Chapter 14
“A friend….”
Dante muttered in a strange voice.
“Yes! This is a friend I met when I came up to the capital a while ago, and he seemed to want to study about toxic substances. But, he is a friend with uneducated story”
The corners of Dante’s mouth, which had been rising slowly, stopped.
“Uneducated…”
“Yes! I don’t know if he’ll be able to read a book. I’ll do a quick study and let him know the next time we meet.”
Dante opened his small mouth and looked at Letier’s chattering face.
There was not a hint of impure intent in the violet eyes staring back at him.
“I don’t think she means any harm…”
Dante murmured to himself.
Rather, it would be good intentions.
“Yes?”
“No. If you see him later, try to let him know. Though I suspect he already knows about it.”
Dante put human toxicology on the table.
Letier carefully examined Dante’s mask as he put down the book before opening her mouth.
“I… Prince.”
“Yes.”
“Yesterday, you were…”
While talking, Letier turned her head and looked around.
There are ladies-in-waiting and Mr. Roizen, but is it really okay to just say that?
“Yesterday?”
“Last night.”
“Ah.”
Dante, realizing the subject of the soon-to-be-discussed conversation, raised his hand and ordered Reuter and the lady-in-waiting in the drawing room.
At Dante’s gesture, the maids quickly left the room, but Reuter was glaring at Dante terribly, stuck in the word ‘Last night’.
Dante turned to Reuter, who hadn’t left, and said in a gruff voice, “Why don’t you get out of here?”
“I’m sure I’ll come back later and tell you something.”
“I don’t know.”
Eventually, as he reluctantly moved to Reuter, only Letier and Dante remained in the drawing room.
After everyone disappeared, Letier opened her mouth again.
“Is the person I met in my lab last night really the Prince?”
Letier’s cautious gaze as she asked the question reached Dante.
Dante stared into those deep eyes, then calmly opened his mouth.
“That’s right.”
He felt a little tired as he answered.
The next part of the conversation was predictable enough.
Questions like why was he there, what did he want, and whether she can help him?
They had learned something about Dante by accident and wanted to share their secret with him.
In doing so, they would make him think that he was being treated specially.
And he found the whole thing quite annoying.
It was because, from the time he was born until now, no one had ever approached him with only good intentions.
It was always in exchange for some sort of favor or attention from Dante, or a position of power or material reward.
“Ah, thank goodness! Actually, I was worried about whether the person I met yesterday was really the Prince or an unknown assailant.”
Dante looked at the lady in front of him.
I wonder what she wants in return for her silence.
Perhaps she wants to be more involved.
“What happened yesterday….”
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me!”
Dante stopped talking.
“I was just curious about that. If the Prince answered no, I wondered if I should go out immediately and call the knights. It’s like I’m nothing but a witness to the assailant.”
Dante looked at Letier, who answered simply.
There was no other intention in her clear gaze.
“… Did you just ask to check that out?”
“Yes.”
“I see, that’s right. I’m sorry I surprised you late at night.”
“Oh no! Then, shall we start the treatment in earnest today?”
Letier clapped her hands and opened the encyclopedia of raw materials on the table and started flipping through.
By now, her mind was clear that last night’s event had completely disappeared.
She looked over the ingredients one by one with a serious face.
It would be better to check the ingredients with anti-inflammatory effects first…
Looking at Letier, Dante involuntarily furrowed his thick eyebrows.
“Why don’t you ask more?”
“Yes? What?”
“What I was doing there, and why did I hide even from the maids and the guards. Things like that.”
“Um… I’m not really curious…?”
Letier gave a rough answer and concentrated on flipping through the encyclopedia.
It’s been a long time since I opened it, so it was a pity that I forgot all the order I had been memorizing.
Did the moisturizing effect come first, or did the whitening effect come first?
Quickly flipping through the bookshelves, Letier narrowed her eyebrows.
Dante stared blankly at Letier, who had quickly focused on the encyclopedia.
Not curious?
With a hollow feeling, he chuckled.
“… You have a cooler attitude than I thought.”
Huh? Why are you laughing?
The sound of laughter drifted over the top of Letier’s head as she turned the pages of her book in earnest.
I didn’t know what the Prince was laughing at, but I knew I had to make my superiors laugh.
Letier raised her head and faced Dante with a wide smile.
It wasn’t a smile that came from the heart, but it was the natural, beautiful smile that had been displayed on her face for years as a Princess of the House of Lenever.
Maybe it’s a business smile.
“Haha. Then, let’s check the symptoms now, shall we?”
There was no answer from the expressionless mask.
Letier glanced over and gently reached for Dante’s mask.
Contrary to what I expected to get rejected right away like last time, the Prince did not move at all.
“…….”
The dark mask still kept its gaze on her.
The hole in the corner of the eye was so deep and dark that it was difficult to see the inner pupil.
‘Is he looking at me?’
Letier, who was just trying to pretend to reach out, saw a little possibility and got up from her chair.
Can I take off his mask today?
If I stretched out just a little further like this, I could reach the Prince’s mask.
‘A little bit… a little bit more…!’
Letier moved her hand slowly, very slowly, as if to avoid provoking a vigilant animal.
She swallowed involuntarily.
I really felt like I could see the Prince’s face today.
Finally, when the tips of Letier’s fingers and the Prince’s mask were only a few centimeters away, something warm entwined with her hand.
“Huh?”
Dante, who had been sitting still, raised his hand and clasped it in both of Letier’s outstretched hands.
Through the soft gloves that clasped together, she could feel the warmth of Dante’s own.
“… Prince?”
Letier put on a bewildered expression as she clasped her hands with Dante.
“Ah.”
Dante looked down at the hands that had unknowingly grabbed Letier.
It was embarrassing that the mask could have been taken off just like that, just sitting there stunned.
For a very brief moment, he had the urge to take off his gloves, but he couldn’t understand why.
‘What…?’
The pounding heart was also unfamiliar.
“Hmm… Are you not feeling well today?”
At Letier’s question, I finally came to my senses.
Dante quickly spat out any answer.
“Y-yes.”
“Of course you are! Then let’s take it slow.”
Letier sat down again and sighed calmly.
She wanted to let go now, but Dante was still holding her hands tightly.
Their hands were clasped together across the table.
It was as if they hadn’t seen each other in a very long time and were very happy to see each other.
Letier waved her hand slightly as if asking to let go.
Only then did Dante slowly relax his hands.
“Then, instead of checking for symptoms, let me ask you some questions. Can you answer me?”
“Princess Letier, come and sit next to me.”
“Why?”
Letier looked at Dante and asked.
Aren’t you going to show your face? The question was appropriately omitted.
“A meditator who was in charge of my treatment last time said that the closer the psychological distance between the therapist and the patient, the better the treatment will be.”
“That doesn’t mean physical distance, right?”
“…No, It is also sharp.”
Dante snorted quietly.
“Come closer, though. If the physical distance is close, the psychological distance will naturally be closer.”
Letier didn’t know what the hell that meant, but she thought it would be better to cater to the prince’s taste for now.
If you work hard like this, someday he’ll take off his mask.
Letier got up, circled the table, and sat down on the long couch where the Prince sat.
She kept a distance that was neither too far nor too close to the Prince.
Letier held up the paper and pen on the table and opened her mouth again.
“Skin disease… When exactly did it start?”
“I think it’s been five years.”
Dante answered, turning to Letier.
He moved his seat and in an instant came closer to Letier.
At the sudden decrease in distance, Letier paused for a moment.
“… Have you ever experienced similar symptoms before?”
“None at all.”
“Then, was there any basic product you were using at the time?”
“There were things the ladies-in-waiting brought to the bathroom, but… Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought about that at all. If you ask the maid, she will help you.”
The Prince’s answer was meticulously written down on the paper that Letier was holding.
If the cause was due to the product he was applying, the problem would be much easier to fix.
“What product are you applying for right now…”
Letier, who was asking the next question, stopped talking.
The Prince reached out and was playfully ruffling her thick hair.
