Chapter 1 (Prologue)
It was quiet everywhere.
The wide garden, where the warm sunlight was pouring down, was surrounded by tall trees on all sides, so it was also a place where anyone could not peek at it.
Letier raised her purple eyes and looked up at the magnificent Imperial palace building across.
“What are you looking at?”
A long finger reached out from below and tickled Letier’s chin.
Letier slightly shook her head and lowered her head.
Dante, his face resting comfortably on her lap, was looking up.
She opened her mouth, gently brushing the dark hair that flowed down Dante’s forehead.
“I want to see your face.”
Instead of answering, Dante reached for her hand that was wiping his forehead.
He inserted his large hands into Letier’s slender fingers as if interlacing them one by one.
“You always say that.”
Dante tightened his clasped hands and pulled them over his face.
No, to be more precise, on top of the hard, smooth mask he was wearing.
The dark-colored mask created a cold impression with only the pupils deeply pierced.
“Letier.”
A cold sensation arose on the back of her hand.
But at the same time, a seductive and leisurely bass tickled her ears.
“Yes, Prince.”
“Other than that, I said I could give you anything you want.”
Letier let out a small sigh.
That’s right, he couldn’t have easily listened to it.
“Then what shall I do?”
“What do you want to do?”
Her question sounded a little harsh, and he replied with a dark smile.
“First of all, I’d like to rip off this black and hard mask of the prince.”
“It must be because of your mood that it sounds strange. After that?”
“Then, I will carefully sweep the prince’s face like this…”
Letier whispered in a small voice.
She slowly swept Dante’s mask down as if she were sweeping his bare face.
Dante involuntarily felt a force go into his thigh.
“… After that?”
“I will use my fingers to gently tickle your eyes. The area around the eyes is the most delicate part of the face.”
“Hmm… Sounds good. After that?”
Dante nodded slowly, waiting for her next words.
“Then….”
He involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.
He couldn’t stop the gaze that kept fixating on her thick lips.
At times like this, it felt quite useful to be able to cover his face because he was wearing a thick mask.
After a moment of silence.
Letier spoke up with a stern expression.
“… I’ll apply my special moisturizing cream all over your face.”
*****
The main alley of Utrica’s commercial district.
A large number of people had been standing in a row since early morning at the entrance of the two-story building, located in the best place in the Duke of Lenever’s estate.
The knight, who arrived late and hurriedly, slipped into the back row and tapped the back of the person in front.
“Hey, let me ask you something. Are the cosmetics here really that good?”
“Pardon?”
Turning to the knight’s call, the woman looked up at him with an expression that she had never seen such a person in her life.
Among those who lived in the Duchy of Lenever, there was no one who did not know about the cosmetics sold in this building.
“Ah, that’s because it’s my first time traveling here… I just heard that this cosmetic product is famous.”
The knight, taken aback by the woman’s reaction, waved his hands as if to clear up the misunderstanding.
Only then did the woman withdraw her wary eyes and spoke obediently.
“You must know! it’s good, that’s why people flock to it, the testimonies are overflowing!”
“Ah… Is that so.”
The knight gulped and looked up at the tall building.
At the top of the building, an ornate sign specially custom-made by the Duke of Lenever gleamed majestically.
<Lenever cosmetics store>
In the domain of the Duke of Lenever, there was only one place that dared to do business under the name of Lenever.
“By the way, a testimony? Can you elaborate a little more?”
In response to the knight’s continued question, the woman standing right in front opened her mouth as if she couldn’t help it.
On the surface, it seemed quite annoying, but in fact, she was just bored after a long wait and was glad to hear it.
“What! It’s nothing… It is said that the Marquises of Frisia, who is known for being picky, have completely fixed all her skin troubles on her cheeks by using Lenever cosmetics! She praise….”
“Her skin trouble has been fixed…”
The knight who listened to the woman’s story repeated with a serious face.
“And it’s not just that, Countess Delion, who came down from the capital to spend her summer vacation, said that the red dot that had plagued her all her life had completely disappeared!”
“The red dot… That’s amazing.”
Excited by the knight’s reaction, the woman shrugged her shoulders and continued.
“My son’s acne, which he had been living with throughout his teens, has disappeared! Even though my son asked for a few more Lenever creams, and when he asked me to get him a few more jars of Lenever’s cream, I came for him.”
“If it’s that effective, I’ll have to buy one too.”
“Huh, it’s open!”
At someone’s voice, the eyes of the customers who had been standing in a row were drawn to one place.
The old-fashioned door, which had been firmly closed, opened little by little.
“Welcome… uh?”
The employee who opened the store door as usual stepped back in surprise at the sight of customers standing in an endless line.
Originally, the front of the store before opening was crowded with people, but today it was worse than usual.
The employee hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and shouted loudly.
“We are open now! Please be orderly and come in slowly!”
People who had been waiting for a long time rushed to their feet, ignoring the staff’s words.
The knight standing at the back also looked around and entered the store.
Inside the two-story building, several display cases were lined up, and several cosmetics were displayed in pretty containers on each display case.
Skin and toners, lotions and emulsions, essences, serums, and even creams…
“Here, what is the hottest product right now?”
“Ugh…! Don’t push!”
“I picked this up first!”
Stores full of people quickly turned into very noisy and chaotic marketplaces.
They all seemed to be desperate to buy at least one more bottle of Lenever cosmetics.
The few sales associates in the store swam among the customers, trying to serve them.
“Wait a minute, customer!”
“Please wait!”
At that time, instead of paying attention to cosmetics, the knight, who had been looking around as if looking for someone, narrowed his eyes while looking somewhere.
‘… Is it that person?’
In this busy store, only one person, a woman standing on the railing on the second floor, was looking down at the store with an impassive expression.
Standing tall, the blonde hair flowing down her shoulders shone beautifully in the store lighting.
The knight, who was watching her closely, grabbed the employee who passed by and asked.
“Hey, let me ask you something!”
“Yes, customer? Is there anything you are looking for?”
“Who is that blonde woman up there? Is she a veteran part-timer at this store or something?”
“Yes? who… ah! You mean our princess?”
At the staff’s words, the knight’s expression subtly changed.
“Uh, don’t you know Princess Letier?”
“Oh, well, it’s my first time visiting here.”
“Hmm… She is the owner of this store, and Princess Letier Lenever, who makes all the cosmetics sold here!”
A look of conviction flashed across the knight’s face.
When the staff finished answering and turned and walked away, the man quickly wiped the expression off his face and stiffened.
‘That’s right….’
Yes.
The young blonde woman was Letier Lenever, the only daughter of the Duke of Lenever and a brilliant chemist.
Lenever cosmetics, which she made and sold herself, had spread word of mouth to the capital city for its excellent efficacy, and now it has reached the point where it is no longer available.
“Hmm…”
The knight looked up, stroking the tip of his chin thoughtfully.
*****
At the end of the knight’s gaze, Letier, who was standing on the railing on the second floor, looked around her store, which was packed with customers, and felt her heart aching.
‘What if the girl in the dream had seen this scene?’
Letier naturally recalled the dream of that day.
About three years ago, Letier Lenever, the only daughter of the Lenever family, had a long, long dream.
A very long dream that contains all of a person’s life from birth to death.
In her dream, she was a pitiful person who studied for 10 years, worked for 5 years at the job she got right after graduation, and died in an explosion accident.
“…….”
Letier woke up and slowly blinked her eyes.
Letier slowly regained a sense of reality as she stared at the ceiling with a splendid chandelier hanging high.
The feeling of the blanket rustling against my skin and the sunlight coming through the large window were unfamiliar to me.
‘Is it a dream? Or maybe it’s a fragment of a previous life….’
The terrifying twenty years…
Perhaps she had shed sad tears in her dream, but the corners of her eyes were glistening with dried-up tears.
Letier rubbed her reddened eyes with her outstretched fingers.
Her hazy purple eyes, shiny golden hair, as if she hadn’t fully woken up yet.
A small, round, white face with sculptural features that filled it with concavities.
Even though she had just woken up, she was neat and beautiful.
Eventually, Letier slowly opened her mouth, and the first words she uttered were.
“Wow, did I really die while doing that dirty job?”
