Chapter 76 - Blueberry Cheong Is A Success

Chapter 76 – Blueberry Cheong Is A Success

Xavier gave a bark of laughter. “You’re confident.”

“Why,” Claude said with his own grin. “You don’t think I can do it?”

“…”

Xavier shot Claude a strange look, but Claude held his gaze.

“You’d better try harder, too,” Claude said smilingly. “As you know, I’ve never missed a goal I’ve set before.”

“Like always, you have such baseless confidence.” Xavier grinned back at Claude’s words. “Then you’ll remember this, too. I’ve won first place more times than you have.”

“There were times when you didn’t. How do you know this time it will be in your favor?”

“I’m good enough.”

“I’ll do my best, too. She’s the first person to stir my passion,” Claude said vehemently.

Xavier’s mouth tipped into a frown. It wasn’t because this was simply just declaration of war. It was due to the fact that other than Maristella, Xavier considered Claude to be the only other person who made his heart boil. It was safe to say that Claude was his rival.

“I should get up. I’ve been here too long.” Claude rose from his chair, but Xavier remained seated, seemingly with no intention to see Claude off.

Claude smiled, as if he didn’t expect Xavier to show him any courtesy in the first place. “Let’s eat together again when we have the chance.”

“I decline,” Xavier said.

“You tricky guy,” Claude murmured a little scornfully, then turned and walked away.

Xavier quietly raised his head and watched Claude’s retreating figure. Only when Claude had completely disappeared from sight did Xavier stand up and make his way towards Thurman Palace.

In short, nothing had changed between them. The conflict between the two remained unresolved. However, the air between them had somewhat shifted.

***

“Mmm!”

I held my teacup and made a noise of delight. A sweet and sour taste lingered pleasantly on my tongue. It seemed like I could declare this experiment a triumph.

I excitedly wrote “Blueberry cheong a success” on a piece of paper next to a teapot.

“I can give this to Odeletta, and then…”

I picked out a glass jar filled to the brim with preserved kiwis. I opened the lid of the jar, took out a spoonful of cheong, and placed the preserves in another teacup. I poured hot water in the teacup and stirred gently, and the sweet smell of kiwi seduced my nose. I grinned and lifted up the teacup again. It had a strong kiwi scent.

“Mmm.”

This was also a success. I felt buoyant as I wrote down the results. Then came a knock on the door, and I spoke without lifting my eyes from the paper.

“Come in.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the door opened and someone came inside. I turned around to see who it was.

“Surprise,” a voice said.

It was Martina.

I gave a small smile at her sudden appearance. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m bored,” she grumbled.

“Oh, would you like a cup of tea?” I offered.

“Yes. It looks delicious,” Martina chirped. “What kind of tea is it?”

“There’s blueberry and kiwi tea. Which one do you want to drink?”

“Both sound delicious.” She took a moment to inspect each one carefully. “Which one is better?”

“They’re both delicious.”

“But which one is particularly so?”

I shrugged. “It’s just based on personal preference. I like blueberry cheong, just because I prefer blueberries.”

“Then I’ll have that one as well.”

“Alright.” I smiled and quickly started to prepare the tea. Unlike black tea, which was commonly drunk by the nobles of Yanos, tea made with fruit preserves did not take long to make. Of course, making the fruit cheong itself was a laborious and time-intensive process, which was why I was trying to open a store to save that initial effort.

“Here, drink.”

It was fortunate that I still had some hot water. In modern times I would use an electric kettle, but here I had to boil water by putting it over fire.

After carefully accepting the warm cup, Martina closed her eyes and took a sip. After a moment, her eyes opened widely.

“Mmm.”

That was a good reaction. “What do you think?” I asked with a smile.

Martina raised her thumb in approval. “It’s delicious. I like this better than the orange tea. I didn’t know that blueberries could taste like this.”

“Thank you for the compliment. I feel good.”

“Sister, are you going to open a real store?”

“Yes. Why, is there a problem?”

“Not at all. Because it’s amazing,” Martina replied in a puzzled voice, then immediately changed the subject. Unfortunately, it was an unwelcome one.

“Oh, something came up with Countess Cornohen.”

“…Oh. Yes.”

“She decided that the family has to pay interest every month as usual. I think she gave up on trying to persuade you.”

“I see.”

Countess Cornohen tried to get me to change my mind a few times since our meeting, but in the end I refused. Eventually, Countess Cornohen’s pride was hurt and she did not contact me anymore, save for a letter saying that she wanted me to pay the interest as usual.

“You aren’t worried, are you, sister?” Martina said with a look of concern.

“What?”

“We were always supposed to pay the interest from the beginning. Don’t worry too much.”

The events made Martina aware of the situation with the Cornohen mansion, and I wasn’t too happy about that. But I couldn’t help it anymore.

I gave a shrug. “I don’t care.”

“I was worried you might be.”

“I’m not,” I said with a reassuring shake of my head. Of course, it was a lie to say that I didn’t care, but it was out of my hands now. My parents thankfully didn’t say anything about it.

Rather than regretting that I missed a good opportunity to cancel the interest, I regretted having my ankle caught in this situation in the first place.

“Let’s stop talking about it.” I pressed my lips into a thin line and shook my head again, and Martina gave a quick nod. She changed the topic of conversation in a lively voice.

“What’s your schedule today?”

“I don’t have anything special, but I’m going to send a letter,” I said.

“Letter? To where?”

“To Thurman Palace and Trakos Mansion.”

“The Crown Prince and Sister Odeletta?” she guessed.

“Yes. I’m going to give them the fruit cheong. I already gave it to Duke Escliffe before.”

“Really? You should give him another fruit cheong anyway. I think he’d like it.”

“Really…?” My head tilted in puzzlement. I wasn’t planning on giving Claude another gift, but after hearing Martina, it seemed like a good idea. I pondered on it for a moment and then gave a nod. “First I’ll give the fruit cheong to the two people, and since it takes time to make, I can give another on to the Duke later.”

“Alright. It’s nothing urgent,” Martina replied. Her face then lit up as if she just remembered something. “How is it going with Odel?”

“Huh?” That seemed like a random question. “Why are you asking that all of a sudden? We’re…we’re doing just fine.”

“Oh…really?” she said, skepticism evident on her face.

“Yes. Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing like that,” Martina answered with a vigorous shake of her head. “I was wondering if what happened at the party made things awkward between you two.”

“Oh, not at all.”

What was I supposed to say? I waved my hand dismissively.

“There’s no problem. Things only blew up because Odeletta was defending me in the first place.”

“Really? That’s a relief. I thought…just in case. Well, of course it wasn’t!” Martina spluttered. She seemed to be thinking that she brought up an unnecessary story. “If you want to send a letter, you’d better hurry. The sun will set soon, and it would be rude if the letter arrived too late.”

“Ah, yes.” I looked outside the window and saw that the daylight was already starting to fade. There was nothing as rude as sending a late letter, so I would have to hurry. I gave a brief nod. “I should.”

“Then I’ll leave now, sister. Fighting!”

Martina knocked me on the back, and left my room like the wind. Now alone, I gave a few giggles, then called for Florinda to bring me stationary.

“Dear Your Highness the Crown Prince…” I muttered as I guided my pen over the white paper.

The two replies to my letter came nearly at the same time. Xavier’s response came first, and then Odeletta’s soon after. Accordingly, I set my schedule to meet Xavier, and then Odeletta.

I would visit Xavier in two days. But the day before my meeting, I began to wonder if I should have met Odeletta first. Even though Xavier was part of the Imperial Family, he treated me generously, though the question was whether it would suit his taste.

‘Well, my family liked it…’

This would be the first time I would get a face-to-face assessment from outside. I hadn’t heard from Claude about his opinion yet.

‘I don’t even know if Claude likes it.’

He hadn’t contacted me since the party at Escliffe mansion. However, I didn’t worry too much on that part, since I heard through Florinda that he was suffering under a heavy workload these days, something about buying some land lately. In any case, a lot of men were business-greedy.