Would You Like a Cup of Tea?
I was on my way to Medeia’s room after finishing my bath when something I’d been wondering about suddenly came to mind, so I asked the maid guiding me, “By the way, I’ve never worked as a butler before. What exactly am I supposed to do?”
“It’s simple. You attend to the young lady’s needs or protect her by her side.”
“I see.”
In other words, I was the one assigned to all the odd jobs.
It sounded easy and somehow not easy at the same time.
“Then how many butlers are there besides me?”
“Only you.”
“Pardon?”
Just me?
So I had to do everything she’d just mentioned all by myself?
If Medeia was hungry, I’d have to prepare a meal.
If Medeia’s shoulders hurt, I’d have to rub them.
If Medeia told me to carry her, I’d have to carry her.
If Medeia—
If Medeia—
Wasn’t that a little harsh on a blind man?
Maybe my face showed exactly how I felt, because the maid leading me let out a short sigh and explained, “There’s nothing to be done. All the butlers who served the young lady before you quit.”
“Why?”
“If you had seen the young lady’s eyes directly, you’d understand the reason… Ah, forgive me. That was careless of me.”
The maid covered her mouth in apology.
Uh…
I’m blind, yes, but I can still see quite a lot, you know?
She didn’t need to be that sorry.
“It’s all right. But what’s wrong with the young lady’s eyes?”
“They’re frightening.”
“...?”
“Quite literally. Just looking into the young lady’s eyes fills you with fear. It’s a kind of curse.”
I remembered.
Wasn’t it the witch’s curse?
There had once been a witch who loved the former head of the Astellia family.
But in the end, she was never loved back.
In her fury, the witch laid a curse upon the previous head of the house.
Because you did not love me, you too shall never be loved.
And that curse had been revived in Medeia across the generations.
In the original novel, wasn’t she said to have had no friends at the academy because of that curse?
When you looked at it that way, it was a terribly pitiful life.
The curse had been placed on her ancestor, yet she was the one suffering under it.
In the novel she was called a villainess, but knowing the circumstances, all I could see was a poor girl.
So I really needed to take good care of her.
There’s another reason I have to.
Meet the rightful master and prevent the destruction of Serapion.
I wasn’t sure whether the “rightful master” mentioned in the status window meant Medeia, but the destruction of the Serapion continent that I knew was caused by Medeia.
A future where she went berserk and turned everyone to stone.
To keep that future from coming, I needed to manage Medeia’s mental state with the utmost care.
Even if I was a blind(?) butler, I intended to serve Medeia with everything I had.
If things went well, maybe Medeia and I would even end up together.
Of course, I wasn’t counting on it.
But a dream was still a dream, wasn’t it?
I had no intention of crossing the line first, but if Medeia crossed it first, then that was perfectly legal!
Just as I was letting my imagination run wild all by myself, we arrived.
“We’re here. The young lady is waiting inside.”
With that, the maid turned to leave in a hurry.
“Aren’t you coming in with me?”
She wanted me to go in alone?
Did none of the knights or maids around here worry about letting a man into a room where a woman was alone?
What if I were some rutting beast of a man!
“...As I said before, simply looking at the young lady inspires fear. If it were only fear, that would be one thing, but instinct can drive a person to protect their own survival, even to the point of harming the young lady. That is why I cannot look upon her directly.”
So it was that bad.
A curse was much more serious than I’d thought.
No, wait. Then why had Derick been perfectly fine last time?
“Derick seemed okay, though.”
“Derick...?”
“The knight who brought me here.”
“Ah.”
The maid looked at me as if she’d never heard anyone refer to a knight like that before, then sighed and said, “A knight as well trained as Sir Derick can endure the young lady’s gaze to a certain extent. For someone like that, it’s less fear than disgust.”
Huh?
Did I hear that right?
Feel what?
“Disgust?”
“Yes. The kind of feeling you get when you see something filthy, like insects or rats. That’s the sort of feeling they experience. Even if that subject is the master they serve.”
“...”
So, in other words, Medeia lived in a villa full of maids who feared her and knights who were disgusted by her?
That was more suffocating than I’d expected.
“Does that explain it?”
“...More than enough.”
In any case, that meant I had to go in alone from here.
The maid was already gone.
I straightened my clothes for no real reason, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
Thud! Thud!
“Who is it?”
“It’s Kael, young lady.”
“Come in.”
At Medeia’s permission, I carefully opened the door and stepped inside.
The room was unchanged from before.
The faint, sweet scent of flowers still drifted through the air.
“Bella’s gone, I see.”
“Bella?”
“The maid who guided you.”
“Ah.”
So that maid’s name was Bella.
I’d have to remember that.
We’d probably be seeing a lot of each other from now on.
“...”
“...”
An awkward silence fell.
I’d been told to wash up and come here, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do now.
Should I just stand still?
What was I supposed to do?
After a moment, Medeia spoke first.
“How long are you planning to stand there?”
“I... wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.”
At that, Medeia also seemed taken aback and fell silent.
Had she called me over without anything specific to make me do?
If I’d guessed right, her voice rose slightly as she said, “Y-you’re a butler. You should figure that out yourself!”
I felt wronged.
In a world where slaves got whipped for doing whatever they pleased, she wanted me to go find work on my own?
It was easier when someone just gave me orders.
Still, if it was my master’s command, I had no choice but to obey.
I looked around casually and noticed the balcony beside the bed where Medeia was seated.
There was a table on the balcony, and on it sat a tea set.
Maybe I should make some tea?
I stepped out onto the balcony.
Medeia jolted in alarm and followed after me.
“Wh-where do you think you’re going? Stay inside! No, more importantly, how did you even get out there?”
“I could smell the tea leaves.”
“Tea leaves?”
While Medeia was still flustered, I fetched hot water for the pot and set the teacup on the table.
Then, following the scent of the tea leaves, I chose the one that smelled best and brewed the tea.
It all happened so quickly that Medeia couldn’t say a word.
This is the first time I’ve ever brewed tea. Will this be all right?
I’d never had any particular hobby of enjoying tea, even in my past life.
And this world had begun with me as a slave, so this was my first time ever touching tea.
I wasn’t confident, but what else could I do?
This was the only thing that had come to mind.
If Medeia got angry because I’d thrown out the wrong leaves, I’d just have to accept it.
What did it feel like to be whipped by a beautiful girl?
I was thinking some useless nonsense like that when—
“...Black tea.”
Medeia was simply staring at the freshly brewed black tea, holding the cup with both hands, but not drinking.
I’d brewed black tea because it smelled the best among the leaves.
Had I made a mistake?
Should I clear it away and brew a new cup for her?
“Do you not like black tea?”
“N-no.”
Just as I was about to take the cup away and brew another, Medeia waved both hands frantically.
Then she slowly sipped the tea.
Slurp.
She kept sipping.
Slurp.
The cup was empty in no time.
Without a word, I poured black tea back into the empty cup.
I didn’t know why, but it almost looked like Medeia’s eyes had grown a little moist.
Was that just my imagination?
No way! Could it be so tasteless it made her cry, and because I was blind, she couldn’t bring herself to say it?
“Is it to your taste?”
“...It’s decent.”
“That’s a relief.”
Thank goodness it wasn’t that.
Tea Party (E)
It had been a while since a message about acquiring a skill appeared.
Still, E-rank?
That was lower than I expected.
Even if Medeia said it was fine, I couldn’t be satisfied with that.
All right. I’ll level up the Tea Party skill quickly and make a delicious black tea.
After setting that small goal, I poured more black tea into the empty cup once again.
When Kael returned from his bath and entered the room, Medeia felt her heart ease just from that alone.
He was the only one who didn’t flee at the sight of her.
The only one who didn’t look at her with disgust.
Just having Kael beside her was enough to restore her peace of mind.
And he was adorable, too.
His behavior was insolent for a slave, but that only made him seem cuter to Medeia.
So, even though there was nothing she needed him to do, she told him to find something useful on his own, if only to curb that brazen attitude.
And then—
H-hey, where do you think you’re going!
Kael walked dangerously toward the balcony.
How reckless could he be, going somewhere like that when he couldn’t even see?
She immediately followed him and snapped at him.
But his answer was absurd.
“I could smell the tea leaves.”
He’d come all the way here just by scent alone?
She’d known that blind people had sharper senses than ordinary folk, but she hadn’t expected this much.
Then Kael brewed black tea for her.
Holding the cup, Medeia thought, ...It’s warm.
It reminded her of the first time she had met Kael.
She wanted to feel even a little more of that warmth.
So she simply stared at the cup for a while without drinking, afraid that if she did, it would cool too quickly.
Then Kael’s voice reached her.
“Do you not like black tea?”
“N-no!”
Medeia flinched and clutched the cup tightly with both hands.
Afraid he might take it away, she hurriedly brought it to her lips.
Bitter.
The taste was terrible.
The leaves had seemed fine, so his brewing skill must have been hopeless.
And yet Medeia kept drinking.
She wanted to savor the warmth of the cup a little longer.