Chapter 21: Ev and Afternoon Tea

Simultaneously with the cookie entering my mouth, Iris began to walk towards me, step by step.

The attendant lady who had put the cookie in my mouth started turning blue as Iris approached.

It was pitiful to watch.

To put it metaphorically, she had the expression of a subordinate caught slacking off by their boss.

‘I didn’t ask her to feed me, so it’s not my fault… right?’

Iris snatched the plate from the attendant and suddenly started chiding me.

“Ev(Evrys), eating cookies before a meal is a bad habit.”

Huh?

Feeling bewildered by the sudden rebuke, I looked at Iris, but she lightly avoided my gaze and turned her eyes to the attendant.

“You may go.”

At Iris’s order to leave, the attendant, who had been trembling between us, bowed 90 degrees. Then vanished far away.

‘Fast…’

‘Anyway, Ev?’

‘Is… that like a pet name? I know what it is.’

‘I saw it in a book.’

‘Anyway, I know what it is, but did she say she’d call me by a pet name in front of others?’

I searched my memory, but there was no such fact.

‘She did tell me to call her Un…ni.’

‘Didn’t she actually call me by my full name when addressing me in front of others?’

Holding that question, I looked at Iris, but Iris just stared back at me with unreadable eyes.

“…Let us go. Lady Evrys.”

‘Now she’s calling me normally again.’

‘Isn’t Iris’s memory better than mine?’

‘Could it be that Iris said it, and I forgot?’

While I was retracing my memories, Iris turned and started moving.

“Wait up.”

‘I’ll think about it during the meal… and if I still don’t remember, I’ll just have to ask.’

‘It’s not like the title is that important.’

‘Honestly, Evrys feels too long for my Korean sentimentality, so this is actually better.’

After finishing the usual meal with Iris, who became silent after saying “Let’s go,” Iris proposed tea time.

This was a first.

‘She said cookies were too sweet and not good, so why tea time all of a sudden…’

As I thought this while following Iris, a sudden realization struck me.

‘Come to think of it, tea time is literally time for drinking tea.’

‘Not time for eating cookies.’

‘What I had in mind would be more accurately called snack time.’

Thinking like that, Iris’s tea time proposal didn’t feel so awkward anymore.

Following Iris, the hallway felt strangely familiar.

It wasn’t just because the mansion’s interior looked similar. It was literally a hallway I often walked down.

Though I’d only been there a few times.

Following along with a sense of deja vu, it was indeed the library, just as I expected.

Passing the attendant who was sweating profusely, we arrived at the lounge area, where a neatly prepared table greeted me.

It seemed she had given instructions to prepare it in advance.

‘When did she order it… I don’t think I remember seeing her do that.’

‘Whatever, what does it matter.’

As I sat at the table, Iris began to brew tea with familiar ease.

She carefully selected tea leaves, put them in the teapot, and even timed it.

After time passed and she confirmed the color had steeped, she removed the tea leaves and poured some for me.

With a trickling sound, tea resembling the color of sunset poured out.

By the time the rising steam tickled my face, Iris’s cup was also filled, and I saw her sit down.

The atmosphere felt somewhat solemn, so I decided to watch Iris drink first.

Iris glanced at me once, then lifted her cup and began to drink the tea.

Um… it was just normal.

Of course, even just her drinking looked somewhat elegant, but it wasn’t like she drank it in any special way.

What should I call it, graceful, or maybe dignified? Anyway, it felt like that.

‘Since Iris brewed this tea, I shouldn’t let it cool.’

I grasped the cup’s handle and carefully lifted it.

It was larger than expected, so it felt somewhat unstable, and I supported the other side with my other hand.

Warmth spread through my fingers.

‘It’s nice that I don’t have to worry about getting burned thanks to this sturdy body.’

Bringing it to my lips, it had a pleasant aroma.

The appropriately hot tea had a bitter taste, but the fragrance was truly nice.

Warming myself with the hot tea made my body feel languid.

I covered my mouth and yawned, feeling a bit sleepy, but an unresolved question came to mind, and I looked at Iris.

Just then, it seemed Iris was also looking at me, as our eyes met.

First, after checking that no one else was around.

“Iris.”

Iris, like me, surveyed the surroundings.

“Yes.”

“Why did you call me Ev earlier?”

“…”

Waiting for Iris, who was speechless right from the start, I picked up a cookie and ate it.

The silence wasn’t that long.

“Soon the banquet, that is, my coming-of-age ceremony, will be held.”

“Yes… that’s right.”

‘That’s why we got the dress… tailored.’

‘There’s no way I could forget.’

‘It feels like the dress shop madam’s laughter is still echoing in my ears.’

‘I think I managed to secure a navy-blue color while I was still sane, but the design seems to have been erased from my mind, I can’t recall it well.’

‘Saying it’s actually better feels scary.’

‘To think I have to feel dread instead of excitement about what kind of clothes I’ll end up wearing.’

‘I should have just said I’d watch from afar.’

‘Regretting it now won’t do any good.’

‘And wouldn’t Iris have been disappointed too…?’

‘I don’t really know.’

“Why the banquet all of a sudden…?”

“Quite a lot of people will come to the banquet. It will be one of the few opportunities to connect with us. Therefore, attention will undoubtedly be drawn to you as well, Lady Evrys.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. Attention will inevitably be drawn for various reasons. Although Father handled things without issue, you are a suddenly appeared relative, so people will take interest, whether for good or bad reasons.”

“Hmm.”

“In that sense, if we appear close, troublesome individuals might think twice before clinging to you, Lady Evrys.”

“Hmm?”

“It could be considered a kind of… shield, you could say.”

Iris continued the conversation, offering a plausible reason.

Iris had a completely serious face, so I couldn’t help but raise one question.

“But do you need to call me that starting now?”

Iris answered without a shred of hesitation.

“…It is practice. One must make a habit of calling it normally so that mistakes are not made.”

“Like how I practiced calling you Unni?”

“…Yes.”

‘I practiced a lot back then, but when we actually spent time together, Iris dismissed all the servants, so I barely had a chance to call her that directly.’

‘Thanks to that, I didn’t make any mistakes.’

‘Because of that, whether it had any meaning… I’m not really sure.’

‘But well, Iris says it’s necessary? Then it must be necessary.’

“I see.”

“If, perhaps, it displeased you—”

‘Far from displeased, I also prefer the shorter name. Not that I’d call myself that, though.’

“No. Actually, I was thinking it would be nice if you usually called me the shorter version.”

“Pardon?”

“Exactly what I said. Honestly, four syllables are too long, right? If you call me Ev normally too, wouldn’t it be good without needing to switch?”

“…Would that be alright?”

‘What’s the big deal? Don’t people just shorten names if they’re close? Aren’t we a little closer now?’

“Of course.”

When I answered like that, I saw an emotion I’d never seen before on Iris’s face.

The problem is, I don’t know what that emotion is.

‘I can see some small change I hadn’t seen before on her face, but.’

‘Unless she tells me directly, inferring it is almost impossible, isn’t it?’

‘I could guess when the situation fit, but now I can’t tell.’

‘But asking outright, ‘What are you thinking right now?’ would be rude, wouldn’t it…?’

During that time, Iris’s face returned to normal.

Returning to her now familiar expressionless face, Iris took a sip of tea as if thirsty, then.

“…Lady Ev.”

She quietly called my… um… pet name. Yes, pet name.

For some reason, her needlessly serious demeanor and voice made me burst out laughing.

It wasn’t like I laughed until tears came out or anything… but still, I don’t know how long it’s been since I laughed like this.

‘Is it because my mind is at ease?’

‘It felt truly good.’

“Pfft… why so serious.”

“…I do not know either.”

While we were talking, the tea cooled, and I downed it in one go. Iris brewed a fresh cup and refilled mine.

I said a quiet “Thanks.” As I drank the tea and ate cookies, the memory of laughing moments ago came back, bringing a natural smile to my face.

“Lady Ev.”

“Hm?”

“Are you not going to read your book?”

“Ah, the book?”

“Yes.”

“We’re having tea together, shouldn’t I focus on you?”

‘Isn’t it the same as going to a cafe together alone and just looking at your smartphone without saying anything to the other person?’

‘I’m not that kind of rude person.’

“Is that so.”

“Right?”

I spent a quiet afternoon with Iris.

Putting my mind at ease felt truly good.

I wished this peacefulness could continue until the very end.

Perhaps forever…

However, for me, vaguely thinking such thoughts, nothing is eternal.

It seems the world wanted to teach me that.

Along with the lesson about not setting up flags.