Oh! My Empress

Not that she did not know, but did her elder brother need to ruin her mood like this? She was finally breathing fresh air outside of their castle and seeing the hustle bustle of the town they were in.

Kingdom of Krislabet had the central capital where imperial family resided and then the rest of the kingdom was governed by the three dukes under the imperial family. So, essentially, kingdom of Krislabet was divided into four parts, capital and other three regions under each duke.

The way the agreement between the ruling parties worked was that each duke owned only one third of the land they ruled. One third of the land was owned by aristocrats under the dukes and rest third of the land was owned by the imperial family.

The owners of the lands were free to distribute their land however they saw fit. Whittemore duchy, for past several generations, had put out tenders for common people to buy the land under Whittemore family at cheap prices.

And with this, Whittemore family had given away more than half the share of the land they owned to common people, establishing a proper capitalistic society. People were free to establish trades and other activities as long as they did not break the rules.

It was quite forward system of thinking, something Kim Su Won thought the author of original novel made out of convenience. Anyway, now that she was inside the novel, she could at least relate the system to the modern world.

The horse carriage finally came to a halt. Alex got down and then helped Kim Su Won and Anna down the carriage one by one.

"Emma, you and Anna are free to go wherever you want. I will follow you as your guard. R-Rob is also free to go wherever he wants," Alex stuttered a bit but was finally able to speak the alleged 'nickname' of his young lord.

Kim Su Won and Anna giggled at the side while Ivan glared at his friend.

"Hmph! Why do you think I came here? I am going to evaluate your performance. Ten businesses, was it? I can't even think of ten places to go off the top of my head. Why is your dad going to extra length for Emma anyway? This is ridiculous," Ivan was finding it difficult to digest that his sister was suddenly getting this much attention, especially from the ma coveted as a teacher in whole of the country.

Why was the Laurent family so hung up on Emmeline? Her performance in the exam was indeed extraordinary but what was so special about her? Even, he himself was feeling drawn to this kid for no reason and that frustrated him.

"Well, thankfully I was told about the assignment a night before. We will start with a boutique, then go to a grain store, a weapon store, a bakery, a restaurant, a meat store, a clock shop, a bookstore, an information guild and lastly, a theater."

"You have already done your research, eh?" Ivan and even Alex, both were amused by her answer. She had not only thought about Isaac's assignment, but she also had a great variety in her choice.

"Of course! It is my first assignment after all. Anna, let's go!" Kim Su Won grinned and then stepped into the first shop she had decided to go.

For her trip, she had decided to go to one of the 'poorer' parts of the town, where middle class people shopped. Since her past life, she believed that middle class people were really the backbone of an economy. She needed to understand how 'wealthy' the 'middle class' of this era was.

Alex was still puzzled while Ivan was frustrated. They really had to come to this down to earth place? It did not befit their status at all. And why did it seem like Emmeline was more familiar with this environment than the noble one? They decided to follow the young lady inside.

"Oh, hello young lady, how may I help you?" a kind matron came out from the back. Kim Su Won glanced around. A humble store with basic amenities. They had a few designs hung on a stand in the corner, same design in multiple sizes.

There were quite a few accessories available too. All types of pretty and simple earrings and necklaces. Kim Su Won checked a few of them.

"Have these designs been made by you?" she took out a few earrings and checked their quality. The designs were quite rudimentary but the quality was good. They included birds, flowers and other elements of nature but only things that were considered 'aesthetic'. If it were modern world, there would be cats, fruits and even skulls. She could use some of that knowledge here.

"Uhh… well…," the matron hesitated a bit. Kim Su Won understood that they must be cheap knock offs of high end jewelry and since her clothes probably were a dead giveaway of her status as some noble to a person who ran a boutique, the matron might be feeling threatened to tell the truth.

"Okay, never mind that. Could you describe how the designs of those high end shops for aristocrats look like? I have never been to one but would like to know. Then I would like to strike a deal with you."

"Deal?" the matron was confused, her eyebrows furrowed. She thought she was going to get in trouble. Her eyes were full of suspicion.

Kim Su Won nodded. "You might be doing this right now but do you have any idea that if those high end boutiques came to know that you are making a profit off their designs, they could get your store shut down?"

The matron swallowed her saliva and shut her eyes tightly. Those people, they had finally caught on and sent these people to arrest her, right? The two hunks behind this kid were definitely here to take her away.

When she had started the store all those years ago and started imitating those designs, she knew she was looking for trouble. But these were also things that common people like her coveted but could not afford.

Her store became really popular once the ladies realized that her designs were very close to what they saw in the newspapers and the books. Just because they did not have money, were they not allowed to look beautiful?

Kim Su Won understood the state of the matron. Her original world was the same. People wanted to imitate the celebrities and went to any length to own those luxury brands like F*ndi, Pr*da, R*lls R*yce etc. just to show off, even taking loans out to buy branded things.

Eras changed but mentality of the people did not!

"If you are ready to work for me, I will help you with completely new designs and capital for materials. As a guarantee of my scheme, I will pay you five Krislas right now," Kim Su Won took out shiny golden coins from the pouch Anna handed her over.

"F-Five Krislas?" the matron's eyes went wide with shock. She had never seen such huge amount of money at once in her whole life.

Kim Su Won had sat down with Anna yesterday to learn about the value of money of the kingdom. Anna understandably explained everything to her since original Emmeline had no idea about money. She probably had never even seen a coin with her own eyes.

In this kingdom, the Krislas were like gold coins and then there were Bets, that were like silver coins. Each Krisla was made of thousand Bets and about hundred Bets were enough to feed a family of four in this part of the town. Five Krislas was a very big deal to anyone here.

Kim Su Won also took out a piece of paper. It had all terms and conditions written on it. She slowly explained the terms to the matron.

"I only want twenty percent of profit you will earn by selling these designs. I am sure they will be popular. I like that even if the designs you have are cheap knock offs, you have not used inferior material. Which is why I want to provide you with my money," Kim Su Won finished.

"B-But, young lady, this is too generous of a deal. It's like you are throwing this money away. What if it does not work out?" the matron was still in disbelief. She did not know how to read and write. So, she was not sure if what she was signing was legit or not.

"Madam, I am not forcing you to sign the document right away. If you want, you can get it evaluated. I will leave my money with you as well and will return in a week. You can let me know of your decision then," Kim Su Won smiled reassuringly.

The two guys wanted to protest but Anna stopped them. The matron teared up and knelt down in front of the girl.

"H-How would I pay your debt young miss? This is too much for a humble person like me!" she bowed down again and again.

Kim Su Won knelt down herself on the floor. "Madam, you are my elder. Please stand up. You are also taking a risk if you decide to go help me out. I am not going to ask you to remove your current stock right away but we will have to slowly phase it out so that you are not living in fear all the time," she helped the lady up.

"Also, I would like to remain anonymous as your backer for the time being. You cannot describe where you got the money from and what the deal is about.. If you need to say anything, just describe him, okay?" she pointed towards Ivan as she said so, stunning everyone in the room.