203 - The Young Lady's Shopping 1
Since it was unclear when the summons to the capital would come, I had no choice but to refrain from taking embroidery work. With my schedule uncertain, I could not accept new jobs, and once I finished the embroidery I had already taken on, I soon found myself feeling bored. Spending all the free time I had on bobbin lace... even that got a little tiresome, as expected.
...But I felt like I had finally gotten to the point where I could weave nicely enough that maybe this could be sold?
I could no longer have Aurelia evaluate it, so I had no choice but to ask Hermine, who had a strict aesthetic eye. If Hermine judged it as "well done," I would try challenging myself with a slightly more difficult pattern.
...As for this one, maybe I should unravel it, remove the kinks from the thread, and reuse it.
I tried unraveling a little of the ribbon I had made early on, which used a jumble of colors. As expected, the thread had kinks, but it did not seem impossible to unravel. However, since it was a band woven from countless threads, actually trying to unravel it would be an awfully painstaking task.
...Maybe I should leave this as it is, as a memento of my practice?
Perhaps this was precisely why Aurelia had said to use cheap thread for practice, because it was difficult to unravel and reuse. This truly was a handicraft that was hard for commoners to get into.
During my continued confinement, I completed three short ribbons. When I finished the first one, I thought "this should be good enough to sell" and showed it to Hermine, but I felt the second and third were woven slightly more beautifully.
...For now it seemed like only the wealthy could make this, which meant I just needed to gradually get people from wealthy households interested, right?
I had heard that trends spread from the top down. Commoners admired the upper class and wanted to adopt what was fashionable among them, but not the reverse. It seemed impossible for upper-class people to admire commoner trends and imitate them.
...Among my acquaintances, an upper-class girl would be... Basilia-chan?
Even though Basilia was an illegitimate child, she was the daughter of the lord of Lagarette. There was no mistake in calling her upper class.
...If I wanted Basilia-chan to use it, I would need better thread, would not I?
The cheapest practice thread, or the slightly better thread I used to increase the difficulty, would not be enough for Basilia, a noble, to wear. It would have to be the finest thread.
...For now, I would start spreading it from those closest to me.
I felt that if I begged Leonardo, he would buy me as much high-quality thread as I wanted, but this was still within the realm of a hobby. I should only do it within the scope of what I could cover with my own money.
...Among my acquaintances, someone from a wealthy household would be...?
The next names that came to mind after Basilia were Elke and Petrona. Neither was noble, but they were daughters of wealthy merchant families. Petrona in particular was a girl interested in fashion. If I recommended bobbin lace to her, she might take to it. If Petrona successfully learned bobbin lace, it might even be passed down to her children and grandchildren, and she might lend me her wisdom from a merchant's perspective about turning it into a product.
...I felt bad for being so calculating, but I decided to go see Petrona.
Having reached that conclusion, I asked Leonardo at dinner whether my confinement would be lifted soon. Leonardo stopped eating, showed a thoughtful expression for a moment, then smiled wryly and gently rejected my request.
"Leonyaldo-san, why is it not allowed?"
"Your speech pattern, it is slipping back."
Chastised, I corrected my speech to be more ladylike and asked again. Why could the confinement not be lifted yet? It had already been over a month. Surely it was about time for it to be lifted.
"The confinement is meant as punishment for Tina, so it being frustrating is just about right, is not it?"
Since I did not go out much to begin with, the punishment of confinement was not very effective. Leonardo continued, saying that now that I had finally started asking for the confinement to be lifted, it was only just beginning to function as a punishment.
"...Have you only now realized that confinement is no punishment for me?"
"No, actually I realized it quite some time ago. Unlike me when I was a child, Tina does not really go out to play of her own accord."
"Then why the confinement?"
"...When I thought about some kind of punishment, this was the only thing I could come up with."
Among the punishments Leonardo had received at the orphanage and Viloup Fortress, there were apparently things like being put in the reflection room or the punishment room, but to put it simply, both were the same as confinement. Being shut up in a room, unable to go outside. In my case, since the confinement covered the whole residence, I did not feel particularly restricted, but for Leonardo, who apparently had been a mischievous boy, being shut up in a single room must have been nothing but agony.
"If you wish to inflict the pain of punishment upon me, then how about the opposite of confinement, forbidding indoor activities like embroidery and forcing me to play outside?"
Just imagining it was exhausting, but I was almost certain that if this were the punishment, I too would feel the pain. I did not dislike studying, and I enjoyed reading and embroidery. Unlike the young Leonardo, spending time quietly indoors was neither hardship nor anything else to me. Being ordered to go play outside would have been harder.
"Being told to go play outside is not a punishment at all."
"It is a difference in preference... or rather, in personality, I suppose."
Leonardo had been a mischievous brat, and while I was a tomboy who occasionally played pranks or kicked Leonardo's leg, I fundamentally preferred spending time indoors. Our personalities were simply different. It was the same thing. What Leonardo found painful was neither hardship nor anything else to me.
"...Where does Tina want to go?"
The clothes for the trip to the capital had already been ordered from the tailor. Leonardo resumed eating, implying I could not possibly have any errands to run. Although my request to lift the confinement was rejected, the fact that he showed a willingness to consider circumstances still made me think Leonardo was too soft on me.
"I was thinking it is about time I tried increasing the difficulty of my bobbin lace, so I need some better thread. While I am out in the city, I would also like to see my friends for the first time in a while and give them the ribbons I have made as presents."
I added that I had been thinking about how to get bobbin lace circulated as a product somehow, and had considered spreading it gradually from the wealthy class, though this was still just a vague idea. Since it was impossible for me alone to suddenly popularize it, I wondered if I could not first build a foundation little by little starting from my circle of friends.
"I think using the actual ribbons to spark interest is a good idea... but are you giving those ribbons to Mirshe too?"
"To be honest, I would like to give them to Mirshe-chan too. But even when I was the one wearing them, suspicious merchants pestered me, so I think it is better not to for Mirshe-chan."
I always had Kalisa accompanying me as my nursemaid, and while Bertrand was in the city, even the Black Dog (Oscar) followed me as a guard, yet I was still pestered by suspicious merchants. I think it ended with just persistent pestering precisely because it was me. Unlike me, who was constantly watched over by adults like guardians and guards, if Mirshe, with no one watching her, encountered the same situation, her ribbon might be forcibly taken, or worse, she might even be killed. Even though I could imagine such dangers, I hesitated to give Mirshe a ribbon just because we were friends.
"Tina's judgment there is probably correct."
Leonardo had probably been worried about something similar too. He relaxed with relief at my words that it was better to avoid giving Mirshe a ribbon.
"...You could make Mirshe a work apron and embroider it with something Tina is good at."
"Understood. An apron rather than a ribbon for Mirshe-chan."
I tried to steer the conversation toward getting permission to go out in order to obtain fabric for the apron, but unusually, Leonardo's answer did not change. At his repeated word "denied," I could not help puffing out my cheeks and glaring at him.
"You should learn proper ladylike shopping methods from Ms. Hartmann."
"By ladylike shopping, you mean... calling the merchants to the residence?"
Right now the Silver-White Knight was guarding Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials, so they probably would not want to let too many outsiders into the residence, I pointed out. Even if they were merchants, it would be better to avoid calling too many unrelated people to the residence.
"The shopping can be done in the first-floor living room; we just do not let them go upstairs."
Leonardo continued, saying that Alf could even be present if necessary, but Hermine would supervise as part of her ladylike education, so there was no worry. It seemed this was part of my ladylike education under the guise of confinement. Perhaps he wanted me to gain as much experience as possible while I had a tutor to supervise.
I had ordered by calling a merchant to the residence once before. When preparing the thread for the embroidery painting, Kalisa had contacted the owner of the craft shop and called them to the residence. This time too, I would have to start by calling a merchant to the residence. Fortunately, since calling merchants to the residence for shopping was Leonardo's suggestion, I did not need to get permission again.
"Normally, Tina-san as the lady of the house would simply need to command a servant, but since this is also for Tina-san's education, I shall teach you the method of summoning them by letter."
According to Hermine's explanation, normally one would just leave it to the servants. The ordered servant would coordinate with the merchant, and the merchant would be summoned to the residence on a day convenient for the master.
"...This 'young lady's shopping' is hard on a commoner like me, Hermine-sensei."
Just like when I wrote letters to Aurelia or Jemian, I first consulted Hermine about the letter's content, but every time I decided something, she shot it down. When I said the date should accommodate the merchant's convenience since they had schedules too, I was scolded that the merchant would look down on me. When I then tried to suggest a date convenient for me, I was taught that for someone like me, that was just a forceful date they could not refuse. As had been pointed out at the Menhishumi Church too, as Leonardo's sister, my words carried a certain unreasonable coercive power. Being careful of all that, wanting to accommodate the merchant's schedule while maintaining a firm ladylike attitude, after being thoroughly corrected, I finally managed to write the letter. After having Hermine check the letter one last time and handing it to Bart to deliver to Petrona's house, the lesson was over for now.
"That was more tiring than etiquette lessons."
As I held my head, lamenting how difficult it was to gauge the wording, Salisa brought me pudding. After racking my brains so much, the sweet pudding was so welcome it brought tears to my eyes. As I ate the pudding with a spoon despite a slight headache, Salisa told me that normally, even a letter summoning a merchant was something left to the servants.
"...It is true what they say, a young lady does not move on her own."
Time is up. Could not write as much as planned.
Typos and omissions again another day. Fixed any typos and omissions I found.