Chapter 17
Letier looked up for a moment at Dante’s mask, then lowered her head again to look at the back of his hand.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that there were small scratches all over the place.
But they looked less like skin diseases and more like the hard work of holding and training with a sword.
“Uh…. Yes, then I will apply it here as an example.”
Letier carefully put the cream on the back of Dante’s hand.
She began to spread the cream, rubbing it in circular motions.
“Like this, spread it wide.”
Dante looked down at Letier’s small hand, which was still applying cream on the back of his hand.
The smooth movement of her white hand with the cream was very soft, even slightly itchy.
Unknowingly, power was going into his hands.
After tickling the back of Dante’s hand for a while, Letier lifted his palm and tapped him lightly on the back of the hand.
“After that, tap it lightly like this to let it absorb completely.”
The formulation applied on the back of the hand was absorbed in an instant under Letier’s touch and disappeared without a trace.
I thought it would be sticky and stuffy if I put it on my skin, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
“It doesn’t feel too bad.”
“It is, isn’t it? Men especially don’t like sticky stuff, so I added a few more ingredients to give it a refreshing finish.”
But Letier’s explanation didn’t reach Dante’s ears.
Even after the formulation was absorbed, only the small hand holding him kept coming into his field of vision.
“So, this is what you’re going to apply to your face morning and night from now on.”
After explaining, Letier let go of Dante’s hand.
Dante unconsciously grabbed her hand as it slipped away, then, startled, quickly pulled it away.
“Oh my god.”
“What’s wrong?”
At Dante’s serious reaction, Letier was even more startled and gave a small shout.
“To be a human hand… How can it be so soft?”
Dante looked at Letier’s hand with a genuinely shocked face.
Of course, it was covered by a mask, so she couldn’t see it.
“Yes…?”
He had expected the white hand to be small and smooth, but he hadn’t expected it to be this soft.
At Dante’s reaction, Letier only blinked with a more puzzled face.
Of course, it was right that Letier’s hands were much softer than others, as she usually touched many formulations.
But apart from that, Dante has never touched a woman’s hand directly since he became an adult, always wearing gloves.
Even before I became an adult, I only had the experience of touching the hands of nannies whose hands are always cleaning and laundry, or the rough hands of knights.
“… Your hands are so soft.”
Hearing Dante’s muttering voice, Letier felt pity on the contrary.
No, no matter how isolated you were, to react like this with just one touch… Did he miss the warmth of people so much?
Letier lowered her eyebrows and looked at Dante.
Our poor prince…
Dante hurriedly retrieved the glove and put it on, putting aside the glass bottle Letier had given him.
It was strange how his heart kept pounding.
It was the first time he’d ever touched something so soft.
Dante took a deep breath, trying to make up his mind that it was just a reaction the same as when he found a cute little animal.
I could feel my reddened ears warming up.
“Prince, you don’t have to be so uncomfortable when you’re with me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean, you can take off your gloves as much as you want, or if you feel frustrated, you can take off your mask.”
“No, I don’t think I can do that.”
“Ah…”
You haven’t fully opened the door to your heart yet…
Letier nodded her head feeling a bit bitter.
I will continue to knock on the door of the prince’s heart, and someday make it wide open!
In her heart, Letier reaffirmed her will, looking forward to the day when she could one day face the prince’s skin and heal him completely.
Suddenly, a fresh breeze passed between them.
Letier lifted her head, as if in a good mood, and tucked her fluttering hair behind her ear.
Dante, who looked at Letier, opened his mouth again.
“Letier.”
“Yes, Prince.”
“How did you get started in the cosmetics business?”
At Dante’s question, Letier thought for a moment.
Why did I start the cosmetics business?
It all started with a one night dream.
The dream in which the poor woman appeared.
Letier, who was lost in thought, slowly opened her mouth.
“… I want to make my dream come true.”
“Dream?”
“My dream is to make cosmetics that everyone in the world likes. I want to make that dream come true.”
At first, it may have started with a light heart to achieve a dream that could not be achieved in a previous life here instead.
But before I knew it, that light heart turned into a heavy and serious goal.
Letier sincerely wanted to develop cosmetics that everyone in the empire liked with her own hands.
“The cosmetics that everybody likes…”
Dante repeated quietly.
“It won’t be easy to please everyone.”
“That’s right. It won’t be easy. It may even be impossible.”
Letier replied calmly.
“But I really enjoy the process itself. How much will this product be loved? How much will people like it? Can it remain as a must-have product for people? If you think about these things all the time, the hard work will naturally be forgotten.”
Dante lifted his hand and ran it through her hair, which kept drifting away from Letier’s ear.
He took her hair with a careful hand and tucked it behind Letier’s ear.
“Hm.”
“Hahaha, thank you.”
It was a pity that I didn’t get a closer look at her smile because her hair kept flying.
“I don’t know anything else, but the cream you gave me completely satisfied me. It will remain a must-have product for me.”
At Dante’s words, Letier turned her head and met his gaze.
Letier looked at him with a beautiful smile and a slight bow of her head.
“What a relief. My business won’t go bankrupt easily in the future. The prince likes it.”
Looking at her, he choked up and couldn’t answer properly.
Dante managed to squeeze his throat together before he could spit out an answer.
“… Yes.”
“Thank you for introducing me to this place today. It’s the prince’s secret space filled with only beautiful things, and you gave me a special honor to enter.”
“You can visit anytime you want.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s a space filled with only beautiful things.”
Letier smiled slightly again and raised her head.
She said, raising her outstretched hand to the sky.
“By the way, this is a very old tree, isn’t it? We have a similar sized tree in our duchy, and they say it’s nearly five hundred years old, so I’m guessing this one is about that old as well.”
“Probably right. I heard that it was planted to commemorate the founding of the Trillante Empire. It really must have been about 500 years.”
When the Trillante Empire was established…
Letier, eyes widened in disbelief as she repeated Dante’s words.
“… Founding Festival!”
“Huh?”
We have to launch a new product before the foundation festival!
The formulations I left in the lab came to my mind belatedly.
I have to go back and do an oil compatibility test before it’s too late…?
Dante looked at Letier, who showed signs of rapid nervousness.
Even if he didn’t know anything else, she was easy to figure out what was on her mind right now.
She must have remembered something urgent to do in connection with the founding festival.
Dante hesitated, then slowly spoke.
“Your job is done today. I’ll go back to my office, so you can rest more here or go out with me.”
“Ah, then I’ll go out too.”
At the same time, I felt like I was lucky.
Phew! Go straight to the lab and start experimenting.
Dante, who rose first, grabbed Letier’s hand and helped her up.
They went back through the side door into the garden and entered the office.
Dante personally opened the door to the office and saw off Letier.
“Pr-Prince! Then try the cream I gave you, and if your symptoms get better, let me know through Roizen.”
“Okay.”
“It should be getting better at this point, but let me know when it doesn’t feel better.”
“Yes.”
Dante answered with a small laugh.
“Then, I’ll take my leave.”
Letier bowed her head deeply and went out through the door of the office.
Dante closed the door completely, then turned and walked to the desk, ruffling off the mask.
“Whew…”
The mask had never felt so stuffy as it did today.
There were many times today when I couldn’t even breathe properly.
Dante sighed, raised his right hand, and brushed his disheveled bangs back roughly.
Slumped down in his desk chair, he stared at the clear glass bottle of cream on the desk.
Thinking of the time earlier when Letier applied the cream to the back of his hand, he felt his heart suffocate again, even though he was not wearing a mask.
“Why are you doing this?”
Dante muttered and pushed the vial to the side of the desk, completely out of sight.
He muttered in a low voice, his ears burning red as before.
