Chapter 6 – Part 2

I quickly finished my tea, eager to leave.

The Crown Prince’s one-sided affection was doomed from the start.

It’s not that I’m saying I won’t be swayed because I’ve already given my heart to my diary friend. Nor am I saying that, as an outsider, I can’t get close to royalty.

I don’t even have to go that far to see how this will end.

If I were to reveal that I got into the Crown Prince’s palace through my father’s connections, wouldn’t this beautiful and idealistic Crown Prince immediately change the way he looks at me?

He was just too different from me. We were not a good match.

Considering how meticulous and particular the Crown Prince was, I was sure he would soon realize this.

And then, the feelings he claimed to have for me would quickly disappear.

Like frost that briefly glitters in the morning sun, melting away without a trace.

***

After finishing tea time, I returned to the tea storage room.

I tried to distract myself from thoughts of the Crown Prince by reading a novel, but it didn’t work.

‘It’s all because this book is such a mess.’

The book, titled “About the Incident of Becoming Unemployed After Hogging Everything Alone”, “I Am a Poor Man”—was utterly ridiculous.

The beginning was certainly a power fantasy story.

I got deeply immersed in the catharsis of watching the handsome protagonist, favored by a status system, dominate and seek revenge.

I expected the protagonist to heroically succeed and reach a happy ending.

But the world inside the book ended in disaster again!

“Why is it ending in disaster again? What was the point of going back in time if this is how it turns out?”

The protagonist decided to die along with the world that was collapsing for the second time, but the system, acting on its own, snatched him up and sent him to another world.

And in the process, all of the protagonist’s abilities were nerfed.

“What is this!”

Having narrowly survived alone, the protagonist lost all motivation.

He ended up lying around on the streets of a strange world until someone picked him up and kept him as a pet on a rainy day.

“The genre has completely changed!”

This wasn’t a power fantasy, a raid story, or a superhuman tale anymore.

The protagonist had become nothing more than a pet!

It was a hundred and twenty thousand words of sheer frustration.

Come to think of it, the title was ‘About the Incident of Becoming Unemployed After Hogging Everything Alone’.

“Well, I guess the title did warn me that he’d end up unemployed…”

But was this really what it meant?

I let out a deep sigh.

I almost threw the book in frustration but then remembered that I had borrowed it from Madeline, so I gently set it down on the table.

Why did Madeline lend me this book?

“Did I do something to upset Madeline…?”

I flipped through a few other books but quickly put them down as well.

No matter what I tried to read, I couldn’t focus. My thoughts kept drifting back to the Crown Prince, leaving my mind unsettled.

Even after dinner in the dining hall, followed by a slice of cake that Chef Kelsey had stashed away, I couldn’t calm down.

“I’m going to have to see him again soon!”

The Crown Prince’s post-dinner tea time was coming up.

Earlier, when he confessed to me, he mentioned that he’d try to win my affection from now on.

I had no idea what efforts he planned to make or how far he’d go.

***

For the Crown Prince’s post-dinner tea time, I served chamomile tea, as usual.

When the servants were out of sight, he whispered to me, 

“The chamomile tea you make tastes especially good.”

He smiled sweetly, his eyes curving in a gentle arc. Compared to his earlier declaration that he’d try to win my heart, this was a rather mild attempt.

I let out a sigh of relief.

‘If this is all he’s going to do, then maybe there won’t be much to worry about.’

But I completely misjudged the situation!

By the time I finished work and returned to my room, I was still troubled. Every time I let my guard down, I couldn’t help but recall the Crown Prince’s smile.

I never realized I was so vulnerable to a charming smile.

Feeling like my diary had become a comfort object, I hugged it and rolled around on my bed.

“Oh, life…”

After a while, I opened my diary to find a new entry from my diary friend.

[It seems like the person I like doesn’t really like me. But I’m going to try my best anyway.]

Even on such a confusing day, my diary friend remained a constant source of comfort.

I immediately sat at my desk and wrote a reply.

[That person has no taste!]

How could they be so blind? To not recognize such a gem right in front of them, they should get their eyes checked.

‘Oh, right, there’s no ophthalmologist here.’

In this world, hospitals weren’t as common as they were on Earth. Most places just made herbal medicines, so there was no need for ophthalmologists.

I should have told them to see a personal physician instead.

I comforted my downhearted diary friend until I drifted off to sleep.

Talking with my diary friend was the only time I could forget about the Crown Prince, and I cherished it.

***

The next day, after the Crown Prince’s morning tea time, I felt even more unsettled.

I shouted into the empty tea storage room as I pointlessly opened and closed the cabinets.

“It’s driving me crazy!”

And, of course, what was driving me crazy was the Crown Prince.

“It feels like I’m the only one who’s flustered while he’s perfectly calm.”

Even this morning, he smiled at me while sipping his tea. Now that he’d confessed and let it all out, it was like a dam had burst, and his charming smile was relentless.

He kept smiling at me whenever no one else was around, making it impossible not to notice.

Last night, his serene smile shone warmly against the backdrop of the candelabra and chandelier at the dinner table. This morning, his smile sparkled brightly in the morning sunlight.

What would he do next time?

I groaned and clutched my head.

“The more I sit still, the more I think about him. I need to do something!”

Cleaning was the best remedy in times like this. Sweeping, scrubbing, and organizing would help clear my mind.

I’d already sorted the tea leaves recently, so there wasn’t much to do. I began checking the dried fruits and herbs one by one.

“This is a linden flower.”

I took a small amount and sniffed it, but the sweet, fresh scent was faint.

Linden flower tea was known to be good for headaches and indigestion. Since the royal family rarely got sick, it was buried deep in the cabinet.

It could be used similarly to chamomile, but this batch of linden flowers had lost its freshness.

“Did this come in last year? Surely it wasn’t from two years ago.”

I set the linden flower tea caddy aside. I’d ask Madeline to take it when she came by next.

Next, I picked up the spearmint.

It seemed to be from last year, but it was still in good condition. It would be good to replace it with freshly picked and dried mint this spring.

As I crushed the mint leaves between my fingers and inhaled the scent, I remembered making Moroccan mint green tea not long ago.

‘The Crown Prince liked it when I served it iced…’

Oh no, I’d thought about the Crown Prince again.

I shook my head vigorously and moved on to check the other herbs.

Chamomile and lavender were already running low, likely because they had been used so frequently.

‘The Crown Prince enjoys chamomile tea every evening.’

I would need to buy a generous supply to stock up.

But where and how should I purchase it?

If I were staying at the family’s capital mansion during the social season as usual, I would have spent my allowance at a fancy tea shop.

In our territory, I would have summoned a merchant to the manor.

“Since this tea is for the Crown Prince’s residence, should I call the shopkeeper here? How do I do that? Should I bring them to the tea storage room?”

There are so many unknowns.

“This is all because I didn’t receive a proper handover. I had to start in a hurry…”

Even after checking the inventory ledger, it only showed where and how much tea had been purchased, but not how it was acquired in detail.

“Who should I ask? Maybe the head maid knows?”

It was almost time for the servants to have their meal. The Crown Prince had finished his breakfast and tea time not long ago.

If I headed to the servants’ dining room now, I might catch the head maid.

***