A woman with short blue hair sat silently, her dress stained with spilled tea. In front of her stood Ethan, looking visibly troubled.
It was easy to deduce what had happened. With Thomas absent, Ethan had been almost exclusively handling the female custors, and it seed that he had accidentally spilled tea on Princess Rainey.
And the tall woman sitting beside Princess Rainey was most likely...
“Ahh! P-Princess! Are you okay?!”
The loud, panicked voice belonged to the maid, Lydia, who was attending to Princess Rainey.
“Oh no! Your dress is stained, Princess! And what if you’ve been burned...?”
Lydia frantically gave orders, her voice filled with urgency. “You there! Clean this up imdiately! And call for the nearest priest! Hurry!”
This maid was exactly as I rembered her from the ga. Loud and frantic in her professionalism, much like lissa. She seed to be in a state of panic, overwheld by the situation, while Princess Rainey herself had been completely silent since the tea spilled on her dress.
“I apologize, Lady Rainey...! This was my mistake...”
Ethan stood before her, his head bowed in sha.
Although Ethan had caused the spill, it wasn’t entirely his fault. Knowing Princess Rainey’s temperant, anyone could have made the sa mistake in that situation.
Princess Rainey, often referred to as the "Unlucky Princess," was known for attracting misfortune wherever she went. Her life was a constant series of unfortunate incidents.
Her shoes, fine in the morning, might break while climbing stairs; a bird’s droppings might hit her head while on a pleasant walk; or she might stub her toe on a chair in her room while walking barefoot.
From minor inconveniences to severe injuries, Princess Rainey had an extraordinary ability to attract bad luck.
So, naturally, even now, with hot tea spilled on her dress, she sat silently, not reacting at all. For soone like her, such small misfortunes had beco a routine part of life.
“Hurry! We must bring a priest! What will happen if the Princess is left with severe burns?!”
anwhile, Lydia continued to fuss loudly, her voice rising to match the seriousness of the situation in her mind.
Of course, no one was going to suffer full-body burns from a bit of spilled tea, but...
‘I can't just stand here thinking about this.’
Regardless of Princess Rainey’s unfortunate tendencies, it was Ethan who made the mistake, so it was my responsibility to clean up the situation.
“I deeply apologize for the discourtesy caused by our butler, Lady Rainey. Please allow us to escort you to another room for treatnt.”
“...”
“W-Wait! Are you asking our Princess to walk in her current condition?! She's just suffered severe burns!”
“We are simply moving her to another room for treatnt. It wouldn’t be appropriate to have a male servant attend to the Princess’s bare skin, would it?”
“O-Oh! If that’s the case, we should take her right away! Actually, I’ll carry her myself!”
With that, Lydia, showing her impressive strength, lifted Princess Rainey out of her chair with ease. Considering how light the Princess was for an adult woman, it wasn’t a surprise.
“W-Where should I take her?!”
“...”
“Just take her behind the kitchen...”
Before I could finish, Lydia hurriedly carried Princess Rainey off to the back of the kitchen. I followed them, ntally preparing to handle the aftermath.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
After moving Princess Rainey, who had spilled hot tea on her dress, to the kitchen, I had our cook temporarily step out. Fortunately, Cerista was not on break today, so I called her to help with the treatnt.
‘…Though in truth, it’s barely a burn. It would heal on its own if left alone.’
Still, I couldn’t risk leaving it untreated. Lydia would keep making a scene, and with Rainey’s bad luck, who knew what could happen if we ignored it? For instance, another cup of tea might spill on the sa spot, turning a minor burn into sothing serious.
It might sound ridiculous, but with Princess Rainey’s luck, anything was possible. She was known as the "Unlucky Princess" for a reason.
Her misfortune wasn’t just about unlucky circumstances. It was like she was destined to experience a certain amount of bad luck each day, no matter what she did.
Saaa…
“Y-You’re healed, Lady Rainey… Or should I say Princess?”
“...”
Shake shake.
Without a word, Princess Rainey shook her head, indicating that it wasn’t necessary to correct the title.
In the ga, conversations with her were always like this—nods, shakes of the head, and silence. I could barely rember her voice because she rarely spoke. Instead, Lydia’s loud voice had left a much more lasting impression.
After Cerista finished treating the minor burn, I used Clean Magic to clean Rainey’s dress. Soon, both the Princess and her dress were back to how they were before Ethan spilled the tea.
“My deepest apologies, Princess Rainey. We will compensate for the incident today.”
“...”
Shake shake.
“Pardon? Are you saying it’s alright?”
“...”
Nod nod.
“Thank you for your graciousness, Princess Rainey.”
…I had expected her to respond this way, but still, it was a courtesy I had to extend after the incident.
For soone like Princess Rainey, who was used to constant misfortune, sothing like spilled tea was hardly enough to upset her.
“I’m sorry, Princess! Next ti, I’ll throw myself in harm’s way to make sure not a single drop of tea touches you!”
“...”
Shake shake.
“Ah, such kindness, even with such beauty of heart...”
As I sighed in relief at having resolved the situation, Princess Rainey silently stood and began to walk toward the exit of the café. I followed, intending to see her off properly, but instead of leaving, she returned to her seat.
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Princess?”
Everyone, including Lydia, looked puzzled, not knowing what the Princess wanted. I, however, rembered the pattern from my past experience with her in the ga and quickly grabbed a nu from nearby, handing it to her.
“Welco once again, my lady. While you wait for your host, may I offer you so tea or refreshnts?”
“...”
Nod nod.
Without speaking, Princess Rainey silently nodded and pointed at the nu, ordering coffee and a croissant.
As I had anticipated, her actions were part of a ritual to “overwrite” the previous mory. To forget the misfortune, she would repeat the activity, replacing the bad mory with a normal one.
This was a recurring event in the ga when dating Princess Rainey, and I was relieved that I still rembered the pattern.
“I’ll prepare that for you right away, my lady.”
“...”
As the Princess sat quietly, Lydia cautiously took her seat beside her once more.
“Everyone, return to your duties. We have many guests to serve, so what are you all standing around for as if sothing happened?”
“Ah, s-sorry...”
“Apologies!”
“...”
With that, the hall and kitchen returned to their usual rhythm, and the café resud its operations.
“…Phew.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Ethan, who was standing off to the side, watching and breathing a sigh of relief.
Reviews
All reviews (0)