The Duchess' 50 Tea Recipes - Ch. 41

[Lindiaz]

Sorry but if she has another complaint then I’m seriously gonna have issues with this main character. If she’s discussing business terms and sees that he seriously complied with all of them, she needs to have included all her reasons at one time so he doesn’t constantly have to wait and lose money while doing it.

She has major problems outside of this event as well:
1) despite knowing that tea is highly ridiculed, she presents it to the Duke’s closest relative without any explanation. In a noble circle, this would clearly send a message of hostility and disdain, and you can see the lady is appropriately offended until the Duke forcefully steps in. Absolutely tactless.
2) She totally ignored the problems and hostility created and literally just pretends like nothing happened. She does this in the way she treats the Duke, the servants, the knights, the other ladies, etc. Especially the servants. Like the lady gives a cup of yummy tea and oh my goodness, the whippings that mangled my legs are now so forgivable- mate, what the hell?
3) She complains that all the duties that she was supposed to have but didn’t because she was literally a mouse were taken from her and then later complained that oh my gosh it is such a burden to have these why can’t I just have some tea? Like you are literally a Duchess, no shite you have actually duties outside of making tea fashionable
4) she literally doesn’t bother keeping her servants in check and when they fuck her over, her friends are the ones that have to swipe in and save her ass. That whole thing about the red outfit? Ridiculous. She should’ve known, and even if she didn’t, she should be aware of trends and been able to speak up against certain styles since the dressmaker stated that the clothes were out-of-trend.

Also ppl rlly be hyping tea up lol but I love tea so I do like that part of this manhwa

 

[Ovnidemon]

@Lindiaz I bet the issue is the eating hall. She never said anything about the dining hall

 

[taemint93]

Nahhh I feel like that guy is going to use Chloe's brand and tarnish both her and the brand... he IS the father of the girl that hates Chloe after all...

 

[Karumin]

The thing about the cat... Like every cat café disagrees with that xD except the part about them being in the cooking area, of course.

 

[Hobnobs]

@Mrfishy Oh wow, you're right, the women don't look much like men anymore. Like the artist exclusively did BL manhwa or something. The MC's face is much rounder than previous chapters without that distinct strong jawline, I'm pretty sure it's the same artist though

 

[Zikakuto]

I know Ariana is probably gonna be turned into a villainess, but damn do I like her character design. She reminds me of Eleanor from A Witch’s Hopeless Wish but with wilder, sharper hair.

 

[Mikasa2077]

Fookkking cliffhanger! Marquis doesn't seem like a bad guy though his daughter is one hell of a bitch.

 

[Nixnaw]

@Lindiaz YES TO ALL YOUR POINTS . As much as I love tea (and I do) that sense of tea elitism (if it makes sense) by Chole is rather off-putting and is totally chucked into the story and feels forced. Is she even aware of the standard of cleanliness in this era? Also, if she truly wants them as a business partner these terms should be stated out beforehand and not her commenting every time she takes a look.

 

[AlessaO]

I like how she's so difficult to please 😂😂😂

 

[nivinator]

Ok I love this story but if I were Alfonse I would find Chloe so damn boring. I love tea but like...do you have anything else to talk about?
Also the marquis seems to be nice but I'm getting bad vibes from him...maybe it's the hand rubbing lmaooo.

@Lindiaz I absolutely agree with all your points, many of these situations can be avoided if she just acts appropriately and remembers basic tact and ettiquette.

 

[fayew28]

there's so many things wrong (flawed, plot holes, etc) happening here but i hope it can be resolved nicely by the author or it's intentional....

 

[Mr_HoHo]

IS that a yandere I see?

 

[Gurgling]

Ariana be some yandere creeper

 

[Athena707]

That however in the end killed me 😂😂 that poor Marquis

 

[Mooyani]

Have you ever heard of cat cafés? I mean yeah, if the customer is allergic too it, I can understand. But having a cat is the most relaxing thing I've ever done (catlover here haha)

 

[Pokari]

Honestly going the full way to meeting modern health codes... probably isn't necessary. We go way further than is necessary for most people (e.g. with healthy immune systems) and anyone who can survive a medieval city, certainly, I expect to need a bit less precision than this. And on the other hand, she didn't address a single thing about food safety beyond environmental hygienics!

All the worry about human and cat hair in particular. I don't think anyone would mistake hair in that store's products as a sign that her milk jam made people sick, frankly, given how as human beings living in the time period they'd just understand it gets around.

And are medieval mousetraps any good...? Actually, do they even have them? The modern spring-trap with spring-steel is, well, modern (by which I mean post-industrial-revolution). I don't think they'd have the right steel? Overall, better to have cat-hair, than mouse-droppings. >_>;

_{All of this commentary is of course taking it all way too seriously for this manga. XD}

@Mooyani: I know people trying to set up cat cafes have run into issues with health codes in the U.S. before, though. Very much in the realm of health-and-safety rules taking the fun out of life. Much like children's playgrounds over here, which get less fun every decade as people keep asking them to be safer XD

 

[Yokubou]

No one mentioned what happened to the cat they got rid of...

 

[flickeringflame]

Pokari I dont thing it just the modern health code, i think it more to do with teh person who she dealing with aka the father of the wemon that hate her.

 

[MarquisBlack]

I think people are being way too harsh on the MC in this particular chapter's comments. You know who you are and I don't intend to start anything with anyone in particular, so I won't name names. For convenience and to avoid stepping on the toes of those who aren't really interested in this wall of text analysis, I've placed it under the Spoiler tags.

Spoiler

That being said, a lot of her behavior can be rationalized pretty easily.

1. The constant insistence on modern health codes is likely hardwired into her from her previous life. Like, pretend all you guys want, but if you were thrown back to the 18th-19th century and saw someone walk out of a stinky bathroom and never washed their hands, only to then proceed to cook for you -- you'd probably be too sickened to eat anything there, even if it is "normal" for the era. Chloe is therefore implementing modern ideas of cleanliness, true, but that doesn't make them invalid. There is a reason why they have evolved over time as our understanding of germ theory and basic hygiene has evolved, so why on earth would she decide to chuck modern knowledge out the window just because it's mildly inconvenient to someone else? (someone who happens to be, as someone else pointed out, the father of a woman who mocked her, btw)

2. If you think a single inspection is enough for Chloe to notice every single deficiency, then either you're superman or way out of line. In every field, it is normal for inspections to find new problems in every subsequent inspection because perhaps something hadn't occurred to the inspector at first or it wasn't deemed an immediate priority given the other pressing issues, but seeing it in a new context reminded them or revealed something new or brought it to the fore. It is not abnormal, then, for Chloe to find something to fault in every subsequent inspection.

3. Chloe's wishy-washiness towards her own duties can be explained as normal "ugh, I don't wanna work~" whinging that everyone -- everyone -- who actually has a job goes through at some point or another. I love teaching, but there are days when I wish I would get hit by a truck so I could have a day of rest. Her initial concern about not having her Duchess responsibilities, on the other hand, was well-merited. A woman without even that basic power would have no value in the society described in the webcomic thus far. It's part of what made her such an easy target -- she literally had no means to defend herself. Acquiring those duties was met with joy, as it should be, but work is work -- it's going to get tough and vexing and stressful and everyone is allowed to whinge about it. Have some empathy.

4. It is easy to forget, perhaps, that Chloe is not actually Chloe. She is a Korean woman who basically soul-jacked Chloe's body under unknown circumstances. She may have Chloe's memories, but having memories doesn't mean she has perfect recall of them or understands how to use them -- nor can she suddenly remember things neither she nor OG-Chloe knew about in the first place, like what Alphonse's ex-girlfriend wore that one time 22 months ago (incidentally, that's a little under 2 years). Add to that the fact that Isekai'd Chloe was not originally a noble and her mannerisms would therefore be more attuned to "commoner" behavior than that of a noble. Hence why she actually has to compose herself to act like a noble -- and why Alphonse and others are somewhat charmed by the unusual shifts in behavior and her constant subversion of expectations about female nobility.

5. Those who say Chloe is one-dimensional about tea are willfully ignoring literally every other characteristic about her. She's not just a tea fanatic -- which she patently is -- she's also highly educated, capable, willful, charismatic, and adaptable. If Chloe really was just about the tea, Alphonse wouldn't have looked at her twice. The tea was simply the means of introducing him to his wife's new behavior, skills, and capacities -- through tea, she demonstrated business acumen, understanding of budgetary issues, knowledge of PR and advertisement, a deep understanding of foreign cultures, charisma, etc. Note that most of their fluffy interactions are therefore no longer restricted to tea-drinking settings -- Alphonse and Chloe are getting along in patently non-tea-related environments.

6. Regarding the poor reputation of tea and Chloe's actions -- I would point out that, by the point she serves tea to the Emperor, tea is nowhere near as hated as it used to be. That's been made patently clear time and again. She gradually introduced it and popularized it over a period of 40 chapters, in which she first won over a maid, then knights, then her husband, then other noble ladies, then her husband's caretaker, then the Crown Prince, and finally the Emperor. It's clearly gone through a significant progression and image change -- enough that she convinced a restaurant owner and the Crown Prince to actively advertise it.

Now, I'm not saying Chloe is perfect -- she does have some aspects that are clearly faults. Nor, again, do I want to start an argument with anyone. All I wish to do here is to remind detractors to revisit their perspectives about the characters, their context, and the setting.

 

[izayamikaelis]

ah....another crazy bitch probably gonna make her appearance .-.