🔊 TTS Settings
~Chapter 17~
This strange tea time gathering had been arranged because of Marian’s suggestion.
“I heard your meals are too small. People who use their heads a lot tend to like sweets, so I told the kitchen to prepare something since we were having tea time today.”
Wanting to thank the new doctor for helping her son, she invited her to tea. Nixia, hearing this from the maids, quickly joined them.
“How is it? Do you like the taste?”
Looking into her bright eyes, Shariette saw a faint shadow of a very old memory.
There was no point in remembering the dead.
Shariette forced the box in her mind shut — it looked just like the vine-decorated box she brought from Willowhill — and swallowed the cream- and chocolate-filled éclair without chewing.
She spoke as politely as possible.
“It’s delicious. And I like the food here. I’ve just always eaten little because I get indigestion easily.”
“Oh, that’s right. I heard you weren’t feeling well on the first day.”
Shariette admired how the Duchess could politely rephrase the fact that she had thrown up in front of people.
“Was it uncomfortable eating with me?”
Nixia asked with a seemingly guilty face.
Normally, this was when someone would say, “Of course not, it was lovely thanks to you.”
But the socially awkward apothecary thought for a moment… and nodded.
“I think so, a little.”
“Pfft!”
Nixia burst out laughing and quickly turned her head.
What’s so funny?
While Shariette didn’t understand, Nixia managed to hold back her laughter.
“Ahaha, sorry. You have the exact same posture as someone I know. Those things just come naturally without thinking.”
Though completely different inside from Blanche Argen!
Seeing Shariette’s blank eyes, Nixia laughed again.
Marian gently joined in.
“Some people are just born with talent. I’ve seen young ladies who improve quickly even without long training.”
She pressed her daughter’s knee, stopping her from laughing more in front of a guest.
“Feels like you care more for her than for your own daughter, Mother.”
“Well, your brother owes Shariette a great debt. She deserves to be treated even better.”
“And where is this mother’s son who owes so much?”
“It’s nothing new for him to leave without a word. He’s probably up to something again.”
Neither of them said “my son” or “my brother.” They kept calling him your brother or your mother’s son, passing the responsibility back and forth.
Watching the affectionate mother-daughter banter, Shariette let out a small, almost silent laugh without realizing.
Marian didn’t notice, but Nixia caught it clearly.
…So she can make that face.
It was faint, as if even Shariette herself didn’t notice, but it was a real smile — small, white-petaled, warm.
It even felt wrong to think of Blanche Argen in comparison.
It had been about ten days since the new doctor entered the mansion, and this was the first and only truly genuine expression Nixia had seen — without any acting or pretense.
Afraid to break the rare moment, she stayed quiet. Marian, however, clapped her hands softly and turned to the doctor.
“By the way, Shariette, have you thought of a reward? Tell me anything you want. Even if you don’t say, I plan to show my gratitude as much as I can.”
Ah. Nixia sighed inwardly as the fleeting magic vanished.
Unaware of her own expression, Shariette tilted her head.
‘Is it tradition in this house to ask what people want?’
Then, an idea struck her.
“When my contract with Young Lord Noxian ends, I want to reopen my apothecary. Please become my customer then.”
“I’d be honored. With your skill, even the royal palace would want you.”
Got it! Without false modesty like “Oh, you flatter me,” Shariette proudly straightened her back.
“Lately, have you been tired, had headaches, slept but still felt unrested, or felt eye strain and stiffness in your neck and shoulders?”
“Oh my, that’s very accurate!”
“And since it’s summer, you must be worried about your skin, too.”
“Of course, not just my skin.”
Shariette smiled brightly, like the “White Crow” she was nicknamed for.
‘It’s harder to find someone without these problems.’
She had found a way to disguise and naturally give them the antidote to Feynil poison — by “fully arming” them so that a “silent killer” could never approach.
‘Why go this far?’
She answered her own thought.
‘Because these people are kind, warm, and…’
They were mother and daughter.
Once, she had been in such a relationship herself.
Now, that memory felt faint and far away.
‘This time, it has to be different.’
She wouldn’t let these people end up that way. She wanted to preserve their warmth for as long as possible.
“Oh dear, we talked so much the tea’s gone cold. I’ll have them bring more.”
But first, there was a problem to fix.
When the maid brought fresh tea, Shariette quickly drank hers before the others could touch theirs — unusual for someone with perfect table manners.
Marian and Nixia exchanged puzzled looks. Shariette spoke, relying on the 1g of trust she had earned by successfully making Noxian’s sleeping draught.
“There’s nothing wrong with the tea. The lady I used to work for always had her maids taste her food first. As an apothecary, I can do it more professionally.”
Most in the Marquis Argen family had built up poison resistance, but Blanche was too weak, so Shariette or other maids would taste-test for poison first.
Shariette could recover from poison, but unlucky maids often died.
‘Compared to that, this place is too defenseless, even if the Argens are gone.’
But it seemed only she thought so. Marian and Nixia’s faces hardened.
“Shariette, I didn’t invite you here to make you do such things.”
“If you can do it well… Just where did you work before?”
The reaction was different than she expected.
“No, I mean, rationally—”
“You think using employees as disposable is rational? And you’re not even an employee here!”
The apothecary from Argen and the Rubellot mother and daughter stared at each other, but no understanding appeared.
‘How have they survived this long?’
‘How has she lived like this?’
All that grew between them was concern for the other’s sanity.
Three days’ ride north from the capital, Rubenshire.
Noxian was greeted by the bone-chilling wind as he entered the grand night castle.
“My Lord, it’s been a while.”
“You look well.”
The master of the castle and lord of Rubenshire’s harsh lands, Duke Erev Rubellot, greeted his son without expression.
Before autumn, when monsters were weakest, was the best time for subjugations. The Duke always stayed in the capital for family and royal duties but spent part of each year in his domain for this season.
“You wouldn’t have ridden here two weeks early out of filial piety to help your father.”
“If you plan to retire, I’ll consider it.”
“Hard to retire when the heir is still a brat.”
Their conversation was colder than the northern wind.
“If you found a decent doctor, you should be resting and catching up on sleep. Why come all the way here?”
As Shariette guessed, the “original” Duke scanned his son’s face.
‘Looks full of energy… Maybe this time he really found a capable doctor.’
He wanted to meet her right away. If possible, he wouldn’t mind making her sign a lifelong contract with the family.
