I nodded my head in agreement and smiled, "Linda show him the second dress. This one is a more standard ball gown that most noble woman would be happy to wear."
While Linda pulled the dress out and showed it to Paul to see what he thought of it, Becca turned to me excitedly. "We were just looking for a ball gown for this weekend! This is perfect!"
I tried to temper her expectations. "Let's take a good look at it first. Linda is a no name designer and she made it so quickly. It might not but up to standard on the first try."
Becca, however, did not hesistate. "I believe in Linda. Her first revolutionary dress was so well made. She will for sure be able to nail a more standard style."
"I think so too. Now come on, let's get a good look at the dress I picked out for you."
Once we neared Linda and Paul, Paul happily said, "this style of dress is very good for having a stable foundation. With this in the inventory, the floor of the value of the shop will be much higher. And with the new sun dress style, the ceiling of the value of the shop is multiple times higher than a standard dress shop. It just depends on if we can turn the new style into a trend amongst the noble women."
I stretched my neck to look over Paul and look at the ball gown. "That is some high praise."
Paul nodded, "the quality is that good."
Getting a good look at the ball gown for the first time took my breath away. The bright yellow caught the eye and the lack of frills make it look elegant.
I touched the material and it felt like the highest quality, smooth and soft. The stitching was professional and hidden well.
I thought the dress was definitely a suitable quality to wear to our wedding banquet. However, I needed to ask the person who's opinion was the most important.
"What do you think Becca? Would you be happy to wear this to our wedding banquet?"
Surprisingly, when I looked at Becca, I noticed that there were tears running down her face.
"You picked this out specifically for me?"
I smiled warmly, "yes, I think it fits you perfectly. I wanted you to be the star when we had our first dance together. Now, it's going to be during our wedding banquet, so it's even more important to show off your elegance and beauty."
Becca wiped her tears and replied, "thank you so much, Nick. No one has ever done something like this for me before…it really will suit me perfectly."
I patted her head to comfort her, "of course I always want the best for my wife."
Becca then turned to Linda and complimented her, "Linda, this is the best quality dress I have ever seen! You are truly talented!"
Linda blushed at the compliment. "I had to try my absolute best because my Lord said that he would pay to set up a dress shop for me in exchange for 10% of the stores profits if he liked the three dresses I made…"
Oh crap…
Paul looked at me sharply and I tried to turn my head, to ignore him. However, he walked up to me and whispered, "I thought you said you wanted my first job to be making a deal with Linda to start her dress business? When did you offer her paying for all the expenses for exchange for 10% of profit?! That is an unbelievably good deal for her!"
I scratched my cheek in embarrassment. "I just really wanted those three dresses to be made at the time, so I made up a quick deal in my head…I kind of forgot that I even made that deal until Linda brought it up…but since I offered it before, we have to honor it…"
Paul sighed, "my Lord, it is very important for you to keep track of all the deals that you have offered to someone…"
I laughed it off, "well, from now on you will be the one offering the deals, so I won't have to worry about it. All we can do now is work hard with Linda to make her shop so profitable that we still make a lot of money with just 10% of the profit."
Paul nodded his head, "to make this worth our time, we will have to for sure make her new sun dress a trend. I will work hard to make it happen. However, my Lord, I want you to understand that there is a better middle ground to find with deals in the future. I always try to make a solid 50/50 deal where both sides are getting everything they want out of the deal and happy.
If you were offering to supply all the capital for this business to start up, and Linda was able to still own the rights of the company as its owner, then she would have happily still given up say 75% of the profit. Especially since the profit will only be calculated after accounting for her own salary.
She takes none of the risk, while being payed an owner's salary and getting a quarter of any profit if the product explodes in popularity. That would have still been the deal of her lifetime while giving us more meat of the bone, so we don't have a chance of ultimately losing money."
I contemplated what he said before nodding my head. "I have a lot to learn from you Paul, you are wise beyond your years."
Paul laughed sarcastically, "that's what happens when you are forced to be the man of the house at such a young age."
I patted him on the shoulder and realized how bony he was. Looking at him closely, his cheeks were sunken in from a lack of nutrition. "Paul, you need to make sure to eat more…you look like only skin and bones…"
Paul sighed, "Even though our farm made a lot of money, I saved up every little amount I could to buy more stamina potions for my
Mother, so I couldn't afford to eat much…"
I understand his feels and didn't want to tell him he should stop saving for his Mother, so I reminded him, "you now work for me. All my employees get 3 meals a day at the employee canteen. So make sure to eat your fill while you are here."
Paul's eyes were starting to slightly water after someone other then his Mother showed care for him for the first time in a while. I then looked to Linda smiling happily showing the ball gown off to Becca.
I pointed in their direction. "You know, Paul. This young girl, Linda, had to give up her dream of designing and making dresses because she had to help make money to provide for her six younger siblings.
When I think about it, she is a lot like you, very family oriented. Please take good care of her and help her with the things she lacks in business, so that smile she has on now never disappears…"
Paul looked happy when looking over at her smile. "I will help her to the best of my abilities and hopefully her whole family will never have to worry about money again."