chapter 7.2

“Please follow me inside.”

Looking at the door, which opened as soon as permission was given, Psili followed Heinley and took her first step into the emperor’s office. Jed picked up a new teacup with his hand, as if demanding a new tea without taking a glance at an appeal at the word that a new maid had arrived. Psili filled the teapot with tea water, went to Jed’s side, and carefully poured the tea into his teacup. As the teacup was filled to some extent with a constant stream of water, Psili took a step back as she had learned from Shannon. Unlike the maids who made a mistake earlier, Heinley sighed as he watched Psili calmly pouring the tea.

However, when Jed’s eyebrows have frowned as he was taking a sip of the tea, the people in the office began to get nervous again. Beichen and Felix looked nervously at Heinley, and Heinley had to leave the office again in a hurry. In such a situation, Shannon would be the only one who could make the tea that suits the taste of Emperor Jed. While Heinley left to pick up Shannon, Beichen and Felix looked sadly at the maid who stood holding a teapot. Then, as if something had arisen, the two looked at each other at the same time and tilted their heads.

“Oh, that maid is…”

“Isn’t she..?”

Jed felt absurd by the tea with an embarrassingly unbelievable aroma and taste, then turned to look at the maid who had made it.

“What kind of tea is this?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

The words that came out of the maid’s mouth at Jed’s irritated words were unexpected. With other maids, when they heard such a voice from Jed, they would fall at their feet and beg for his mercy. However, the maid standing in front of him now only apologized with her head down. Was she bold or reckless?

Jed stared at her, felt absurd by the reaction of the maid following the taste of tea. There were anger and annoyance on his face, but he only stared at her as if he had lost his words. At the maid’s apology, what would he say to it? It seemed that he already missed the timing to get angry. Jed sighed.

“Brew the tea again.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When the word ‘again’ came out of Jed’s mouth with a cold tone, not only Beichen and Felix, but also the attendants who were standing behind Psili were surprised because there was rarely a time when Jed gave someone a second chance. But Psili indifferently took a step back and made the tea again. However, Psili, who knew her skills well, worried about the remade tea with a dull expression.

The second tea was poured into the teapot and carefully poured into Jed’s teacup. As the teacup was filled with tea, Jed took the cup and raised it to his mouth. The watchers swallowed dry saliva as they were anxiously waiting for the verdict. This was a difficult opportunity, so they hoped that the maid would pass it well.

However, with the dark bitterness spreading deeply into his mouth and a little fishy, grass-scented tea, Jed spits out the tea water he had in his mouth again.

“What is this?”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“How can your skills not increase even a little bit after the second time?”

With a gloomy face, Psili once again apologized to Jed. Again, at the apology that came out, Jed looked at the maid who made the tea with an expression of absurdity, then asked a question toward the maid who bowed her head.

“Who taught you?”

“The chief maid Shannon.”

“What? Shannon? Ha! No way.”

“It’s true, Your Majesty.”

“If Shannon taught you, you wouldn’t have such a skill.”

There was no case of Shannon herself teaching someone unless it was special. Usually, some of the senior ladies under Shannon were in charge of the education of the new maids. Unless it was the case that Jed himself ordered, like one of the princesses who were taken captive from Ctia not long ago. Jed tilted his head as he thought of the person who had entrusted the education directly to Shannon.

“You…”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

Jed looked dumbfounded as he watched Psili always say sorry to him.

“Did you not learn how to make tea, and just only learned apologizing?”

“No. I learned to make tea, but I am sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Are you sorry for your ability to only learn that much? Or are you sorry for my mouth drinking that tea?”

“I’m sorry for everything.”

Jed could see Psili’s nervousness, but she was a little better because she was quieter than the maids who whined and cried for their lives. At Psili’s immediate apology, who was ridiculously calm, Jed silently put down the teacup full of weird-tasting tea and pushed it in front of Psili.

“Give me cold water.”

At Jed’s order, Psili immediately poured a glass full of water. While drinking the water, Jed stared at Psili.

“What is wrong with your hair?”

Psili touched her short hair that caught Jed’s attention with her fingertips and asked him back.

“Is it weird?”

Jed never thought the question would come back when he expected an answer. Her question was loud enough for others to hear. No one dared to talk to him like that and with that facial expression. Was she bold or reckless, he wondered.

However, Psili, who was completely unconscious about this, returned her question and blinked her round eyes as if she needed an answer from Jed. Jed, who saw such a reaction for the first time, paused for a moment and smiled.

“Since it was strange from the beginning, so what would be more strange than that? It does look neat and comfortable.

“Yes. It’s comfortable.”

“It’s good to be comfortable.”

“Yes.”

“So?”

“Yes?”

“I answered your question, but you didn’t answer my question. What did you do with your hair? Did you just cut it to be comfortable?”

“Oh, that was… it was cut off, but it was cut off too strangely, so the chief maid Shannon trimmed it.”

“I see.”

As Jed stared at Psili’s face, she blinked at Jed’s gaze, then quickly bowed her head as if something came to her mind, avoiding his gaze.

“Ah! right. I was told to keep my head down! I forgot.”

At Psili’s sudden action, Jed asked.

“What is it suddenly?”

“I’m sorry. The mister I met before told me to keep my head down unconditionally, but I forgot for a moment.”

Jed burst into a little laugh without knowing about the embarrassingly honest choice of words from Psili’s mouth. At best, the word for Heinley, who was eight years older than Jed, was Mister. He couldn’t help but laugh at the eyes of the sixteen years old innocent girl who met Heinley, didn’t even know his name or rank.

“He must be Heinley.”

“Yes?”

“The name of the man you mentioned is Heinley. Chief Attendant. His rank is like Shannon.”

“Ah yes. thank you for telling me.”

After saying thank you, Psili again bowed her head to avoid Jed’s gaze. Jed was well aware of what Heinley was asking the attendants and maids to do, ‘Unconditionally lower your head’, it was to keep him from getting upset. Strangely, however, Jed didn’t like the appearance of her head bent this time.

“Look up.”

“Yes?”

“Raise your head. How much more do I have to look at your head? That face would be better than the boring crown of your head. So raise your head.”

“Ah yes.”

After receiving Jed’s orders, Psili raised her head again and gazed at Jed’s face with two olive-colored eyes.

“You received good personnel education, but tea education is a mess. What should I do with you?”

“I’m good at cleaning. I’ll do my best.”

Jed laughed at Psili’s confident answer, also honest and innocent. It was a dreadful face with no emotion that could not be known what she was thinking. The olive-colored eyes which were looking at Jed, were only calm, while everyone else was sending a tense gaze full of fear. As if it contained the ignorance of no idea what fear was. The olive-colored eyes Jed met for the first time were the same. He thought she was bored back then. Well, it was different then. A girl who was different from others back then, but even now, the girl was still different. This girl, who was different from others, aroused a new interest in Jed, who was now tired of his beautiful concubines.

“Learn to make tea again.”

”Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Psili stepped back, Jed beckoned to the servants who were standing behind Psili to also go out. After all the attendants and maids had left, Jed got up from his seat and headed to the window with a teacup full of cooling water. He smelled the scent once again, but the scent of grass was so strong that he couldn’t believe it was tea. He frowned a bit, then lowered the cup and recalled Psili’s serious expression, and then picked the cup up again laughed. Then, he threw the tea water on the flowerbed on the first floor, left the entrance of Asdan Palace, and looked at Psili’s back toward Eradan Palace with narrow eyes.

“Well, it is okay to keep her alive.”

Of course, it would only for a short time. Jed wasn’t too wary of this excitement, thinking it would be a brief break.