Chapter 1 – Part 6

“This is so interesting!”

It had been a long time since I had such a satisfying read.

The emperor in ‘The Great Depression’ met the protagonist by chance when they were young and fell head over heels into a feverish first love.

With the power of love, he overcame his rivals, ascended the throne, and earned the nickname “Bloodthirsty Tyrant.”

Years passed, and he finally reunited with the protagonist, who didn’t recognize him.

The soft, peach-like boy had grown tall and strong and returned covered in blood.

“Of course, she wouldn’t recognize him.”

Will the tyrant emperor’s first love come true?

I was eager to keep reading, but…

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the tea room door, so I had to close the book.

When I opened the door, it was another attendant of the Crown Prince.

“His Highness will finish lunch earlier than usual today. Please prepare the tea immediately.”

“What did he have this time?”

“He had white asparagus soup, grilled monkfish, and beef tenderloin steak. For dessert, he will have fruit sorbet.”

Looks like he had a splendid meal.

If he’s having fruit sorbet for dessert, a refreshing and cool tea would be good.

“Iced Moroccan mint green tea, you’re up!”

Moroccan mint green tea is traditionally made with gunpowder green tea leaves rolled into balls.

But the tea room in the Crown Prince’s palace didn’t have those leaves.

“It’s full of only high-quality, whole-leaf teas. It is the royal palace, after all!”

I had to use some appropriate tea leaves instead, but that was no problem for me.

I quickly brewed the green tea and got plenty of ice from the kitchen.

“Now, adding spearmint and sugar will complete it!”

I prepared the Moroccan mint green tea and brought it to the dining room of the Crown Prince’s palace with a larger-than-usual glass.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought your tea.”

The Crown Prince looked at me with expectant eyes.

Does he like my tea that much?

If I brag to the head maid, will I get a raise?

“It’s called… Moroccan mint green tea.”

Oops, I made a mistake. This place has mint and green tea, but not Morocco.

The Crown Prince tilted his head in curiosity as I stumbled over my words.

“What is ‘Moroccan mint’?”

A puzzled expression on a handsome face was lethal!

Maybe it was because I didn’t get enough sleep last night, but my heart skipped a beat.

I mustn’t fall for His Highness’s handsome face.

He’s a perfectionist and incredibly picky.

He’s even fired maids because the new curtains didn’t suit the season.

If I let my guard down, he’ll find fault with something again!

I quickly responded with quick thinking.

“It’s just… a special kind of mint that came into the tea room, so I named it.”

“I see.”

Phew, I passed.

I filled the large glass with ice and poured in the strong brewed Moroccan mint green tea. The sound of the ice cracking was refreshing.

The Crown Prince took a sip of the tea and, finding it to his taste, downed the whole glass in one go.

I refilled the glass with more tea.

This time, he sipped it slowly and commented.

“The balance between mint and green tea is excellent.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Moroccan mint green tea can sometimes have its green tea flavor overshadowed by the mint. So, I used relatively strong roasted tea leaves from the tea room.

He noticed that? The Crown Prince knows his tea.

Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

As I was considering the Crown Prince’s character, he suddenly asked me a surprise question.

“What do you think about the empire’s tax policy?”

Excuse me? What?

“The tax policy… Your Highness?”

“Yes.”

I hurriedly tried to think.

“It can’t be said that there are no improvements to be made in the way the head tax and property tax are assessed… but it’s uncertain whether the additional taxes discovered would justify the cost of making such improvements. In terms of efficiency, I think the current system isn’t bad.”

Did I answer well? Or did I sound a bit foolish?

After all, he’s the Crown Prince and the one collecting taxes, so maybe I should have answered more positively?

‘But why is he suddenly asking about this?’

Forget what I thought about him being a somewhat decent guy.

I managed my expression with all my might, though the corners of my mouth trembled slightly.

Then the Crown Prince stared at me for a moment before asking another, equally random, question.

“You are driving a carriage across a narrow bridge, and there are five people lying on the bridge. Your passenger in the carriage can’t swim. Would you steer the carriage into the river, or run over the five people on the bridge?”

“…Can’t I just stop the carriage?”

“No, you can’t.”

Wow, I really hate this.

I thought for a moment and then said.

“Then I would steer the carriage into the river.”

“Even though your passenger would drown?”

“I would save them before they drowned. I can swim well.”

“What if it’s impossible?”

“How could it be impossible?”

“Assume that it is… impossible.”

“I’d make it possible!”

Oops, I let irritation slip into my voice without realizing it.

I belatedly shut my mouth, feeling a prick of guilt.

‘I almost raised my voice at the Crown Prince!’

I glanced at his expression with a furtive roll of my eyes. He looked somewhat sullen.

‘I should have held back. Ah, why did I do that?’

The atmosphere in the dining room became irreparably awkward.

In the suffocating silence, His Highness drank his iced Moroccan mint tea in large gulps.

* * *

I sat in my familiar spot in the tea room, sighing as I reflected on the recent tea time.

“The trolley dilemma—or in this case, the carriage dilemma—has no correct answer.”

But my answer must not have been what the Crown Prince was looking for.

Pleasing a boss who already has a set answer in mind is also part of my job as a tea-serving maid.

“What answer was His Highness hoping for?”

Did he not like my answer about jumping into the river?

Did he prefer the idea of boldly running over the five people on the bridge with the carriage?

‘If so, he should have given me a hint!’

I decided to remember the Crown Prince’s extreme tastes I discovered today.

Then, to shake off thoughts of His Highness, I immersed myself in reading the novel throughout my free time.<The Emperor is obsessed with the Duchess who was in the marriage of convenience with the terminally Ill Duke >, or <The Great Depression> for short!>In the novel, the tyrant emperor doesn’t care about the opinions of others and immediately proposes to the protagonist.

“This guy is like a human bulldozer! Why does he only know how to go straight?”

The protagonist, barely learning of the emperor’s plan in time, shouts, “I can’t marry the bloodthirsty tyrant emperor!” and runs full speed to the terminally ill duke, proposing a contract marriage.

“The protagonist is really straightforward.”

The terminally ill duke, a wealthy man, hadn’t found a suitable bride due to his terminal illness.

On the verge of becoming an old bachelor, the protagonist’s proposal was a godsend, so he gladly accepted.

“Whoa, a loveless contract marriage…”

But it was just a smoke screen, as the wealthy duke had secretly loved the protagonist for a long time!

The protagonist had no idea.

“Just tell her you like her already, just say it!”

If you love her, don’t just sit there and sign a contract, confess already.

‘Is the duke the male lead, or is it the tyrant emperor?’

I was so engrossed in the book that time flew by.

Before I knew it, my free time was over, and I had to start preparing for the Crown Prince’s afternoon tea time.

They said it was to soothe the hunger between lunch and dinner.

“Ah, I really don’t want to work.”

What strange topic will His Highness quiz me on this time?

Earlier, he suddenly asked about the empire’s tax policy, then brought up the unrelated trolley dilemma.

“How can my boss be such an unpredictable guy?”

Come to think of it, the Crown Prince seemed to be eating all day, yet how does he stay so slim?

It’s unfair.

He eats breakfast and drinks tea, has a full course lunch with dessert, drinks more tea, has an afternoon snack with tea, has tea at every meeting, then finishes a hearty dinner with more tea, yet his jawline remains sharp.

“He’s really quite handsome…”

No matter how much he eats, not gaining weight is indeed a handsome trait.

I headed to the kitchen to pick up the tea food for the unfairly handsome prince. I arrived at the kitchen door and called for the chef.

“Chef Kelsey!”

“Miss Erica, you’re here?”

Chef Kelsey greeted me warmly in the bustling kitchen.

Kelsey, who could be my mother, always doted on me, often giving me leftover pie slices or fruit. She loved watching me eat, saying I had a hearty appetite.

Kelsey’s food is always delicious.

I returned to the tea room with a generous portion of her newly made snacks.

“Today’s snack is chicken salad sandwiches. They’re cut into bite-sized pieces—so cute and charming!”

I quickly devoured one or two in the tea room, then selected a suitable tea to place on the trolley and headed to the Crown Prince’s office.

Kelsey’s sandwiches, as always, were incredibly tasty.

The shredded chicken br*ast, lightly mixed with creamy sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper, and garnished with a perfect blend of spices, was truly exceptional.

However, I didn’t sample the Crown Prince’s snack just to satisfy my own hunger.

I needed to taste it first to select the perfect tea pairing. Really.