“Miss, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Isaac, the manager of this soap workshop.”
“Hello. I’m Hestia Frost.”
Hestia greeted the middle-aged man standing before her politely.
“May I ask what brings you here?”
“I came to find my dad. Has he been here?”
“No, the Baron hasn’t been here.”
“…I see.”
Seeing the downcast expression on the child, Isaac didn’t know how to respond.
“Can I take a look around the soap workshop?”
“Uh? But the Baron isn’t here…”
“I’ve been curious about how soap is made.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll show you around.”
Hestia shook her head.
“Aren’t you busy as the manager? I can just follow this gentleman.”
“That may be true… but this child is a new recruit who just joined the workshop. I’ll assign someone else to you.”
“It’s okay, I just want to look around for a bit. Does this person not know much about the workshop?”
“No, that’s not the case.”
“I’ll stay quiet and not be a bother.”
Seeing Hestia’s bright smile, Isaac and the new recruit exchanged bewildered glances.
“Make sure to take good care of the young lady so she doesn’t get into any danger.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Eventually, Isaac went inside to attend to his duties, leaving only the new recruit and Hestia.
The new recruit awkwardly scratched his cheek and extended his hand.
“Well then, shall we go?”
“Sure!”
* * *
“Here, we cut the completed soap.”
“It’s originally quite large.”
Hestia was exploring the workshop with a new recruit.
“We cut it and let it air dry for a few more days. Otherwise, it can become soft quickly.”
What she was looking at now was almost a finished product. However, this was not what she wanted.
“Um… what should I call you?”
“Are you asking for my name? I’m Jerome.”
“Jerome?”
“Yes, that’s right. Please feel free to call me Jerome.”
Hestia couldn’t help but open her mouth in surprise.
I thought fragrant soap originated from the East; could he possibly be the same person?
“Is Jerome from the East?”
“No, I’m a native of Byrin. The manager you saw earlier is my father.”
“Huh? But you just said you were a new recruit…”
“My father told me to learn from the ground up. You asked if I was from the East, right? My mother is from the East, so maybe I have some traits of an Eastern person.”
‘Now that you mention it…’
After losing the Frost family to Harbor, it was said that the Frost business in Byrin might have changed or gone out of business due to pressure from Harbor.
What if, at that time, Jerome’s family moved to the East after the soap workshop closed due to Harbor’s pressure?
‘Could this Jerome be the founder of scented soap?’
Moreover, I remember reading an interview with the “founder of scented soap” in a newspaper, where he mentioned that his father’s soap workshop was taken away by someone else.
“So, are you the heir?”
“In a way, yes. But my father wouldn’t just pass the workshop to me because I’m his child. So, I’m working hard on my own.”
“That’s impressive.”
“Haha, thank you.”
I chose him thinking that as a new recruit, he might not be under much scrutiny, but I never expected such luck.
However, I need to confirm if Jerome is indeed the “Founder of scented soap” I know.
“Hey, Jerome, I have a question.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“I find the smell of soap really awful, and if I keep smelling it, I feel nauseous.”
“Oh no, then you should leave here quickly…!”
“No, no, what I mean is, is it impossible to make soap with a good scent?”
“Ah…”
Jerome sighed and glanced around before whispering to Hestia.
“Actually, I think that’s something we need to improve.”
So he really is the “Founder of scented soap.” Everything so far points to him.
“But I haven’t found suitable materials to eliminate the foul smell yet. Even if I just add a nice fragrance, it won’t mask the original odor, so it actually makes it worse.”
“Hmm… I see. Have you tried experimenting alone?”
“Yes, I’ve tried various things on my own. But I haven’t had any significant success, so it’s disappointing. My father thinks it’s fine as it is… but I have no intention of settling for that.”
Jerome showed determination to eventually solve the persistent problems of soap.
‘But he could only create fragrant soap after being driven away from here.’
That means it took Jerome quite some time to develop fragrant soap.
“I want to see the soap-making process from the beginning.”
“It’s a bit dangerous for you, young lady.”
“It’s okay; you’ll be watching over me, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
After a moment of hesitation, Jerome looked at Hestia, who was sitting quietly, and reluctantly guided her further inside.
There were several large pots, and the raw materials for soap were scattered everywhere, making the smell even worse.
“Here, we mix the ingredients according to the recipe and then filter them. There are quite a few impurities, so it’s a bit challenging to make soap directly from them.”
Jerome diligently explained the process.
Hestia, half-listening, half-distracted, was fiddling with the black herb in her pocket.
‘How should I give this to him…?’
Though she had come here impulsively with the idea of making scented soap and brought the materials with her, she hadn’t thought through how to convey this information.
What kind of person would take a child’s words seriously?
‘I wouldn’t believe it either.’
As she pondered what to do, Jerome suddenly said, “Would you like to take a look up close?”
He poured a small amount of the soap mixture into an unused cup and handed it to her.
“Over time, a film will form on top, and it will gradually solidify. Take it home and use it. Since you came all this way, it would be nice to have a souvenir.”
Hestia stared blankly at the soap mixture she received. But soon, her eyes sparkled with interest.
“New recruit, I mean Jerome! Come here for a second!”
A staff member called Jerome from a distance.
“Yes? Uh…”
As Jerome glanced at Hestia, she smiled brightly.
“I’ll stay here. Go ahead.”
“…It’s dangerous, so don’t touch anything. I’ll be right back.”
As Jerome left, Hestia quickly took out the pouch containing the black herbs. She grabbed a handful of it and added it to the cup with the soap mixture.
Using a long stick nearby, she stirred it lightly, and the foul smell of the soap began to dissipate.
‘Now if I add a bit of perfume to this…’
Hestia crouched down, carefully tinkering with her experiment in secret.
* * *
About ten minutes later, Jerome returned after finishing his tasks.
“I’m sorry, young lady. Did you wait long?”
He approached Hestia, but she didn’t respond.
Seeing her squatting on the floor, Jerome tilted his head in confusion.
“Young lady?”
“Jerome, look! I made this!”
Hestia turned with a bright smile. Jerome puzzled, paused as he saw that the soap he had just given her had turned into a mess in just ten minutes.
“What on earth did you do?”
“You told me to take this, Jerome. So I tried doing it my way. How is it? Isn’t it nice?”
“It’s not about being nice or not…”
Looking at the unidentified black leaves floating in the soap mixture, Jerome was at a loss for words.
“You shouldn’t joke around. You didn’t touch anything else, did you?”
Jerome glanced at the large pot to confirm that everything was intact and let out a sigh of relief. Hestia pouted and complained.
“I’m not playing around. Look at it properly!”
“Miss, soap shouldn’t have so many impurities. This isn’t fit for sale…”
“Not that! Smell it.”
“Smell it?”
Jerome, with a dubious expression, reluctantly sniffed the mixture as she insisted.
Then his eyes widened in surprise.
“How is it? Doesn’t it smell nice?”
“Wait a moment…!”
Jerome took the cup from Hestia’s hands and began to bury his nose in it.
As he repeatedly smelled it, looking confused, Hestia secretly smiled.
“Miss! Can we step outside for a moment? The smell here is too mixed!”
“Do as you like.”
The two of them stepped out of the stuffy workshop and took in the fresh air. After taking a few deep breaths to reset his sense of smell, Jerome sniffed the soap mixture in the cup once more.
“…It’s not just my imagination.”
The soap emitted a fragrant aroma, a pleasant floral scent.
But even more than the lovely floral aroma, there was something that captivated Jerome’s mind.
“Miss! What on earth did you do?!”
“What do you mean?”
“The foul smell! How did you get rid of it?!”
Since becoming a new recruit to help his father, Jerome had tried various methods to tackle the persistent foul smell of soap.
No matter how many fragrances he layered on, he could never mask the foul odor, but this soap mixture had no trace of it at all, only a gentle floral fragrance wafting through the air.
Hestia blinked and pulled something out of her pocket.
“What is that…?”
“It’s black herbs.”
“…Black herbs?”
“My mom uses them in cooking. She said black herbs get rid of bad smells. I just happened to have some on me because I was running an errand for her.”
“So you’re saying you added this to the mixture?”
“Yeah, I thought it might help since the soap smells awful.”
“Then what about this lovely scent?”
“It’s perfume. It smells nice, so I bought it without my mom knowing. This is a secret from her.”
Hestia smiled innocently, wanting to appear as just a child adding her favorite things to the soap.
Jerome, who had been stunned, soon found his legs giving out as he sat down on the spot, letting out a sigh of relief and a laugh.
“Haha, hahaha…!”
Soon, his laughter was filled with joy.
“Thank you, young lady…!”
“What for?”
“Thanks to you, I feel like everything that was stuck has been cleared! Black herbs! Right, why didn’t I think of that?”
Black herb was a plant that the poorest commoners desperately wanted. Jerome, being the son of the soap workshop owner, lived a pretty comfortable life and had no use for it.
But in the distant future, when his family would lose the workshop and be forced to move to the East in poverty, Jerome would encounter black herb for the first time. This discovery would eventually lead him to be known as the “Founder of Scented Soap.”
Of course, this was still a future that had not yet occurred, and perhaps might never happen.
“Miss, I’m sorry, but could you give me this soap?”
“But you told me to take it.”
“I apologize for changing my words. But if you give this to me now, I promise to repay you with something greater later.”
“…Hmm, then okay.”
“Thank you!”
Jerome repeatedly expressed his gratitude with a deep bow.
“Instead of this, I’ll show you around the workshop again.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve seen enough.”
Above all, she had achieved more than she had hoped for.
She thought it would be great if she could just develop fragrant soap, but hadn’t she met the “founder of scented soap”?
With Jerome, just this hint would likely lead to a good product being created quickly.
Moreover, she felt no guilt about stealing someone else’s idea, as she had inadvertently helped the original creator come up with the idea years earlier—truly a win-win situation.
Hestia left the workshop with Jerome seeing her off.
Back at the mansion, she returned the stolen perfume.
“It’s a bit less now, but… Mom probably won’t notice, right?”
After disposing of the evidence and quietly closing the door, Hestia let out a sigh of exhaustion.
There had been some ups and downs, but she had finally taken the first step.
“With this opportunity, if I support the soap workshop more and expand the factory, I could make quite a bit of money. And with Jerome here, not just soap, but various businesses will surely…”
“Sister, sister!”
Just then, Elvin came running in a fluster.
Hestia was so lost in thought about the future plans that she absentmindedly patted her brother’s head at that moment.
“Candy!”
“Ah…”
The promise she made with Elvin suddenly came to mind. Seeing his sparkling eyes, Hestia awkwardly smiled.
“…I’m sorry, Elvin. I completely forgot…”
The excitement on his face began to fade, and tears started to well up in his round eyes.
“Waaah! Mom, Dad! Sister…!”
“Wait, Elvin! I’ll go out right now, no, I mean, I’ll go right away and buy some for you! Elviiiin!”
