The Abandoned White Magician’s Tea Life - Chapter 64 : Princess of Fate
Translator: Sunnyshies
[unedited]
Chapter 64 : Princess of Fate
Early in the morning of the day, five days after Amalia was placed under house arrest.
Amalia was taken to Alphonse’s office, where she was reunited with the first person she had seen in ten years.
“Well…! It’s really Amalia!”
Amalia reluctantly entered the office, wondering what in the world she was doing here, only to be enveloped by a silver curtain filled with cheers.
“Really, I’m glad you’re okay…Well, you haven’t changed at all, as Alphonse said. Did you invent some kind of rejuvenation magic?”
“…oh, it’s been a long time, Esmeralda-sama.”
Amalia managed to escape from the unnecessary embrace and bowed, her whole body stiffening.
Waiting for Amalia in the office was a beautiful girl with magnificent silver hair―― not a pretty girl, but a beautiful woman. Ten years ago, she had a girlish innocence, but now that she is in her mid-twenties and has given birth to a son, she seems to have developed the composure of an adult woman.
Princess Esmeralda, daughter of King Kyros and the wife of Alphonse. It even makes her recall how she called me a “useless old woman” and used her as dragon bait.
‘Whether it’s Alphonse or Esmeralda, they twisted the events that happened at Dragon Mountain to suit themselves…’
She wanted to sigh, but she held back. She hasn’t revealed the truth of what happened to Juana and the others because it would be troublesome if they found out. Esmeralda seems to maintain her position as “a good-hearted princess who lost Amalia, whom she adored like a sister” ten years ago and has always regretted not being able to save her.
Amalia tried to put on a smiling facade, but she must have sensed something. Esmeralda moved her lips to Amalia’s ear and whispered low, “If you tell anyone about what happened ten years ago, I will kill you.”
But when Amalia quickly looked up, Esmeralda was smiling benevolently and gently stroking Amalia’s hair.
“Whatever it is, I’m glad to see you…will you be accompanying me and Alphonse on our upcoming expedition to defeat the demons? When I heard that you would be accompanying us ‘as a servant’ on this dangerous journey, I had to come and say hello.”
“…well, thank you for coming all the way here, Esmeralda-sama.”
It is strange that she “came all the way” from the main castle, since she should be living with her husband and son in this Detached Palace.
But Esmeralda, not sure if she noticed and ignored Amalia’s slight sarcasm or if she really didn’t notice it, seemed to be in a good mood and invited Amalia to join her on the couch.
Alphonse is at his desk in the Oval Office, looking sullen, but he has not opened his mouth since a few minutes ago. Apparently, he has no intention of interrupting the flimsy reunion scene between his wife and Amalia.
“Oh yes, you were good at making tea ‘for a servant’. I hear you will be making tea on this expedition ‘as a servant’s job,’ so why don’t you brew one for us here?”
The way she said it was deliberate, perhaps to remind her, “Don’t forget that you are coming with us as a servant.”
Tired of the obvious attitude, Amalia nodded with a forced smile.
“I am delighted…even while I have been able to spend my time at Detached Palace without any inconvenience, I have continued to practice my tea making skills without fail.”
“Hmm, I see. The maids and soldiers to whom you have given your cups of tea seem to like them, so let’s have a cup worthy of us, shall we?”
She is a princess whose every word and phrase is offensive.
‘Even in the past, you were very close to Alphonse, but cold to me.’
The final nail in the coffin came with the “useless old man” remark and the fact that she went to the trouble of using black magic to lure the dragon and use Amalia as bait. Underneath such a pretty face, she is thinking of something ridiculous, and she guess that’s why she said “I’ll kill you if you reveal it” earlier, because she doesn’t want to expose what she did ten years ago.
‘I feel sorry for all the fruits that have gone wasted because of these people, but I have to do it.’
Just like the other times, Lorenza came pushing a cart with tools on it. Amalia was able to relax her shoulders a little as she clenched her fists in a position where Esmeralda, Alphonse, and the others could not see her and gave herself encouragement.
‘First, I need to figure out what kind of tea I’m going to make.’
This time, rather than trying to bring out the attributes of the ingredients, she must think first and foremost about making it taste the way Alphonse and Esmeralda like it.
‘Alphonse didn’t like herbs with a strong smell, and Esmeralda, as I recall, liked sweet, expensive fruit.’
When it comes to fulfilling both wishes at the same time, she should probably approach with sweetness this time. She is not at all eager to get on with it, but this is also for the sake of survival.
From a heaped basket of ingredients, she picked out a purine, a fifi, and a moreh. Then, with Esmeralda’s permission, they tasted one of the fruits, which looked similar to guam but was unfamiliar to them.
‘This one…the seeds are bigger and harder to eat that guam, and the skin is sweeter than the flesh. I guess we can use the peel, not the fruit.’
After finally having decided on the ingredient to be used, she began the preparation.
The purine and fifi were peeled and the fruits were chopped into chunks and were put into the pot. She used only half of the slices of moreh, and the guam and the other were washed well, but only their skins were put into the pot.
‘With this ingredient, the tea would have a beautiful sunset cloud color if extracted.’
The fruit that looks like guam was a little too hard to make out, but the skin is red, so the color should not be that bizarre.
It took longer than usual to steep the tea, then she removed all the fruit residue inside with tongs. After carefully pouring the tea into the three warmed cups, she was relieved to see that the tea turned a beautiful shade of red, albeit a little more reddish than she had expected.
One of the leftover slices of moreh floats in the tea, and a slice cut in the shape of a fan also decorates the rim of the cup. This is a decoration that she often did in the past for guests, allowing them to adjust the flavor by squeezing the juice of the moreh to their liking.
“Here you go. This is a fruit tea with purine and fifi. Add some moreh juice to taste, if you like.”
“Well, that smells delicious.”
“…looks good.”
Amalia was relieved to hear that not only Esmeralda clapped her hands in delight, but also Alphonse seemed to be in an unusually good mood when Lorenza brought the cup to the desk.
She didn’t enjoy brewing it as much as she did when she brewed it for Leonardo, Yugo, Juana and the others. And she brewed it while trying not to make a mistake, but she was glad it seemed to take shape somehow.
‘I was a little nervous about the guam, but I’m glad to hear it turned out well.’
Relaxing her shoulders, Amalia decided to watch the situation, leaning back on the sofa to rest her tired body.
First, Braulio, who had been standing by the side for some time, plunged his hand into his tea as usual and began to take measurements.
“…I feel the attributes of fire, earth, and wind. I thought by drinking it I could acquire the power of each of these attributes.”
“Oh my, your tea really worked!”
Esmeralda said as she picked up the cup with her fingertips and elegantly bringing it to her mouth.
…and then.
“…what is this? This is so bad!”
Amalia was stunned when suddenly a splash of warm liquid was thrown at her.
Esmeralda took a sip of her tea and dumped the contents on Amalia, just like Alphonse had done to Juana before.
Amalia, however, was stunned, a fresh, warm liquid dripping from her cheeks. She had not expected such a reaction.
‘Th-this is bad…!?’
Esmeralda’s beautiful face was contorted with anger, and she became increasingly angry with Amalia, who said nothing, and now threw the whole cup at her.
――Thanks to her instincts, Amalia miraculously avoided the cup thrown at her. But instead, she seemed to have provoked Esmeralda’s anger. She stood up, slamming the table with a bang!
“You’ve got to be kidding me! What is this muddy water! Do you think I’m stupid?!”
“Amalia! What did you give Esmeralda to drink? Hey, Braulio! Didn’t you just take a measurement?”
Alphonse also got up from his desk and hugged Esmeralda’s shoulder in a fretful manner. Although they do not get along, it seems that a strange bond is formed at times like this.
‘Well, even if you say that…I just follow the usual procedure.’
Muddy water, she might say, but Amalia just brewed fruit tea. It was in front of everyone watching, and she didn’t put anything strange in it.
Nervous and bewildered, the blood drained from her body, and she felt as if she had been frozen in the area around her abdomen.
But there was only one person in the room who remained calm.
“I did indeed measure it, but that was only to detect the magical attributes contained in the tea. If you drink this, you will definitely get the effect of the attribute, but I’m not sure if you are talking about the taste.”
Braulio, who was contradicted by Alphonse, said with a hint of surprise and picked up the tea for Alphonse, which had been left untouched, and sipped it. Then, he muttered rather amusedly, “Oh, this is quite bad.”
Alphonse looked momentarily taken aback by Braulio’s attitude, but he quickly turned to Amalia and pointed to her chest.
“…go back! Listen, we need to be able to make something drinkable by tomorrow morning! If you make this mess again, I will show no mercy! Okay?!”
…
…
…
Amalia was then immediately sent back to her room.
Juana and Lorenza, who had apparently heard what had happened, greeted her with concern, and Amalia took advantage of their kindness when they offered to let her rest for now and fell into bed alone.
‘Was my tea…bad?’
That can’t be true. All the fruits used were provided by the Kyros side, and the procedure was no different than before. The results of the attribute measurements taken by Braulio were also accurate, so there must not have been any foreign substances mixed in.
If she could, she wanted to drink the tea that was left in the pot herself, for verification. But when she offered to do so, Alphonse became increasingly angry and confiscated the pot.
Amalia was able to return to her room only to be scolded severely because the drink was apparently not poisoned or anything, but simply tasted bad.
‘I don’t remember tampering with the tea at all, but if I had made something that was harmful to their health…’
Horrified just thinking about it, Amalia wrapped herself in a blanket and hugged herself tightly.
Braulio told her earlier, as she was being dragged along the corridor, that Amalia would first brew a pot of tea before leaving for battle, just in time for Alphonse and the others to leave before noon tomorrow.
Even in their journey, Amalia will brew tea frequently to keep the effect of the attribute alive, but if she makes “dirty water” again this time, Amalia may not be able to live. Alphonse and his team would not have thought of “even if it tastes a little bad, if it has an effect, I’ll put up with it and drink it.”
‘I need to make sure I get it right…so my head doesn’t fly off. But what went wrong’
She meditates and reflects on the tea she just made in the Oval Office.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, she had no idea what it was, and Amalia spent the morning of that day worrying in agony.