SIR ALEX POV
It had been a week of travel.
One whole week of:
campfire meals,questionable jokes from my vice-captain,my men arguing whether ketchup counted as "magic food,"and me trying NOT to think about Lady Seraphine's…
enthusiastic staring problem.
Spoiler:
It was impossible.
Her eyes haunted me.
Those silver, hungry, "I will eat your biceps alive" eyes.
By the time we crossed the western border, I braced myself for… I don't know, normal dirt? Normal poverty?
Instead—
Chaos. Clean, organized, happy chaos.
People weren't just out and about—they were thriving.
Women carrying baskets of aloe vera plants on their heads strutted past us, gossiping excitedly.
Men hauled sacks of peppermint and lavender, laughing like they'd just discovered gold.
Kids ran around holding coconuts like they were treasure, shouting:
"Five coppers! Five coppers for a basket! Lady Seraphine is so kind!!"
I blinked.
Aloe vera was… useless.
A plant for burns, maybe.
No one bought it.
No one needed it.
Yet here, villagers moved like they were harvesting diamonds.
"What are they doing?" I muttered to my vice-captain.
He shrugged. "Making stew?"
"Out of lavender and coconut oil?"
"…A very strange stew?"
I sighed.
Finally, I stopped an elderly woman with a basket of herbs taller than she was.
"Excuse me," I said, "why is everyone collecting these plants?"
"Oh!" she beamed. "You're Sir Alex, right? Lady Seraphine said you were handsome! Anyway—these are for her newest creation!"
"…Creation?"
"Scented soap," she declared proudly, "and shampoo."
Sham…poo?
I frowned. "I know soap, but scented? And shampoo? What in the Goddess's name is that?"
The woman straightened, hands on hips like I'd personally offended her:
"It's a magical liquid for the hair! Makes it shiny! Soft! Smells like flowers and dreams! My niece works at the Chubby Factory—she said Lady Seraphine tested it on herself and came out like a blessed forest spirit!"
I stared at her.
A magical hair liquid.
From aloe.
And coconuts.
And flowers.
Sure.
Why not.
What's next—liquid soap for cleaning horses?
A potion for shinier boots?
But the woman wasn't done.
"And my daughter earned her first silver today! A silver for rare herbs!" she said, tears in her eyes. "The Lady… she changed our lives. She made work for us. Fair work."
Her gratitude… hit me.
Most nobles would rather starve peasants than hand out silver.
But Seraphine?
Paying villagers for useless herbs?
Turning them into miracle products?
This was beyond unusual.
This was—
…dangerously brilliant.
I urged my horse forward as we entered the heart of her territory.
The weather was perfect—soft sunlight dripping through the clouds, a light breeze carrying scents of freshly cut plants, and the sound of distant laughter. Birds chirped. Dogs ran. Life thrived.
This place wasn't just surviving.
It was reborn.
And then we reached the Duke's mansion.
Or… what used to be a dull, gray, depressing mansion.
Now?
There were villagers planting new flower beds. Merchants unloading crates of coconuts and jars. A group of excited children stomping aloe leaves in wooden tubs, chanting:
"SOAP! SOAP! SOAP!"
"SHAM POO! SHAM POO!"
My men looked around like they'd fallen into another world.
Then I saw her.
Lady Seraphine.
At the garden.
Laughing.
Laughing like sunshine.
Her chubby face flushed pink, silver hair braided in thick glossy ropes, shimmering in the light like polished moonlight. Her maids surrounded her, fussing over her hair with combs and little jars.
And the ridiculous part?
Her hair really was shiny.
Glossy.
Silky. Like gods-blessed silk threads dipped in starlight.
My men whispered behind me: "Is that… normal hair?"
"No, that's witchcraft."
"I bet it smells good."
"Shut up, Jin, you freak."
Meanwhile, Seraphine noticed us and lit up like she'd been waiting for her favorite dessert.
Her eyes landed on me.
I panicked internally.
She stood, waved enthusiastically, and her whole braid bounced like it had its own personality.
She was radiant.
Happy.
Alive.
And surrounded by villagers who adored her more fiercely than they adored the gods.
This… This woman… Was doing something unprecedented.
And for the first time in days, I felt the faint prickle of fear.
Not the fearful kind. The kind you feel when you realize—You underestimated someone far too extraordinary.
*****
SERAPHINE POV —
"WELCOME BACK, MY FAVORITE BICEPS."
Okay.
Pause.
Let me breathe. Because the last thirty days?
PURE.
CHAOTIC.
CAPITALIST.
HUSTLE. I swear, if someone handed me a corporate crown right now, I'd sit on that throne like the CEO of Chaos and Productivity Incorporated.
THE KETCHUP ERA (a.k.a. Ketchupalooza)
After the ketchup launched, the mansion basically became the culinary version of a battlefield:
Tomatoes flyingSugar sacks crashing Villagers screaming "HOT! HOT! THE POT IS HOT!" Chubby floating around scolding people for "bad stirring technique"
I had to employ twenty more people because the demand QUADRUPLED.
Merchant Lionel Tristwell practically fell to his knees through the scroll call:
"My Lady… PLEASE… the nobles are clawing each other for bottles—clawing—"
I told him to breathe, hydrate, maybe take a nap.
Then I told him we'd mass-produce.
Because money talks.
And I… I listen.
THE SHAMPOO + SOAP ERA (a.k.a. My Accidental Revolution)
Then the shampoo happened.
ALL because I was furious that my hair smelled like a dead monster that rolled in a swamp. I threw aloe, coconut oil, flowers, vinegar and rage into a bowl, and boom—
Silky.
Shiny.
Luxurious.
Coffi screamed like I invented immortality.
Her aunt fainted.
The gardener cried.
Boom. Shampoo department activated.
Then I figured IF YOU CAN WASH HAIR PRETTY, YOU CAN WASH BODY PRETTY.
And Chubby whispered:
"Add lavender or I will cry in your walls."
So I did.
And now?
We had:
CHUBBY SOAP — scented with lavender + peppermint
CHUBBY SHAMPOO — coconut aloe magic formula
CHUBBY CONDITIONER — still experimental, but Coffi's hair looks like a waterfall
Yes. I named everything Chubby.
No. I will not apologize.
Now the Duke—my father, bless his confused soul—nearly fell when I told him:
"We need more workers."
And by "more" I meant a hundred.
And by "workers" I meant basically half the territory's population.
And by "factory" I meant—AN EXPANDED WAREHOUSE THE SIZE OF A SMALL PALACE.
Tomorrow is the Big Day.
The Grand Opening. The villagers already lined up EARLY to smell the soap. Some were practicing how to "wash properly," like it was a cultural movement.
I felt… proud.
Then—THE GUARD SHOWED UP
I was sipping my tea in the garden, enjoying my accomplishment as a self-made businesswoman-slash-walking disaster, when a guard jogged up:
"My Lady… Sir Alex Canva has arrived."
I almost choked on my tea.
Sir Alex Canva. The Abs Knight. The One Who Looks Like He Was Sculpted From Warrior Clay And Anxiety.
The man who both saved my life…and ran from me naked in a river.
What a treasure.
AND THEN HE APPEARED He stepped into the sunlight like some tragic hero from a battle opera—hair slightly messy, armor gleaming, posture stiff like he expected to be attacked by tomatoes at any second.
And his arms.
HIS. ARMS.
Those biceps had BULK.
Like two melons hidden in leather sleeves.
I swear I saw a vein pop when he spotted me.
He shivered.
Actually shivered.
Did I cause that?
Oh gods.
Yes.
Probably.
I gave him my sweetest, most innocent smile. (Which, according to Coffi, looks more like I'm plotting world domination.)
"Sir Alex~," I purred.
His eye twitched. "My Lady," he greeted stiffly. "I… heard you've been busy."
Busy?
BUSY???
Sir.
SIR.
I have built: a ketchup empire,a soap industry,a shampoo revolution,employment for half the West,and a brand called CHUBBY that is becoming a national sensation.
"Just a little," I said modestly.
Behind him, several of his knights were sniffing the air.
One whispered: "By the gods… something smells… GOOD."
Another grabbed his hair and gasped: "Could it… shine like that?"
Seraphine: 1
Entire empire: 0
As Alex stared at me—eyes narrowed, cautious, confused—it hit me: He didn't come here because of orders. He came because he was curious.
Because he suspected something. Because he knew something was different about me.
And because…every time he saw me…
He got flustered. Which is basically the greatest achievement of my isekai life.