Countess Youngae’s Money-Sweeping Makeup Shop - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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74

 

What do you mean they’ve become strange?

 

When I tilted my head, Pebello hesitated for a moment before whispering in a small voice.

 

“Well, this happened at a tea party a few days ago.”

 

***

 

Pebello had been diligently hosting tea parties to expand his position as the marquis’s heir.

 

Of course, since he had fallen out of favor with Marquis Nekiard, not many people responded to Pebello.

 

However, after the previous tea party incident and frequently receiving makeup from Sillia, young ladies interested in makeup began approaching Pebello.

 

Pebello’s tea parties were essentially Sillia makeup fan clubs without Sillia herself.

 

The main event of Pebello’s tea time was always trying various makeup looks using cosmetics sold at Sillia’s shop.

 

Pebello was becoming quite popular, especially by giving away cosmetics from Sillia’s shop as gifts.

 

But a few days ago, when he held a tea party shortly after Marquis Nekiard opened his shop.

 

“Lady Suseur, has Marquis Nekiard visited the goddess makeup shop?”

 

“Huh? I haven’t been there yet.”

 

“Really? Why haven’t you been? You seem to do makeup much better than Lady Ebennain! Look, doesn’t it look really pretty today too?”

 

“Oh, yes… It’s pretty!”

 

“Did you get your makeup done by the marquis today? I wanted to ask because you look so beautiful today!”

 

“Oh my, did you get yours done too? Did you see the marquis today? Wasn’t he truly beautiful?”

 

“That’s right! He looked just like a goddess!”

 

While the two young ladies were laughing and complimenting each other in front of Pebello, he smiled awkwardly and felt puzzled.

 

Clearly, both young ladies’ skin was red and inflamed, and there was no eyeshadow color left, as if they had received makeup.

 

In other words, they had the appearance of what Sillia often called ‘ruined faces.’

 

And looking at their eyes, they seemed unfocused as if enchanted by something.

 

After ending the tea party and parting ways, Pebello inadvertently received an eyeshadow palette that one of the young ladies handed him.

 

Perhaps because of those somewhat eerie people, he couldn’t easily test it and waited until Sillia returned to the shop.

 

***

 

“It was like they were brainwashed. When I brought up topics about you, they would show brief interest before turning back to talking about the marquis.”

 

“That is definitely strange. Still, we can’t immediately suspect anything, so we should keep watching.”

 

“Be careful just in case. It seems like Jesuert Youngsik has joined hands with Marquis Nekiard.”

 

“…What? Who? The eldest son of the Jesuert family?”

 

“Well, I’m not sure about that. I only heard it secondhand. Just the fact that a carriage with the Jesuert family crest was heading toward the Nekiard Marquis Estate…”

 

“I see.”

 

Ricardo wouldn’t have done that.

 

Did Ricardo’s younger brother visit?

 

Even though I naturally thought it would be casual, anxiety grew within me.

 

Surely Ricardo didn’t go to Juber, right…?

 

My heart was pounding, but I forced myself to smile as if nothing was wrong.

 

Then Pebello looked at me with worried eyes before difficultly following my lead with a smile.

 

“I like your makeup! So don’t give up. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll monopolize you as my exclusive makeup artist!”

 

“Huh? You don’t need to do that… But still! If you do that for me, I’ll come running right away. Call me anytime!”

 

When I winked and clenched my fist, Pebello also timidly clenched his fist and put strength in his eyes.

 

Like a squirrel!

 

After finishing organizing, I went out to see Pebello off.

 

I watched him leave in his carriage, then returned to check the gift that Pebello’s maid had left.

 

In the brown basket, there was a letter and three flowers made of gold.

 

Oh my, what is this!

 

Holding my pounding heart with one hand, I opened and read the letter.

 

The letter said he hoped I would stay healthy in the future and was sending flowers, but he thought I would prefer flowers made of gold rather than regular flowers.

 

Pebello must be a genius.

 

It was a complete hit.

 

When I sniffed the scent of gold, I felt rich from my lungs up.

 

Once again thinking that Pebello was the best customer, I hugged the basket.

 

***

 

After that, there were still no customers.

 

Seeing this, I called Lili and Lucian to check how they did makeup.

 

Surprisingly, each person had different makeup skills with their own unique feel.

 

Lili was unexpectedly good at daily yet mature, luxuriously heavy-feeling makeup,

 

And Lucian was good at attractive makeup with bouncy colors and one toned-down color creating an unusual harmony.

 

Ah, such coveted talents?

 

I should definitely develop them more to become makeup artists with me.

 

Licking my lips, I told both of them their areas for improvement and conducted a light makeup class.

 

Later, it would be fun to create an academy that specializes in makeup classes!

 

After spending time harboring my own ambitions, it became time to leave work, so I parted with Lili and took a carriage to the manor with Lucian.

 

***

 

“Let’s just use teleportation magic! Ugh, my butt hurts!”

 

“That’s something I agree with too. That damn carriage is one of those things you never get used to no matter how much you ride it.”

 

“You should be used to it by now, shouldn’t you? What adult still can’t adapt to this?”

 

“Even adults have things they can’t adapt to. Doesn’t the tower master know that?”

 

“That’s because you’re weird!”

 

Returning to the bedroom, we bickered before Lucian sat on the sofa while I went to the desk and opened a locked drawer to take out documents.

 

Then I handed those documents to Lucian and stood beside him.

 

“Ugh, what is this? Why is there so much?”

 

“Your work. Now you need to tell me what materials are needed and decide when I’ll send materials and when you’ll manufacture them.”

 

“Damn, when am I going to finish all this?”

 

“If you procrastinate, it’ll keep piling up, right? Process it bit by bit whenever you have time.”

 

While scratching his head frantically, Lucian examined the documents with product appearances, descriptions, and characteristics written and drawn on them.

 

This time I wrote them accurately with Ricardo’s help, so there shouldn’t be any errors.

 

While Lucian read everything, I returned to the desk to write a letter.

 

The recipient was Ricardo Jesuert.

 

It’s not that I suspect Ricardo, but he should know about this situation first.

 

It seems like somehow that guy is moving to take over my business.

 

After finishing writing, I called a maid to send the letter and sat across from Lucian.

 

“The urgent things are replicating the empty containers I showed you before and changing the cosmetic formulations to increase quantity. You must maintain the ingredients as much as possible.”

 

“Then the quantity might not increase much.”

 

“I want to lower the unit price as much as possible to lower the barrier to makeup. Well, as long as it doesn’t change into ingredients that harm skin or health. Like toxins.”

 

“Toxins? That’s black magic, you know? Well, if that’s the case, I should be able to increase it somewhat.”

 

“There’s black magic?”

 

“You think there’s only good magic in the world? Of course there’s black magic too.”

 

“…Can you also check if objects have black magic cast on them?”

 

Hearing that, Lucian’s expression stiffened for a moment, then after pausing, he crossed his arms and looked at me.

 

“You know black magic is illegal, right?”

 

“I can’t even use magic.”

 

“Oh, right. Then why are you asking about that?”

 

“Black magic causes harm, right? Like to the mind and such.”

 

“The difficulty is high, but it’s not that hard.”

 

“There’s something I suspect might be black magic.”

 

I got up and took out the box Ricardo had given me and handed it to Lucian.

 

The eyeshadow palette was still there in its luxurious appearance without a speck of dust.

 

Lucian lifted the eyeshadow palette, examined it from various angles, then opened it to check the contents.

 

But he tilted his head and shrugged his shoulders.

 

“I can’t tell with this one.”

 

“Really? There are stories that people who visited the shop selling these cosmetics seem to be brainwashed.”

 

“Hmm, I can’t tell anything just from looking at the surface. Black magic isn’t something that’s easily visible in the first place anyway. Can I take this with me?”

 

“Why? Do you have a way to check?”

 

“Not 100%, but there’s a mage I know who can detect it with 80% accuracy. I’ll have that mage examine it.”

 

“Really? If that’s the case, then take it.”

 

“If that’s the case? It wouldn’t be okay for other reasons?”

 

“Right. I want to try using it myself too.”

 

With a scoffing laugh, Lucian gathered up the documents and cosmetics.

 

Soon after, he disappeared with words about sending the materials by tomorrow morning and to absolutely keep the deadline.

 

Now the wheels of makeup popularization are starting to roll! Fighting until it becomes completely mainstream!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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