Chapter 122: Winter Rose Perfume

Eddard has always attached great importance to medicine. In Westeros, where medical standards are backward, if the North can take the lead in medical standards, it will be able to gain an advantage in the competition with the various major regions of the South.

Now, Eddard has ordered the hunters of Winterfell, the warriors of the Forest Clan, and the beekeepers to keep an eye out for medicinal herbs in the Wolfswood and send them to Winterfell.

In Winterfell, Eddard ordered the carpenters to make several medicine racks, each with dozens of medicine drawers. Eddard has already collected thousands of types of herbs, such as licorice, goji berries, cassia seeds, lysimachia, honeysuckle, American ginseng, angelica, and so on, but these are far from enough.

Nowadays, whether in Westeros or the Free Cities, herbs are almost entirely gathered from the wild, with very little artificial cultivation. Now that the glass farms of Winterfell are constantly expanding, Winterfell will have the conditions for artificial herb cultivation. Eddard has already begun to pay attention to collecting herb seeds to plant herbs in the glass farms in the future.

The glass farms will also grow jasmine, tuberose, tuberose, freesia, and so on. Once these flowers grow, they can provide raw materials for making perfume and incense candles.

Fortunately, in the summer in Winterfell, there are many flowers blooming in the wild and in the gardens. Eddard does not need to wait for the flowers in the glass farms to bloom to obtain petals for perfume experiments.

Eddard chose the Winter Rose. The Winter Rose is perhaps the most famous flower in Winterfell and even the entire North. This flower can bloom in any season, especially in winter, when the deep blue Winter Rose stands against the frost and snow, emitting bursts of faint fragrance.

Back then, during the "Year of the False Spring," Prince Rhaegar defeated the Kingsguard "the Bold" Barristan Selmy at the Tourney at Harrenhal. After the match, under the gaze of countless spectators, he rode past his wife Elia Martell and presented the crown of winter roses to Eddard's sister Lyanna Stark, crowning Lyanna as the "Queen of Love and Beauty."

This act was considered by later historians to be the death knell of the Targaryen Dynasty, but the story of Prince Rhaegar presenting the Winter Rose to Lyanna is still sung by countless singers.

On this day, Eddard ordered a servant to collect the petals of the Winter Rose and send them to the laboratory.

As soon as Sansa and Arya heard that perfume was to be made, they followed Maester Luwin to the laboratory. The direwolf pups Night and Sunshine also followed. The direwolves grow very fast, and in just a few months, they have grown to the size of ordinary hunting dogs.

The direwolves' size will soon exceed that of hunting dogs and wild wolves.

Sansa was wearing a red velvet robe with a silver belt at the waist, her long hair hanging down to her waist. Arya had a wooden sword at her waist, was dirty, and wore a white wool top and black wool trousers, looking just like a stable boy.

Maester Luwin stood to the side with a pen, recording. Sansa said excitedly, "Father, is Winterfell going to make its own perfume?"

Eddard smiled, "Of course, you two just watch carefully!"

Arya did not seem as expectant as Sansa; she curled her lips, "Father, I don't think perfume is of any use! Soap is enough, why do we need perfume?"

Sansa said disdainfully, "Arya, you hang out with Hodor, the stable boys, and the kitchen boys all day, so of course you don't need perfume. Perfume is for noble ladies, queens, and princesses to use."

Arya retorted, "Perfume is for covering up bad smells, everyone knows that! I would rather have the smell of sweat than the smell of perfume."

Sansa was unconvinced, "Then why did you come here? Go find your sweaty friends to play with!"

"If you two are going to keep arguing, then get out!" Eddard was used to Sansa and Arya arguing all day, but he did not want his daughters' arguing to affect the production of the perfume.

Sansa and Arya quieted down, and the two daughters held the petals of the Winter Rose in their hands and placed them on the table.

Upon seeing the petals of the Winter Rose, Ginter rubbed his hands excitedly, "Lord Eddard, in King's Landing, whenever people mention the Winter Rose, they think of the love story between Lady Lyanna and King Robert Baratheon! Lady Lyanna died young, but her beauty is still sung throughout the Seven Kingdoms. It is most appropriate for us to use the Winter Rose to test perfume."

In the laboratory, the Alchemist Ginter and Eddard opened the distiller together.

This distiller had a structure similar to the one used in the winery. The distiller was filled with water, and Ginter sprinkled petals onto the water in the distiller. The servant began to light the fire, and the water soon boiled. After distillation, through the condenser pipe covered with cold water, drops of plant essential oil fell into a wooden barrel.

Subsequently, Eddard ordered the servant to take out high-proof alcohol, which was the high-proof alcohol Eddard had ordered the winery to brew specifically for making perfume.

"Lord Eddard, what should we do next?" Ginter frowned.

Eddard put the essence, water, and alcohol into a container in a certain proportion. The Rockborn ward Baolaisen began to stir with a stick.

The Rockborn ward Baolaisen is the Heir to the Stern Clan of Driftwood Hall. He is sturdy and hardworking, so Eddard let him help in Ginter's laboratory, and tasks like stirring were always left to Baolaisen.

After the stirring was finished, Eddard covered the lid of the wooden barrel, "After stirring, it must be left for a few days to allow the impurities to fully settle before filtering it once more. Before filtering, remember to go to the ice cellar and freeze it with ice cubes once. In the future, just follow this process to make perfume."

Maester Luwin finished recording the perfume production process with a Cat's Paw, and he stroked his Chain.

"Lord Eddard, you act like a craftsman with decades of experience in perfume making. Where did you learn this knowledge?"

Eddard originally wanted to answer that he read it in books, but Maester Luwin would definitely ask which book. Competing with a Maester on book knowledge would likely expose his identity as a Chuanzhe, so Eddard smiled, "I often go to the Godswood to pray to the Weirwood Heart Tree. Perhaps the Old Gods have bestowed wisdom and knowledge upon me."

Maester Luwin nodded slightly, "It seems I should also pray more to the New and Old Gods in the future."

It will take several months for the first batch of perfume to be filtered and aged before it is successfully released, and Eddard will have time to make glass perfume bottles.

As a luxury item, the highest-end perfumes are packaged in glass, but some perfumes are also stored in wooden bottles. Now, Winterfell has its own glass workshop, and for the Glassmaster Ortega, making glass perfume bottles is a piece of cake.

In the glass workshop, Ortega took the glass bottle mold handed over by Eddard.

"Perfume bottles? Judging from the mold, these perfume bottles will have the Ice-River Wolf Emblem, or be heart-shaped. Duke Eddard, what are you planning to name this perfume?"

Eddard thought of the winter rose on Lyanna's head back then, as well as Prince Rhaegar. "Let's call it 'Winter's Love', what do you think of this name?"

Ortega smiled, "A good name. 'Winter's Love' will surely make those noble men and women scramble to buy it! They can't wait to use perfume to cover up the smell of sweat on their bodies!"

Thanks to "Book Friend 20180305054350765", "Meimei Taotao Dad", and "20190826174522749" for the monthly tickets, thank you for your support!

(End of chapter)