The Archduke's Songbird-Chapter 61: A Nostalgic Soup

Isadora watched as Jerrick sent away the maids and they left happily as if they were eagerly waiting to get dismissed. Isadora could see by the bewilderment on their faces that Jerrick was not someone who frequented the kitchen.

Jerrick thrashed around the kitchen to find a particular size pot and then he clumsily looked for water.

He could have asked me, Isadora thought but didn’t dare to voice her thought.

Isadora was happy the fire was already burning in the stove, otherwise, he probably would have burned the whole castle.

Just as the water started to boil, Bernard walked in with the "jar" Jerrick mentioned earlier. Isadora’s face twitched with shock. The "jar" was not a simple jar. It was a big box that contained many small containers—medicine containers.

Isadora watched with awe as Jerrick opened the containers. She tried to read the label on those containers but they were written in a language she didn’t understand. He opened one of them and recognized it as the petals of the golden lily that blooms once every thousand years on a lunar eclipse in the pond on top of Mount Lumina.

It had great medicinal qualities and even kings wouldn’t be able to get a fragment of the petal for all the wealth they had.

How did he get it?

Jerrick opened a few more containers and Isadora recognized some of them. Others, she had no idea about. Some of them were common medicines but they looked potent and of high quality that she had never seen before.

"Have you ever prepared concoctions?"

Isadora nodded gingerly. They did work for a physician for some time and had some knowledge about medicines.

"Watch me closely, Jerrick said and Isadora stood close to him. She could guess that he was going to prepare medicine, probably for Lady Jessamyn.

Isadora was amazed by his skills. She didn’t have much hope as she saw him stumbling to boil water, but he was nimble with the medicines. Measuring with the scale, he added the ingredients one by one at certain intervals. Isadora noted it all mentally.

He checked the time and put out the fire exactly after ten minutes. He then let the pot rest on the stove for five more minutes before pouring it into a bowl. The result didn’t smell like medicine, but more like sweet herbal tea.

Isadora was relieved. Lady Jessamyn found it hard to drink medicines if it smelled like medicine. Does he know it too?

"How do you know medicine?" Isadora asked unable to curb her curiosity. "Have you prepared this for Milady before?"

Jerrick’s hand paused for a moment but then he proceeded as if it didn’t matter. He placed the bowl on a tray.

"Prepare this exactly this way for four more days. Make sure she gets more iron in her diet and let her rest," he said.

Isadora nodded her head. But she was awed. How did he know Milady’s cycle was five days? Was that a guess or... How close were they in the past for Milady to reveal such secrets to him? And how does he remember those details for years?

"Ask Bernard for the jar when you prepare and it is getting replaced there. Also," Jerrick furrowed his brows. "It’s only for Myna’s consumption; not for others," he said in a strict tone focusing on her.

Is he thinking that I’ll use it? Heh! How petty! Why would I?

Hiding her displeasure, Isadora did a curtsey. "Thank you, Your Grace. I’m sure Milady will~"

"She should not~" Jerrick clutched Isadora’s shoulders and she winced in pain. Bernard stepped forward and Jerrick let out a deep breath and turned to the side.

"Tell her this was the Theodulf castle remedy prepared by the maids. Tell her you learned from them. If she doesn’t drink this, I’ll..." he made a motion to cut her neck.

Isadora wanted to roll her eyes but controlled herself. She understood him. Lady Jessamyn wouldn’t drink it if she knew Wulfhart prepared it.

Isadora picked up the tray. Just as she climbed the stairs in the kitchen, she tripped on her skirt but she managed to balance herself and not drop the bowl.

"That single bowl is worth Bernard’s ten-year salary. Drop it, and Bernard will work the rest of his days as my slave," Jerrick said.

Isadora gritted her teeth. Why would Bernard lose his salary for her mistake?

"You must~" She paused seeing the cheeky smile on Jerrick’s face. She didn’t know why that annoyed her.

"I won’t let Bernard suffer. You can rest assured," she said and stomped her way out. She couldn’t help but mumble curses against his pettiness.

Bernard watched Isadora walking with a large gait. He could sense that Isadora was angry at Wulfhart. He didn’t know what to do. He liked them both.

"Are you sure you want to marry her? She can’t even walk properly," Jerrick said with a scoff. He loved to tease that little red-haired girl.

"But she is good at other things," Bernard said, his face looming with a smile as he talked about Isadora.

Again, Jerrick’s curious mind interpreted it differently and he had to remind himself that he was talking to Bernard. "Like what?" he asked.

Bernard didn’t hesitate to show Jerrick the kerchief Isadora gave him earlier. "She made this one just for me. This was the first one she ever made," he said, with his chest puffed up with pride and lips curving with happiness.

Jerrick’s smile disappeared and he let out a deep breath looking at the kerchief. He then patted Bernard’s shoulder. "This is important, but remember that she is the most important one. It won’t matter if you have this but not her."

Saying that, Jerrick walked out. Bernard didn’t understand much of what Jerrick said. He safely folded the kerchief and stored it in his pocket.

---

Isadora walked into the room bringing in a smile. "Here," she offered the bowl. She decided not to say anything unless Lady Jessamyn asked for it.

"Thanks, Isadora... What soup is it?" Jessamyn asked, sitting on the bed.

Her back hurt but she knew the worst pain was yet to come.

Isadora said nothing and held the bowl closer to Jessamyn’s lips. "Drink while it’s hot, Milady..." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Jessamyn furrowed her eyebrows smelling the soup. But she took a small sip as Isadora tilted the bowl. The moment she tasted that "soup", she spit it out.

"Throw it out!" Jessamyn shouted.

Isadora gulped as she couldn’t do it.