8. Operation “Winning Favor” — Success!
Princess Lysa twisted her lips and spoke in a sullen tone.
The other maids looked flustered at her response, but Hailey simply smiled brightly.
‘Of course. A young princess in the imperial palace has to be a tsundere.’
After all, that was a classic trope in romance-fantasy novels.
“Oh my, is that so? I didn’t realize. My apologies,”
Hailey replied smoothly with practiced ease, and Princess Lysa turned her head away with a pout.
Her neatly tied silver hair swayed prettily as she moved.
“Hmph!”
It seemed Princess Lysa had a much more sensitive and sharp personality than her mother, the Grand Duchess.
‘Well, that’s understandable.’
Her father had been deposed and stripped of his title, and because of that, Lysa wasn’t officially recognized as a full-fledged princess.
She was cut off from interactions with other royals or nobles and spent all her time confined to the Detached Palace.
‘Is her only friend… books?’
Even now, there were five or six books spread across the table.
Introduction to Political Science
A Proper Guide to Swordsmanship
On the Effectiveness of Magic in Politics
Each one looked thick, difficult, and completely inappropriate for a twelve-year-old. Hailey couldn’t help but shrug.
‘Isn’t it a bit excessive for a twelve-year-old to read?’
Though it would make sense if Princess Lysa were a hidden genius character…
‘Still, a child is a child.’
As someone with two years of experience working part-time at a kids’ cafe, Hailey smiled knowingly.
“I’m not eating these, so take them back.”
The princess said curtly, pushing the cookie plate away.
“Oh my, they’re really delicious cookies. Are you sure you won’t try one?”
“I already told you—I’m not a kid who likes cookies.”
“But Her Grace the Grand Duchess enjoyed them very much.”
“My mother did?”
Princess Lysa finally looked up from her book and turned her gaze toward Hailey.
“Of course. As soon as the cookies were baked, I brought them to Her Grace the Grand Duchess, and she said they were absolutely delicious.”
That wasn’t a lie.
In the imperial palace, whenever a special treat was prepared, it was always presented to the mistress—Her Grace—the Grand Duchess, first.
Today, as well, the cookies were offered up, and even the notoriously picky Grand Duchess had praised them.
“What a delightful treat.”
“She said they were so good, she cleared the whole plate,” Hailey added.
“She really said that?” Lysa asked.
Okay, maybe that part was a bit of an exaggeration.
The Grand Duchess wasn’t one to eat something tasty all by herself. Naturally, after trying a few cookies, she’d passed the rest to her maids.
“You all should try them too.”
That’s what she’d said.
‘Still, the Grand Duchess really did say they were delicious, so it’s not like I’m lying.’
“She said you’d like them too, Princess, and asked me to bring them to you.”
“……”
Princess Lysa’s eyes drifted back to the plate of cookies. Her soft pink lips pursed as if in contemplation. Then, as though she had made a firm decision, she spoke.
“If Mother sent them… I suppose I can’t refuse. Leave them there.”
Though her voice remained aloof, she lowered her head back toward her book.
‘If I push her any more, it might backfire.’
Having plenty of experience with kids, Hailey knew better than to press further.
‘Still, it’d be a waste to leave just like this…’
“Have you finished with these books, Princess? If so, I can put them back on the shelf.”
“Do as you please,” Lysa replied bluntly, not even glancing up from her book.
Unbothered, Hailey gathered the books from the table with a smile.
“You have quite a way with words.”
Standing in front of the bookshelf was the Princess’s governess, Madam Fynen, smiling warmly at her.
“You’re the first one to ever get Her Highness to change her mind.”
“I apologize if I overstepped. I’ve worked with children around the Princess’s age quite a lot… so I have a bit of an idea of how to approach them.”
Hailey worried for a moment that she might sound presumptuous, but Madam Fynen only kept smiling.
“Children that age are always hard to manage. Still, if you have the time, do come visit and keep Her Highness company,” the governess said gently.
At her suggestion, Hailey quietly cheered in her heart.
Second operation success!
“It would be an honor for me. I’ll do my best to be a companion Her Highness enjoys speaking with.”
“How admirable,” Madam Fynen replied with a warm smile.
She then turned her head slightly to glance at the princess.
“It would be wonderful if Her Highness could visit other palaces and make friends she gets along with…”
Her voice was laced with regret. Hailey nodded sympathetically.
“Now that you mention it, Lady Lirisa of the Autumn Palace is around the same age. I think she and the princess would get along well.”
“That may be true, but…”
The governess trailed off, then slowly shook her head as if dismissing the thought.
“No, that was foolish of me. Her Highness tends to avoid people. She struggles to connect with other royals.”
That remark made Hailey pause.
‘Even if she’s not sociable, she’s still a princess. It’s odd for her to stay cooped up in the palace all the time. Is there another reason for it?’
Could she have some secret illness?
This family does have a history of hereditary madness…
“Shh.”
The governess suddenly pressed a finger to her lips and tugged gently at Hailey’s sleeve.
Following her gaze, Hailey turned toward the princess, and her eyes widened.
“Oh my…”
Princess Lysa was reaching stealthily for the cookie plate Hailey had left earlier.
Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, she sneakily picked up a cookie and popped it into her mouth.
Crunch.
The moment her teeth sank into the chocolate-covered cookie—
“!”
Her violet eyes, inherited from the Grand Duchess, widened in delight.
As she chewed slowly, savoring the taste, a look of pure bliss spread across her face.
‘She looks exactly like a kindergartener tasting a candy for the first time.’
Hailey couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.
After finishing the first cookie, Princess Lysa hesitated for a moment.
‘She wants more, but she’s too self-conscious with others around. In that case…’
“Ahem, ahem.”
Hailey let out a deliberate little cough, and the princess, who had just been reaching for another cookie, quickly pulled her hand back.
Bowing politely, Hailey said,
“Then I’ll take my leave for today. I’ll be sure to bring even tastier treats next time, Your Highness.”
Even at Hailey’s sweet tone, the princess merely huffed with a pout, keeping her aloof expression intact.
But Hailey secretly chuckled when she spotted a crumb still clinging to the princess’s plump little lips.
Operation Line-Up: Success, once again!
***
“When brewing black tea, always remember the three key principles: the amount of water, the amount of tea, and the steeping time.”
Senior maid Maria carefully added tea leaves into the teapot. The apprentice maids gathered around the table and slowly edged closer.
“Before anything else, don’t forget to preheat the teapot and cups. If you can’t manage even that, you may as well not brew tea at all. You’d just be wasting fine leaves.”
“We’ll keep that in mind, my Lady,” replied Olga quickly, who had been standing nearby.
“Even in the royal palace, the method of brewing tea doesn’t change. All it takes is following the proper steps and preparing it with care.”
Drip, drip.
As the senior maid poured the water, the tea leaves in the pot floated up and down energetically.
“The leaves must move like this—only then will the tea steep properly. The key is pouring the water with enough force to hit the leaves. Now, it’s your turn to try.”
With the demonstration complete, the senior maid stepped back. The apprentices each began preparing tea using their own tea sets.
“For today’s tea time, the Grand Duchess will be served the tea one of you brews. I’ll pick the one who does it best, so make sure you do it properly.”
At her words, the apprentices’ hands moved with even greater urgency.
‘To think we might serve the Grand Duchess herself!’
For the apprentice maids who had yet to shed their apprentice status, this was a golden opportunity to earn the Grand Duchess’s favor. As a result, fierce competition erupted among them.
“Betty! If you use up all the hot water, how am I supposed to brew the tea?”
“You can just boil more! Besides, I boiled that water in the first place!”
“Wait a minute! I’m using the blue teacup. Her Grace the Grand Duchess likes blue.”
“But I grabbed it first. You can use the black one over there.”
“Lisa, I didn’t think you were like this. How petty.”
Overflowing with enthusiasm, the apprentice maids even got into these petty arguments.
Then…
Crash!
A loud clatter echoed as the jar containing the tea leaves fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. Naturally, the precious tea leaves from Mount Simodel inside spilled everywhere.
“Olga! What on earth are you doing?!”
Dorothy, who had just been about to take some tea from the jar, turned to her fellow apprentice in shock.
“Oh, my bad. My hand slipped,” Olga replied shamelessly.
Dorothy exploded with anger at Olga’s shameless response.
“What do you mean? I saw you push the jar! You were trying to make sure I couldn’t use the tea leaves, weren’t you?”
These were rare leaves, specially delivered from the Grand Duchess’s homeland, the Duchy of Simodel. So precious that even Baroness Darmang, the head lady-in-waiting, personally oversaw their handling.
“Do you have any proof I did it on purpose?”
“Ugh…”
“Don’t go accusing people without evidence.”
Dorothy bit her lip in frustration while Olga continued nonchalantly.
“Anyway, it was my mistake, so I’ll tell the head maid later. You can just go grab a spare batch from the storage, right?”
“If I go all the way to the storage, I’ll miss the tea time!”
“That’s your problem. Why should I care about that?”
As Olga sneered, Judith and Sarah, standing beside her, burst into laughter.
“Serves you right for not securing your share of the tea in advance.”
“If it were me, I’d be running to the storage already.”
Their mocking tone turned Dorothy’s face bright red.
“Those nasty girls are at it again,” Linda murmured under her breath to Hailey beside her.
“Just because they’re from noble families, they think they’re all that. It’s disgusting.”
Hailey agreed.
“Oh! If we’re out of the Simodel tea, we can just use this instead,” Olga said, pulling out a dark tea jar.
Dorothy’s face crumpled at the sight.
“That’s the Tamara Mountain tea leaves blend for the servants! Are you seriously suggesting we serve that to Her Grace the Grand Duchess?”