Chapter 6
To think I’d secure this much startup capital in a single day.
Just as expected, the lottery ticket I bought yesterday won. On top of that, I also collected the horse-racing payout I earned thanks to Yuri.
Now I no longer had to worry about funding my business.
As I happily hugged the heavy bag of gold coins, Yuri tilted his head and asked,
“So what are you going to do with all that money?”
“Hmm? What do you think I’m going to do?”
“Stop being mysterious. You’re clearly plotting something fun—that’s why you look so excited.”
What a terrifyingly perceptive guy.
Didn’t he say he wasn’t a magician? Is he actually a mind reader?
First the lottery, then the horse betting, and now even my plans for the money—Yuri kept hitting the mark, making me feel strangely guilty.
Still, he was my reliable business partner now.
There was no reason to keep secrets from him.
So I answered proudly,
“I’m going to buy white roses.”
“White roses? The kind people use for funerals? With 1,300 gold, you could buy quite a lot. Is there some kind of massive plague about to hit the capital?”
“Don’t say such scary things. And funeral flowers are chrysanthemums, not white roses.”
Sure, if a plague broke out and funerals increased, flower shop sales would probably rise too—
but I didn’t think I’d be very happy earning money from people dying.
Besides, I had no intention of profiting off white roses themselves.
Exactly one year later, the capital’s hottest trend would explode in popularity.
“I’m going to create blue roses and sell them.”
“Blue roses?”
Yuri’s eyes widened.
I nodded confidently.
Because I know how to create unnaturally colored roses.
The answer was simple.
Food coloring.
✦ ✦ ✦
Making blue roses was absurdly easy.
You simply placed white roses in dyed blue water for a day.
That was all.
And yet somehow, no one had thought of such a simple method before.
So when blue roses were first introduced to the world, it was no surprise they became wildly popular.
Until the method became publicly known, blue roses were so rare they sold out instantly.
But I know the trick.
And since I had already seen someone succeed with it once before, I had no reason to hesitate.
Just as I told Yuri, I used my horse-racing winnings to purchase a huge supply of white roses.
Buying them all at once would only make them wilt, so I signed a contract for daily deliveries over the course of a month.
Then I stopped by an art supply store and bought blue dye.
Blue pigment wasn’t cheap.
But—
Bold investments bring big profits.
And the easiest way to make huge money was always to get ahead of trends.
That was exactly what someone who had returned from the future could do best.
Yuri followed me around all day, watching everything I did.
When I showed him my first successful test sample, he clapped excitedly.
“Wow, Titi, you’re a genius. How did you even think of this?”
“Ah, well…”
Since this wasn’t originally my idea, I felt a little guilty.
Later, when I find the person who originally invented blue roses, I’ll make sure to compensate them for the opportunity I stole.
Yuri stared at the blue rose in fascination.
“It’s so beautiful. I want to buy a bunch for my room too. No—I don’t want to sell even a single one.”
“This is a product.”
I made these to sell!
What nonsense was he talking about?
Anyway—
we became the first flower shop in the capital to release blue roses.
And naturally—
they were an enormous success.
✦ ✦ ✦
Yuri quietly watched the silver-haired woman bustling around in front of him.
Her delicate shoulders.
Her long neck.
Her large eyes.
And hands far more capable than her fragile appearance suggested.
Titiana had purchased mountains of white roses with the money they won.
And now she was organizing the first shipment that had just arrived.
Roses had to be moved carefully to avoid damage.
They also needed to be placed in water and stored somewhere cool to prevent wilting.
There were so many flowers, bottles, and containers that transporting them was exhausting work.
Most people would have complained.
But Titiana worked diligently without a single complaint.
It was admirable.
But Yuri watched her with complete indifference.
To be honest—
he found her exhausting.
Why doesn’t she just go somewhere else? If she weren’t here, I could just use magic to handle everything.
That was Yuri’s real inner thought.
This is such a waste of time. Why am I doing this manually?
For ordinary people who couldn’t use magic, this kind of labor made sense.
But he was an archmage.
He could solve tedious tasks with magic.
Moving flowers?
Use levitation magic.
Filling bottles with water?
Water-creation magic.
Simple.
But he couldn’t openly use magic while someone was constantly walking back and forth in front of him.
Especially after lying that he was no longer a magician.
Even pretending to be friendly just to lower her guard is exhausting.
He was starting to regret agreeing to let her stay in the building for years.
At the time, her bold claim of ownership had intrigued him.
And he had wanted to uncover her secrets.
But now that they were constantly together?
It was tiring.
Yuri was wearing an annoyed expression—
until Titiana turned around.
Instantly, he replaced it with a bright smile.
Completely unaware of his inner complaints, Titiana removed her gloves and said,
“Yuri, I think we’re done here. Let’s go out.”
“Huh? Where?”
“We’re making blue roses, remember? We need to buy blue dye.”
Yuri’s eyes immediately lit up.
Blue roses.
His boredom vanished at once.
Excitement replaced it.
The Magic Tower once researched all sorts of strange flowers.
Most were banned from sale because they were considered too dangerous.
There had been things like—
a Love Flower, which charmed whoever received it.
And a Sleep Flower, which put people to sleep.
But no one had ever tried creating blue roses.
Magic could probably do it.
There were already spells that changed hair color.
Normally those spells were stored in mana stones and turned into artifacts—
but in this case, the medium would simply be a flower.
The issue was durability.
Flowers were far weaker than mana stones.
The magic wouldn’t last very long.
But—
Flowers wilt quickly anyway.
So that’s not really a problem.
He was deep in thought about how to magically alter the roses—
when Titiana suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
“Come on, Yuri.”
Unable to continue his train of thought, Yuri reluctantly followed her to the store.
The blue dye turned out to be far more expensive—
and much heavier—
than he expected.
As he carried it, his cynical thoughts returned.
Why am I doing this?
Then he suddenly became curious.
If he could create blue roses without all this hassle—
how would she react?
Anyone else he knew would immediately beg him to make them.
Curious, he asked her,
“Noona, what if there were a much easier way to make blue roses?”
“A much easier way? Like what?”
“Using magic.”
“How is that easier?”
Titiana burst into laughter as though the idea were absurd.
Yuri shrugged.
For him, using magic was as natural as breathing.
“Anyway. If there happened to be a magician nearby who could do it, would you ask them?”
When Yuri asked again, Titiana tilted her head.
Meeting a magician was already incredibly rare.
Still—
since Yuri had once been a magician himself, maybe he knew someone capable of color magic.
After thinking for a moment, she asked,
“Hmm… how much would I need to pay that magician?”
Yuri blinked in surprise.
“You’d pay them?”
“Of course. You think I’d ask someone to work for free?”
“Well… it would be easy for them…”
The people around Yuri constantly asked him for favors under the guise of “small requests.”
Titiana was the first person who thought about compensation first.
Still unaware that Yuri himself was that magician, she spoke firmly.
“No matter how easy something is, you shouldn’t ask someone to do it for free.”
“That would just be taking advantage of them.”
“Everyone’s time is valuable.”
