thefictionvixens Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Chapter 149. I Can Do It — If It's Me! (2)
Marianne Blanchard was a woman who knew how to act.
Having simulated countless scenarios based on Y&P Trading Company's success story, Marianne made a declaration to her butler about a week later.
"I'm going to save the family from ruin with an F&B¹ business."
The butler, who had brought tea since early morning, swallowed back a breath.
"Young lady……rather, My Lady. What business are you referring to?"
"Oh goodness……how frustrating. Bernard, you're the butler, aren't you? Shouldn't you be able to figure that much out?"
Marianne leaned back against the chair and spoke flippantly.
"You know Penelope Rosemore, the friend everyone dismissed as a useless flower? She's hit it big recently, hasn't she? By latching onto one good business item."
"Yes, I've heard she handled it with quite a bit of shrewdness."
"So I'll do the same. An F&B business."
‘So that's what she's been fussing about alone without attending parties lately.’
‘The moment I've been dreading has finally arrived.’
The butler, Bernard, slowly closed his eyes. He was a retainer who had served the Blanchard family for decades, going back to the previous generation.
As such, he was well aware of where the Blanchard Count Family currently stood.
The Blanchard Count Family had sufficient legitimacy, but lacked substance.
While the Rosemore family, who had started from a similar position, had successfully secured the rights to pioneer and distribute from the Labyrinth Demon Realm and amassed astronomical wealth…… The Blanchard Count Family had made the worst possible move, staking the family's fate on an anachronistic luxury goods business.
They had considered mines reeking of sweat and Demon Realms beneath them, and had poured enormous sums of money into high-end handicrafts for the nobility, such as premium lace and gem carving.
The start was not terrible, but the results were disastrous.
To begin with, Britannia's craft industry was firmly in the South's grip. Once the war ended and Southern craft goods flooded even the North, they were thoroughly wiped out.
And Bernard also knew Marianne Blanchard very well.
Young. She lost her father early, but holds little attachment to him. Her vanity is somewhat excessive. On the other hand, she has a proportionate aesthetic sense, and with the illustrious title of Countess Blanchard, she is also a well-received figure in social circles.
However.
"Is there any way you wouldn't do this?"
"Why? Do you think I can't?"
Her confidence exceeds her ability, and she overflows with drive and initiative. And she takes after her father in her iron stubbornness.
"My Lady, the F&B business—Y&P's success was an extremely exceptional case aided by good fortune. Even the previous Count……"
"Don't bring up Father."
Marianne cut in sharply.
"Honestly, Father was a bit lacking in sense, wasn't he? Clinging to outdated lace and such. But things are different now. Penelope proved it, didn't she? That even in this barren North, fine food is money."
The butler also served as financial manager. The fact that Marianne could maintain even a semblance of a lavish lifestyle was the result of Bernard diligently cleaning up the previous generation's mess.
In that sense, Y&P—Penelope— was by no means an entity to be dismissed.
They had pioneered a market.
Starting from a small shop, they had shaken the board with Cola.
By lucky chance there had been the backing of Bellaby, Britannia's gem, they said—but the one who had then controlled the supply, driven Cola's value sky-high, and made it fashionable in social circles was purely Penelope's doing.
And thinking about what came after, even whether Bellaby had truly been fortune becomes ambiguous.
She had drawn Baron Keystone, once an adversary, to her side. She had opened a new store called CCC, and in no time secured the Royal Warrant. Starting with a united front with Lady Ashford of the Ashford Marquisate, she had opened a new business called Royal Kitchen and captured even the palates of high society's upper crust.
All of this had happened within three years.
Could such a miracle— a miracle that might come along once in a hundred years in Nortaris— truly be something My Lady could accomplish?
"Why aren't you saying anything? Are you looking down on me?"
"……"
"Just look at this proposal first. I put it together over the past few days."
"……"
‘I must talk her out of this! I absolutely must!’
"My Lady……perhaps you'd hear me out first."
"Oh goodness, stop trying to talk me out of it and hear me out, won't you?"
Marianne proudly spread open her proposal. An elaborate proposal, decorated to nearly the level of a diary, came into Bernard's view.
"What do you think? Isn't the name already wonderful? The Golden Mermaid!"
Bernard's neck gave a sharp twinge just from seeing the flashy name written on the first page.
"There's a gap in Penelope's fine dining business. Specifically, the sea."
"……Seafood, you mean?"
"Yes, since the Northern sea stays cold year-round. We can obtain fresh seafood to our heart's content."
For what it's worth, Bernard knows that Marianne is fond of oysters. Putting what you personally enjoy forward as a business item— a classic mistake of a novice entrepreneur.
"My Lady……"
"Not My Lady—My Lady Countess. And I'm not finished yet."
"……"
"Penelope has been capturing the 'masses' with Cola, CCC, and the like. Even Royal Kitchen ultimately accepts commoners with some money and nouveau nobles alike."
Marianne crossed her legs and continued in a lecturing tone.
"But Bernard, where is the real money? It's in old money. The idea is to target 'true nobility' like us."
"In what manner, My Lady?"
"First, let's use one of our family's villas."
"My Lady, that place is too remote and run-down……"
"Naturally we'd have to renovate it. If done properly, that could actually be its appeal. A secretive place provided only to those chosen. Unlike Y&P Trading Company's CCC, no one needs to bother standing in queues."
"I do rather think there'd be no one to queue that far out."
Bernard's objection was already falling on deaf ears.
"We'll be fully by reservation only. No—we'll operate exclusively by membership."
Marianne's eyes sparkled as if in a dream.
"Of course, I'll personally oversee the interior and tableware. You know those luxury goods Father stocked up in the storehouse? I'll use those to create an overwhelmingly prestigious heritage atmosphere."
‘I suppose it's a relief she's at least not talking about buying new things.’
"As for the main dishes, I'll figure that out gradually once I hire a chef……but I've already thought of the centrepiece. Things like Blue Lobster and Albino Sturgeon roe."
"But those are ingredients with unreliable consistent supply, are they not?"
"That's precisely the point."
Marianne smiled.
"Do you know what Cola, CCC, and Royal Kitchen all have in common? Supply was always less than demand. That's why word of mouth spreads, and because you can't have it, you want it all the more."
"……"
"In that sense, Penelope used her head rather well. She understands the essence of luxury."
"……"
"The Golden Mermaid won't be a restaurant——it will be a kind of community that provides high-end quality dining experiences. I'll personally be the host at every meal. It took Penelope three years? I'll wrap it up within one."
Bernard considered where to begin pointing things out, then gave up.
There was no way to stop this in any case. The butler merely assists with financial management; the final decision-maker is Marianne, the head of the family.
"So first we need to secure some capital."
"C-capital, where would we……"
"Those useless plots of land not tied up as collateral—sell those for me."
Bernard's face turned white. 'Useless plots of land.' Those were the last shred of reason left by the previous Count—the sole remaining bastion the family could fall back on in the end.
"My Lady—My Lady Countess. If you sell those lands, should this venture fail, the Blanchard Count Family will have nowhere left to return to."
"I know."
"No, I don't believe you do, My Lady."
"That's exactly why I'm saying I have that much confidence in it!"
And so began the great journey of Marianne Blanchard.
***
Y&P Trading Company office.
Penelope was checking the reservation ledger for 'Royal Kitchen' and wearing a satisfied smile. Having broken free from Burnout Syndrome, Penelope's eyes once again shone with sharp clarity.
Just then.
"Penelope! Emeeergeency! Emeeergency! Something's happened!"
The office door flew open with enough force to nearly break it as Serena came rushing in. In her hands dangled a society gossip sheet.
"G-goodness! I nearly had a heart attack!"
"I-I'm sorry……but now isn't the time for that! Penelope! We have a rival! A massive rival!"
"What?"
Penelope's expression turned serious.
"Tell me in detail, Serena. Nice and calmly."
"D-do you know Countess Marianne Blanchard?"
"Of course I do. She recently inherited the title. But wasn't that family's finances in rather bad shape?"
Penelope tilted her head. Serena slapped the gossip sheet down on the desk.
"This woman—apparently she borrowed every last penny using her family's last remaining land as collateral to start an F&B business! And she's going around making all sorts of big declarations about how she's going to lead a new fine dining venture!"
"What……"
Penelope's brow narrowed. She sold off the last of the land? This wasn't a simple competition.
She was set to compete against someone who had wagered their entire family's fate.
And as was always the case, such opponents were frightfully difficult to deal with. Because they were tenacious and relentless.
"What on earth is she thinking? Has she prepared something extraordinary?"
"Apparently it's a top-tier restaurant called the Golden Mermaid! It's obviously taking aim at Royal Kitchen."
"The Golden Mermaid……"
Serena erupted with indignation.
Just then, quietly watching from the sidelines, Brigitte chimed in.
"A mermaid! So—is it a seafood restaurant?!"
"Brigitte! Correct!"
"Hooray!"
Serena snapped her fingers. Brigitte rejoiced.
Even amid the two of them's little comedy act, Penelope's expression did not brighten.
"Marianne isn't an opponent to be taken lightly. She reads trends well, and her connections are nothing short of extensive."
If Penelope had been ostracised as a useless flower, Marianne occupied precisely the opposite position. A popular star to rival Lady Vivian, now having attained a countess title on top of it, throwing herself into the fine dining war……
This might, in some ways, be a more threatening adversary than Clarisse, who remained in the capital.
"Either way, how outrageous. Outrageously infuriating."
"Why? Isn't it a good thing if more people make delicious food?"
At Brigitte's guileless question, Serena grew indignant.
"We paved the road with all our hard work, and now she wants to freeload on it!"
"Hmm……"
Amid that commotion, Jurgen rested his chin in his hand and quietly looked down through the window.
"Jurgen, what do you think?"
"A good thing."
"A good thing? Royal Kitchen reservations are already fully booked and we can barely keep up with social circle demand. Even though we're now looking at having all of that taken away?"
Mid-sentence, Penelope let out a hollow laugh.
Well, Jurgen had always been like this.
"Hasn't the Culinary Revolution gained another comrade?"
Of course it was a good thing.
FOOTNOTE
¹ F&B: Short for Food & Beverage, referring to food and beverage-based businesses.