Petition
When I returned to the mansion from Eminira, there were letters waiting for me from my brothers, Chris and Gerald.
When I opened them, both were urging me to make the food stalls happen again.
Good thing I’d already made preparations.
In their letters, they also wrote that the exhibition should be held in Eminira first — and that it might be better to run it over several days. They added that the announcement of the top winners should be done in the capital, and that they wanted to come back for it.
Several days, huh?
That thought had crossed my mind too, but since the crafts section had so many entries, I figured it wasn’t realistic.
Still, the exhibition’s at the end of June.
It’s not summer vacation, so… are they planning to come back early?
Well, I get it. If I were still attending the academy, I’d probably want to do the same.
Father got a similar letter, so we discussed it together.
The result: the exhibition will run for six days total — three days in Eminira and three in the capital.
Apparently, Father received a flood of petitions asking for the exhibition to be held over several days.
Making it three days each allows employees to take at least one day off to attend.
If one-third of the staff take turns resting, the work should still keep moving.
Also, holding it over six days means Chris and the others can make it back from the academy in time for the capital exhibition without skipping classes — that’s another reason behind the decision.
We’ll need to urgently notify all participants that the exhibition has been extended to six days and that they should bring as many items as possible.
We’ll also increase the material cost allowance to match.
As for the food stalls, we plan to approve about half — sixty-eight of them — to advance past the preliminaries.
Any unique dishes without overlapping flavors were all approved for the exhibition stalls.
Many of them are new twists on existing dishes, but cutting down the numbers too much would make the festival atmosphere suffer, so this seemed best.
I passed on these finalized decisions to Damian and the others.
“Eeeehhh!” all four of them cried out together.
Yeah, I can’t blame them.
It was exhausting even for one day, and now they’ll have to do three days in a row — twice.
I totally understand the urge to scream, but what’s decided is decided. We’ll just have to grit our teeth and work through it.
Still, once the exhibition is over, I’ll make sure the staff who worked it get first pick for extended leave — hopefully that’ll lift their spirits.
Then I got word from Barton that he wanted me to come see a prototype, so I was about to head to his workshop when Raziel said he’d come along.
I’d already told him about it, so I thought he wouldn’t bother — I kind of wanted him to be surprised with everyone else, but oh well.
Might as well have him try it on.
When we got to Barton’s workshop, Ayla was already waiting there.
This time it definitely wasn’t a coincidence — I gave her a suspicious look.
“I just had to see the finished product!” she said, looking completely unrepentant.
She was so earnest about it that I gave in and let her sit in.
Raziel, who didn’t know what was going on, frowned slightly, but I figured I’d explain after he saw the real thing.
Barton brought out the prototype and placed it in front of me.
First, I picked up the necktie ring for the government officers.
The filigreed Westland emblem was beautifully worked — the sides curved gently along the ring, and for a prototype, it was an impressive piece.
“Georges, try it on,” I said, handing him the tie ring.
When Georges attached it to his tie—
“How elegant,” Ayla breathed.
“It looks great,” Barton added, satisfied with his own craftsmanship.
“It’s really good,” I said, feeling pleased myself. “I think they’ll love it.”
“This one’s for Raziel’s company. Go ahead and try it on,” I said, placing the ring in his palm.
Raziel studied the tie ring for a moment before fixing it to his ascot-style necktie.
“This one’s lovely too,” Ayla said. “Now I’m looking forward to the women’s scarf ring even more.”
Ah, right — I’d promised that to her.
“Barton, do you have the base prototype for the scarf ring yet?”
“Yes, I made ten of them. How many would you like?”
“Would it be a problem if I took them all?”
“Not at all — I can always make more; I’ve got the mold ready.”
“Then I’ll take all ten. And the prototypes — I can bring them back, right?”
“Of course.”
After parting ways with Ayla at Barton’s workshop, Raziel and I headed next to Carlos’s glass workshop.
Even in the carriage, Raziel stayed silent.
Normally, he’d either scold me or offer a comment by now — strange.
Still, if I brought it up, it might just stir the hornet’s nest… so I decided to keep quiet.
What do you think about this chapter?
