“Princess Consort!”
The door flew open with an excited cry. That slightly husky voice was familiar.
Aristine turned to the door with a smile.
Umiru quickly approached Aristine with excitement on her face.
“This, this is–! Oh my goodness!”
She forgot what she wanted to say and could only exclaim with a shiny scalpel in her hand.
Then she went ‘oops’ and put the scalpel away.
‘Huh?’
Aristine was confused but when Umiru held out her hand, Aristine reflexively placed her hand on it.
Umiru kissed the back of Aristine’s hand, reveling in the soft sensation.
Aristine’s shoulders slouched, “Are you going to keep doing this? I’ve said you don’t have to be so polite.”
“I am delighted to.”
Umiru grinned with satisfaction. Even after planting a kiss, she sneakily remained holding onto Aristine’s hand.
“Anyway, Princess Consort! This is truly revolutionary!”
Aristine laughed, “That’s what you said before.”
“That was revolutionary in the medical world but this is revolutionary in the entire world!” Umiru sounded very excited as she exclaimed, “Can you believe it doesn’t rust?!” and mumbled that a few more times.
Then she saw Aristine watching her with a quiet smile, and she groaned like this was unfair.
“Why are you so calm, Your Highness! You can be a little more excited!”
“I was excited. About a week ago. I raised more of a fuss than you.”
On the day they finished the scalpel’s development, Aristine ran around the forge hugging Ritlen with excitement.
There was dangerous equipment everywhere but it didn’t even cross her mind to be careful.
Macarons, jiggle jelly, scones lightly coated with brown sugar, cream-filled dacquoise, and even fragrant black tea. Her stomach felt warm like she had eaten and drank all of that.
It was extremely satisfying feeling.
That day, Aristine realized what it meant to be full without eating.
When they made the first scalpel, Aristine only provided the design while Ritlen took over the actual production. But this time, Aristine was involved from beginning to end so it felt unique.
‘Ritlen looked satisfied too.’
When he made the first scalpel according to Aristine’s design, he asked her if it was okay with a visible lack of confidence. But this time, he showed considerable confidence in his work.
Much of the gloomy look he had back in Catallaman had disappeared. Of course, since h had a tender personality, his gentleness and shyness were still there. Although he looked like he was having difficulty during the development of the stainless steel.
‘Or should I say, it felt like he was getting over a wall.’
Even she could see that he had grown one step further as a blacksmith. She was very much looking forward to the work that her talented employee would show her in the future.
“Seeing Your Highness so calm is making me calm down a little.”
Umiru flopped into the sofa and crossed her legs.
“The fact that it doesn’t rust is already amazing but to think it’s a replaceable blade too,” she continued while removing the blade from the scalpel and reinserting it.
“Why did I never think of this…”
“I got the idea after seeing you use the scalpels as one-time-use disposables. Thank you,” Aristine said.
Hearing that, Umiru went ‘Huh?’ and her eyes opened wide.
“Did I mention that I use them as disposables?”
“You didn’t…but I could tell after seeing them. There were just too many for it to be inventory.”
Umiru’s mouth fell open, “Oh, wow– Princess Consort, would you like to learn medicine?”
“Hm?”
Aristine was taken aback by the sudden suggestion. Why did that come up all of a sudden?”
“I mean, I think you will do very well.”
“You won’t get anything even if you flatter me. I’m not giving any discounts.”
Aristine laughed, thinking that was a funny joke.
‘I was half-serious though,’ Umiru swallowed those words and smiled.
“Of course, I will definitely repay you for helping me test it before launch. Don’t worry.”
Umiru wasn’t worried at all. After all, the ward in Tarkan’s palace were run with the money from their money-stream—Tarkan—’s pockets.
“Princess Consort, you’re very straightforward with calculations.”
Judging by the fact that even a compliment was taken as a request for a discount, it seems most of her attention was focused there.
“Mn, that’s best for both of us, isn’t it? To maintain a long-term trading relationship that benefits both of us.”
“That’s true in a business relationship,” Umiru smiled as she said that.
‘His Highness Tarkan must be suffering quite a bit.’
Well, watching more of this seemed like it would be pretty fun so Umiru didn’t say anything else. It was no other person but that ‘His Highness Tarkan.’
She never thought she’d see him struggle about something in her lifetime.
Even when Umiru was having such thoughts, Aristine was only thinking about business.
“Replacing only the blade will reduce costs and making inventory management easier. Space limitation is already a problem, isn’t it?”
She spoke frankly about the advantages of replaceable, single-use blades.
Space was real estate.
The ward in Tarkan’s palace was not limited by cost or space restrictions. But what about other hospitals? Even a flourishing hospital that can afford to invest a lot of money in equipment was dealing with space limitations.
‘The dilemma between adding another hospital room or making a warehouse.’
It made a huge difference.
“You’re right. Here, we only treat warriors, but for ordinary hospitals…there are many cases where they run out of hospital room,”
Umiru was once again amazed. She was surprised at how far Aristine researched to make this scalpel.
A medical scalpel was usually something that an untalented blacksmith would turn to, to make a living. It was a troublesome product with many headaches that no one wanted to even bother with.
—or so she thought.
It wasn’t just Umiru; Everyone thought so, and in reality, it as.
‘I guess it differs depending on who is taking the plunge.’
