Chapter 6
“Princess! The powder you got from Locke’s nest, the one you were interested in last time?”
Said Simon, waving a white pouch the size of his fist.
“Ah, yes. The anti-inflammatory.”
“This is very soluble in water! I put it in a lot of water and shook it, and it melted well.”
“No, other than that, the exact solubility value….”
“Oh, you’re not going to use it much, are you, just take it!”
Simon stacked several white bags on top of each other in the large sack Ephron was holding.
“I didn’t say I was buying them…”
“That’s how much you bought from our store. It’s a service, service! Go and experiment, and if you like it, come back for more!”
“Alright.”
Letier stared at the full sack before she knew it.
If it was this amount, it seemed that for a while, I would be able to study to the point of being bored in the mansion’s laboratory.
When I thought about developing a new cosmetic formula, I started to feel excited.
At first, it was a business that started on a semi-impulsive basis, but she was gradually becoming serious about developing cosmetics.
“By the way, Simon.”
“Yes?”
“Simon… Do you have a son?”
Simon, who had been counting gold coins with a smirk on his face, looked up, dumbfounded.
“Yes? A son?”
“So, with black hair and red eyes… about a foot or so tall, your younger son?”
“Oh, what the hell are you talking about! To a bachelor who hasn’t even gotten married yet!”
Simon replied with an expression of nonsense.
He waved his hands and blushed to prove his innocence.
“… Was Simon bachelor?”
“A pure bachelor, bachelor! no woman has ever been so deeply involved with me!”
“I see.”
Letier nodded meekly.
It wasn’t either.
So, was the man just a commoner with an eccentric hobby wandering the streets?
“Princess, are you done? Are there any shops you would like to visit?”
Tightening her grip on the sack Ephron was carrying, Lucy glanced back at Letier.
As a result of walking from store to store in the capital for the third day today, three large sacks the size of Letier’s body were filled with new ingredients.
“Um…. I’ve made all my stops, and I think I can safely return to the mansion.”
“Whew… If you want to experiment with all these ingredients, you won’t be out of the lab for a while! How many of these? One, two, three….”
“I have to launch the new line before the World Trade Center. No time to rest.”
Ephron grabbed the sack, left the store, and tossed the sack into the back of a carriage parked right in front of him.
Looking at the bulging sacks, Letier’s eyes twinkled with pride.
“Then, let’s go back now!”
“Yes, princess!”
*****
After diligently running back to the Lenever estate, Letier stopped by the first Lenever cosmetics store to see if anything was going on, and then went straight into the mansion.
“Ephron, take the sacks of raw materials to the underground lab.”
“Yes.”
“Princess, are you sure you’re starting an experiment today? You have to get rid of travel poisoning first!”
Lucy shouted as she came with both hands full of bath salts.
Letier went down the stairs without looking back at her.
“Bring dinner to the lab, Lucy.”
“That! It’s your competitor…! Geez, I can’t even try it myself… How did other companies try to make bath products? I’m really curious!”
Hearing Lucy’s loud monologue, Letier stopped her diligent steps down.
The corner of Lucy’s mouth twitched upward as she watched her back.
“Lucy, what is that?”
“It’s a new bath salt from the Yurisian cosmetics store. I brought it in case you might be interested in competing products… If you don’t need it right now, well, I’ll put it in the corner!”
If it was a cosmetic store in Yurisian, it was a newly built cosmetics store in the Marquis of Bivio not too long ago.
Although it was a Lenever cosmetics store that almost monopolized the cosmetic market of the Trillante Empire, it could not be neglected in analyzing competitors’ products.
Letier looked at the bulging sack of raw materials Ephron was holding and the bath salt Lucy was holding, conflicting.
She hesitated for a moment, then spat out as if deciding.
“… So, shall we wash first before starting the experiment? So that we can begin with a godly heart…”
“Yes! I’ll prepare hot water for the bathtub in the princess’s room right away!”
*****
“Ha…”
Letier leaned back comfortably in the spacious bathtub.
Lucy put the bath bombs she had brought into the bathtub, and the warm water was colored a light rainbow.
The tiny glitters floating on the rippling water shimmered even more red in the light of the sunset coming through the bathroom window.
Letier looked down at the ripples of water that swayed as he moved.
Lucy asked, brushing her rich golden hair from behind Letier.
“Princess, what do you think?”
“It dissolves well in water, and the color development is not bad.”
“Isn’t it? This time, it is said that it is a new product made with this grit at a Yurisian cosmetics store. The packaging is pretty, and the contents are even prettier. It seems to be perfect for winning the hearts of noblewomen
“It’s pretty.”
I don’t know if it works that well.
Letier scooped up the water from the bathtub with her small hand and splashed it on her upper body.
The warmth seemed to relieve fatigue on its own.
Letier, who was fiddling with the floating glitters with her palms for a while, murmured softly while fiddling with the clumps of red that hadn’t loosened.
“Come to think of it…”
That man had red eyes.
It’s not just red, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen red eyes that burn like gold.
For a commoner, he had quite beautiful eyes.
“Yes, princess?”
“Oh, no. Thanks for buying me the bath salt. Thanks to Lucy, I think I’ll have a good idea. I don’t think it would be a bad idea for us to approach it in this way.”
“You’re welcome…”
Lucy blushed and gave a small smile.
After slowly taking a bath, Letier moved to bed while carefully examining the packaging of bath salts at a Yurisian cosmetics store.
I’ll take the remaining pieces to the lab.
Thump Thump!
I had just put the dress back on with Lucy’s help when I heard an urgent knock.
“Le-Letier. Are you there?”
It was Duke Lenever’s nervous voice.
“Father?”
Lucy, who was picking out shoes for Letier, rushed to open the door and saw Duke Lenever standing in front of the door with a worried face.
He rubbed the tip of his well-trimmed mustache and trembled his legs anxiously.
The Duke entered the room without hesitation, with a look of nervousness all over his face.
“Letier, my baby! Hah, what should I do with this?”
“Why is that, Father?”
“Someone just came looking for you. Judging from the patterns on the uniforms they’re wearing, they’re all members of the Imperial family…! Uh, come downstairs and see!”
“Yes?”
The imperial family came to visit me?
Letier blinked her eyes with a bewildered face.
“This is not the time to be like that! Letier, come on!”
At her father’s urging, Letier hurriedly ran down the lobby in pursuit of the Duke of Lenever.
The door was wide open, and several knights stood in line between them.
‘Imperial knights?’
The knight standing at the front noticed Letier coming down the stairs, took a step forward and took out the edict from his chest.
He untied the tied string, fully opened the curled edict, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth in a loud voice.
“Princess Letier of the Lenever family should enter the palace in the near future and work hard to treat the sun of the Trillante Empire.”
If it’s the sun of the Empire, does it mean a Prince?
With a puzzled expression still on her face, Letier asked.
“Treat? What is that all of a sudden?”
Another knight standing next to the knight who had read the edict stepped forward.
Unlike the other knights in dark gray uniforms, he seemed to be the leader of these knights, seeing as he was wearing a dark blue uniform.
The knight commander, who had a very cold impression, bowed his head slightly to Letier and showed his respect.
The man raised his head and opened his mouth slowly.
“You must already know that Prince Dante Loxate suffers from an incurable skin disease.”
If it’s Prince Dante Loxate…
The first prince of the Trillante Empire.
Not only does he have a horrible skin disease that makes him look like he’s contagious, but he’s also got a bad personality…?
“The imperial family is aware of the efficacy of the cosmetics you have recently developed. Not too long ago, Prime Minister Violetta, who is the closest aide to the imperial family, also personally confirmed the efficacy of it.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“I will tell you directly. Please enter the palace and take charge of the treatment of the prince’s skin. This is a place specially created by Her Majesty the Empress in appreciation of Princess Letier’s abilities. It is Her Majesty’s order to come into the imperial palace as soon as you’re ready.”
Entering the palace…?
Prince Dante Loxate…?
While I stopped for a moment to grasp the information that came into my ears, I heard the small gasp of the maids behind me.
“Oh my goodness!”
“Oh, how can they do this!”
“Suddenly, the Prince…!”
Do I have to treat that person’s skin? Why not a professional doctor?
Letier frowned slightly.
There was a lot of work to be done right away.
I have to go down to the basement and organize the newly purchased raw materials…
Besides, that person has a bad personality!
“Princess Letier, will you accept the imperial mandate?”
“… No?”
