Chapter 6 – Part 9

Then, noticing me standing in the hallway, she raised her eyebrows in surprise and smiled brightly.

“Erica, it’s been a while!”

“Lady Pavia, how have you been?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

Lady Pavia shrugged her shoulders.

“Cecil, this is Erica from the Count of Marnel. And Erica, this is my cousin, Cecil.”

We exchanged awkward smiles and greetings.

However, I noticed that Cecil’s hands were empty, and there was nothing resembling tea leaves among the people following him.

“Cecil, what about the item I requested?”

“Well, I was just about to go pick it up… really…”

Cecil averted his eyes and fidgeted with his fingers.

Lady Pavia put her hand on her forehead.

At that moment, the ducal household’s people milling about the hallway caused a commotion, and hearing the noise, the aide suddenly burst out of the office.

“My calculator!”

The aide rushed over and waved a sheet of paper in front of Cecil’s face, asking,

“What’s the square root of the sum of the squares of the differences between the first row’s mean and each row, divided by the number of rows?”

“…19.34.”

“Thank you, thank you!”

The aide, thrilled with the remarkable performance, practically carried Cecil off in triumph, oblivious to everything else.

I found myself alone in the hallway with Lady Pavia.

Today, she looked particularly exhausted.

Feeling somewhat sympathetic, I suggested,

“Lady Pavia, how about a cup of tea?”

“I won’t refuse. Let’s sit for a bit.”

I led Lady Pavia to a nearby reception room and quickly prepared some refreshments, setting them on the table.

As she sighed deeply, Lady Pavia once again said she wished she had a sister like me.

She patted me on the head a lot before she left. Maybe it was some form of animal therapy.

I was relieved to see that Lady Pavia looked much better after having tea.

After seeing her off, I finally managed to catch a servant and sent them on an errand for ‘Wynora’s tea leaves.’

* * *

Two days later.

Madeline visited the tea storage room.

I assumed she was here to collect more tea leaves.

“There aren’t any spare leaves right now; I think we’ll have to wait for a new batch to arrive to send to the Rose Palace.”

“That’s not why I’m here today. Duke Oscar is asking for your tea.”

A new job was on the horizon.

Madeline continued explaining,
“Yesterday, Duke Oscar and Her Majesty the Empress had tea time together. Duke Oscar was quite taken with the tea served, and it turns out it was one you blended. So, he’s requesting the same tea.”

“Which tea was it?”

“He said it was refreshing yet robust, with a luxurious yet understated flavor.”

What does that even mean? Seriously, how am I supposed to make tea from that description?

But it was my duty to satisfy my client.

I clenched and unclenched my fists and asked Madeline again,

“Did he mention what color the tea was?”

“Clear brown.”

Not very helpful. Most teas are a clear brown.

Still, I didn’t give up and started thinking.

‘Since the tea was brown, it couldn’t have contained hibiscus.’

Hibiscus turns tea bright red.

Green tea was also out. It could have been oolong, but black tea seemed more likely.

I narrowed down two recent black tea blends I had sent to the Imperial Palace that might fit the description of “refreshing yet robust, with a luxurious yet understated flavor.”

I packed those blends into tea caddies and handed them to Madeline.

“One of these two should be what Duke Oscar mentioned.”

“Thank you, Erica!”

I had a feeling this might happen more often in the future.

I asked Madeline for her opinion.

“Would it be easier if I started naming the teas I blend?”

“That would be nice. What will you call the ones you just made?”

I was so exhausted from trying to guess the blend that I didn’t have the energy to come up with grand names.

“The one on the left is 0414-01, and the one on the right is 0414-02.”

“…You don’t mean that’s because you made the first and second teas on April 14th, do you?”

“That’s exactly it. And I start counting from zero. 0414-00 is the tea I gave His Highness this morning.”

“Who names teas like that? Where’s the romance, the romance!”

Madeline scolded me and then decided to name the tea blends herself based on the ingredients.

“This one has cornflower petals, right? Then let’s call it ‘Summer’s Joy.’”

“But that black tea was harvested in the spring.”

“Oh, come on!”

Madeline and I continued naming the other blended teas.

Finally, it seemed we were ready for her to leave with the tea caddies… but then Madeline pulled a book out of her coat.

“Ta-da!”

“What’s with the book?”

“It’s the second volume of ‘About the Incident of Becoming Unemployed After Hogging Everything Alone’”.

“Oh…”

“What’s with that reaction?”

“The first volume was so boring. I’m not excited about the second one.”

“What? You found it boring?”

Madeline looked genuinely shocked.

I explained, “I mean, come on. If the protagonist’s return to the past can’t prevent the end of the world, what was the point of going back in the first place?”

“That’s what makes it interesting! Isn’t it fun to watch a tragic handsome guy get all heartbroken and despairing?”

Madeline thumped the table and raised her voice.

Now it was my turn to be surprised.

‘Wow, Madeline’s taste is… something else…’

Madeline continued,

“Especially on page 189 of the first volume, where the protagonist fails to save his sister in the end. Wasn’t that just amazing? The way he’s too devastated to even cry, just being sad— it was the best.”

“Geez… you’re really something else.”

“What? It’s just a novel, after all.”

I slowly started to edge away from Madeline, who looked at me with a wounded expression.

“Just trust me and read the second volume!”

“No thanks. That trust was already shattered with the first one.”

“Rejection denied. I’m leaving the second volume here!”

“Madeline!”

“I’m telling you, it’s really good!”

Madeline left the second volume on the table and took off.

“Sigh.”

Without much expectation, I lazily flipped through the pages of the book until a suspicious word caught my eye.

“Handcuffs…?”

The handsome protagonist who had been transported to another dimension, left wandering the streets alone.

Then, on a rainy day, a master picked him up and took him in.

And that master did something quite intense.

Using a pair of hunter’s restraining handcuffs taken from the protagonist’s inventory!

“Wow, now that’s someone who knows what they’re doing. Whoa… I didn’t know they could be used like that.”

Madeline, I’m sorry for doubting your taste!

From now on, I’ll trust any book you recommend.

* * *

A few days later, a new week began.

I woke up feeling great in the morning sunshine. For some reason, I was in unusually good spirits.

Waking up a bit earlier than usual, I lay flat on the bed, reflecting on the past week.

The days had been surprisingly smooth, putting my previous worries to shame.

A few days ago, I received a letter from my parents and sister, informing me that they had finally arrived in the capital. So yesterday, on my day off, I made a quick trip to the Count’s estate.

Seeing my family after so long, I was overwhelmed with a longing and joy I didn’t even realize I had.

“Sis, I missed you!”

“Yeah, yeah. Our little piglet’s back.”

Suddenly, that joy vanished. My sister hadn’t changed a bit.

To top it off, the pet bird she brought with her pooped on my clothes.

After I changed and returned, that bird had moved on to tearing up my diary!

“Anything but that!”

“Chirp, chirp!”

Fortunately, the diary was unharmed. Even though there were beak marks on the cover, its functionality wasn’t affected.

I’ve been exchanging messages with my diary friend every other day.

I’ve also been giving him regular relationship advice, but there doesn’t seem to be much progress with his crush.

Honestly, it doesn’t seem very promising.

“That’s what makes it cute!”

While my diary friend’s crush may be heading for disaster, I decided to wait a little longer with more patience.

The strategy of making a move right away was proven to have a low success rate.

It’s what I call the ‘If you’re not going to date them, date me’ strategy.

Dame Ramona tried it on Moze and failed miserably.

I won’t make the same mistake.

Learning from Dame Ramona’s experience, I’ve devised a new strategy.

“Over time, my diary friend’s crush will fade.”

Then I’ll swoop in and become my friend’s new love.

“A few years from now, I’ll be a cool landlady and tea shop owner!”

It seemed like a pretty solid plan.

My diary friend did say he’d visit my tea shop when I open it, so we’re bound to meet.

There’s still plenty of space left in the diary, so there’s no rush.

As I was lost in thought, I dozed off again.

Outside the window, the chimes of the clock tower rang, signaling the start of the workday.

“I hope nothing significant happens today.”

If that’s too much to ask, I hope only manageable things come my way.

But that modest wish was shattered within half a day.