Chapter 9
Letier looked at the prince in an awkward posture, neither extending her arm nor folding it.
“Well, then I can’t cure you…”
“I’m not feeling well today.”
Only when you’re in the mood do you take off your mask….?
I didn’t understand what he was saying at first, but I thought that’s what high ranking people were supposed to do.
“… Yes. Since this is our first meeting, it may not be easy.”
Letier awkwardly folded her arms and muttered something.
I didn’t even know what I was talking about.
“Well, then… If you could give me a rough description of your current symptoms, I’ll go back to my room and look through the books or find something suitable from the ingredients I have.”
The prince looked up again to see Letier calmly questioning him, then spoke.
“What kind of cure does the princess have in mind?”
“Well, for now… I’m thinking of making a cosmetic formulation and applying it to her face. I’m going to search for ingredients that are sufficiently effective and apply them.”
“Where do you get the raw materials?”
“There are a few raw material dealers in the market that I know. I will contact them through…”
“Don’t you think others have already tried it?”
At the prince’s continuing question, Letier hesitated for a moment.
For the stubbornness of never showing his face, he seemed to be quite interested in treatment.
“… Even if the same raw material is used, the range of efficacy may appear different depending on the compatibility with other raw materials used together and the type of formulation. After obtaining raw materials, I plan to do formulation research.”
“That’s interesting, then I’ll go with you the next time the princess goes looking for ingredients. When are you planning to go?”
“That, the prince needs to show his face to know.”
Letier looked straight at the prince and spat out.
So, can you take off the mask soon? It was an answer with a clear meaning.
“It sounds like you don’t have any plans yet.”
“Because you can’t try any ingredient without knowing the symptoms properly.”
Letier unconsciously raised her right hand and slowly brushed the nape of her neck.
After sitting in an uncomfortable carriage seat for hours, trying to maintain an upright posture in front of Her Majesty the Empress and the Prince was extremely tiring.
Letier brushed the nape of her neck and straightened her back again.
The prince, who had been watching her closely, opened his mouth.
“Just go back today.”
“Yes?”
“You’ve traveled a long way, and you must be tired. I’ll call on you again soon.”
“Ah. Yes, I understand, Prince.”
Letier replied.
It was a bit futile that the first meeting ended so quickly.
But at the same time, feeling a little relief, she got up and bowed deeply to the prince.
*****
After leaving the hallway and entering the room Patrick had shown her, Letier collapsed onto the bed.
“I’m tired….”
“Princess!”
Lucy, who came in after her, approached Letier, who was lying face down.
“Lucy….”
“Are you back now? I was worried because the audience with Her Majesty took longer than expected.”
“After meeting Her Majesty the Empress, I came to see the Prince right away.”
“Huh, really?”
Lucy, who was sitting next to Letier taking off her shoes, turned to her.
Her expression showed that she was nervous about the prince’s condition.
“Oh, how is it? The prince’s condition… Is it very serious?”
“I didn’t see it.”
“Yes?”
After taking off her shoes completely, Letier turned over.
She lay there staring at the ceiling and blinking.
“He’s wearing a mask. He didn’t show his face easily.”
“Really? Oh my god… It must be terrible…. Princess! If you happen to see his face next time, be sure to take good care of your expression!”
Letier did not answer, recalling the audience with the Prince earlier.
Since he didn’t want to show his face, I looked carefully at the prince from head to toe in an attempt to find any clues.
The face wearing the mask was not visible at all, and the dark hair rising above it only looked healthy.
His neck was covered by the high collar of his uniform, and he was wearing dark gloves that completely covered his wrists, so the skin on the back of his hands could not be seen.
The rest of his body was completely obscured by his uniform and shoes, making it impossible to ascertain the condition of his skin.
Really…
“… He even wrapped it tightly.”
“Really? Ugh… Isn’t it stuffy? His skin will only get worse if he doesn’t get some air in time…”
“It’s more likely to be in people’s eyes.”
Letier let out a small sigh.
“So, I suppose that’s all you have to do today, Princess?”
“Perhaps?”
Lucy smiled and stood up.
Approaching one side of the room, Lucy opened the closet and pulled out a gray sack lying at the bottom.
“What is it?”
“What is it? These are the raw materials that the Princess purchased!”
“… Did you bring all of them?”
“You told me to prepare myself before we left, and I spoke to the palace caretaker, and he’s set up a laboratory for the princess in one of the many rooms here, so let’s go!”
I was so tired, but I couldn’t lie down when I saw Lucy’s face looking down at me with a big smile.
Even more so when I saw the Lenever Cosmetics badge glistening on her chest.
“Yeah, Lucy you’re amazing…”
Letier laughed with a tired face and raised her upper body from the bed.
*****
The next day, early in the morning, someone knocked on Letier’s door.
Letier, who had stayed up late last night researching new ingredients and had barely fallen asleep before dawn, furrowed her eyebrows as hard as she could.
I’m so sleepy, who’s that…
I heard a constant thump in my ears, but I couldn’t bear to get myself up.
Instead of Letier, Lucy, who was taking a break in the small room attached to her room, rushed out and opened the door.
“Who are you? Princess is still sleeping.”
“Oh, sorry. I am Prince Dante Loxate’s secretary. I stopped by briefly to tell you what the prince ordered.”
“If you tell me, I will deliver it to the princess.”
Lucy answered, keeping her voice as low as possible.
It was an action to avoid waking Letier, who was still sleeping soundly.
“There was a word that the prince would not visit the princess today because he has a schedule. So the princess can tour the imperial palace or visit the imperial library at your convenience.”
“All right.”
Behind Lucy, who was about to close the door after giving a short answer, Letier appeared in a gown.
“What is the prince doing today?”
“Ah, that…”
At Letier’s sudden question, the secretary put on a slightly puzzled expression.
After rolling his eyes for a moment, he opened his mouth again.
“… He will be in his room all day working on his backlog. He’s especially sensitive when he’s working, and he doesn’t let anyone into his room. Not even us.”
Sounds like you’re never coming.
Letier nodded in agreement, then went back into the room and lay down on the bed.
“Then, please rest.”
After the secretary said goodbye and disappeared, Lucy closed the door and approached Letier.
“Princess, isn’t the job harder than I thought? The prince is busy too… Thanks to that, there will be no problems with formulation experiments for the launch of a new product!”
“Huh…? I didn’t do that much experimenting yesterday…”
“So today you’re just going to pick up the experiments where you left off yesterday, or should I go ahead and wash the beakers?”
“Sure…”
Lucy already seemed excited.
But today I had other plans besides experimenting.
Letier, who was rubbing her eyes and struggling to wake up, slowly raised her upper body.
“I am going to the market today.”
After a while, after finishing all the preparations, Letier rented an imperial carriage with Lucy and headed for the commercial district.
Ephron rode from the back of the carriage and chased them.
When the carriage stopped at the entrance of the Krause commercial district, Lucy got out first and held Letier’s arm.
“Princess, are you going to the raw material store today?”
“There was a place I couldn’t stop by because it was closed the last time I visited, so I want to go there.”
Letier got off the carriage and started walking after Lucy.
The commercial district was narrow and had a lot of floating population, so it was difficult to move by carriage.
Come to think of it, was this place originally this messy?
Letier, who was walking on the road, looked around.
I was seeing things I hadn’t seen before, because I usually just went straight to my favorite ingredient store.
Children walking barefoot on the streets begging, skinny women, men holding trash cans and licking it…
Letier crawled over a lying person and watched a passing mouse, almost stepping into a dirty puddle.
“Princess.”
Ephron, who had been following behind, pulled Letier, who had been distracted.
“Be careful.”
“Eck! Princess, we must have entered the wrong place. We’re coming in from the west side of the commercial district… It was my first time coming from the direction of the imperial palace, so I was confused.”
“Lucy, is this where it used to be?”
“The west. We should have gone south… eww! Don’t look there!”
The unfamiliar scenery kept attracting attention.
It was the first time for Letier, who was born in the castle of a wealthy Duke and had lived her whole life, to see such a sight.
How can people live so poorly? The Imperial Palace of Trillante was so splendid and rich…?
Whether it was because the environment in which they lived was not good, or because they ate something strange, the reddish and black skin was also noticeable.
The commoners I met in the southern part of the commercial district weren’t like this…
Letier, who continued to glance at the people on the street, stopped when she noticed someone wandering among the people sitting helplessly.
“Huh?”
“Princess! Come on over here!”
She heard Lucy calling her from a little further away, but couldn’t turn her head.
“… Reuter?”
