Simons opened the lid of the tin box as if familiar with it, took a butter-scented cookie, bit into it in one mouthful, and said with a troubled face.

“Well… I’m not sure if I should tell this story… You know, to work in the imperial palace for a long time, one must keep their mouth shut.”

It was something he always said whenever he brought up various stories related to the imperial family. He says everything he wants to say every time while saying that. Even though he keeps his mouth shut, it’s bound to be difficult to live with many secrets.

“Of course. I know very well. I also know that the reason Sir Simons has been working and respected in the imperial palace for a long time is because you keep secrets well.”

“Haha. Indeed, only young lady Jane appreciates it. Since young lady Jane is not someone who would talk carelessly elsewhere, I’ll tell you. In fact, I’ve been wanting to confide in someone.”

I gave him a smile, a symbol of trust. It was an expression I usually made when giving hope of treatment to anxious patients, and it worked well on Simons too.

“Well, it’s already a widely spread story throughout the capital. Do you know about the incident where lady McCain helped His Highness Prince Daniel when he was almost hit by a horse?”

I nodded at those words. The incident where a delicate noble lady intervened in front of a rampaging horse to save His Highness the Prince was that famous.

“I roughly know about that incident from the stories I’ve heard… But why did the horse rampage like that? They wouldn’t normally put His Highness the Prince on a dangerous horse, would they? His Highness the Prince could have been seriously injured.”

“Actually, that horse belonged to His Highness Crown Prince Ian.”

“The Crown Prince’s horse?”

“It’s a horse that has been with His Highness Ian for a long time. It was once a wild horse, so it’s stubborn and doesn’t easily serve its master. His Highness Daniel insisted on having it as a birthday present and tried to ride it forcefully…”

It seems this trouble occurred because of the Prince’s unnecessary stubbornness. Lady McCain, who got hurt trying to save him, was the only one to be pitied.

“Is she alright?”

“Lady McCain, who did such a great deed, shows no signs of recovery…”

“Well, she was kicked by an excited horse…”

It seemed there was no possibility of her regaining consciousness.

“The imperial family is holding continuous official meetings, worrying about how to repay her. Meanwhile, His Highness the Crown Prince is concerned about that dream and directly ordered this old man to check on young lady Jane’s well-being…”

“As you can see, Sir Simons, I’m perfectly fine like this.”

He nodded satisfactorily at my words. I poured a little more brandy into his cup for him, who was still trembling.

He thanked me and took another sip. As he was drinking tea, he suddenly looked at the grandfather clock tucked away in a corner of the pharmacy.

“By the way, about that grandfather clock.”

“Ah… It doesn’t really match this space, does it?”

The grandfather clock decorated with a golden dragon was out of place in the rustic interior of the pharmacy, which was packed with medicinal ingredients even in the smallest gaps, with no small ornaments.

“It’s not that it doesn’t match, but it’s not common for people to possess dragon decorations that usually symbolize the Emperor.”

“That’s true.”

Jane just glossed over it with a smile.

That grandfather clock was said to have been received from the imperial family by her great-great-grandfather, and it was originally decorated with real pure gold.

But as the family fortunes declined, they sold the golden dragon and asked a woodworker they knew to make a wooden decoration exactly like the original one and paint it gold.

It was an item that her grandfather couldn’t bear to throw away even when he was moving from country to country.

By now, the amount of falling rain had considerably decreased. Simons neatly folded the blanket he had draped over his shoulders and placed it on the chair as he stood up.

“Well then, I must be going now. I need to report to His Highness the Crown Prince that young lady Jane is safe and sound.”

“Take care on your way back.”

Even as I saw Simons off, I thought that what happened to lady McCain had nothing to do with me.

I just considered it an unfortunate incident for a young lady, never imagining that her situation would soon become my own.

I moved the pen holder, which was so elaborately decorated with silver that just holding it made me feel honored, writing on the smooth paper.

“The more I think about it, there are more than one or two suspicious things.”

If nothing special had happened to me, it would have been just an ordinary day that I would have passed without thinking much. But if I had opened my eyes in someone else’s body after dying, even trivial matters would weigh on my mind.

“Moreover, it’s strange that my memories are in such a mess…”

What I’m writing now is about what happened to me in the past month, that is, the month before I died.

“My memories really come in fragments.”

Of course, no one remembers past events in minute detail. Memories are volatile and easily fade away. But my memories of the past month were ridiculously messy.

I realized that my memories were a mess by pure chance.

While talking with Ileana, the topic of the Pottery Festival came up. The Pottery Festival is a festival where people throw red powder at each other to shake off the misfortunes of the year.

On that day, the streets are filled with red mist. The event where everyone wears white clothes and throws red powder at each other is spectacular, but as a pharmacist, it’s not a welcome festival for me.

The pharmacy gets busy because of people complaining of pain from red powder getting into their eyes, or those who get injured in the large crowds.

It was clearly strange that I had no memory at all of this day, treating people covered in red powder all day long.

That’s when it started. When I began to feel anxious that I might have forgotten very important things. I felt like I was wandering through a foggy forest path. So I tried to forcibly retrieve and organize my memories.

“The immediately strange things are Ian’s prophetic dream where I was crushed by a dragon, and what the head butler mentioned about ‘the day the dragon comes down to earth, works magic, and returns’? Is all this dragon magic or what.”

The unrealistic existence of ‘dragons’ made my thought process stop, but I decided to write it down anyway. Since what happened to me wasn’t realistic, I thought the cause might not be realistic either.

Ironically, I didn’t have a clear memory of the night when the fire broke out in the pharmacy. Ridiculously, only the memory of being crushed under the dragon grandfather clock remained vivid.

I think someone might have entered the pharmacy… But because my memories were a mess, I couldn’t solely blame the fire on an intruder. Since my memories weren’t clear now, I could mistakenly suspect an innocent person.

“Still, I should at least write it down.”

As I was about to touch the pen tip to my tongue to make a list, I abruptly stopped.

“Ileana would be shocked if my tongue and teeth turned black.”

The ink I used in the pharmacy was cheap with many impurities mixed in. The ink would dry up at the pen tip after writing just a few characters.

When writing large amounts of text, I had to put the pen tip in my mouth to prevent the ink from clumping. But the ink used in this mansion was different.

It didn’t solidify easily, so the writing was smooth even without applying saliva. Nevertheless, I habitually tried to touch the pen tip to the tip of my tongue. It was a habit I’d developed living as a poor pharmacist all my life, so it wasn’t easy to break.

Suddenly, I felt irritated.

“No, why are those memories of that one month important? I’m already overwhelmed just trying to adapt to this body right now…”

I grumbled, throwing the pen onto the paper.

“I thought nobles just lived comfortably without worries… Do you need etiquette even for breathing!”

Feeling somewhat frustrated, I gulped down the cold tea I had poured into the teacup in one go.

After hearing the doctor’s diagnosis that I had lost my memory, Ileana decided to teach me the basic qualities of a noble lady from the beginning.

I protested, asking if I really had to learn such formalities, but it was useless. She said nothing was more important to nobles than keeping up appearances.

I had no choice but to nod at her firm attitude. Now that I was living as Claire, a noble lady, not Jane the pharmacist, I had to accept my new life.

Still, I was confident because I didn’t resist learning new things and was quick to learn. I was sure I would soon master the etiquette of the nobles. But that was my arrogance and a great misconception.

When I said I would first learn the theory through books, Ileana handed me a book called ‘Etiquette of Social Circles’. It was an incredibly thick book with 380 pages.

Seeing my dismayed face, Ileana added in a matter-of-fact tone, “This is this year’s book. Although a new revised edition comes out every year, the trends in social circles move even faster, so you have to learn the important things directly. Just think of it as referring to the basic etiquette part.”

I was confident I would learn quickly, but that was only in cases of acquiring new knowledge.