Ios just thought the word cousin meant someone stronger than a sister and nodded.

“But you can’t be my cousin.”

“I don’t want that either. Anyway, how many ribbons do you need? If you want, I will send you the machine that makes them. I can teach Minos how to operate it.”

Ios smiled brightly as their free kindness didn’t bother him anymore. He got excited and had Minos find and destroy the contract he had signed with Rubica.

“Now that you’re my family, you can tell me if you need anything.”

Minos gulped hard at that since Rubica had completely won the dragon to her side.

Now he was going to grant her any favor she had by saying, ‘If that’s what my cousin wants…’ maybe he would even give her the rare plants he cherished the most.

Minos himself regretted not asking him to be his family, but his small guts didn’t think that much.

“I need…”

Would it be okay to ask him to lend his Golden Land? Rubica wondered if it would offend him, but then someone knocked on the door.

“Your Graces, I’ve brought tea.”

Rubica looked at the clock. It was a little past the time for Edgar to have tea, so she opened the door for Carl who came in.

A few servants came after him and followed his instructions to move a table in a corner near the bed. Soon the small room was filled with the scent of tea.

“This is Edgar’s favorite tea, so where did you get this?”

“I didn’t get this. I brought it.”

He had brought tea? While all of this has been going on? Rubica was impressed by his great responsibility.

“Oh, and there’s sugar and milk.”

Normally, Carl would have never brought them unless asked to do so. But today, he was being kind to Rubica for everything she had been through during the last 24 hours, and she was grateful for it.

“Thank you, Carl.”

“Would you two gentlemen like to have tea?”

He asked even if he already had tea utensils for four sets on the table. He was almost ordering them to drink.

The poor goblin was too short and had to stand on his chair to grab his cup of tea.

He cleverly chose the cup that seemed to be the cheapest on the table.

“This is a good tea, made with only the youngest leaves.”

What Minos said made Carl stop on his way out. He hadn’t seen the leaves and only tasted the tea, so how could he exactly know what kind of tea leaves had it been made with?

The strange goblin appeared to be a tea expert, and it was enough to draw Carl’s attention.

“Yes, you are exactly right. Do you enjoy tea?”

“Yes… I like it.”

Minos said, but he looked a little guilty. What was he trying to hide?

Carl was slightly confused, but Ios gulped down his portion of the tea. Carl looked at him in surprise, and he was even holding the most expensive cup the butler had purposely put right in front of Edgar.

Carl felt like a piece of his heart was being torn apart at seeing that expensive tea disappear into that fool’s mouth.

“Is there more?”

He even asked for more.

“Here, drink mine.”

Edgar offered him his cup of tea after taking only a sip.

Carl was happy to see his master was learning to respect others after he met Rubica. However, Ios frowned.

“Do you think I’m a beggar? Why would I have what you’ve just been drinking?”

“Ios, Edgar was only trying to be kind to you.”

Rubica spoke as she sipped tea with sugar and milk. Surprisingly, Ios didn’t get mad.

“Really? But I don’t want what he’s been drinking.”

Then, he gave Carl his empty cup and requested, as if it was only right, “I want more.”

Now, even Carl, who was normally so calm, reddened his face.

“I only had two days’ portion of tea for the duke and the duchess.”

“Two days’ portion? But we just had one day’s portion, so you can use what you have for tomorrow.”

“Two days’ portion for two is one day’s portion for four.”

However, Ios couldn’t do the math and just blinked, so Minos had to explain to him what this was about.

“He’s saying he has no more tea.”

“Really?”

Ios disappointedly looked at his empty cup while looking like someone who seemed to be somewhat addicted to the drink.

“Then I’ll give you mine, brew these.”

Ios went through his pocket, pulled out a handful of green leaves, and handed them to Carl.

It seemed like the stupid dragon was demanding Carl to make tea with the ordinary leaves he had, so the butler sighed and looked down at his hand, but then he was greatly surprised.

To his knowledge, tea leaves were mostly black and became red when brewed. According to what he had read and heard from merchants, tea leaves were originally green.

He had never seen green tea leaves as they were brought in via a long journey by sea, so they would naturally ferment on the way and turned black.

However, the tea leaves Ios had just handed him were green. He doubted his eyes and smelled them, but they truly were tea leaves.

“How did you get these precious leaves?”

Ios was a dragon, he could reach great distances, which would take a well-trained knight on a horse at least half a day, in less than an hour. Maybe he himself brought the tea from the East Empire.

“Those leaves were precious?”

Ios sounded like he had never heard anything more absurd.

“They smell good when brewed, but they’re just leaves. They grow and fall every year, and they are not that pretty.”

“Yes, they’re leaves, but they’re precious leaves. If you have a lot of them… could you get me more?”

Carl’s desire for tea made him forget his fear. Now that he was looking at the green tea leaves which he had only read about, he couldn’t stop. He was going to cling onto Ios’s pants and beg even if he refused.

“Did you ask me for a favor when you’re just a human?”

Ios’s lips trembled. His pride was hurt by the fact that Carl had just asked him a favor, so Rubica quickly finished her cup of tea and calmed him down.

“Carl asked for your help because you are so capable. Not because he doesn’t respect you, but because you’re so great.”

“But a human just dared to ask me something! How dare you ask a favor to this dragon?”

“People are asking favors to gods all the time. You know, like praying. Carl did it because he thought you were as great as a god.”

What Rubica said made Ios feel better.

“So, he wasn’t being rude to me?”

“Yes. Asking for a favor is nothing like giving orders to your inferiors. If you don’t want to, you can say no, and if you feel like it, you can grant his wish.”

“I’m sorry for offending you.”

Carl apologized first. Ios thought about it and replied, “It’s okay. Now that my Rubica explained, I know I misunderstood.”

“It’s your ‘cousin’ Rubica!”

Edgar pointed out Ios had missed a word, but the dragon ignored him.

“Anyway, you are good at making tea, so make me another cup with this.”

“Okay.”

Minos was really shocked to hear that. Yes, Ios still sounded rude, but he was complimenting a human, which was impossible. It was sad that the duke and the duchess didn’t know how remarkable it was.

‘It’s really incredible how she tamed Ios.’

Minos thought he knew the way to handle Ios better than anyone, but he only knew how to flatter him. He didn’t know how to fix the dragon’s behavior.

Ios was greatly proud of the fact that he was a dragon but, at the same time, he had this complex about not having learned properly about how to be a dragon. That was why he felt like he was being ignored and got mad easily.

However, he was taking Rubica’s advice without any doubts. He seemed to believe she would never tell him something that would be bad to him as they were a family now. That was the best way of handling him.

“Lord Ios, would you like to form a family with me as well?”

“Me, a family with you? Why?”

Minos asked Ios with hope, but he was immediately rejected.

Rubica had succeeded in making Ios’s part of her family by showing him kindness without asking for anything in return.

On the other hand, although Minos obeyed Ios, he was picking the gold he shed even now, so he didn’t deserve it.

“I was joking, of course.”

“I didn’t know you liked tea.”

Rubica came to the goblin’s salvation.

“Tea grows only in the East Empire, so it’s really hard to get…”

“But it grows a lot in my territory.”

Minos bit his lips. One of the secrets he had been keeping was now revealed.

Tea grew in large amounts in the deepest area of a dragon’s territory, but that fact wasn’t known as no human could go there.

“It grows a lot?”

Of course, Rubica was interested. Minos, however, couldn’t continue getting tea leaves from Ios and selling them in secret, saying they were from the East Empire.