“But I have seen how His Royal Highness has used the perfume, and it didn’t seem to be a rare material…ah… listening to him, it appeared to be made out of sugar cane?” Seeing the puzzled look on May’s face, Carter added, “A sugar cane is just like a sweet stick, it is a typical crop of the Fjords, which looks like a stick. When you bite into it, you get a mouthful of sweet water. Currently, it is only planted in the castle’s backyard, but next time when I see His Royal Highness, I will ask him if I can take one out.”
Once again, it was His Highness the Prince… Since May had come to this town, the name she had heard the most of was Ronald Wimbledon. Whether it was Irene or Cater, whenever they talked about the changes happening in Border Town, they would always mention him. It seemed that His Highness was omniscient and there was nothing he didn’t know. Furthermore, all of these new things had been created by him.
Even when thinking this way, May’s face still showed her usual expression, “No, if it could be used to make perfume, it has to be a very rare crop. Especially the perfume formula, that could be sold to any Alchemicalworkshop for an incredibly high price. You must never make discreet inquiries about this to His Highness, even in case you see it, you shouldn’t speak about it.”
“All right,” Carter said and took a handkerchief, putting four pieces of soap into it.
“Will you really buy so many of them?”
“The most a person can buy are two of these. So we will pretend to buy them separately and when we leave I will give them all to you — let’s first leave before you start disagreeing.” The knight raised his hand to interrupt May who wanted to say something, “When I use mine up, I can still go to His Highness to ask for new ones, but when they are sold out here, you never know when they will get new goods. So, by taking these four, you can use them for a very long time.”
When May saw her counterpart’s serious expression, it seemed as if her heart suddenly started burning. And for a long time, she just pursed her lips, not saying another word, just silently watched how the knight wrap up the perfume soup.
“Since we are already here let’s look at some other commodities,” he laughingly said as he held the bundle.
…
When she returned to her “home” in Border Town, the outside skies had already become dim.
The last light of the day falling through the curtain decorated the room with a touch of orange.
Since she had stayed to perform the second drama, May had received the same set of rooms as Irene. Although it wasn’t very large, it was still fully furnished.
After placing the novelty goods she’d bought from the convention market one by one on the table, there was in addition to the four perfumed soaps along with a bottle of wine.
This bottle of wine and the common wine found in pubs were different. It had almost no color and was instead pure and transparent with no difference to water. She remembered that according to the products description it was called White Liquor, having a higher concentration of alcohol, it wasn’t suitable to be ingested in larger amounts.
‘White Liquor’, she smiled, looking at it from its outer appearance, it really suited its name.
Pulling out the wooden cork, May poured herself a cup. Raising the cup, a burst of flavor hit her face and entered her nose directly, making her frown. However, after the first strong scent, a bouquet of delicious flavors entered her nose, they were sweet and mellow, not like the inferior watered wine from the taverns.
As a result of devoting herself to acting and the high amount of attention that gathered, May seldom went to the pubs. When a play became a great success, and the theater collective went to celebrate, only then would she follow them to go drink two cups of wine. Making sure that she never reached the state of becoming drunk where she’d be unable to speak as she had witnessed numerous actors who got so drunk that they forgot all sense of self-control. Instead, she was always controlling her drinking so that it would never affect her mind.
However, today May had a strong impulse to want to get drunk. Otherwise, she would have never bought such expensive Liquor against Carter’s advice. Wanting to try the story she had heard from other actors, that when they got drunk, they would be able to shield of all distraction and concerns, seeing the true answer that lay at the bottom of their heart.
