The principality of Bertino
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The store owner had his curly hair pulled back so it wouldn't run, and he was wearing a stiff tie, a wide, rectangular cloth wrapped around his neck like a scarf.
Due to its luxurious clothes and condescending manner, it did not appear to be an ordinary store.
Adam approached the shopkeeper while Juliet was thinking.
When the Count started talking to the owner about one thing or another, Killian sat down in a reception chair in the center of the store.
Juliet, who settled behind him gently, seriously agonized in the back of her beautiful head.
She had spoken with sincere admiration of the prince's nightlife, but he must have been very angry with the maid who casually boasted about his private life.
She was just looking for a chance to apologize, to say, “I'm sorry” and “I'll never do that again.”
But she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
Adam, who had just returned from a conversation with the shopkeeper, spoke to Juliet, who was restlessly behind Killian.
“Is there anything you want to say?
So, don’t hesitate to say.”
Killian's head turned slightly towards her at the Count's question.
With his silent permission, Juliet ran to his front and asked for forgiveness.
“Your Highness, forgive me for what I said earlier in the carriage.
I didn't know who I was and I was mistaken, relying on your generosity.
I promise it won't happen again.”
Killian's face stiffened for a moment and then relaxed as Juliet reached down and eagerly sought forgiveness.
“There is nothing you cannot say in front of me and Count Adam, so there is no need to ask for forgiveness.
But in front of others, you should be careful about this, because I shouldn't let anyone talk about what happens in my personal life.”
Killian felt a strange sense of déjà-vu when he saw Juliet bowing ninety degrees, begging for forgiveness.
Adam continued, looking at Killian, who remembered that he must have seen this somewhere.
“I'm glad you're not the one to get angry or say anything about this, but in front of another noble we shouldn't have to tell you that you need to be careful with your words and actions.”
Juliet nodded firmly at the count's words.
He asked himself for forgiveness, thinking that he must have been crazy for a while.
Then, the shopkeeper who had entered came out with an expensive-looking box wrapped in velvet cloth.
Juliet, wondering what was in it, unknowingly looked up.
The owner grimaced and looked at Juliet.
She often worked in the theater's props room and matched the jewelry and decorations to the actors' costumes.
Sure, the jewelry used for theater props looked plausible from a distance, but they were like toys too crude to be seen up close.
But it was Juliet's job to match even that fake jewelry to a dress.
Thus, their interest grew as the actresses wore the jewelry and dresses they had received from their followers.
She often sketched the designs of her imagined dresses and jewelry.
She was curious to know what Bertino's jewelry designs would be.
But as she had her owner's fierce eyes, she slowly retreated to the corner and Killian said with a light sigh, “Come and sit down.
Perhaps your eyes, even though you are a maid, can be more accurate than ours.”
With the words, Adam rushed the shopkeeper, whose eyes were wide open, “Show me what’s in it.”
"Yes sir."
The owner opened the lids of the jewelry boxes he was holding and placed them on the table.
The jewels in each box seemed to brighten up the poorly decorated store, and Juliet was impressed.
Looking at the resplendent brilliance of red, blue, yellow and green colors, Juliet came back to her senses and finally tilted her head.
After all, it was a jewelry store.
But she didn't understand why there was no device to show what that place was like.Since the interior was empty, she wondered if it was an undercover deal or if there was a smuggling business behind the scenes.
It was so strange that it had no advertisements to entice consumers, and a fancy storefront that boasted to its customers and asked them to buy.
Although it was a dimension that had a magical and ecclesiastical calendar, it was eerily similar to Earth's Middle Ages.
Juliet, who found her reason for understanding, looked at the jewelry once again and felt a piercing gaze.
When she raised her head towards her eye, she saw the store owner staring at her deadly in fear that her saliva might even fall on the jewelry, she was surprised and suddenly stood up and hid behind her boss's broad back like a shield.
Lance, who had been working on jewelry in the family business for several generations, was a highly skilled craftsman in the Principality of Bertino.
Feeling so proud of his work of carving and trimming simple stones and turning them into dazzling ornaments, he thought that something ugly in this world would bother him more than anything else.
In his eyes, Juliet looked so horrible that he didn't want to stay in the same room for a moment.
He was worried that the hideousness of a hard-to-watch maid would transfer to her beautiful work.
Lance, barely able to frown, closed the lid of the jewelry box near the maid and moved it to the other side.
The ugly face looked at him, and quickly got up and walked around his master's back.
He nodded with satisfaction, thinking that at least she understood who she was, but the Prince's expression upon seeing the shopkeeper's behavior turned cold.
Adam spoke quickly, feeling anxious that Killian would disrupt the store while siding with the maid if left unchecked.
“Do you have an amethyst set?”
“We don’t have a lot of people looking for them, so we don’t have anything ready at the moment.
It is less popular than diamonds, sapphires, rubies and other gems.
In particular, as the Principality of Bertino is the largest producer of amethyst, there is more supply than demand, and the value of the jewelry is low and unpopular.”
After Killian looked at the illuminated jewels for a while, he glared at the owner and stood up from his seat.
When Killian nodded and left, Adam, who received his silent instructions, placed his order with the shopkeeper.
“I will buy everything here, so put it in the carriage.”
* * * * *
After returning to the inn, Killian looked at the jewelry sets he had purchased and said to Adam:
“It definitely doesn't compare to the work of the dwarves, but it is very good manual work.
I will also add this man to the list of artisans of the Bertino Business Group.”
“Clearly, although it is comparable to the work of Austern's famous jewelers, jewelry stores are now saturated.
Why don’t we find a market for amethyst instead of getting into the uncertain jewelry business?”
At Adam's words, Killian became lost in thought.
The Principality of Bertino was the largest producer of diamonds and amethysts on the continent.
However, Killian was struggling to extract maximum profit from what he had, as it was natural that profit had been reduced by selling the same resources over several generations.
Of course, as Adam said, famous jewelers who inherited the family business from generation to generation abounded in Austern and Vicern, so he was hesitant to enter.
No matter how big the capital was, there was no guarantee that he could profit from the competition unless he defined a different sales strategy.
The only thing Killian had an advantage over the other jewelers was that he had dwarven workers, but there were only five of them.
He could not sell all his products with the manual labor of the dwarves.
As such, it was too much to launch a jewelry store under the guise of differentiation.
Sa-chan
Sa-chan
Thanks for reading.
^-^