Volume 5 Chapter 3.5 (1/2)

Volume 5 Chapter 3 Part 5

Translator: Mar

Editor: Jacinta

「Um… It’s difficult to explain but… When it comes to tea, Edi is… uh… considerably…」

If I used the word ‘gourmet’, he would probably understand me easily. But actually it was not that as lovely as it sounded. Truthfully, he was just being annoying. And he wasn’t annoying on an ordinary level. He was so bothersome. It’s not only that he’s picky and he just points out「That’s wrong」over and over again, but if something’s not going according to his wishes, he doesn’t say anything, nor does he move a single finger to fix it. I don’t think Lucius would be able to understand that.

Not only does he have merely 2 weeks to master the brewing method, which would require a lot of effort, but also even if he managed to learn it at a decent level, it is still not the same as the level that would satisfy that man. Truthfully, I wouldn’t recommend it.

I hesitated to speak. I don’t know if he understood from my attitude what I was thinking about, but he slightly bowed his head and concealed his face full of a fighting spirit.

「When something is difficult it’s so much more worth trying. I want to prove myself to my brother. I am aware that I need to show extra strength to achieve it.」

……….I think it’s not the herbal tea brewing practice that he needs to work on most… But maybe I was wrong to think so. I knew his will to work hard was hugely misdirected but I couldn’t say anything to his serious face. I couldn’t bluntly refuse him when he bowed his head with such an earnest「Please」. If there was a person who could have refused him I’d like to meet them very much… but of course, I knew him. My own husband, his half-brother. His older brother of a different mother. I thought about how convoluted a person’s life can be. And then I slowly bowed my head to his 「Please」trying not to think about the future meals and how they could turn out the same as the one the previous night.

***

From that day the hard struggle of not only Lucius, but also myself, has begun. Even though it was only the second day since he moved in with us in the residence, he already had to make a lot of calls. He had been invited by a lot of nobles. In addition to that, whenever he found a moment of leisure, he came back to the Lancent villa and practiced the tea brewing with me. He was quite cute to look at, when he tried to brew the tea with his hands that were not used to such movements. However, no matter how many times he tried it, every time the finished tea was… Well… Terrible.

Was it wrong of me to think so? Perhaps I wasn’t explaining it right or forgetting to say somehing? After all, I was preparing it every day myself. Looking from my perspective, everything was obvious and simple, so I might have not mentioned something important. I thought that we shall try again next time as I was standing in the kitchen and raised a teacup to my mouth while Lucius looked at me full of anticipation.

「……..」

「How is it?」

「……….I would say fifteen points.」

I dare say both my face expression and the sound of my voice became quite grave. To my evaluation Lucius dropped his shoulders once more, as he has done a number of times during the last 2 days.

「Fifteen, huh?」

With his head down, Lucius miserably took a cup of the mixture he brewed and put it to his mouth. He drank a little bit and instantly made a grimace. Coughing he murmured 「It is bad」.

His voice was full of disappointment. I panicked a little bit and took a plate full of baked sweets and presented them to him, while patting him on the shoulder with my free hand.

「U-uhm… but it did become a little bit better. Enough to be able to drink some of it.」

It looked better too and the scent got less intense than before. It wasn’t utterly undrinkable anymore, like his first attempt had been. Like he said himself, it wasn’t good, but still…