Seeing the atmosphere, Phoebe jumped into the empty glass on the table with confidence and began to nod off. While Asha looked at her and held back her laughter for a moment, the emperor secretly glanced at Asha.
“…”
“…”
“I asked if you’re here, why aren’t you responding?”
“I thought you were very busy because you didn’t even look at me, so I kept quiet.”
Eventually, the emperor put down his pen and looked up.
“Do you know that it’s been almost ten hours since you arrived at the palace?”
Asha shrugged her shoulders.
“It was daytime…”
“Yes, you didn’t come to greet me during the daylight.”
“My grandfather didn’t even come to meet me even though it was daytime, so I found out that he was very busy. So I was going to say hello when you weren’t busy later.”
“…”
“If you weren’t busy, given it’s been so long since I’ve seen you, there’s no way you wouldn’t have come to meet me, right?”
“…”
“But when you didn’t come, I thought, ‘Ah~ he must be incredibly busy.’ So, I thought I should not bother you and just accidentally fell asleep.”
“…So you didn’t come?”
“Yes!”
At Asha’s beaming smile and response, the emperor touched his forehead. But even though he was frowning, the melancholic atmosphere behind the emperor quickly faded away and was replaced with a bright, colorful glow. Asha tilted her head and smiled with a cheeky expression.
“You mean, even though you weren’t busy, you didn’t come to meet me?”
“I was busy. Extremely busy. Even if you had come to see me, I wouldn’t have had the time to talk.”
“I knew you would be like that, so I waited.”
“You really don’t lose when it comes to talking.”
The emperor, who was looking at Asha as if she was a cunning kitten, suddenly crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“Hmm. So, you’re saying you waited for me that much?”
“Well…”
This time Asha shut her mouth. For some reason, she felt like she would lose if she agreed. But if she said she didn’t wait at all, there would be no logic to the teasing so far. The emperor’s deep blue eyes gently curled with warmth.
“That’s what you’re saying? You waited for this old man?”
“Well, not that much…”
“All right, it’s my fault for not meeting you. I didn’t realize that I should come to you when you returned to the palace because you never left. I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry.”
“No, no! No, Grandfather! That’s cheating if you say it that way!”
“What is?”
The emperor looked defiant. Asha stomped her foot and heaved a sigh. Seeing this, the emperor pushed aside his pen and rested his chin.
“So, I just said ‘I’m sorry,’ but I got no response.”
“Forgiveness…”
“Forgiveness?”
“Your Majesty must not force forgiveness! You always told me not to force the nobles.”
The emperor also burst into laughter at that and lightly gestured toward Asha. At the same time, Asha emerged and was settled on the emperor’s desk.
“I’m sorry for doing something I told you not to do. Forgive me.”
Facing the emperor in an instant, Asha felt wrongly accused and exclaimed.
“…Why have you become so good at apologizing?”
“I learned well from my granddaughter. I’ve been practicing hard in your absence.”
“Ha, it’s not even a month yet.”
“Really? I thought it would take a thousand more years.”
Asha pulled back her body.
“It can’t be you? You must be fake. Isn’t Shamal impersonating you?”
The emperor burst into laughter. The wind also swirled like a wave. Asha sighed heavily, feeling the wind tickling her hair and collar.
<How can that be?>
“But in the past, you were more…”
“A little more?”
“Do you know pastries? Snacks that are layered, kneaded, and baked.”
Observing the emperor smiling at her words, Asha shook her head, and with a resigned expression, heaved a sigh. After that, she rummaged through her dress’s hem and pulled out a flat envelope.
“And this is a promise.”
“…Promise?”
The emperor stopped laughing and looked at the letter in Asha’s hand.
“It’s Dad’s reply.”
The emperor flinched. Asha carefully extended the reply towards him.
“Would you like to read it at ease?”
“…”
“Then I’ll go now…”
“No, wait a moment. Just wait a moment.”
Asha tried to jump off the desk, but the emperor dissuaded her. The emperor, who had been smiling just before, now seemed to have a dry mouth.
He opened the envelope with a letter opener and remained still for a while. He took a deep breath and quickly took out the letter. The letter was not too thick.
As the emperor slowly began to read the letter, Asha also shrank her body with a little tension. Initially, the pupils of the emperor, which were moving slowly, rolled quickly. And when they went all the way down.
“He-e-e-e dare–!”
Asha opened her eyes wide.
At the same time, Asha’s hair floated in the light wind, and the inexplicable ‘beep–’ sound covered all the words of the emperor.
<Oh my, oh my. Mikhail, won’t your little peach be startled?>
<Yes! What is this shouting! My kid was surprised!>
Shamal, who blocked the emperor’s words, gently reprimanded him, and Phoebe, who was dozing off in a teacup, was also surprised and flew up and settled back in the teacup.
The emperor’s hand holding the letter trembled. He seemed not to be hearing the criticism of the spirits, but it seemed as if he had barely come to his senses. The emperor, who pressed his forehead hard, took a deep breath.
“…Asha, are you very surprised? I’m so sorry.”
If it were normal, she would have praised him, saying he was good at apologizing now, but this atmosphere was not the time for that. Asha quickly waved her hand.
“No, that’s okay. Are you all right, Grandfather? Was there something in the letter…”
“…Didn’t you read this letter first?”
“I didn’t read it! It’s a letter written to my grandfather. My dad seemed to enjoy writing it, so I just…”
What was written that made the emperor fret so much?
The emperor didn’t just get angry. Even as the heat spread and seemed to die, a fire flared up, but other things were seen. Although very small amounts of soft particles popped up and rolled over Asha’s lap.
“…Enjoying? You’re saying he even had fun writing it?”
“Ah…”
‘I should have checked the letter once.’
Just before leaving home, she did not even think about looking at Yuriev’s letter because she was scolded for peeping at the letter from the emperor.
The emperor, who had been tapping his forehead and making a fuss for a while, roughly opened a drawer, pulled out a lot of paper, and wet the pen. Asha glanced at Shamal, who had slid aside and covered her ears.
‘Shamal, did you happen to see that letter? Why is Grandpa doing that?’
The emperor was writing a fierce reply to Yuriev, saying how can he just leave this kind of thing. Even before Asha could urge for a reply.
<Well… I did glance at it. It’s just… the two are very similar… That’s what it was about.>
‘That… Is that so?’
Asha looked at the emperor, who was whispering and scrawling letters, and then smirked. As if it were going to destroy everything, the burning flames would fade over time, and the seeds would sprout from the ashes.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Asha was sitting at a long table set up on the edge of the knights’ outdoor training field. It was a place where the knights often took breaks with snacks and drinks.
Asha, with her chin on the table and a blurry gaze, watched her grandfather, who was making a second round of the training field. What was on the table was a reply from Irina.
Tarjei, who had been nervous for a long time after seeing it, said he would run for a while.
“Sir Nellin, he looks… terribly nervous.”
“Haha, whether the stuff inside is poison or honey, he has to eat it. Her Highness will be generous.”
Anne, whose bruise on her eye hadn’t faded yet, said with a gentle laugh. Then, Bethelnic, whose bruise on the other eye hadn’t faded either, appeared, sheathing his sword. Both were the result of intensive training with Irina at the lakeside mansion of Bishti, where they had gone down with Asha.
“Why is the captain like that?”
“Because he’s in a situation where he has to drink something, not knowing whether it’s poison or holy grail.”
“Aha.”
While Bethelnic understood at once, nodded, and touched the back of his neck, Anne left, saying, “I think Ivan is hiding again because the princess has come.”
That’s when a servant appeared quietly on the training field with a bundle of weight in both hands. Asha was seeing him for the first time, but the knights seemed to have seen him quite often.
The servant first looked around the training field as if searching for the captain, then the vice-captain, and upon realizing that they were nowhere to be found, approached Bethelnic.
“Huh? Are you here?”
“Yes. They’ve prepared a warm salad because the nights are going to be cold this week.”
The servant explained the dish to Bethelnic while unloading what he had brought, and was surprised to find Asha, who poked her head out behind Bethelnic, belatedly.
“Ro, Royal granddaughter! Your Highness! It’s an honor to meet you.”
“Hello. What did you bring?”
“Oh, this, this is from Lord Fjord… no, it’s a snack sent from the palace kitchen as a comfort for the knights.”
It was a warm salad made by grilling various vegetables including eggplant, pumpkin, bell peppers, and tomatoes on a grill pan with good oil, adding seafood and sliced half-boiled eggs, and finished with olive oil, chopped herbs, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar.
The servant awkwardly began to put the dishes on the table as if he was very conscious of his manners. Asha, who had been quietly watching, tilted her head.
“But doesn’t the person who made this want to explain it directly to Anne? Don’t you have to tell her that?”
Clang! The fork noisily fell onto the table and it was about to bounce off the floor when Bethelnic skilfully caught it. The servant was looking back and forth between Asha, Bethelnic, and the practice field, merely moving his mouth.
“What, what, what do you mean…”
After quickly setting the table, the servant said that he would come to pick it up when he left work, and beckoned with a pleading expression to be let go.
Bethelnic, who got permission from Asha with a wink, waved that he could go. After the servant ran away like the wind, Bethelnic turned to look at Asha with a perplexed face.
“This is something that Chef Fjord Buicker makes every week… for our vice-captain?”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know who made it, but… Because the dish is full of love.”
Asha hesitated for a moment as she couldn’t tell him that she saw something resembling well-ripe tomato-colored clouds rising from the dish stretching out to Anne.
But before a jittery Bethelnic could say anything, Tarjei approached, gasping for breath. Tarjei didn’t even glance at the suddenly lined-up food on the table, but walked into the area with Asha.
“Now I can open the letter.”
Tarjei took a big breath and gave strength to the hand holding the letter. But he couldn’t open it immediately and looked at Asha’s attention.
“Well, Irina doesn’t have much to say… “
“Didn’t you…”
“Did Irina say anything… special…?”
“No, she didn’t say anything. But Mom seemed to be really focused on writing her letter.”
“Oh…”
Tarjei dropped his head for a moment with a face of disappointment, then carefully opened the letter. His hands and eyes shook. After such a long time, Asha saw an expression she had once seen.
There was the same face that the emperor had made when he saw Yuriev’s letter.
