Morning Dew After the Rain
Upon hearing this name, Leon immediately felt a strange sense of familiarity. It seemed like he had heard it somewhere before, but when he tried to think back, he couldn't quite recall where.
Seeing that Leon was deep in thought and not pretending, Eaton asked, a little surprised, "Does Viscount Pat not know?"
"I haven't inherited the title yet, so you don't need to call me that, Count Eaton. Just call me Leon," Leon said, shaking his head. "Morning Dew After the Rain... it sounds familiar, but I really can't remember what it is."
Eaton looked Leon up and down, then reached out and took a wooden box from his attendant, handing it over to Leon.
"Do you recognize this box?"
It was a finely crafted wooden box, but its design was quite different from the Empire's popular embossed carving styles. The simple curves seemed to represent cloud patterns. This style was completely different from the current trends, and while most people would not recognize it, Leon immediately did—it was Jon's personal tea box.
Could it be that Jon's enemies had come looking for him?
"This... should be a box for holding something, right?" Leon initially wanted to say it was a tea box, but after thinking for a moment, he changed his words. Even though he wasn't fond of Jon, he couldn't expose him, especially since his younger brother Angell held Jon in such high regard. For Angell's sake, he wouldn't reveal Jon's secrets.
Leon's initial shock was subtle, but Eaton caught it with a sharp eye.
"You don't recognize it?" Eaton asked, his tone full of suspicion.
"No," Leon replied without hesitation.
After a long pause, Eaton smiled slightly, and cold, dark light flashed in his eyes. He said coldly, "Well then, since Viscount Pat doesn't recognize it, we'll not waste any more time. Farewell!"
As Eaton and his attendants left, Leon's face grew increasingly grim.
The abrupt departure, coupled with the cold, murderous intent Eaton had left behind, made Leon uneasy.
After thinking for a moment, Leon instructed the knights in the estate to be on high alert and then hurriedly rode toward Jon's stilt house.
This was his second visit to the stilt house that day, but his mood was completely different this time.
He arrived in a rush, bringing a gust of wind that made the low grass in the courtyard shake.
"Brother, why are you here?" Angell noticed Leon's serious expression and, sensing that something was wrong, quickly asked.
"Did you see the tea box? The one Jon uses for his tea leaves." Leon spoke quickly as he hurried upstairs and pushed open Jon's bedroom door.
Angell followed him up. "The tea box?" Angell pulled out a round, dragon-carved box from a small side cabinet. "Is this the one you mean?"
Jon had been sitting at his desk, reading a book with his mute servant turning the pages for him. He had seen Leon's sudden entrance.
"What's this? Has Leon finally developed a taste for my tea?" Jon chuckled.
Tea was common in the Golden Finch Empire, but Jon's tea was different. The Empire's tea was more like a floral drink made with syrup and milk, somewhat resembling milk tea. Angell and Jon both liked tea with a strong milk flavor, but Jon himself rarely drank that kind of tea. He preferred brewing his own leaves from the green tea trees he grew, all handmade with no added flavorings. The tea garden where Olive worked was something Jon had built and maintained when his health was still good, but after he became ill, he entrusted it to the head maid, Mana.
Leon ignored Jon's teasing and took the tea box from Angell.
"This doesn't seem right," Leon frowned.
"What's wrong?" Jon asked.
"The carving. This box has a snake monster carved on it, but the one I saw earlier had wave-like patterns." Leon recalled the box Eaton had shown him earlier.
"A snake monster? Brother, that's a dragon," Angell corrected him.
"A dragon? I've never seen such a slender dragon."
Angell knew that discussing myths from different worlds would only cause confusion, so he didn't argue further. Instead, he said, "Jon usually carves dragons for his tea boxes. In addition to that, he's carved peach patterns for Mother's tea box, bat patterns for Father's, and several other designs. The wave-like patterns you saw must be cloud patterns. Those are used for gift boxes."
"So old man Jon's tea boxes are carved with such fine details? I never noticed." Leon appeared surprised, but quickly regained his composure and asked, "In that case, the one I saw must have been a cloud-patterned box. Where is it?"
Angell looked at Leon strangely. "I already told you. The cloud-patterned boxes are for gifts. We don't have any here. Father once asked Jon to carve a batch, and the ones not given away are probably stored in the warehouse."
"Leon, tell me, what's going on?" Jon's voice broke the conversation. He had been watching Leon's expression closely, noticing that Leon's face was tense with anxiety.
Leon looked at Jon, studied him for a moment, and then slowly spoke, "Today, Count Eaton from the Morn family..."
"Ha, so Leon is worried that my enemies have come to find me?" Jon chuckled after hearing Leon's words.
"I'm not worried about you! I'm just covering for Angell, okay?!" Leon turned his head away in an awkward, huffy manner, muttering under his breath.
Angell, watching the scene, couldn't help but think to himself, "I always thought my brother was the typical alpha male, but it turns out he has that tsundere side to him!"
"Tell me, what kind of past do you have with Earl Eaton? He came in a hurry today and left just as quickly. Especially the look in his eyes when he left—it was too fierce. If we can resolve this, I will try to do so. But if not, you'll have to fend for yourself."
"No past," Jon answered without hesitation.
"No past? How could that be? The box he was holding was clearly one of your carvings!"
Jon looked at Leon. "The only people I know in this world are in Gru Town. I don't need to lie about that."
When Jon arrived in this world, his body was already in decline. On top of that, due to the language and cultural barriers, it took him years to adapt, all with the help of Baron Pat. By the time he was more or less used to the new world, his limbs had already started showing signs of atrophy. Naturally, he couldn't travel far. So, for all these years, the furthest he had been was accompanying Old Pat to the Imperial capital for treatment. His circle of acquaintances remained small, and there was no chance for him to make enemies.
Seeing the confusion in Leon's expression, Angell spoke up as well. "The tutor isn't lying, nor does he need to lie. Perhaps... brother, your thinking was off from the start. Earl Eaton might not even know about the tutor's existence."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked.
"Based on what you said, Earl Eaton came for something, and he began by asking about 'Morning Dew After Rain.' He must have come for that, right?" Angell tilted his head slightly, a habit he had when thinking. "But isn't 'Morning Dew After Rain' just a type of tea? Did he come all this way just to drink tea? Something about it feels off."