I took a deep breath and calmly wrote down a few letters. Soon, with a crumpling sound, the paper was cruelly crumpled.

“The handwriting was strange.”

I spread a new piece of paper again. Above it, I wrote Cassian’s name again. But this time too, I was not satisfied.

“The ink has spread.”

After throwing away several pieces of paper, a letter that was somewhat acceptable came out. I opened the envelope, folded the letter carefully, and sealed it.

“Finally, it’s all written.”

Stretching my stiff shoulders and catching my breath, the floor was full of crumpled paper bundles. Was sending a letter originally such a hard thing? My temple throbbed for no reason.

Knock knock.

And right then, Betty, who opened the door and came in, saw the mess in the room and was shocked.

“My goodness! Was there a thief in the room? I should tell the master right away…….”

I immediately stopped her.

“That thief is me.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was writing a letter…… No, it just happened.”

Betty tilted her head and seemed to recall the purpose of finding me, and turned her body.

“Miss, more importantly, there is new news.”

“Yep. Tell me.”

“His Majesty the Emperor has invited you to the palace.”

I had expected it.

Even though Hertian was in a situation where he left the palace as if being chased out, he is indeed the emperor’s son.

The ceremony is not far off, so it was only natural for the emperor to look for me.

“When is it?”

“It’s tomorrow!”

“The emperor seems to be impatient.”

I’m not one to talk since I said I wanted to meet right away.

“By the way, Miss, are you really going to use that girl as a maid?”

Betty whispered softly to me.

“Bonisa? Why her?”

Bonisa has been working in our house since that day.

She stuck to me and followed me, so I had no other choice. I couldn’t ignore her because she seemed unable to get more work because of the mistake in the salon. And I quite liked the tapestry she made.

“No, you can clearly see that she hasn’t done any maid work. She doesn’t know how to do anything, from laundry to anything else.”

“Really?”

I widened my eyes as if surprised.

“She was doing errands all her life, so she would have done most of them, wouldn’t she?”

“I thought so too. Well, in the kitchen, she burns all the food. When I asked her to clean, she broke the mop……. Even though I left her alone for a day and only taught her, nothing improved. She seems to be far from being a maid.”

Betty said, grumbling.

“Is that so…….”
If such complaints arose after just a few days, Bonisa’s future grievances would snowball. It was even more so because she lacked proper maid training and recommendations.

I pondered on what to do and spoke to Betty.

“Could you call for Bonisa?”

Backyard of the Leangberia Earl’s residence.

Bonisa came walking heavily from a distance.

This was the first time a maid’s outfit seemed so illfitting.

“Miss, you called?”

True to form, she, with her hair split in two, couldn’t look at me properly.

“Are you uneasy?”

“Yes… I’ve made a lot of mistakes. You must be disappointed.”

Bonisa uttered sorrowfully in a crawling voice. She seemed aware that she was incompetent.

“Well, here’s a gift.”

Then I gave her a handkerchief as a gift. She took it in surprise and looked at me with a worried face.

“Is it a farewell gift…?”

“How is it? I personally embroidered this handkerchief, don’t lose it.”

I gently ignored her words. Her raised eyebrows furrowed in disappointment. Then she looked at the gifted handkerchief.

“Precious hand…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence out of courtesy.

“Is it terrible?”

Because it was clearly terrible to anyone who saw it.

I lacked dexterity. Despite having good private tutors, whatever I touched turned into something cursed. This was starkly apparent in the need for focus and sensitivity in embroidery.

Like the one Bonisa received now.

The handkerchief I gifted her was also a work of heart and soul.

However, the threads were bursting here and there. The haphazardly combined colors were full of outdatedness.

“It took two days to make that. With my embroidery teacher.”

“That’s impossible…”

Bonisa spoke her mind and belatedly covered her mouth.

“It’s unbelievable? I think so too.”

Expressing my deep sympathy, I walked ahead. I heard the sound of her following me in small steps.

Soon, I stopped at the edge of a field where various medicinal herbs were densely growing.

“There’s a lot of winter herbs here.”

I squatted in front of the field. And I asked Bonisa, who had stopped behind me.

“Do you know what these herbs are?”

“No. I don’t know.”

“I thought you’d know because your hometown is cold. From here, there are groundsel, plantago, horse hoof mushroom, and mistletoe. Have you heard of them?”

She shook her head.

“The plantago here, if you boil a small amount and drink it, it’s effective for pain and urinary disorders.”

“You’re very knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, Miss.”

The girl, leaning over, followed my gaze to the plantago.

“It looks like it would be healthy.”

“But if you eat a lot thinking it’s good, your whole body will be paralyzed and it can lead to death.”

“It’s poisonous?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll remember never to go near it.”

I dug out the plantago and got up from my spot.

She stepped back as if she had seen something scary.

“Every herb has a duality. Sometimes it’s beneficial to the body, but on the other hand, it can harm the body. Just like me. I lack dexterity, but there’s nothing I don’t know about medicinal herbs.”

I took a step towards her.

“You may be clumsy at maid work, but your dexterity is superior to others. That’s your duality.”

“My duality…”

Bonisa mumbled as she fiddled with her fingers.

“I’ll give you other tasks besides housework. Tasks where I can see more of your good side. From now on, make lots of winter clothes and tapestries.”

This was why I called her today.

To find a job that Bonisa can do well. After all, she followed me to make tapestries for me in the first place.

“Will you do it?”

She, who had been momentarily speechless, soon nodded her head up and down.

“A hundred… no, I can make a thousand!”

I turned around laughing quietly.

“Then your fingers will all fall off.”

Bonisa chased after me like a puppy.

“I’ll make the patterns beautiful, too.”

“That would be nice.”

I smiled lightly.

“But, Miss. What are you going to do with those herbs?”

I realized I had brought the plantago with me for no reason.

“Oh, I forgot to leave it.”

It’s quite a distance to go back.
I briefly pondered before dusting off the dirt clinging to the ground cherries.

“Do you happen to have any pains?”

“Not particularly……”

“Then there’s nothing I can do. I’ll eat it.”

I opened my mouth wide and chewed the ground cherries. The unique bitter taste of medicinal herbs and the scent of soil spread throughout my mouth. It was a taste I couldn’t get used to, even after eating it after a long time.

“Miss! Stop eating!”

Bonisa tore into me for doing so.

“It’s poisonous if you eat a lot! What are you going to do if something happens!”

Despite Bonisa’s discouragement, I chewed the ground cherries thoroughly. Bonisa watched over me, as if I might collapse. After swallowing the ground cherries in one gulp, I wiped around my mouth. As you could see, there was nothing wrong with my body.

“I don’t mind. Neither poison herbs nor medicinal herbs affect me.”

Ironically, I was immune to being killed by poisonous herbs.