The Villainess turns the Hourglass
chapter-104

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

Aria smiled contentedly as she checked the letter she had received through Annie.

It started tenfold. Flower Mountain was a favorite place for most aristocrats, and soon rumors started to spread. Then there would be a flood of questions about where the sugar came from as if they had found a ray of light in the dark, and somehow they would try their best to get the sugar. Even if it would cost more than twenty times the price of established sugar.

As Aria expected, the rumor quickly spread throughout the capital as she supplied sugar to the Flower Mountain. The Flower Mountain, where they had focussed enjoying leisure, was filled with aristocrats in the capital, and the sugar she had supplied quickly ran out, and it delighted Aria.

“Where the hell did you get it?”

“If you have any spares, sell it to me, too!”

As all carriages and people entering the capital were investigated, unauthorized sugar except in very small quantities was not allowed to be brought in. In the first place, it was a precious material that nobody could seek except for the nobility, and the aristocrats had prevented its cultivation, so they could monopolize it. Had it not been for that, it would not have been so chaotic.

The owner of the Flower Mountain answered with an embarrassing face to the noblemen who were shouting without dignity.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer it because I just happened to get it.”

He was a low-class aristocrat, who had succeeded with a cafe but was a merchant before then. Even though they were nobles, who he was dealing with, she couldn’t just say where the sugar came from

Moreover, there was still a little time left until the day Andrew had said he would visit again. It was stupid of him to share sugar hastily when he didn’t know how much more sugar Andrew would supply. He bowed several times, saying, “I’m sorry” to those who came in every day and urged him to sell sugar.

Andrew, who visited the Flower Mountain again and sold sugar, took a look around the cafe, which was overflowing with nobles that he couldn’t enter anymore. Then he said he would not sell the sugar to anyone unless they paid double, as he had been ordered.

“It’s too expensive, isn’t it? That’s twenty times the original price…”

The owner’s face turned pale when Andrew said he would sell the sugar, which was already expensive since the beginning, at a price that was twenty times more expensive.

“I’d like to make a suggestion then. I’ll give you a large supply of sugar as much as I raise the price, so you can use it any way you like.”

That meant that he wouldn’t mind that buying it at twenty times the price and selling it back at several times the price. However, the restriction was that he should not reveal where he obtained the sugar from. But while the owner, burdened with the price of twenty times, was agonizing for a while, Andrew got up from his seat, without a regret.

“I can’t help it if you don’t like it. I have to sell it to others.”

“Please, please, wait a minute!”

If he offered to sell sugar on the same terms, Andrew would have more than enough people to fill the square. The owner of the Flower Mountain might also have to line up at the square if he missed this opportunity now. And obviously, since Andrew said he wouldn’t care about where he used it afterward, it was clear that he would rake in huge sums of money if he did well.

Andrew sat down again because the owner stretched out and grabbed his sleeve. Andrew was dressed neatly with Aria’s support, but his clothes were wrinkled. But when he brushed it off with the back of his hand, it proved worth it to be back in place as if nothing had happened.

“… Well, I don’t know how much you have, but it takes a while to get that kind of money.”

“I’ll supply it to you in two then. I’ll also split the price and receive it in two. Why don’t you get a reservation in between and raise funds?”

It was as expected, and he answered as he had been told by Aria, and the owner nodded hard, thinking if this was such a golden piece of cake.

“It’s a small amount, so you’ll be fine if you charge a few more times from the nobles.”

Andrew’s words were true. Since there was a sugar famine, there were plenty of people who would like to buy it, no matter how much it would cost. Using Andrew’s words as a reference, the owner of the Flower Mountain told customers, who were looking for sugar that he could sell it in small quantities, and he ran out of sugar in an instant because of a direct reservation.

There was, of course, a voice of condemnation. “Isn’t it too expensive? It’s almost thirty times the original price!”

“I’m sorry. I’d like to give you a discount, but that’s the way the price was brought in. Sugar is so precious that I can’t help it.”

In fact, people lined up to buy, even if he sold it at thirty times the price. The nobles saved money to buy other luxuries and invested in buying sugar. A day without sugar was like hell for aristocrats, who became accustomed to sweetness.

Aria burst into laughter when she saw the warehouse running out and her bank balance becoming thick. Berry, who was pouring tea, trembled at that high tone with astonishment, and Jessie cocked her head, and only Annie, who knew the situation, smiled facing Aria.

“What are you going to do with that money, miss? Are you going to keep saving?”

“No, I don’t intend to save it.”

Aria was planning to invest again as much as she earned. She had to continue to invest and expand her power by attracting people around her. She had to do so if she wanted to deal with Mielle that had the support of the princess. Otherwise, she was sure that she would be decapitated again.

In the past, Aria was not interested in the public because she was still young and was getting smeared a bit by the playfulness of the maids Mielle had sent. Aria only remembered a fraction of what people were talking about. Instead, it was so stimulating and all the people of the Empire were interested in it. For example, it was about the Crown Prince’s performance, the rise of the status of a daughter of the ordinary viscount, or the ingredients of the food that had gone into the mouth immediately.

And there was another thing she remembered. It was perfumed hair-oil that had long emerged as a substitute after the chaos of luxury goods led to the disappearance of sugar and honey. Perfumed hair-oil with sweet scents collected from flowers had become popular for some time.

Eating hadn’t made the sweet taste strong, but it had smelled nice. So the trend of smelling until the sugar was supplied again had been spreading, and it had gone quite long

‘The man who sold it… who was it? Maybe he was Baron Burboom.’

He had been a nobleman but without presence. He had said it had been a family business, but due to lack of funds, he could not supply the perfume on time, and he had lost all of his share of the perfume in the market, by a new businessman. Aria remembered going straight to buy when the fashion had first begun.

‘I should invest in him.’

She didn’t have enough experience and manpower to start a new business now. Therefore, it was better to invest and share profits. In addition, it was not too bad to continue feeding and taming him, giving information.

‘That’s all I have to do if I’m going to increase my power since I have nothing. Let’s approach Baron Burboom for now. I’ll see if he’s worth it.’

Aria sent a letter straight to Andrew. It was about meeting Baron Burboom. She enclosed a letter that she had a great interest in the perfume business and would like to invest. Some time later, a reply to the letter said, “Thank you for the proposal, and I will gladly accept it.”

So the contract was made in a short period of time and without a hitch. With the drastic requirement to pay thirty percent of the revenue to Aria, Baron Burboom, who needed funding for a smooth supply, could not turn down her proposal because the trend of the perfume had already started.