Chapter 2 – Part 1 (The Crown Prince’s hobby is firing servants)

Without a word, the Crown Prince pushed his handsome face towards me and acted strangely, so I gave him the drink. Even after going home, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

‘Is he picking on me on purpose?’

Why did he torment me during the day with sudden talks of tax policy and the carriage dilemma?

And why did he just stare at me without saying anything in the afternoon?

Neither of these seemed like healthy communication between a superior and a subordinate.

‘Why is he acting like this towards me?’

The fact that firing servants was both a hobby and a specialty of the Crown Prince was well-known among the palace staff.

But what if my skills are so perfect that he can’t find any fault to fire me over?

‘Is he tormenting me bit by bit so that I’ll quit on my own?’

Or could it be that he’s figured out I got this job through my father’s connections?

‘Is he giving me a hard time to punish me…?’

I wanted to share this troubling matter with my diary friend.

[Hey friend, can I talk to you about something?]

But no matter how long I waited, my diary friend’s handwriting didn’t appear in the diary.

I lay down on my bed, fiddling with my diary, and eventually fell asleep holding it close.

* * *

When I woke up in the morning, I saw a long letter in the diary.

[Sorry for the late reply. I had some urgent matters last night and couldn’t open the diary until late. Knowing that you have worries, I can’t help but be concerned. Even when I lie down to sleep, I can’t fall asleep. My head is spinning. But on the other hand, is it impolite to say that I’m glad you rely on me even a little when you’re troubled? I’m sorry and regretful that I can’t help much because I don’t know what you’re worried about…]

As always, my diary friend’s elegant handwriting filled a page of the diary.

‘Did he stay up all night writing such a heartfelt letter to me?’

My heart warmed at my friend’s affection.

I read the long letter repeatedly, then picked up my pen to leave a reply.

[Thank you so much for comforting me. I was really touched. Thanks to you, I think I can start today feeling refreshed and pleasant. Even without pointing out each thing, my heart feels so much lighter…]

‘I’m not afraid of the Crown Prince anymore.’

Because I have such a considerate and kind diary friend!

I will become stronger. And I will definitely endure this 100 gold salary job.

With that resolution, I headed to the tea storage room in the Crown Prince’s palace and ran into his attendant. The attendant looked worried.

I spoke to the attendant.

“What’s the matter?”

The attendant sighed deeply and replied.

“The Crown Prince didn’t sleep a wink last night.”

So he stayed up all night working.

‘Depending on whether he takes a nap today, I need to prepare different tea.’

The attendant continued.

“The Crown Prince will skip breakfast and take an early nap today.”

“Then herbal tea would be good.”

I decided to brew herbal tea that is caffeine-free and mild in taste. I also needed to get some easily digestible finger foods from the kitchen.

I concluded this and mixed the herbal tea in the tea storage room.

I combined honeybush leaves from the southern kingdom with a proper amount of marigold petals and a small amount of vanilla in a teapot.

After cooling the boiled water slightly, I poured it in, causing the honeybush leaves and marigold petals to swirl and dye the teapot with a warm color.

‘Ah, it’s beautiful.’

It was so fragrant and warm that I couldn’t help but think of my lovely diary friend.

I could only hope that someday I could serve this carefully prepared tea to that friend.

When I brought the tea and snacks, the Crown Prince was again alone in his office.

‘He looked so tired.’

He didn’t even bother to nitpick the tea and finger food I served, finishing them silently.

Then he leaned back on a plush, large sofa in the office and fell asleep as if fainting.

As I packed the empty plate and tea set onto the trolley, my gaze was drawn to the Crown Prince’s face.

When he closed his mouth and eyes, I understood why everyone praised his beauty so much.

The early morning sunlight broke through the clouds and poured through the window, softly illuminating the prince’s delicate, art-like face.

His eyelashes quivered slightly as if the light disturbed his sleep.

I leaned forward to cast a shadow over his eyes.

In that moment, a feeling of generosity filled me, hoping that the sunlight wouldn’t disturb his sleep.

Thin birdsong occasionally drifted in from outside. The soft, sweet scent of herbal tea lingered at my nose, and the warm sunlight caressed my back, making me feel dreamy and dazed.

It was a magical moment where everything was coincidentally perfect, like the alignment of stars.

I observed myself, detached from reality, as I tended to the man before me.

And I instinctively felt that something I had been longing for was fulfilled here and now. A sense of déjà vu as if I had experienced this moment before, and a premonition that it would continue endlessly passed through me.

It was so comfortable and serene that it felt like time could stop, and I wouldn’t mind at all.

But at that moment…

“…Rica, Erica…”

The Crown Prince called my name out of nowhere in his sleep.

Suddenly, reality came crashing down like a broken dam.

“…!”

Startled, I quickly collected myself and rushed out of the office.

The urgent sound of my footsteps and the rumbling of the trolley wheels echoed down the corridor.

* * *

“Oh, I’m going crazy! Crazy!”

Back in the now-familiar tea storage room, I reflected on what had just happened and felt like I was losing my mind.

“I must be really crazy!”

I tugged at my hair in frustration.

Earlier, I had been momentarily bewitched by how incredibly handsome the Crown Prince was.

“Honestly, that face is just irresistible…”

I always thought he was exceptionally good-looking.

But his temper was notoriously picky, and he fired people as easily as breathing, making every encounter feel like a crisis that I had to survive.

Now that he was asleep and peaceful, I could finally take in his face fully.

‘Is he even human? Or some kind of siren?’

His beauty was shocking and seductive, engraved in my retina and imprinted in my mind, never to be forgotten.

“But why does he talk in his sleep like that!”

Could he have been dreaming about me? Dreaming of finally firing me?

I tried to spend my time in the tea storage room as usual, reading a book. But the image of the Crown Prince sleeping in front of me kept appearing in my mind.

I banged my head on the table in frustration when I heard a knock at the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

When I went out, it seemed to be another attendant from the Crown Prince’s palace.

“Hello, Miss Erica”

“Oh, hello.”

“The Crown Prince will have a simple lunch in his office today.”

“Okay, then I’ll bring the tea to the office.”

The attendant who delivered the message quickly disappeared towards the kitchen.

I met the palace staff several times a day, but I didn’t know their names.

‘There’s no point in getting friendly with people who are going to be fired soon anyway.’

The attendant who had just visited was someone I saw for the first time today.

Yesterday, the attendant I saw got fired immediately after the Crown Prince caught him not washing his hands after using the bathroom. Chef Kelsey told me when I went to get the Crown Prince’s snacks earlier.

‘But that attendant kind of deserved to be fired, right?’

It turns out the Crown Prince occasionally has valid reasons for firing people.