At home, Elena had to be extremely cautious while writing her 'mouth-to-mouth' literature.
Her room didn't have enough space for her to write comfortably, so she had to use the study—but the study was a shared space. That meant she had to stay alert at all times, ears perked up to catch any sound from the door. Sometimes, Miss Susan would walk in to gently remind her to take a break. Other times, Janet would burst in excitedly, asking for Elena's opinion on the new paper dolls she had meticulously drawn.
Even though the current issue's paper dolls had already been submitted to the printer, Janet was still enthusiastically working on designs for the next issue. She had a deep fondness for those colorful, intricately cute dresses. What's more, since they had started collaborating with the Voss Tailor Shop, the shop had begun sending them exquisite illustrations—originally intended for customers to choose from—which were now specially duplicated for Elena to use as references.
When Janet found out that Elena was also working on a literary project, she was brimming with curiosity, eager to find out what exactly her sister was writing. In her view, there shouldn't be any secrets between sisters. Pressed by Janet's questions, Elena reluctantly handed over an old ghost story as a decoy. The tale scared Janet so much that she no longer dared go near Elena's manuscripts.
Elena couldn't monopolize the study openly, so she had to write with extreme discretion. Whenever she heard footsteps approaching the study door, she reacted as if facing a crisis—quickly hiding her manuscript. Naturally, this constant vigilance slowed down her writing progress. After being urged several times by Mr. Herman, she could only tell him that the second half was in progress, though she couldn't guarantee when it would be finished and asked for patience.
Upon receiving Elena's reply, Mr. Herman was overjoyed. Ever since he had secured the exclusive rights to 'A Strange Journey in Dreams', his printing press had been operating non-stop. The book was wildly popular, its success far exceeding expectations. He didn't dare to advertise openly, fearing unwanted attention. Yet thanks to the Holiville Street store manager's recommendations and word of mouth from customers, 'A Strange Journey in Dreams' achieved astonishing sales.
The book had even gone out of stock multiple times. Readers from not just Luenton but also surrounding towns were eager to get their hands on a copy. This wasn't surprising—many country gentlemen often visited the city of Luenton, and under their friends' recommendations, they'd naturally find their way to Holiville Street. Known as the "most wicked street in human civilization," Holiville Street had quite the notorious reputation.
In rural areas, books like these were simply not available. Small-time book peddlers wouldn't carry such expensive titles to the countryside. Most readers there had to rely on their social circles to access privately-owned copies. However, if they managed to get a contact from the Holiville Street bookstore, all problems would be solved. The store regularly sent out catalogs of its latest titles—though for a fee—and if a customer wanted a specific book, they could order it by post. Of course, the price of mail-order books was much higher than in-store purchases.
But this didn't dampen the enthusiasm of rural customers. On the contrary, it only fueled their desire to buy. In smaller social circles, word-of-mouth recommendations carried great weight. Once a book received praise, it quickly became the object of everyone's pursuit. So when 'A Strange Journey in Dreams' caused a sensation at the Holiville Street bookstore, rural orders surged—and often in multiples.
There were even international merchants, especially from the region of Francie, reaching out to Mr. Herman to purchase stock. Francie's literary and artistic culture was notably more open-minded, and works of this nature were widely accepted. Consequently, orders from Francie poured in like snowflakes, overwhelming Mr. Herman.
However, the work only had a first half. The final chapter ended on a cliffhanger—where the upright friend of the protagonist's husband was revealed to harbor illicit desires for the lady. Such a plot naturally stirred readers' imaginations, tempting them to envision what would happen if the dream world's events played out in real life. Eager fans began penning their own continuations, and these fan-made sequels were enjoying decent sales.
Mr. Herman had an open attitude toward fan creations but made it clear that none of these works could be sold under the pretense of being official, to avoid damaging the reputation of the original. Thanks to his influence on Holiville Street, no fan-made sequels had been falsely marketed as official. However, some unscrupulous vendors were privately selling imitations under the guise of "authorized sequels." You could imagine the disappointment and fury of readers who had excitedly received what they thought was the real sequel—only to find out it was a fake.
That's why Mr. Herman kept urging Elena to finish the official continuation. He feared that if the genuine sequel didn't arrive soon, the counterfeits might tarnish the original's name.
Fortunately, Mr. Herman's clever strategy had helped. The luxurious packaging, the exquisite dust jackets, and the generous use of blank pages had all become signature elements of 'A Strange Journey in Dreams'. These features made it far more difficult to counterfeit convincingly. After all, producing packaging of such high quality was expensive—an effective deterrent to would-be forgers.
Mr. Herman didn't send any fan sequels to Elena, worried that they might interfere with her creative process. As a result, Elena remained completely unaware of the "Official Sequel Defense War" happening on Holiville Street, as she continued to focus intently on her writing. Honestly, considering the generous royalties she received, Mr. Herman's efforts to protect the reputation of 'A Strange Journey in Dreams' were more than worth it.
Meanwhile, the new version of the paper dolls was also being prepared in full swing.
When the printing house received Elena's latest paper doll designs, they were pleasantly surprised to find an extremely rare SR card—something they had never handled before. To meet Elena's high standards, they sent her multiple color and layout samples to choose from.
The back of the R cards was designed with yellow-green tones and featured intricate patterns of gold and silver flowers. These motifs came from the artist Duke Berkeley. To maintain visual consistency across the series, the printing house didn't alter the patterns and instead focused on experimenting with the color palettes.
Based on Elena's experience, card colors typically ranged from orange and purple for SSR, to blue and green for lower rarities. But to prevent counterfeiting, the printers carefully adjusted pigment ratios to create colors that were vivid yet hard to replicate.
This time, they offered three options for the SR card: deep purplish-red, pale pink, and brown. Elena immediately chose the deep purplish-red, a shade said to be made from a blend of Tyrian purple and grape skin. Although Tyrian purple was extremely expensive, only a small amount was used to create a luxurious effect. The cost remained manageable—especially since SR cards weren't printed in large quantities anyway.
As for the card design, it faithfully followed the original artwork and looked stunning. When Elena received the samples, both Janet and Miss Susan gathered around to admire them.
"It's like a piece of art," Janet exclaimed in awe, carefully picking up a card and inspecting it. "Did I really draw this? Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful I can hardly recognize it."
To enhance visual impact, the card's edges were surrounded by elaborate decorative patterns. In addition to the charming character and her ornate outfit, the bottom of the card bore a scripted "R," giving it a high-end and sophisticated feel.
"This one's an SR," Janet quickly noticed the standout card and leaned in for a closer look. The SR card featured more detailed clothing elements—from sleeve folds to intricate beadwork. At the character's feet were vibrant flowers that made the entire image come alive. Helen's slightly bashful expression made her look especially adorable.
"She's so cute," Janet said, unable to put the card down. "Her expression is totally different from the others."
Most of the other cards simply had the same standard smile.
Elena shrugged. "Well, she's an SR. Of course she has to stand out."
Originally, Elena had considered adding more background elements to the SR card, like a corridor or a staircase carpet, but after some thought, she decided to reserve those enhancements for even higher-tier SSR cards. So the SR card just had a few flower pots as props.
Once Elena confirmed her choices, the printing house got to work. As promised, they sent her several sets of the newest paper dolls and cards. Elena gave them to Janet and Miss Susan as gifts, and both were overjoyed.
"I don't even want to cut them out," Janet said as she flipped through the booklet, her face glowing with satisfaction. But after a quick browse, she frowned. "Where's that gorgeous dress? I don't see it."
"It's not in there," Elena replied with a smile. "The pattern is too intricate. It's easy to mess up in mass printing. That would create a lot of defective copies. To control costs, including it would've raised the price of the entire booklet. To keep prices stable, we had to leave it out."
This was a practical limitation—the current printing methods simply couldn't handle such delicate details reliably.
Also, the art style of that dress didn't quite match the rest. When paired with the paper doll, it looked like it belonged to a different layer altogether. For paper dolls, that kind of mismatch could affect the entire outfit's appearance, so Elena had no choice but to remove it.
Of course, even though that SR dress couldn't be featured in the actual booklet, it still appeared in the collector's guide as a silhouette. The guide also included the address of the collaborating tailor shop, so the Voss Tailor Shop didn't raise any objections.