“Your Highness, do you know how many branches Pawnshop K has across the continent?”
Remembering that he had said he knew a little, Karan awkwardly nodded.
“The names are diverse. Pawnshop A, Pawnshop B, Pawnshop C… They all have different names, but they’re branches of Pawnshop K. There are even Pawnshop K branches in countries that don’t have trade relations with Bedrokka.”
“Is that so? As for that…”
Unable to admit that he didn’t know, Karan quickly took a sip of his drink. Elise continued speaking, not minding that his words were cut off.
“In fact, this medicine is easy to replicate if you know the raw materials. That’s why we need to dominate the market faster than anyone else.”
It was what Leber said after making the medicine.
[The formula for the medicine is too simple. That’s why it took me more effort to make a more perfected version.]
He had only thought about it in complex terms. It was a medicine that could make hair grow, after all.
[It might be difficult for ordinary people to figure out the formula, but magicians will quickly discover it. Will it be a viable product?]
Leber’s concern was valid.
If magicians start selling cheaper copycat medicines, we’ll have to lower our prices too.
We might have to shut down the business without even recovering the costs invested so far.
It’s difficult to compete on the quality of the medicine. The medicine has already been made with perfect quality.
There’s only one way to win the competition with a product of the same quality. That is to dominate the market first. We need to imprint on people that ours is the original.
Elise came to this conclusion after long deliberation with Leber.
“If we dominate the continent, it won’t be a problem for this product to cross the sea.”
Elise intended to dominate the market even before copycat medicines appeared.
“What do you think? Would the owner of Pawnshop K be interested?”
Karan smiled, inwardly answering that the person was more interested in Elise herself than the business.
“Of course, Elise.”
****
Karan and Elise followed a typical date course. They had drinks, dined at a fancy restaurant, and went shopping at street stalls while strolling through town.
“Buy anything you want!”
Elise, who was planning to pay off her debts and succeed in business, showed off a bit. It was a very cute boast.
Karan didn’t refuse and filled both hands with items from the stalls. They didn’t miss out on eating street food either.
“Try this, Your Highness.”
Elise personally fed Karan a skewer of sugar-coated fruit. Karan offered Elise a donut covered in powdered sugar.
They were so focused on feeding each other that they didn’t pay attention to what was going into their own mouths, making a mess around their lips.
“Let me wipe that for you.”
“I’ll wipe it for you.”
Though they could have wiped their own mouths, they wiped each other’s, their arms getting tangled in the process, making them laugh for a while.
“The last part of a date would be escorting you home, right?”
Only after the sun had set did the two enter the palace. Although they had meant to play for just a moment, it became a whole day, but Elise didn’t regret it.
She had laughed heartily for the first time in a while, and Karan had enjoyed himself too. It felt like the debt of gratitude that had built up from always receiving from him had been somewhat paid off.
“Rest well, Elise.”
Karan hesitated in front of Elise’s bedroom before saying difficult words. Since they weren’t married yet, the two couldn’t share a bedroom, and had to part reluctantly every night.
If they were truly in sync, they could easily cross that door, but they weren’t there yet.
“Thank you for the gifts.”
Karan raised and shook the items filling his hands. Even though Haltbin had offered to carry them, Karan absolutely refused to let him. Throughout the date, he had treated the trinkets Elise bought him like national treasures.
Elise’s nose tingled at his gentle heart that cherished even small things. Her solar plexus tickled. And her heart pounded.
“I’m really going now.”
If he stayed any longer, he’d end up spending the night in Elise’s bedroom again.
She needed rest after walking so much today.
Karan turned away with difficulty, inwardly screaming ‘self-control’. At that moment, Elise grabbed the cuff of Karan’s sleeve.
“If you’re not busy, would you like to have a drink before you go?”
Elise said with her head bowed low.
“Do you know what that means?”
Karan asked, not taking his eyes off Elise’s white hand. Elise nodded.
Lust consumed Karan. He reached out to open the door behind Elise while showering her with kisses, pushing her inside.
The final date location was the bedroom.
****
“This is amazing!”
As soon as Karan opened the door to Pawnshop K, Dimitris rushed out cheering.
“Your Highness, please touch my hair. Try grabbing and shaking it!”
“Are you crazy? Schule, what’s wrong with this guy?”
“He’s grown hair, Your Highness.”
Schule was indifferent, having seen Dimitris’ unhinged behavior many times.
“It’s incredible. There’s a reason Miss Elise was confident! We must distribute this!”
Karan watched closely as Dimitris shook his head vigorously in front of him. His hair swayed with each movement.
‘He really has grown hair.’
Although he had heard Elise’s words, seeing the effect with his own eyes was different. Curious, Karan grabbed Dimitris’ hair tightly.
“Ugh, Y-Your Highness.”
“What? Didn’t you say to shake it?”
“No, that’s, ugh, you’re pulling my hair out!”
Karan grinned and released Dimitris’ hair. Then he entered the small office inside. It was the moment Karan transformed into the owner of Pawnshop K.
“Ha, do you know how surprised we were then?”
Dimitris entered, pressing down his ruffled hair with his palm. Schule followed quietly and locked the door.
He was talking about the time of the date with Elise. It had already been three days since then.
“I was surprised too. But Dimi, practice your acting. We almost got caught.”
Dimitris drooped his shoulders at Karan’s rebuke.
“It’s too much to learn something new at this age, Your Highness. Why don’t you reveal that you’re the owner of Pawnshop K now?”
It’s not that he hadn’t thought about it. On the night after the date, if he hadn’t had such an intimate conversation with Elise, Karan was planning to reveal it soon.
But as he enjoyed hearing Elise’s imagined stories about the owner of Pawnshop K and went along with them, revealing the truth became difficult.
“That’s become difficult now.”
“Then what? Does that mean we can’t do this business? Miss Elise said she wanted to discuss business with the owner.”
Dimitris made a sad face. This business was a huge success. But more important than money to Dimitris was the liberation of the bald.
For the sake of hair acquisition for the world’s bald people, he desperately wanted to push forward with the hair growth medicine business.
“Nine to one.”
“Pardon?”
“Make a contract for nine to one profit sharing on the condition that I don’t meet her. We’ll only take one.”
“Uh, that’s a bit… You’re not married yet. You know that assets accumulated in an engaged relationship are considered joint property, right?”
“What?”
“If by any chance you break up with Miss Elise, we’d be at a loss…”
Dimitris’ throat suddenly closed up. The pressure emanating from Karan was no joke. Dimitris’ feet slowly stepped backward.
“Schule, grab Dimi. I need to pluck out all that hair.”
“Y-Your Highness! I was wrong. Aaah, I said I was wrong!”
That day, Dimitris learned that to regrow the hair he had grown with the hair loss medicine, he would need even more of it.
It was something he never wanted to experience again.
The next day, Elise signed the business proposal presented by Dimitris.
Although she was disappointed that she couldn’t meet the owner of Pawnshop K, she agreed to a contract with a proxy because she needed to commercialize the hair loss medicine as soon as possible.
Moreover, with a fantastic profit-sharing ratio of 9 to 1, she was very satisfied.
Now, all that was left for Elise was to become rich.
“Miss, what are you going to do with that money?”
On the way back to the palace, Regina asked Elise.
“Regina, the more money you have, the better. You can buy many things.”
And sometimes, just by buying something, you could ruin someone else’s life.
For Elise, money was a weapon.
****
“We’ll be going now, Your Majesty.”
Karan and Elise bid farewell to Tyllo before departing for Magnus.
Tyllo’s room, where he had spent the night with Bennet, was filled with a thick fragrance. Elise held her breath at the scent that was strong enough to blur her vision.
“It’s early dawn.”
“As we mentioned, we received an urgent message about the situation in Magnus. We can’t delay, so we’re setting out early.”
A few days ago, they received an urgent message from Ilaria. The number of monsters was increasing exponentially, she said. Although Bedrokka had sent magicians, even their efforts were proving futile.
Elise was facing a situation she had never experienced before. She immediately decided to go to Magnus.
As it was something they had planned in advance, preparations didn’t take much time. Moreover, with only Karan’s 20 warriors and Elise departing, preparations were even easier.
“I see.”
Tyllo’s voice dispersed slowly. Tired, he only wanted to send Karan and Elise away quickly.
He had just been about to close his eyes after spending the night sharing marital bliss with Bennet.
“Your Majesty, you should at least give some words of encouragement to the children going on a long journey.”
Bennet appeared, drawing back the curtain. Elise immediately lowered her head at the sight of Bennet, who was precariously covering her body with a thin robe.
