The Echanting Duchess

Chapter 13: Del and Atallie

The new duchess, Atallie, had a lot going on in her mind for the past few days. Several days had passed since the duchess' friend named Del became the guest in the estate of the Duke of the Kargaz of the North.

Other than a few meetings between the duchess and Del, the duchess was just cooped up inside her room and had been reading many different books while enjoying the tea brewed with the leaves brought by Del. The tea leaves were gifted by Del. Leonor was there when Del handed the bags of tea leaves to the duchess. The resident physician also checked them for safety reasons. After making sure that nothing was wrong with the tea leaves, the duchess naturally enjoyed her tea time with those tea leaves.

The duchess Atallie enjoyed those several quiet days until the 30th of the second month arrived.

After enjoying a stroll in the garden with Del and Leonor, Atallie and Leonor returned to the duchess' room.

"Leonor, were you able to do what I asked you to do the other day?" Atallie asked as Greta carefully poured a cup of freshly brewed tea for her. The tea was brewed from the exact tea leaves gifted by Del.

"Yes, Madame. We currently only have the ones with lower quality in the estate. Thus, your humble servant had to look for the higher quality one down the city. Fortunately, we found one yesterday and already placed an order and paid for the item in advance. It will be delivered today later in the afternoon," Leonor answered.

"Sorry to have troubled you. It's just that, sometimes I like enjoying my bath longer and whenever I can," said Atallie.

"It's not a problem, Madame."

"Alright, I won't hold you up for now. You may take your leave and go on with your other tasks. I believe the duke will be arriving soon, and there's a lot of things that you must do to prepare," said Atallie as she rested her cool and indifferent gaze on Leonor.

Leonor bowed down to acknowledge the words of the duchess and then left immediately after.

It was true that Leonor has a lot of things to do. Aside from her daily administrative and management tasks, she got two major tasks this time. The first task was to prepare for the arrival of the duke, and the second task was to investigate someone - specifically, the current guest at the estate, Del.

Unbeknownst to Leonor, the duchess Atallie was already certain that investigating Del was part of Leonor's current tasks.

Atallie was left in the room together with her maidservants.

Greta was standing near the duchess, to wait and assist whenever the cup of the duchess ran out or if she needed to brew another pot of tea.

Lila was also standing near, arranging the books that the duchess was reading and arranging those which the duchess hasn't finished yet.

Gina was inside the wardrobe, arranging the duchess' clothes and making plans for what the duchess should wear tomorrow should the duke returned.

Reza was busy making the room spotless and blindingly clean as she continuously wiped around every nook and cranny.

"Reza," Atallie suddenly called out.

Reza, who was immersed in polishing the windowsill, was startled by the sudden sound of her name.

"Madame!" Reza exclaimed, but upon turning her face towards the beautiful and bitingly cold face, she was quick to fix her tone and said, "Madame, your humble servant is here."

"When the dusk comes, my friend Del, the current guest of the estate, will be sending a bag of herbs. Make sure to get it from him at the door. He will give you a list after and make sure to arrange the herbs according to the sequence in that list," Atallie instructed Reza. "Make sure to leave them in the bathroom before you leave. Do you understand?" Atallie asked.