“You may find me unreliable, but still—”
“No, that’s not the case. You’ve already been doing more than enough.”
Alyssa opened her mouth again, thinking that Kieran meant he couldn’t trust her with more tasks, but he firmly interrupted.
“That’s exactly why I said what it.”
When she still didn’t understand, Kieran continued.
“If you’ve finished your duties, then you should rest. There’s no need to go looking for more work.”
Hearing something so unfamiliar, Alyssa’s mouth parted slightly in surprise.
Rest?
Alyssa had never experienced that. She always needed something to do.
“What… how do I…?”
“Do whatever you’d like. Simply following orders isn’t resting.”
That was something she’d never even considered. Alyssa had always lived by the commands of others. Now, a door she hadn’t even known existed had flung wide open, leaving her in a daze of indescribable emotions.
“Exactly! You could try picking up a hobby! They say most nobles have at least one. What do you enjoy, Your Grace?”
Akhim, who had been quietly listening, couldn’t resist chiming in cheerfully. Alyssa, still feeling bewildered, shook her head slightly.
“I don’t have any.”
She liked sweet things and was afraid of being hit. Aside from that, there was nothing she could consider a hobby.
“Then maybe it’s a good chance to find one,” Kieran suggested.
Kieran, setting down the documents, spoke calmly. His light tone made it seem as if the task was no trouble at all.
“I’ve allocated a personal fund for you to use as you see fit. If it’s not enough, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Oh, no, that’s really not necessary!”
Alyssa quickly waved her hands in refusal. When Kieran had first shown her the amount allocated to her, she had almost fainted.
She had never held such a large sum of money in her hands before. And now he was offering even more? She already had more than she could ever need.
“I actually thought you gave me too much. It would probably be better to use it elsewhere…”
“I’ve set the amount as low as I thought you’d feel comfortable with. Please, use it.”
At Kieran’s firm refusal, Alyssa felt a bit overwhelmed. Spend money? But on what?
However, that feeling quickly passed as a good idea came to her. Her eyes sparkled as she asked cautiously, “Then… could I buy a tea set? A teapot and teacups? And some tea leaves, too?”
“Yes. I’ll notify the merchants when they arrive.”
The moment he gave his approval, Alyssa beamed brightly. It was a smile so radiant she couldn’t even remember the last time she smiled like that.
“That’s great! Now we can drink tea like people do in the capital.”
Kieran hesitated at her words. The capital? It seemed like the subject of her sentence had subtly shifted away from herself.
“Well, it might not be the same quality as what you had in the capital, but… until we can get the quality you desire, I’ll make sure to get you some new tea.”
Alyssa’s next words confirmed Kieran’s suspicion. With a bewildered expression, Kieran asked, “Are you saying you intend to buy tea for me?”
Alyssa nodded enthusiastically.
When she had been preparing the estate for Kieran’s arrival, one thing that bothered her the most was the absence of a proper tea set. In the capital, nobles habitually drank tea, and Alyssa had wanted to prepare a tea set for Kieran. However, the cost was so high that she had to give up on the idea.
“If that’s the reason, there’s no need. The estate already has a tea set. Please, purchase something you desire.”
The happy smile that had been lingering on Alyssa’s face stiffened at Kieran’s response.
“There are two sets that won’t chip or stain, both in excellent condition. They’re quite valuable and have been well-maintained.”
This was news to Alyssa. She was confused. How could such expensive items have existed in this poor estate?
“But when I asked, they told me there were none…” she muttered quietly, trailing off.
While preparing for her marriage, Alyssa had repeatedly asked the servants if there were any valuable items from the previous household, particularly tea sets. She had insisted on checking once more, asking persistently about the tea sets.
“…..They lied to me.”
Alyssa now realized that the previous servants had been deceiving her all along. However, she hadn’t considered that their lies extended to such small details.
Seeing her expression, Kieran stood up from his seat and, with an apologetic smile, turned to Akhim.
“It seems I won’t be able to finish today’s work. Could you handle it alone for just one day?”
“Of course! Leave it to me!” Akhim responded cheerfully.
With that reassuring reply, Kieran quickly wiped the ink from his hands and approached Alyssa.
In Alyssa’s lowered gaze, she saw a large hand with black ink smudges come into view.
“Let’s confirm it, shall we?”
They made their way to a small storage room attached to the castle’s kitchen.
Just as Kieran had said, two polished and pristine tea sets were neatly placed in the storage room, gleaming in the dim light.
‘Of course, they wouldn’t be missing.’
Kieran had only recently discovered them while sorting through the head maid’s belongings. The tea sets, apparently cherished, had been displayed in a cabinet in her room. Kieran had taken all the dishes from there and hastily stored them in the castle’s dish storage.
‘If I had known they’d be needed, I would’ve stored them more carefully.’
He hadn’t been concerned about them breaking at the time, but now that Alyssa needed them, the situation was different.
While Kieran inspected the tea sets closely, Alyssa’s attention was elsewhere. She couldn’t take her eyes off the door connected to the kitchen.
Through the wide-open door, she could see the quiet kitchen, empty as it wasn’t meal preparation time. The soft afternoon sunlight streamed in, and a small fire flickered gently in the hearth.
The scent of dried food and spices hanging on the wall wafted through the air. Without realizing it, Alyssa moved toward that direction.
“Wow….”
As she stepped into the kitchen, Alyssa looked around with wide eyes, her gaze darting around like a child experiencing a festival for the first time.
And it made sense; this was Alyssa’s first time in the castle’s kitchen.
When she was a child, feeling like an outcast, she had always wanted to step inside the kitchen. She was always hungry, and the delicious smells emanating from there had been irresistible.
However, even if she accidentally set foot in the kitchen, she would be chased away by the cruel kitchen head, and when she occasionally received a snack from a kind maid, she would be suspected of stealing.
“I told you not to come in because it’s dirty!”
“Honestly, what good are you if all you do is crave food?”
Even after becoming an adult and inheriting her family’s title, the words she had heard back then vividly came to mind.
As a result, it was a place she had never dared to enter even after becoming the head of the household.
The kitchen she stepped into for the first time was similar to what she had imagined as a child. It was filled with delicious aromas, warm and bright, and everything sparkled.
As she hurriedly looked around the kitchen, Alyssa suddenly realized with shock that this was a place she wasn’t supposed to be. If she entered—
In that moment, frozen in place, Alyssa slowly blinked her eyes. The head maid, her father, even the kitchen head—none of them were there now.
Relaxing her body, Alyssa looked around the kitchen again. Although everything looked exactly the same as before, she felt strangely different.
She stood in the middle of a space she was never supposed to enter, yet nothing happened.
It was still peaceful and quiet.
Alyssa turned to look at the dish storage. There, prominently displayed, were the teapots.
The image of the annoyed servant insisting that there was truly nothing up there overlapped in her mind.
Turning her gaze, Alyssa looked around the kitchen for the third time. Nothing had changed.
It remained just as bright and warm as it had been at first.
She had never been able to touch the teapots or the kitchen. If she did, everyone had gone to great lengths to prevent her, as if something dirty would stick to her.
Nothing would break just because she stepped inside. So why did they act that way?
‘I feel strange.’
Her heart fluttered oddly, and Alyssa pressed down on her solar plexus.
At that moment, she heard a clattering sound coming from a corner of the kitchen.
Startled, she turned her gaze to see Kieran pouring boiled water into a teapot.
“I-I’ll do it!”
She hurried over, worried he might burn his hand, but Kieran had already finished what he needed to do.
“You usually have to wait longer, but since it’s your first time tasting it, I’ll let it brew for a little less time.”
At his casual words, Alyssa looked back and forth between the teapot and Kieran. He had brought out two teacups.
Before she knew it, Kieran had brewed the tea and poured it into each cup, the scarlet liquid made a soft dripping sound as it fell from the edge of the tea pot.
After stirring the tea a few times with a teaspoon, Kieran extended one of the cups toward Alyssa. She stared at him blankly, unable to think of taking it.
“I thought you might want to try it.”
The cup he held out seemed too precious for her to touch. Alyssa murmured nervously.
“Is it really okay?”
Kieran furrowed his brow as if questioning why she would ask such a thing. At his odd reaction, Alyssa hesitated but finally accepted the teacup.
The cup fit perfectly in her hand, smooth and warm. The fragrant aroma of the tea wafted up with a gentle steam.
“I added sugar, so it shouldn’t be bitter,” Kieran said in his calm, even voice.
Following his advice, Alyssa carefully took a sip.
As he had said, it was sweet.
