CHAPTER 496: PERFUME TYCOON (3)

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Sharon just intended to sulk a little.

She wanted to spend time with Siwoo, to hang out like they used to, but lately, he’d been so caught up with Amelia that he barely even saw the twins, let alone her.

Of course, she knew about Amelia’s situation—Siwoo had told him.

He told her about the wounds Amelia carried, why they were separated, and all the struggles they endured before reuniting.

But even if she understood, she couldn’t help but hold some resentment toward her.

Everything else aside, she had directly seen how Siwoo nearly died because of the disaster Amelia had created.

He literally walked straight into what was clearly a death trap.

Back then, the only thing she could do for him was a flimsy elemental enhancement.

Even after all that, he was just a second too late from the deadline, but the sky was already painted with Duchess Erelim’s Judgment.

And in the end, he had returned missing his left arm forever.

Witnessing all that, Sharon’s heart had shattered into a thousand pieces.

While sure, the reason why Siwoo was alive now was because Amelia had been working on Duchess Keter’s Kill List, it still didn’t change the fact that, back then, in that moment, her whole world had nearly collapsed.

Perhaps that was why she was more hostile towards Amelia compared to with the twins or Eloa.

Still, no matter how she felt...

The words that came out of her mouth just now were too much.

“I’m sorry...”

Sharon lowered her head and apologized sincerely.

She thought about adding more words to soften the blow, but in the end, she didn’t.

Because she knew that no matter how she phrased it, her words would only come out as an excuse.

“...It’s fine. I got a little worked up too.”

Meanwhile, Amelia felt like she had been smacked in the head.

Sharon’s words weren’t baseless accusations.

They were painfully close to the truth.

Siwoo devoted so much of his time to Amelia.

Whether it was extracting essential oils or helping out at her shop, he had spent most of his energy on her.

Which meant, inevitably, he was distancing himself from his other lovers.

And yet he never once showed any signs of complaint.

Because beneath it all, he was treading carefully around her.

As if she was a fragile porcelain.

This realization made her shudder.

She had always known that he was a kind person.

He was the type of person who’d take a hit for someone else, even if it made him look like a pushover.

So what if his actions and true feelings weren’t lining up?

What if he actually wanted to spend time with his other lovers but felt bound to her out of obligation?

She couldn’t even reject that possibility.

All this time, she had been treating it as if it didn’t exist, selfishly keeping him to herself.

No wonder Sharon had come to her with complaints.

If this had been the old Amelia, she would’ve been completely broken by now, but the time she spent with Siwoo hadn’t been for nothing.

She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and apologized for her outburst. After seeing the other woman fidgeting anxiously, she realized that she didn’t blurt those words out of malice.

Sharon had every reason to be upset.

If their roles had been reversed, Amelia knew that she’d feel the same way as her.

“...”

“...”

-Creak, Creak

Just as they were hesitating about what to say to each other.

Siwoo stepped down the old wooden stairs.

“I brought all the oils you asked for.”

“Thank you. Just leave them here.”

Amelia took a deep breath, steadying herself.

Her mind was still in turmoil. There were plenty of things she wanted to ask Siwoo, but for now, work came first.

Sharon was a client before she was a love rival, and there was no way that Amelia would neglect her responsibilities.

Personal matters could wait.

She spread out the essential oils Siwoo had brought, arranging them neatly on the fragrance shelf.

People often compared perfumery to composing music.

An intricate and artistic process of blending various scents to create notes and accords.

Amelia poured high-purity alcohol into a beaker and carefully picked out essential oils one by one.

Just as the ‘notes’ of a perfume generally took a three-tiered pyramid structure, her perfume was no different.

First, the top note, the scent that appeared within the first ten minutes after spraying.

When the light and volatile top note disappeared, the heart of the perfume, the middle note, came in abundance.

After some time, the base note would settle in, blending subtly with the wearer’s natural scent, leaving a lingering climax.

The first step in blending was to capture the framework of the theme one wanted to express in this base note.

It was like constructing a pyramid, layering the scent from the bottom up.

From this point on, neither Sharon nor Siwoo had much to do.

The theme Amelia pictured for Sharon was a smooth blend of innocence and sexiness, reflecting growth.

She mixed vanilla, iris, and resin as the base, tossing in a few other oils.

The structure of the scent she had pictured in her mind started to take shape.

Next came the second step.

This was the work of adding flesh to the framework of the perfume that she had just made.

The essential oils used in this stage were called modifiers, which acted like brushstrokes of color over the base note’s sketch.

For this, Amelia selected ylang-ylang, rose, jasmine, cinnamon, lime, bergamot, narcissus, and various other ingredients.

Each time she tipped a small bottle over the beaker, releasing a few careful drops, the air swirled with waves of intoxicating fragrance.

The process of carving away and sometimes adding to the rough and unrefined scent, as if sculpting it, was enough to make even Sharon widen her eyes and focus intently.

With each tiny drop from her fingertips, the fragrance’s depth, texture, and allure shifted instantly.

Then, came the third step.

The process of adding top notes, the prelude to perfume.

While she was doing that, she fine-tuned the harmony between the base and middle notes, ensuring a smooth transition.

Whether to add or not to add a type of fragrance, whether to add or subtract a single drop from the perfume...

With so many scents being blended, one wrong move could throw everything off balance.

Even the smallest adjustment could drastically change the final scent, hence why this step demanded absolute precision.

Typically, perfumers relied on fragrance charts and trial-and-error, but Amelia had no need for such things.

She trusted her intuition and artistic instincts, flawlessly completing the blend in an instant.

“Haa...”

With a slow exhale, she infused the completed perfume with a touch of magic.

While it was common to add fixatives to ensure the scent lasted, harmonize the fragrance through aging, and eliminate any unwanted odors, Amelia condensed the entire procedure with magic.

The result was an enchanted perfume that would retain its fragrance for centuries.

“It’s done. I also added a magical effect to boost vitality. Try it.”

Sharon, who had been mesmerized by Amelia’s precise craftsmanship, snapped out of her daze, nodding.

Amelia, having missed the chance to properly apologize, grabbed Sharon’s hesitant wrist and gently let a single drop of perfume fall onto her skin.

“I’ll use magic to accelerate the scent’s progression so you can experience its full effect all at once.”

“...Okay.”

Amelia’s demeanor, which seemed as if she was trying her best to appear nonchalant, made Sharon feel unsettled.

But the moment she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the perfume, such thoughts faded, and a vivid scene unfolded.

The setting was an orchard.

The time: the cusp of late summer and autumn.

On a hillside that was blessed by the sunset, a young girl, Sharon, reached out to the heavy branches over her head, holding a crisp, green apple that looked freshly picked.

As soon as she bit into it, the apple transformed into an orange.

What she tasted wasn’t just the usual fruity taste, but one that was rich and long-lasting.

The juice from the bitten orange trickled down her chin, disappearing into her cleavage, as if sinking into the innocent scent of her skin.

That fresh, fruity fragrance gradually morphed into a powdery vanilla with a hint of sensuality.

Not the kind of overpowering vanilla that would numb the senses.

But rather one that possessed a softness that would melt on the tongue like gently whipped cream.

The vanilla scent enveloped Sharon’s body like the sweetness of a first kiss, then shifted into a diluted caramel syrup, melting away from her skin.

From the untouched Sharon, awakening to love’s freshness, through a first kiss that felt like a dream, to her becoming a woman claimed by a man.

All the sweetness, all the stages, all the emotions, were captured in that scent.

“The name of the fragrance is ‘Jusqu’à ce qu’une fille devienne une femme’.”

It translated to: ‘When a girl becomes a woman’.

Prior to this, Sharon had always thought of perfume as just a fragrance.

So, experiencing this made her feel a shiver of emotion, brushing away the goosebumps that had risen on her arms.

For a moment there, she forgot her earlier bickering with Amelia; the sharp words she had flung at her in anger.

She could only look at her with admiration, her voice filled with genuine praise.

“Oh my gosh, I love it so much! How does a perfume like this even exist?”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Siwoo carefully poured the perfume into an elegant bottle, then neatly packed it into a box.

Meanwhile, Amelia organized the bottles as if she had finished her work, while Sharon stared at her, hesitating.

Sharon wanted to apologize for her slip of the tongue, maybe even talk for a bit...

But the mood just wasn’t right for it.

At that moment, Siwoo, holding a clipboard, abruptly intervened.

“Sharon.”

“Um, yeah?”

“Are you...okay...?”

He asked in a low voice, probably trying to prevent Amelia from hearing it, worried that this matter might hurt Sharon’s pride.

From this, Sharon could tell that Siwoo thought she was struggling with money.

Then again, it was understandable. Ever since they first met, he had only seen her struggle with money.

But, even though being poor sucked, it wasn’t something she was ashamed of.

Besides, after getting hired to tutor the twins, she actually managed to save up quite a bit.

“Of course. I’ve paid off all my debts and got a job, so what’s there to worry about?”

“Really? Then just sign here.”

Sharon puffed out her chest confidently to reassure Siwoo, then glanced at the bill attached to the clipboard with a relaxed smile.

When she read what was written on it, she was so shocked that her heart almost jumped out of her mouth.

A single 2.5 fl.oz bottle of perfume.

First of all, the cost of the sample perfumes used for the taste test was billed to Sharon, as if it were natural.

Basic blending fee, special ingredient fee added, and custom blending service fee added.

Pretty bottle fee added, separately granted magical effect fee added.

And finally, 8.5% VAT stacked on top of everything.

“G-Gold coins... 122.2 pounds...?”

She had heard rumors that Amelia’s custom perfumes were expensive.

Still, she expected the price to be around ten gold coins at most.

Of course, even 10 gold coins wasn’t a small amount for her to spend on a bottle of perfume.

Still, despite her personal gripes with Amelia, she knew the woman had done a lot for Siwoo. She didn’t want Amelia struggling with money like she had been.

Hence why she decided to buy her perfume, even if it wasn’t a big help.

But the amount written on the bill was close to 100 million won.

It was enough money to buy five more of the dresses she had ambitiously tailored for the first time in her life.

This amount was easily 12 times the budget she had and this revelation made her stare wide eyes at Amelia.

What the hell is this?!

Is this how she’s getting back at me for my earlier slip of tongue?

But Amelia was busy organizing her equipment and didn’t even glance in her direction, while it was Siwoo who handed over the clipboard.

Amelia wasn’t like the smugglers from the Modern World’s black market, who’d actively try to rip her off.

Sharon did have financial support from the Gemini Family since she was tutoring Odile and Odette.

But most of her salary had gone toward repaying her debts, leaving her with just enough for personal upkeep and a modest research stipend.

Those two alone weren’t a small amount, making her live on a tight budget, considering that she had to spend money to buy all kinds of gems for her magic research.

Her mental budget calculator was spinning wildly.

This expense was painful enough to put her research on hold for at least a few months.

And she wasn’t the kind of person to throw a tantrum and demand a refund.

But if she were to ask for a discount, it would be too humiliating, even for her.

So, with trembling hands, she grasped the pen and looked at Siwoo with tear-filled eyes.

“...D-Do you guys do installment plans...?”

In the end, she signed up for a 12-month payment plan.

After exchanging brief goodbyes, she clutched the perfume box tightly to her chest as she stepped out, her shoulders heavier than ever.