Secret Wardrobe Of The Duchess

“Yes, why? Do you want some?”

Rubica also knew the price of tea had soared up because of the tea meeting trend she started. She wondered what to say to Ios, but then Carl brought tea.

As Ios had given him a handful of tea leaves, he had been able to make four cups of tea, plus a cup for himself. It tasted even better than he had imagined.

“I’ve prepared more for Lord Ios’s cousin.”

Actually, Carl had brought more because he wanted Edgar to taste the precious tea, but Ios became generous at hearing Carl stress the word ‘cousin’.

“Well, it would taste better when shared.”

He gulped down his cup of tea, but then he frowned.

“It doesn’t taste like what I had earlier! Hey, are you trying to screw me over?”

Ios didn’t even have the most basic knowledge that the taste of tea had to be different as it had been made with different leaves.

“No, of course not. Carl loves tea too much to do such a thing.”

“But they’re the same leaves, they should taste the same.”

“Here, look. They have different colors, see? Even the same leaves can taste completely different, depending on how they are stored.”

As Carl had been talking about tea often to her, she had a bit of knowledge about the drink.

However, she used simple words to explain so that even Ios could understand instead of using complex words as Carl did.

“Oh, I see.”

Ios bought it so easily that Rubica wanted to sigh. She couldn’t help but worry about the dragon who knew nothing about the world.

Anyway, even though Ios had so much tea that he kept it in his pocket, it was quite precious in Seritos. Therefore, Rubica said, “Ios, thank you for giving us your precious tea.”

“This thing is precious?”

Ios crossed his arms and called Minos, demanding an explanation. The goblin, in the meantime, wiped off his sweat nervously.

He had been hiding the fact that tea grew only in dragons’ territories from Ios and had taken the tea leaves. Now it was time for him to pay the price for it.

“If it hadn’t been for Rubica, I would have been fooled by you forever. I shouldn’t have trusted a goblin!”

Ios grabbed Minos by his neck and shook him. The small goblin could only squeal like a goose.

Ios wanted to do more, but he didn’t as Rubica was watching, and he knew nymphs hated violence.

“I guess tea only grows in your territory?”

Edgar asked as he made Carl, who was still lingering behind because of his attachment to tea, leave the room.

Ios sulkily replied, “I used to think it was a common tree that grows anywhere, but it looks like I was wrong.”

“It must be one of the plants that only grow in the dragons’ territories. It explains why it could only be imported from the East Empire.”

The empire was able to produce tea in huge amounts as it was ruled by a dragon. Its neighboring kingdoms and a few kingdoms of the continent had tried to grow tea, but they all failed.

“The price of tea has soared up recently. Can’t you sell some of yours to us?”

Rubica’s tea meeting had been the reason for it, and it was bothering Edgar a lot.

The king kept letting him know he wanted to see her, so he was worried she might get scolded for it.

“No.”

“But you said it’s quite common in your land.”

“Yes, I have a lot of it, but you said it’s precious to you.”

He had given it to Minos when he thought it was a common plant, but now that he knew it was rare and precious, he didn’t want to give it away easily.

“I’ll pay.”

“Human money means nothing to me.”

The mood became tense again. Rubica’s husband, who normally talked well and negotiated well, was now fighting at Ios’s level. Rubica, therefore, calmed him down.

“We can’t force him if he doesn’t want to sell it.”

Edgar’s lips twitched, but he soon said ‘okay’. He always calmed down when Rubica spoke to him, no matter how mad he was.

Ios, however, was somewhat embarrassed. At first, he was glad since he had a good reason to fight Edgar, as he really didn’t like him, but now that his opponent was backing off, he was left embarrassed.

“Huh, but why do you need tea?”

Ios sat down and pretended to look at his fingernails. He pretended to not be interested, but he was clearly interested. Rubica knew he liked her quite a lot, so she decided to use it to her advantage.

“Hosting tea meetings has become popular because of me, and now I’m in trouble because the price of tea has gone up too much.”

“You’re in trouble?”

“If we don’t do something, people will call me a bad person.”

Ios couldn’t see why being called a bad person was a problem, but seeing Rubica didn’t like being called like that, he also didn’t like it.

Unlike before, he was listening quite seriously with crossed arms. However, his sudden change of attitude irritated Edgar.

Who was this dragon that he was trying to interfere with and solve his wife’s problem? Really, he was crossing the line.

“Of course I should help if my cousin Rubica is in trouble.”

Edgar didn’t like him saying ‘my Rubica’, even with the word cousin added in the middle.

“Thank you.”

He also didn’t like Rubica smiling at him. He often got to think that although his wife was really strict on him, she was too kind to others.

If this hadn’t been about Rubica, he would have messed it up already. He tried to suppress his bubbling anger and forced himself to smile.

“Thank you, for relieving my wife of one of her worries.”

He called Rubica ‘my wife’ instead of calling her by name. Husband was much closer and unique compared to cousin, and yes, he was bragging.

“Hey, don’t give me that forced smile.”

Ios felt a little bad although he didn’t know why and sulkily protested about Edgar’s expression. They were about to go into another quarrel, although none of them knew exactly why, so Rubica interrupted and stopped them before it happened.

“Should I tell the needed amount to Minos?”

Minos, who had been trembling in fear of what was about to happen when he and Ios went back, smiled brightly. Rubica was saving him again.

He could be in charge of supplying tea to Claymore, and Ios wouldn’t punish him too much for what he had done.

And he was right, as Ios was planning to punish him as soon as he went home, he asked, “Can’t I just do it myself?”

“Are you good at math?”

Ios shook his head. Of course, he wasn’t. Plus, he didn’t even feel the need to be good at it. He had been having Minos do all the hard and difficult thinking for him.

The goblin had been working as his brain for decades. Moreover, as he feared Ios might get angry if he took too much tea, he had only taken only a small amount of it.

Therefore, Ios decided to let him go.

“Minos, keep in your mind you will never get any more of my gold if you lie to me ever again.”

“Of course, Lord Ios. I will never make such a mistake again.”

“Bring me a jar.”

That order came quite suddenly while Minos was still vowing his loyalty. However, the goblin couldn’t even make a sound and brought an empty jar that happened to be in the room.

“This one’s too small. Bring that one.”

Minos brought Ios another jar that was as big as a man’s head, and he started to take out tea leaves from his back pocket. There was enough of it to fill the jar.

‘How does he keep so much tea in that small pocket?’

Ios’s back pocket had been flat when Rubica first met him, and it was still flat. It appeared to be enchanted.

“Will this be enough for today?”

That much green tea was enough for a year. Ios hadn’t been lying when he said it was quite common in his land. Moreover, it wasn’t black tea but green tea, so there had to be lots of people who wanted to buy it.

It was more than enough to satisfy the domestic need for tea and maybe they could even export it. Rubica couldn’t help but get excited.

“Ios, you said you wanted to decorate your tree with a ribbon, right?”

She wanted to give the dragon something in return. Therefore, she took out a ribbon she had with her and started to tie it, turning it into a blue flower-shaped ribbon in no time.

“How is this?”

The ribbons Ios had seen in the market had been comparatively simple, so he was left speechless at the delicate ribbon.

He could see a plant, the thing he loved the most, in an object that had no scent of life.

How could it be possible? Really, nymphs had to be the greatest beings in the whole world.