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SCARCELY three days had passed before Ernest returned to the shop.
Yuuri had heeded his warning and was there to greet him when he arrived. And yet, every time he came within striking distance, she quickly moved away. His excessive demonstration the other day had now turned her into a full-on frightened feline.
While Ernest usually only visited the witch for business matters, she fascinated him so much that he decided to visit her on his day off.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, m’lord, but our agreed upon deadline has not yet come.”
“…True, but since you’re open for business anyway, I thought it might be all right for a customer such as myself to stop in.”
“A customer? You’ve never actually bought anything from me! Just stopping in to tease an innocent woman does not a customer make!”
“Hahaha, I suppose you’re right. So, what are you up to?”
The cold look in her eyes told him not to bother her, that she was busy, but he ignored it.
“I’m blending tea. It’s been quite popular as of late,” Yuuri said as she weighed tea leaves and flower petals atop a scale covered with a thin paper. There was a porcelain pot small enough to fit in the palm of one’s hand on the counter, likely also for sale.
“I see…”
Tea from Xingka was extremely popular among aristocratic women, but, as it was still rather scarce in Hylant, it was far from affordable for commoners. Ernest tried picturing a noblewoman deigning to visit the sketchy little shop, but couldn’t.
“You actually get customers here?”
“How rude! They may not actually visit my shop, but…I have to make money somehow!”
“So you don’t get customers then.”
“Watoh Company informs me of their customers’ ailments and I mix the tea for them to sell as their own. The product is extremely popular now that people have heard it is mixed by someone trained in the East.…”
The shelf was lined with many similarly packaged tea mixes, making Ernest think that while the witch herself had no business, her sales under the Watoh Company name enabled her to sell enough to get by. He felt like he finally had some sort of grasp of Yuuri’s relationship to the company, as well as how a shop that sold nothing managed to stay open.
“I see, so you aren’t just slacking off all the time! Think you could spare some jasmine flower tea for a weary nobleman?”
“This isn’t a cafe, you know!”
“All right then, you finish that up and we’ll go to an actual cafe. I have to make it up to you after being so mean. Do you like sweets?”
The word “sweets” caught her attention. She gazed through the lace curtains out the window, then shook her head.
“…I can’t go outside, and besides, I was warned to be wary of wicked men.”
Her expression darkened as she gazed outside. Ernest had to admit to himself that he hadn’t seen many foreigners about town, so her reluctance was understandable.
At the same time, on the wall behind the counter hung a feminine-looking jacket and a parasol, both serving as ample proof that she did actually leave the shop. So why couldn’t she go to a cafe with Ernest?
“Aw, you’re no fun. But why not? It’s so nice out. And I’m not really a wicked man.”
“I don’t care for sunny weather.”
“Would you prefer we go on a rainy day then?”
“I don’t care for rainy days either.”
“You don’t care for anything!” Ernest groaned, plopping down on the sofa by the window.
Yuuri pouted, realizing he was unlikely to leave anytime soon. Finally she relented and went to make some tea. She emerged a short time later with the tea Ernest requested.
“So, how is the work for us coming along?”
“I’ll have what you need in plenty of time, as long as Your Lordship stops interfering with my work,” Yuuri said sarcastically as she returned to mixing the tea.
“You’re such a hard worker. …So I’ve been wondering, is that robe from Hinomoto?”
“Yes. It’s a haori, which is a Hinomotoese-style of outerwear. It was a gift, but I’m afraid wearing it in town will make me stick out, so I primarily wear it around the shop.”
Ernest found himself rather curious about who exactly had given Yuuri the red haori. Could it have been from the president of Watoh Company himself or maybe someone else she knew. Another employee of the company? In any case, the red of the haori complemented her black hair so perfectly that whoever gave it to her must have known her well. This was only Ernest’s fifth visit to the shop, but each time she wore a haori of a different color, so he assumed she had quite a selection.
Ernest had so much he wanted to ask her beyond who gave her the haori. How was she related to Watoh Company exactly? He knew about her grandmother, but what of the rest of her family?
“Are those flowers native to Hinomoto?” he asked, indicating the white and gold flowers dotted vividly against the red background of the haori. The slender petals reminded him of dahlias or perhaps marguerite daisies, but they were a bit different.
“They’re chrysanthemums… In the East, you can even get tea made from them. Here, have a look.”
Yuuri placed something puffy and amber colored on a small plate and handed it to Ernest. It didn’t look anything like the flower pattern on her shirt, likely because it was being dried out to be used in tea.
“Is something wrong?” Ernest asked, noticing Yuuri was staring silently at the chrysanthemum.
“Have there been any developments with the tea incident?”
“The royal doctor has ordered that no one consume it until his evaluation is complete, seeing as it has caused the Queen to collapse twice.”
“Couldn’t you give me a little longer before deciding whether or not it was actually the tea?”
“Possibly, but the tea is so popular. If it got out that tea the ambassador brought caused the Queen to collapse, it could lead to a diplomatic breakdown or even war.”
“I see. But still, you’ve asked me to look into this.”
“Well, we did come to you for a third-party opinion. Perhaps you should have a look.”
“Really?”
“Though that would require you getting more heavily involved…”
Ernest pulled a bulky envelope from his shirt pocket and laid it on the table.
“Miss Yuuri, I don’t believe we’ve actually gone into detail regarding your compensation, have we?” Ernest asked, fixing her with a serious gaze for once.
“I don’t suppose we have. And since this job will take me ten days, it is an important matter.”
“Then please accept this as your advance.”
Yuuri took the envelope and peered inside. She found the envelope filled with more bills than a man at the prime of his working life could hope to make, even over the course of several months.
“What is this? Hush money? …Do I really appear to be in such dire straits? Or perhaps you see me as a woman with loose lips. Either way, I don’t care for the implication.”
Her normally sullen demeanor seemed to be at least partially the result of an embarrassment she was struggling to hide. But in this moment, her displeasure was clearly the result of her irritation at the contents of the envelope. She took pride in the work she did, and thanks to her work ties with Watoh Company, she clearly was holding her own.
“Oh…it appears I’ve offended you.”
“If you’re truly that concerned, then why not just threaten to have me rolled up in a mat and tossed into the sea if I speak a word of this to anyone.”
“How could I say something so dreadful to such an impressionable young woman? Am I to understand you do not require payment…?”
He meant her no harm. But he was hoping that the hush money would at least constitute a confidentiality agreement of some sort with her.
“…Well…what if I were to share my secret with you? It could be a trade of sorts. You would know my weakness. And I would be forced to keep your confidence, correct?”
She was clever. If she accepted the money in exchange for her silence, she was locking herself into a contract. But by revealing a weakness of her own, she was in a way encouraging him to protect her. With both of them knowing each other’s secrets, they were bound by a shared trust, neither able to divulge the other’s secret without having their own exposed. Though he didn’t like the thought of her being so suspicious of him.
Still, this secret had piqued his curiosity. So he gave a deep nod and flashed a wicked grin.
Though the idea was hers, Yuuri found her thoughts difficult to convey, starting and stopping over and over again. Ernest waited patiently.
“I-If you truly want my expertise, simple money will not do. You need to offer something of greater significance…something like blood.”
“Blood? I’m not sure I like where this is headed.”
Try as she might to sound self-assured, her voice wavered. “I am the descendant of vampires. I must drink blood at least once every three months. If I am able to receive the blood of another, that would be compensation enough for me. …That is my secret.”
At any other time, Ernest would have laughed at what she told him. But Yuuri appeared to be on the verge of tears. If he laughed at her now, he could be sure she would never smile upon him.
And I so desperately want to see that smile.
Whether it was anger or embarrassment, Yuuri was certainly an expressive woman. But Ernest had yet to see her smile even once. So, even as dubious as it all sounded, he was willing to take his chances.
“Perhaps that is the source of your otherworldly beauty. All right, that should be fine. How much blood do you require?”
“I only need a little, about as much as what falls from a tiny cut.”
Ernest removed his tie clip and used the pin to prick his index finger. After a few seconds, vivid crimson blossomed on his skin.
“Have a taste.”
Yuuri said she needed to drink blood, and yet she looked afraid. Ernest pressed his finger to those rose-colored lips of hers. As she began to lick the blood on her lips, her expression went slack, as if she were intoxicated.
The timid, wavering Yuuri disappeared, as if she never existed, replaced now by a ravenous woman, wildly lapping up the blood. But the wound was tiny, born only from a pin prick, and so the flow quickly ceased.
No sooner had Ernest pulled his finger away than did Yuuri’s lips find their way to the base of his thumb. She bared her fangs and sank them into his flesh.