Chapter 27
Forest of memory…?
Letier quickly raised her hand and brushed off the macaron powder from her mouth.
“Isn’t it the forest where the previous generation of mages gathered the first-class monsters to prevent extinction during the founding of Trillante? Even now, I know that the high-ranking magicians in the Imperial palace are closely monitoring the boundaries.”
“Ohh…. Princess Lenever is truly knowledgeable.”
Rosenthal smiled and replied.
Letier shook her head and smiled modestly.
“No, I just vaguely remembered hearing about it in basic education class…”
“The young lady’s words are not entirely wrong, but the truth about the Forest of Memory is slightly different from what is known to the public.”
“Yes?”
Letier asked with a puzzled face.
forest of memories.
Commonly referred to as the ‘Forest of Monsters’, it was a vast space located on the border of a foreign country not far from the capital.
The people of the Trillante Empire grew up hearing about the Forest of Memory as if they were hearing old stories from childhood.
‘But is it true?’
Letier’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
It was as if I had gone back to my childhood when I first heard about the Forest Memory from my late grandfather.
Rosenthal, noticing her interest, picked up a small teaspoon and swirled it carefully in his teacup.
“Shall we raise the problem? What would happen if we drove dangerous monsters to one place without properly grasping their food chain?”
At her question, Letier, who had been thinking for a while, opened her mouth.
“Maybe… The damage will be great because the top predators are fighting each other.”
“You’re right. After being imprisoned in the Forest of Memory, the demons began to fight among themselves over limited resources. There were no winners. Everyone was hurt, and many died.”
“Ah….”
“For that reason, the number of monsters currently existing in the Forest of Memory is not very large. No, you could say there are very few.”
“Then is it just an empty forest?”
“It can’t be.”
Rosenthal’s red lips rose.
She lifted the teacup she was stirring, brought it to her lips, and inhaled slowly, savoring it.
Letier waited patiently for the Empress to open her mouth again.
Before long, the Empress opened her mouth, placing the half-empty teacup on the table.
“In the place where the blood of monsters was scattered, plants I had never seen before began to grow. They feed on the corpses of monsters and grow into unique shapes.”
New monster plant…?
It was an unexpected story.
Rosenthal could sense that Letier was completely focused on her words.
She continued speaking without erasing the perfect smile from her lips.
“I plan to send a plant to the investigation team to the Forest of Memory prior to the founding event. Investigation of new species is the responsibility of our future generations.”
“I see.”
Letier nodded slowly.
At that moment, an academic curiosity arose in her mind.
Plants were able to extract various oils and active ingredients.
After the investigation into the hemp plant, there could be more cosmetic raw materials she could use.
“Hmm… I’m sorry, princess, I’ve been rambling on and on about work when I should have been taking care of business in my office. It wasn’t interesting, was it?”
“No! It is very interesting.”
Letier quickly shook her head.
She raised her twinkling eyes and asked the Empress.
“Your Majesty, what kind of people is the investigation team mainly composed of?”
“Usually knights, wizards and scientists. Oh, come to think of it, Princess Lenever was also a scientist with excellent biochemical knowledge, right?”
“No. I’m just a little bit more interested in raw materials. I am also very excited about the results they will bring.”
Letier lifted her shoulders slightly and smiled lightly.
Going out to investigate into the dangerous forest was obviously dangerous and hard work.
And that had nothing to do with her at all.
She just hoped that the founding festival would soon come and confirm the results of the investigation team.
The Empress, who had been staring at Letier, who showed little interest in the investigation team, opened her mouth again.
“Princess Lenever. Is Prince Dante’s skin treatment going well?”
“Yes? Ah… that is….”
At the sudden change of topic, Letier was speechless.
It was difficult to say that I hadn’t even properly checked the Prince’s wounds yet.
Even though it had been several weeks since I entered the Imperial palace, I felt apologetic because I still hadn’t been able to achieve good results.
“It won’t be easy. This is something that no expert has been able to solve so far. Don’t be too burdened, Princess.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. We are approaching the treatment of the Prince from various angles. I am trying to make a product by applying various ingredients.”
“You’ve been through a lot. However… Do you know how the Prince’s skin disease developed?”
“Yes?”
How it developed?
Letier put on a puzzled expression.
Now that she thought about it, she didn’t know anything about the Prince’s illness except that three years ago, he suddenly developed an unexplained skin disease.
“You didn’t hear either. Well, it’s a painful wound for him…”
Rosenthal sighed and said.
Painful wound?
This was also enough to stimulate Letier’s curiosity.
However, it was the duty not to inquire further into personal circumstances.
“Ah….”
Letier gave a small nod and took a cup of tea and drank the hot tea.
She turned her face slightly and returned her eyes to the dessert tray.
Now that I’ve had macarons, let’s try eclairs next…
“…….”
“…….”
“Aren’t you going to ask why?”
The Empress could not stand it and asked the question first.
Letier, who was mentally choosing the next dessert to try, asked in surprise.
“Yes?”
“I asked if you would like to ask the cause of the Prince’s skin disease.”
“… Was it something I could ask?”
What the…
The Empress frowned indistinctly.
I didn’t know if she was clueless or ignorant… It was possible to have both.
The Empress, who had managed to calm herself down by inhaling, gripped the handle of the teacup and bit her lower lip as if hesitating.
Letier watched her expression sink into melancholy moment by moment.
“The Prince is keeping his mouth shut, so no one is sure, but… I know.”
Letier held her breath.
The Empress’s red lips opened slightly.
Soon, the sound of her whispering softly reached Letier’s ear.
“He was cursed in the forest of memory.”
“Forest of memory?”
The Empress behaved very cautiously in this room where only the two of them were together, as if someone might overhear.
“Yes. And all of this is my responsibility as a mother… The Prince entered the Forest of Memory without the wizards to find a cure for his half-brother Aiden, and… he got that terrible skin disease.”
At the unexpected information, Letier’s mouth opened slightly.
It was the first time I had heard that the Prince’s skin disease was related to the Forest of Memory.
Besides, Highness Aiden’s cure?
Is His Highness Aiden sick somewhere?
“So I vaguely thought that there was a material that could cure his illness in the Forest Memory. It’s a disease obtained from the forest, so the medicine is also in that forest…”
Clink-
At that moment, the teaspoon in Rosenthal’s teacup spun around and fell to the floor.
The spoon tumbled across the marble floor with a loud noise.
“Are you okay, Your Majesty?”
“Ah…. no. What am I talking about… Princess Lenever, please forget our conversation now. I showed too much emotion without even realizing it. It wasn’t like me.”
Letier quickly bent down and picked up the spoon on the floor in place of the Empress.
Holding the spoon tightly, she raised her head on the table and opened her mouth.
“All right. Your majesty! I will forget it.”
“… But don’t forget right away.”
“Yes?”
Letier looked at the Empress and asked again.
The Empress was looking at her with a very strange expression.
Seeing that attitude as if she was forcing an answer, Letier nodded slightly with a puzzled look on her face.
As expected, the people in the imperial family it’s hard to understand.
*****
“Hmm…”
Letier was immersed in agony as she recalled an audience with Her Majesty a moment ago.
I felt like I had heard a lot of things I shouldn’t have heard.
From the hidden story about the Forest of Memory to the fact that Highness Aiden has an illness, and the story about how the Prince may have gotten a skin disease after going in the Forest of Memory…
“Are these stories that I should know…?”
She murmured softly as she leaned her back against a large, beautiful tree.
I don’t know anything else, but since I’m in charge of treating the Prince’s skin, I thought it would be better to find out about the incident that could be the cause of the skin disease.
And I should do some research on the Forest of Memory…
While she was thinking about this and that, she saw someone walking through the door of the imperial palace building in front of her.
“Prince!”
Letier stood up and greeted him.
Dante, lightly dressed, walked straight towards her.
“Letier. You were there first.”
“I just got here, too. I didn’t know, but this place seems like a very good place to organize my thoughts.”
“What are you thinking with that little head?”
Dante asked, sitting under the shade of a tree with Letier.
She took out the cosmetics she had brought with a smirk.
“It’s just about experiments. Prince, apply some of this this time.”
Dante turned the glass bottle she held out to him.
For a moment, he seemed intrigued by it, but then he flopped down on the picnic mat on his arm pillows.
The Prince’s hair sticking out from above the mask tickled Letier’s arm.
“What did you do today, Letier?”
It was an afternoon when the slight sound of the wind shaking the leaves up and down passed her ears.
