat in the position of Grand Duchess. In the future, when her son became emperor, she would rise to the highest position a woman could attain.
That day was not far away.
“I won’t let anyone look down on me.”
She had resolved that she would rather trample others than ever be trampled herself.
How much effort had she put in to rise from the bottom to reach this position? She could not afford to collapse now.
The Imperial Consorts’ Palace.
Empress Consort Marianne was having tea in the garden with several noble ladies.
“So this is the cosmetic line called the Beautiful Line.”
There were cosmetics on the table alongside tea and refreshments.
“Yes. It’s a newly established brand, but it doesn’t irritate the skin, and the results are wonderful, Your Highness.”
Empress Consort Marianne opened the cap of the skin toner and smelled it.
“The fragrance is lovely and subtle, too.”
“Yes. Personally, I prefer it to Queen’s because the scent is much more delicate.”
“Oh my, so do I. Whenever I used Queen’s cosmetics, my son would complain that the fragrance was too strong and wouldn’t come near me. But after I started using these products, even my son likes them.”
“That’s right. Queen’s does have a rather strong fragrance.”
“Queen’s was created by the Grand Duchess, ladies. Please refrain from speaking ill of her.”
Empress Consort Marianne spoke with a gentle smile, and the noble ladies lowered their heads as though realizing their mistake.
“Oh my, I made a mistake… I apologize, Your Highness.”
“You should consider yourselves fortunate that the Grand Duchess isn’t here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And I also think the Beautiful Line seems better than Queen’s. My skin is rather sensitive, so I’ve always been worried about using cosmetics.”
Empress Consort Marianne remembered the incident when Grand Duchess Christina had humiliated her at a banquet.
During the banquet, Christina had insisted that everyone use the cosmetics she had created.
As a result, Marianne’s skin had started burning, and by the next day, she had broken out badly. Because of her red and inflamed skin, she had been forced to remain shut inside the palace until it healed.
Perhaps because of that experience, she had no choice but to be particularly cautious about cosmetics.
“I’d like to try this myself.”
“I’m sure Your Highness will like it.”
“Hearing you say that makes me trust it even more. Your skin was just as sensitive as mine, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. It used to upset me terribly because I couldn’t use just any cosmetics.”
“Are the cosmetics you’re wearing now also from the Beautiful Line?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And this is a new product the Beautiful Line released recently.”
“Oh my, they released a new product?”
“Yes. It’s part of their makeup line.”
The Beautiful Line had newly released foundation, concealer, lipstick, and eyeshadow as part of its makeup collection.
“I’ve tried the makeup line myself, and it’s wonderful as well. The employee explained that it works even better when you use the skincare line first and then apply the makeup.”
“Oh, so you’re supposed to use the skincare line first and then the makeup?”
The noble ladies carefully examined the skin of the woman who had brought the cosmetics.
“Oh my, your skin looks so smooth! I can’t see a single blemish.”
“Hehe, surprisingly, these products even cover blemishes. Your Highness should try them as well.”
The noble lady who said that presented the cosmetic set to Marianne as a gift.
“Oh my, you’re giving this to me?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
Marianne instructed her maid to take the cosmetic set and then continued chatting with the ladies.
After tea time ended and Empress Consort Marianne returned to the palace, she looked at the cosmetics the noble lady had given her and asked her head maid:
“This is the reason Queen’s has been having trouble lately, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It seems their sales have been affected. Apparently, even in high society these days, more people are using the Beautiful Line than Queen’s.”
“Then Queen’s has become outdated.”
“That would seem to be the case.”
“The Grand Duchess must know about this as well.”
Instead of answering, the maid simply nodded.
Grand Duchess Christina was more sensitive than anyone to what was happening in the capital’s social circles, so Marianne couldn’t imagine that she would be unaware of the Beautiful Line.
“She might make a move.”
“I imagine she will.”
Grand Duchess Christina was the kind of person who couldn’t stand seeing someone else succeed.
Now that a product superior to the cosmetics she had created had appeared, she certainly wouldn’t sit back and do nothing.
“Will she cause a commotion again, claiming there’s something wrong with the ingredients?”
Queen’s had never been the only cosmetics brand in the capital.
There were many different brands.
It would be fair to say that Queen’s had swallowed up nearly all of them. They had spread malicious rumors to ruin competing brands, then acquired them cheaply and expanded their own business.
There was a high probability that the same thing would happen this time.
“What a shame it would be to lose the Beautiful Line.”
“Do you intend not to intervene this time?”
“What happened when I intervened last time?”
The maid fell silent.
“I was the only one who suffered losses in the end.”
Empress Consort Marianne had not simply stood by while the cosmetics companies went bankrupt. Some of them sold cosmetics that she herself frequently used.
She had tried to help them, but in the end, they had been defeated by money.
No company could withstand the enormous wealth possessed by Grand Duchess Christina.
“Let’s watch and see this time.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
This time, Empress Consort Marianne hoped the Beautiful Line would win. She had many grievances against Grand Duchess Christina.
The capital’s social circles had remained stagnant for a long time.
It was time for a change.
