The Villainess's Story Retold

Battlefield Of Business

Adalyn woke up earlier than the rooster, already ready to go in her business attire. She packs her bag of coffee, creamer, and also the cloth made out of alpaca wool.

"Alright, I'm ready. All I have to do is to present my products. You can do this Adalyn!" Adalyn encourages in front of the mirror, unaware of the unwanted audience behind her.

Luis snickers a laugh at how idiotic Adalyn looks right now and at the sound of his laugh, Adalyn turns with a pinkish face.

"When did you get in?" Adalyn interrogates.

"Just now. Why do you look so nervous Lady Adalyn? I thought that talking to an audience is your forte."

"It was until..." Adalyn's words dwindles as the memory of her previous life resurface. Back then, she was one of the renowned internal medicine physician but for some reason she couldn't handle the attention she always garners wherever she goes.  'Oh those bad days when I used to talk in conferences and in TV.' Adalyn shudders.

"Until what?" Luis's words snapped Adalyn back in present time.

"Nothing, nothing! Let's go, the manor is still an hour walk away." Adalyn says as she tugs Luis with her.

Adalyn is now sitting patiently for the head of the Lotus Trading Company in the east wing and the cool breeze somehow made Adalyn calm her anxiety. Luis, who sat at the far corner of the room, flashes her a reassuring smile which Adalyn gratefully returned.

The doors opened to reveal a doll-like man with a refined air around him. His long green hair is tamed in a one-sided braid and his sharp brown eyes bore right into Adalyn.

"Lady Blanche, a pleasure of making your acquaintance." He greets and kisses the back of her hand.

"Lord Theon, it is wonderful to see you." Adalyn greets back with an equally bright smile.

"I've never thought that you were this young. I do hope that whatever you are presenting will be worth my time." Theon says with double meaning behind his words. Adalyn who caught on to this says nothing and doesn't let him intimidate her in any way instead she flashes him one of her award winning smiles.

"Lord Theon I'll skip the small talk already. I will be trading with you some of the Duke's finest products-" with a wave of her hand, Luis appears with a tray of freshly brewed coffee "- first is this cup of coffee that is made from this small bean." Adalyn opens her handkerchief to reveal 3 bright red beans.

Theon takes a bean from her and inspects it under the light. He then takes a sniff at the bean and a hum is his only reaction.

"This bean doesn't smell or look any special to me." Theon states a bit disappointed.

"Well, Lord Theon it is still a plain cherry but if if follow this process then you'll end up with something like this." Adalyn shows a container filled with fine powdered black coffee. While Theon checks on the powder, Adalyn is already stirring in a few teaspoons of coffee into the cup.

"Here, have a taste Lord Theon." Adalyn offers his cup of coffee. Theon smells the aroma in his cup and unconsciously a small smile shines on his porcelain face.

"This smell rich." Theon compliments without looking at Adalyn. After Theon took a sip of the coffee, his eyes widen in both surprise and satisfaction. "This taste great!" Theon exclaims.

"Yes. Not only does it taste great, this also improves energy levels, mood, and boost your metabolic state; the ideal drink for a person experiencing hypersomnia. Moving on to the next product. This is also newly invented and it's called cologne. It is made from extracted cinnamon, ginger, frankincense, and myrrh. This is the Duke's speciality." Theon sniffs his cuff and a hum of wonder came from him.

"Intriguing. I've never thought there will be a day where I can stop using fragrance bath. It always hurts my nose." Theon remarks and Adalyn smiles at this, feeling somewhat proud and confident about this situation.

"Is there anything else that I still need to see?" Theon questions and Adalyn whose smile became even wider, stands up and takes a racket of glimmering dresses from the other room.

"This very cloth is made from the fur of the vicugna. Since we have hundreds of them back in my land I decided why not use their fur to make clothes and now, this is the outcome of the hard labor that the seamstresses made." Adalyn proudly announce and Theon who thought that he cannot be amazed already gasps as he feels the smooth surface of the cloth.

"Amazing... This feels soft and silky. It is very strong too unlike silk and cotton... I am very impressed by you Lady Blanche, I've never thought that I could gain some treasures from the dying lands of the Duke of Arran. You've proven me wrong." Adalyn felt a bit taken aback by his opinion about her Homeland but decided not to argue about it since she still needs the contract, "Congratulations, you've just gotten the partnership."

Adalyn beams so bright that Luis, who sat at the dark corner has to squint his eyes at the radiance she is giving off.

"Thank you for accepting." Adalyn says professionally but her eyes and smile couldn't hide the suppressed joy.