Episode 9
Alphonse was not a leisurely man. By his standards, he never spent more than the time it took to smoke a cigarette on anything he deemed unnecessary.
Chloe didn’t realize it, but the fact that he dedicated his evenings to tea time suggested he quite enjoyed it.
The culture of tea was certainly unique. Alphonse never had an idle day; he was always pushing himself to stay busy.
The reason was simple—he didn’t enjoy anything. Leisure brought him not comfort but emptiness. At least when he was busy, he could avoid that hollow feeling.
But tea time was different. As he sat sipping tea while listening to his wife’s excited chatter, he neither felt busy nor empty.
Why this was, Alphonse himself couldn’t quite explain. Was it the subtle aroma of the exotic drink, its mysterious effects, or the warmth it brought to his stomach? Perhaps it was something else entirely.
Whatever the reason, tea time gave him what felt like true rest, the only reprieve in his hectic life.
Of course, Alphonse didn’t love tea as much as Chloe did. He’d only just begun drinking one cup at a time. Still, at least he could understand now why people found joy in such things.
Watching Chloe, who seemed to genuinely love tea, Alphonse found himself reflecting on this newfound understanding.
Meanwhile, word spread among the staff at the Battenberg estate.
“The duke has tea with the duchess every day?”
“Impossible!” exclaimed a porter in disbelief.
“You must have seen it wrong!”
“How could I? It’s been happening every day!”
“But those two have been distant for over a year!” interjected a maid.
“Thirteen months, to be exact,” she continued. “The duke ignored her for thirteen months and looked at her like she didn’t exist. Now they’re suddenly close?”
“That doesn’t make sense. The duchess is timid and clueless. The duke wouldn’t suddenly take an interest in someone like her.”
“But some say the duchess has changed,” murmured a servant.
“What are you all talking about?”
At that moment, all eyes turned to one person—Lady Coleen, the head lady-in-waiting.
“S-senior maid!”
The staff panicked, straightening their clothes and standing at attention as if caught doing something wrong.
“We didn’t mean anything by it…”
The reason for their anxiety was simple: while Lady Coleen technically only managed the maids attending to the duchess, her position carried weight.
As the highest-ranking lady-in-waiting, she was the closest servant to the duchess and thus wielded considerable influence.
Lady Coleen cast a sharp gaze over the staff gossiping about Chloe. But what came out of her mouth was unexpected.
“Who said the duchess has changed? Listen carefully. People don’t change so easily. Especially not someone like her.”
“Senior maid…”
The startled staff exchanged confused looks, but Lady Coleen continued in a cold tone.
“The duke is merely indulging a whim, feeling pity and showing some charity. The two will soon return to their old ways. You’d all do well to stop spreading nonsense about the duchess changing or their relationship improving. Understood?”
The staff fell silent, unwilling to cross her or question her authority.
Soon, the gossip ceased, and the servants dispersed to their respective duties.
Meanwhile, Lady Coleen briskly walked away, her footsteps sharp with barely suppressed anger.
“Changed? Don’t make me laugh,” she muttered.
Lady Coleen, the second daughter of the Coleen Count family, had her own history with Chloe. During their youth, Chloe had been an easy target for ridicule among the capital’s nobles, providing Lady Coleen with an escape from her own isolation.
Mocking Chloe had allowed her to blend in with the noble children and protect her fragile social standing. Over time, she developed a deeply ingrained belief: Chloe was inferior and must remain so.
Even after Chloe became the duchess of Battenberg and Lady Coleen entered her service as the head lady-in-waiting, that belief persisted.
For thirteen months, Chloe had been a powerless figurehead, ignored by the duke and unable to stand up for herself.
Lady Coleen had been content with that dynamic. It reassured her of her own superiority. But now, the idea that Chloe might be changing threatened the foundation of her carefully constructed worldview.
“No. She hasn’t changed,” Lady Coleen whispered to herself, tightening her grip on the tray she carried.
“She can’t have.”
Lady Coleen didn’t believe that Chloe had changed. No, she was willing to give anything to make sure that she didn’t change.
***
As Chloe was walking down the hallway to the kitchen, intending to get some tea, she came across a familiar voice.
“Wow, my goodness. Madam!”
A delighted smile spread across Chloe’s face as she turned to look at him.
“Oh my, Jacob! There’s Balt and Cain too!”
Chloe ran towards the wide open window. Her eyes lit up with joy at the sight of Jacob through the window frame, and the faces of Balt and Cain loitering on either side of him.
“Long time no see!”
“That’s right, madam! Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, but you’re still so beautiful.”
At Jacob’s over-the-top compliment, Chloe felt embarrassed for no reason, even though she thought that this face was not hers.
Chloe soon discovered that all three knights were drenched in sweat. Their clothes were not the uniforms they had been wearing the last time they saw each other, but rather, they were wearing relatively comfortable clothes that looked like everyday clothes.
“Were you training?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh my, in this hot weather… Would you like to come in for a moment? Have something cold before you go.”
Unexpectedly, the other party’s reaction was not very good.
“Ah, that’s, we…”
“We also want to have a drink with the Madam, but…”
She thought they would like it if she told them to take a break and drink something cold, but Chloe’s eyes widened at the sight of them being surprisingly hesitant.
In the end, Jacob confessed the truth.
“Actually, we got scolded a lot by our leader for asking the madam for tea the other day. He said, ‘How dare you sit across from the madam as commoners!’ and beat us up.”
“Oh my? What’s wrong with sitting across from me?”
“According to the etiquette of a knight, a knight should not sit next to the person he is supposed to serve. They should stand next to them.”
If the Knights of Battenberg were to be the ones to serve, then of course they would serve the Battenberg clan. This would of course include the mistress, Chloe.
Anyway, Chloe was very sorry that she had no idea about this fact.
“Oh my god, that happened! I never dreamed that would be the case. I’m sorry, you got in trouble for no reason because of me.”
“No, that’s not true! It’s not something you should be sorry about, Madam!”
“It’s not your fault, Madam!”
Next to Jacob and Balt, Cain was seen nodding his head furiously. Chloe almost laughed out loud at how he looked so much like he was headbanging.
Jacob said, looking into the distance with eyes filled with excellence.
“I really want to drink whatever you give me, Madam, so this is really a shame.”
Balt beside him grumbled.
“Ugh, I want to drink the tea that the madam gives me too!”
Cain nodded.
“…”
Chloe was worried.
“…Well, then. Why don’t you just not sit across from me?”
“Yes?”
“Please wait here for a moment.”
After saying those words, Chloe ran towards the kitchen. The three knights could only tilt their heads, not knowing what she was thinking.
Chloe came back within minutes, holding three vials in her arms.
Unlike the knights, she was not very physically fit, so she was out of breath even after running that short distance.
After barely catching her breath, Chloe handed out a glass bottle to each of the three knights and spoke.
“Actually, I made this to drink myself, but I’m going to give it to you, gentlemen. There’s nothing better than this in the summer.”
“That, that precious thing to us…”
“I can make it again. I have a lot of tea leaves.”
Chloe smiled brightly.
The three knights who had accepted it in a panic examined the glass bottle. It seemed to have a capacity of about 500ml each, but there was nothing written or engraved on the outside, so it was difficult to see what was inside.
What was inside was probably tea (given that it was Chloe who gave it to them). However, unlike the fruit iced tea they had had before, which had a bright orange hue, this one was a pale, transparent green.
“What is it?”
Balt asked.
