Chapter 18
“Hmm…”
Letier leaned down on the lab bench and raised her right arm, fiddling with the vial in front of her.
A week had already passed since I delivered the cream to the Prince.
Seeing that he hasn’t said anything in the meantime, it seems that the cream hasn’t had a significant effect.
“Princess, don’t be too upset. Maybe try a different kind of anti-inflammatory this time! Are there as many raw materials you haven’t used yet?”
Lucy, who was sitting next to her, pointed to the large gray sack behind Letier and said,
Letier turned her head and looked at the bulging bag.
“You’re right, Lucy.”
I answered as brightly as I could, but I still didn’t have the energy.
And Letier knew that it wasn’t just because there was no news from the prince.
After hesitating for a moment, Letier slowly opened her mouth.
“Lucy… Haven’t you heard from Reuter yet?”
“Who? Ah, the man that we saw in the commercial district then…? Yes, how dared him to receive a business card directly from the princess, but there has been no news until now… What a shameless person!”
Lucy muttered and kicked the chair with her foot.
Letier turned her head to look at the skull drawn on the cover of a human toxicology book.
Just in case, I’ve read all of that book and even put it all together, but I never thought I’d hear about it.
Letier let out a small sigh and raised her upper body again to resume the experiment.
She warmed the formula in the beaker to a high temperature to completely melt it, cooled it slowly, and started adding powders of this kind.
“Lucy, I need some Glycanol.”
Letier said, extending her left hand to Lucy.
“Oh! Princess, what should we do? I think we’re out of Glycanol….”
At Lucy’s urgent voice, Letier looked up and looked at the large glass bottle filled with Glycanol.
Before she knew it, she had used up the entire bottle and there wasn’t a single drop left.
“Oh my god! How many times have you experimented and used up all that much Glycanol like this? If you don’t have Glycanol, you can’t do the experiment right away, right?”
“… I know.”
Glycanol was a basic ingredient that was almost essential to all formulations.
Letier slowly stopped the hand that was stirring the beaker.
It seemed that she had started the experiment without even knowing that she had run out of glycanol, perhaps because her thoughts had gone somewhere else.
After standing still for a moment and contemplating, Letier looked at Lucy with her eyes shining.
“Lucy! Shall we quickly go out to the commercial district? We have to buy Glycanol.”
“Yes? Do you really need to go out there just to get some Glycanol? I’ll call Simon and tell him to get it right away!”
Lucy said simply.
Of course, since glycanol was a raw material that could be easily obtained anywhere, there was no reason to go out and search for raw materials in vain.
Letier, whose proposal was blocked by Lucy, stuck out her lower lip indistinctly.
“I’m in a hurry right now… Instead of having someone come to the capital, it would take a lot less time if I went there myself.”
“Yes? But at this point, you’ve done a lot of experiments, and there’s more left to launch than expected… Nothing is so urgent!”
Lucy replied with a puzzled expression.
This is why being too competent is a problem, Lucy.
Letier worked hard to come up with another excuse.
Lucy looked at Letier’s face and raised a corner of her mouth playfully as if she knew everything.
“… But if you want to take a walk in the commercial district for a quick change of mood… I was wondering if you could make a quick visit this afternoon?”
“Lucy!”
Letier, who had been tilting hee head to the side in thought, straightened up with a bright smile.
My very competent assistant, Lucy!
“Instead! I can’t join you. I heard that there is a big meeting with the maids of the imperial palace this afternoon. Strictly speaking, I am not part of the imperial palace, but since I will be staying at the imperial palace for the time being, I have been ordered to attend.”
“Really?”
“Yes. There must be some kind of important announcement, so you’ll have to go with Efron instead of me!”
Who cares who I go with as long as I can get out into the commercial district.
Letier nodded his head broadly.
After a while, Letier left the imperial palace building where the laboratory was located and headed for the place where the imperial knights were training.
Ephron, who visited the imperial palace as an escort knight, was staying with the knights.
Letier looked around the training ground and found Ephron.
One of the young trainee knights who spotted her just in time jumped out and asked.
“Hello! Can I help you with something?”
“Oh, I was looking for Sir Ephron Stewart.”
“Yes, wait a minute, Sir Ephron…!”
Hearing Ephron’s name, the young training knight turned and ran without hesitation.
Moments later, Ephron appeared, wiping the sweat from his face with a piece of dark cloth.
Perhaps he had just finished his training, his clothes were covered in dirt.
“Princess Letier…? What brings you here?”
“Ephron, can you go out to the commercial district with me for a minute?”
“Now?”
Surprised flashed across Ephron’s face.
He should have left immediately, but he couldn’t serve the princess with such a dirty and smelly face.
“Then, would you please wait a moment? I need to washed my body and came back…”
“Hey, Ephron!”
Then, someone called Ephron from behind.
When Ephron and Letier turned their heads at the same time, they saw a group of knights holding long swords in each hand and beckoning to him.
“We’ve been waiting for you, when are you coming back?”
“Those children…”
Ephron gritted his teeth.
The Princess was right in front of him, and I wondered what they were talking about without even noticing.
For him, training with knights was not important at all.
The most important thing right now is going out with the princess who is standing in front of him…!
“Huh? Ephron, do you have training appointments with the knights?”
“Ah yes! But it’s not very important. I’ll wash up quickly and come out!”
“Being a knight and breaking your training appointment with the other knights is disappointing.”
Ephron, who was hastily turning around, stood tall.
Disappointment…? The princess said she was disappointed in me…?
Ephron stiffened his head and barely looked back at Letier.
“Yes…?”
“Today, I will go out with another knight. Ephron stays and keeps your training promise with the knights.”
“But go, princess…”
“Instead, please recommend someone you can trust. Okay?”
At this point, I couldn’t keep up with the princess because she was stubborn.
Ephron quickly became sullen and lowered his head.
Ever since I became an adult, there was never a time when I didn’t follow Princess Letier when she went out.
But for saying that…
Ephron, who was seriously thinking, turned his head and called someone’s name in a loud voice.
“Ziegler!”
From the crowd of knights standing in the distance, a man called Ziegler quickly jumped out.
He was short and very agile.
“Yes, Sir. Ephron!”
“Are you okay now? I’m going to ask you to escort the princess.”
At Ephron’s sudden request, Ziegler’s expression hardened.
“Th-the princess’s escort? Me?”
Ephron was looking down at Ziegler with a terrifying expression that Letier had never seen before.
No, that would make the knight incredibly uneasy…!
Letier stepped in and reassured Ziegler.
“It’s nothing, I’m just going to take a little tour of the commercial district this afternoon, and I’d like you to stay with me.”
“Ah… yes. All right! I will prepare it soon!”
“Protect her properly.”
Sparks flew in Ephron’s eyes.
Ziegler was sweating and didn’t know where to turn, then turned around and ran away at high speed.
“Princess. Are you really okay?”
“I’ve been to the Krause commercial district a lot, and as Ephron knows, it’s not a very dangerous place. I’ll be right back!”
Ephron looked down at Letier, who seemed innocent, with worried eyes, and as soon as Ziegler returned, he strained his eyes again.
“Keep it straight. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Ziegler replied, sweating uncomfortably.
After a while, Letier got on the carriage of the imperial palace and went out to the commercial district.
Escorting the carriage and following closely behind was Ziegler on horseback.
The carriage, safely driven by a coachman, arrived at the south entrance of the Krause commercial district and dropped off Letier.
Letier took a step with a slightly excited feeling.
“Princess, which way are you going?”
Ziegler, who was standing in the back and talking to the coachman, approached Letier and asked.
“Go to the place where the raw material stores are gathered over there.”
“All right.”
At that moment, a man jumped out of the alley and hit Letier hard on the shoulder.
“Ouch!”
In an instant, Letier’s body was pushed back.
The man who pushed Letier continued running without looking back at the woman he had hit.
It seemed urgent, as if being chased by something.
Ziegler, who witnessed it right in front of him, lit up his eyes and growled in a low voice.
“Does that cheeky bastard dare to lay his hand on the princess? I will find him and kill him.”
“Oh, wait a minute, Ziegler…!”
There was no time for her to stop.
With his arms flailing, Ziegler sprinted toward the man at breakneck speed.
“…He’s gone.”
Left Letier alone in the central plaza of the large commercial district, he disappeared.
