TEASER CHAPTER 7 PART 15
Guided by Mena, Nozomu
was led to an extraordinarily luxurious door.
According to the
middle-aged maid who guided him, this was one of the guest rooms in the
mansion.
Nozomu himself had
stayed at the mansion once before, but the door in front of him was larger and
more massive than the room he had stayed in that time.
"Master, I have
brought him here."
Mena, who had guided
Nozomu up to this point, knocked on the door.
"Oh, let him
in."
In response to the
Lord's voice coming from inside the room, Mena reverently opened the door.
As he was ushered
through, Nozomu's eyes were met with a spacious room that befits the luxurious
door.
However, the furniture
in the room was decorated in light colors such as white, giving the impression
of simplicity, unrelated to gaudiness or elegance.
What caught Nozomu's
eye more than anything else, was the sight of Victor at a table in the corner
of the room, making tea.
"E-, eh?"
"I'm sorry, Nozomu-kun,
but you'll have to wait a little longer. The tea will be ready in a
minute."
"Please sit down
on this sofa and wait."
Nozomu sat down on the
sofa provided in the room, as Mena urged him to do so.
Victor didn't seem to
be bothered by Nozomu's perplexity and continued to happily make tea. He poured
steaming hot water into the teapot. He put more tea leaves into the teapot and
poured hot water from a slightly higher position. Victor watched the tea leaves
swimming in the teapot with satisfaction.
Eventually, Victor
began to pour the warmed tea into the teacups with his accustomed hand.
Nozomu did not know
the details of how to make tea, but Victor's movements seemed very refined.
After Victor had
finished brewing the tea, Mena appeared from the back of the room with a round
tray. The tray was lined with cookies and other confectionaries and smelled
sweet and savory.
"I'm sorry to
call you all the way here. I was hoping to have a chance to talk to you face to
face."
"No, no, it's my
pleasure. Thank you for inviting me tonight ..."
"As I said
before, there is no need for a formal greeting, I am the one who has to
entertain you."
Victor placed a cup of
tea in front of Nozomu and himself, followed by Mena, who placed a plate with
tea confectionaries between them.
Nozomu took a sip of
the tea as Victor urged him to do so.
The mellow aroma
filled his mouth. To be honest, Nozomu felt that the tea tasted better than the
tea he had just had at the salon.
"Well, it's my
secret hobby. I'm proud to say that I'm quite good at it. Unfortunately, Mena
doesn't often let me brew her tea ..."
"To brew tea
without a maid ... It could affect my master's dignity..."
"But isn't it the
fact that my tea tastes better than Mena's?"
Victor's words made
Mena's eyes go wide, but he watched her with amusement as he held back a laugh.
"... Even so,
it's still a matter of my master's dignity."
"Such trifles are
not necessary this time. Besides, I was especially indebted to Nozomu-kun for
the incident with the Waziart Household. As the head of the family, I myself
should at least offer him tea, don't you think?"
The way he teased
others with a good-natured smile was somewhat reminiscent of Irisdina.
The first time Nozomu
saw that, he thought, "Well, this is what she meant by
mischievousness". Nozomu understood it somehow.
"Now then. It's
fun to make fun of Mena, but I'm afraid of what's to come, so I'll stop here. I
have something else to talk about. It's about the secret agreement between our
Francilt Household and the Waziart Household."
Nozomu straightened
his posture and turned his attention to Victor's words.
