Shopping Spree (Seeking Investment)

Jinghua Book Pavilion,

Queen Mary curiously pulled the cork from the glass bottle, carefully scooped out some pale purple cream, and spread it over the back of her hand.

"Mmm, quite smooth. Not bad." She beamed at her son. "My dear Joseph, you always manage to surprise me. Where did you buy this?"

Joseph switched into sales mode:

"I developed it myself. I call it Angel Water. It softens the skin, and it is especially effective at removing acne."

Upon hearing this, Queen Mary immediately beckoned to the maid standing by the door:

"Morgana, this is perfect—you can try it."

Only then did Joseph notice several pimples on the maid's temple, not even concealed by powder. Many of these maids were only seventeen or eighteen, exactly the age when acne was most likely to appear.

As Morgana hurried over, Queen Mary took one box from the nine wooden cases before her and handed it to her. The latter immediately curtsied in startled gratitude:

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty."

Joseph smiled broadly at the Queen.

"You only need to mention it before those noble ladies when you have the chance—say that you are using this."

Queen Mary affectionately stroked his hair, though she put on a mock-angry expression.

"You give me a few bottles of skincare products, and you want payment already?"

Joseph immediately straightened up in cooperation, wearing an aggrieved expression.

"To develop Angel Water, I poured in who knew how much effort and conducted countless experiments. It was only successfully made today, and you were the first person I thought of. I brought it to you at once. Yet you will not even help me with such a tiny favor..."

The Queen was amused by him. She picked up a biscuit from the table and fed it into his mouth, soothing him.

"All right, all right. I will help you tell them, shall I?"

As it turned out, Joseph had no need whatsoever to worry about promoting Angel Water.

The Queen did not even need to advertise it for him. The noble ladies of Versailles Palace practically wanted to inspect the Queen with magnifying glasses all day long. The moment they spotted anything new, they would immediately follow the trend as though pumped full of chicken blood.

That afternoon, the Duchess of Broglie, who had come to chat with the Queen and listen to music, spotted the exquisite wooden box on the dressing table at a glance. She immediately turned to the maid beside her and asked:

"What is in that wooden box? Which shop sent it?"

The maid hurriedly replied in a low voice:

"It is a skincare product sent by the Crown Prince, called Angel Water. They say His Highness developed it personally."

"Angel Water? What a peculiar name." The Duchess of Broglie did not pay much attention to the claim that the Crown Prince had developed it himself. She guessed that some skincare workshop was merely using the Crown Prince's name for promotion.

Hearing her words, Queen Mary immediately ordered a servant to bring over a box of Angel Water and generously gave it to her.

"This is quite good, especially for getting rid of acne."

The Duchess of Broglie was overjoyed, though she pretended to decline.

"How could I possibly take something of Yours?"

"I still have plenty. Take it."

"Yes, then I shall accept it. Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Several noble ladies chatting nearby immediately looked over, their eyes brimming with envy and jealousy. They only hated themselves for not discovering the Queen's new treasure first.

Noticing that the atmosphere was off, Queen Mary smiled and had her personal maid, De Berninac, distribute a box to everyone present. Only then were all the noble ladies delighted.

Very quickly, news that the Queen was using the fashionable new skincare product Angel Water spread through Versailles Palace like ink dropped into water.

By dusk, nearly every noblewoman was asking everywhere where Angel Water could be purchased. The young girls in particular had gone mad over it, naturally because they had heard that Angel Water had been personally developed by the Crown Prince.

If they did not immediately buy a bottle and bring it home, they would be too embarrassed to say that His Highness was the man of their dreams in the future!

At last, someone uncovered Angel Water's original source—it had been given to the Queen by the Crown Prince.

After paying a fifty-livre gratuity, someone obtained news from the Crown Prince's personal beautician that forty bottles of Angel Water had been sent to Luxury Goods shops in Paris that afternoon for consignment sale.

By then, night had completely fallen, and noble young ladies could not go out. Thus, who knew how many girls lay awake all night, staring longingly toward dawn.

Only the Crown Prince's personal beautician's assistant stared indignantly at those fifty silver livres. Why had that person not come to ask me?

He could not help recalling how, that afternoon, he had carried that bag of Angel Water and ridden in a carriage from door to door, visiting Luxury Goods shops.

Especially the Silver Knight Perfume Shop on the Champs-Élysées, closest to the old royal palace. He had painstakingly negotiated with the manager for a long while, but the man insisted on charging a monthly consignment fee of one hundred livres, claiming it was their shop's rule.

Even when he invoked the Crown Prince's name, the other party remained unmoved.

Although this was one of Paris's most famous shops, he did not dare casually promise such a fee on His Highness's behalf.

In the end, he could only leave in frustration.

Fortunately, the manager of the somewhat smaller Source of Elegance perfume and Cosmetics shop not far across the street was easier to deal with. So he left the five bottles of Angel Water that should originally have been consigned at Silver Knight there instead.

By the time he had completed the consignment task and returned to Versailles Palace, it was already dusk. Yet no one had come to ask him about Angel Water's consignment sale with fifty livres in hand!

Early the next morning, who knew how many carriages hurriedly departed Versailles Palace and raced toward Paris.

Inside the splendid high-end jewelry shop beside the Louvre, a noblewoman's maid spotted the little wooden boxes stamped with the words Angel Water in the display window at once and cried out in delight:

"Madam, over there!"

Just then, two noble young ladies of seventeen or eighteen entered the shop. Hearing this, they forgot all etiquette and rushed to the display window in a few strides, shrieking:

"Quick! This is it—I'll buy it!"

The noblewoman froze, then stepped forward without another word, grabbed the shop assistant, and declared in a tone that brooked no argument:

"I want them too. Ten bottles!"

The shop assistant said apologetically:

"This lady, our shop only has five bottles of Angel Water."

"I'll take them all!" The noble young ladies reacted swiftly.

"No, I came first. Give them to me! How much?"

The shop assistant carefully slipped out from between the two parties.

"Fifteen livres per bottle, seventy-five livres in total."

One of the noble young ladies immediately said:

"I offer eighty livres. Hurry and give them to me."

The noblewoman shot the two of them a disdainful glance. Would I be afraid of competing in money with two little girls? She immediately said with perfect composure:

"One hundred livres. I'll take them."

"One hundred and twenty livres!"

"One hundred and fifty livres!"

In the end, the noblewoman's family was still wealthier. She acquired all five bottles of Angel Water for two hundred livres, then walked out of the shop with a victor's smile, smugly passing before the two young girls.

Meanwhile, five or six groups of noble young ladies entered the Silver Knight Perfume Shop on the Champs-Élysées one after another, asking whether Angel Water was available. Since this was Paris's most famous high-end perfume shop, there was a strong possibility that Angel Water would be sold here.

However, Silver Knight's manager could only watch them leave in disappointment with a bitter expression, cursing his afternoon self from yesterday over and over in his heart.

Before long, an extraordinarily brutal battle for the goods had already begun inside the Source of Elegance shop...