“Sigh…”
<What are you thinking about?>
As Asha leaned against the window, Phoebe puffed up to reveal herself like a flower blooming in her buttons. Asha put her index finger on the bright yellow baby bird’s forehead and had a tired expression.
“I don’t know what to do in the future…”
It became apparent as she had been through it all morning. Alexei’s cold attitude was like an iron wall.
“I don’t know why the Emperor kept me in the palace.”
Even if she didn’t know his intentions, if she had the means, Asha would go home even if she had to run away from the palace, violating the imperial order. The problem was that she didn’t even know where the house was. She even asked Lise, but she didn’t seem to know either.
‘I only know the names of a few nearby villages… I should have known the address or something.’
She never thought she would come to the Imperial Palace and be kidnapped this way.
‘I didn’t think I was Anastasia of the imperial family!’
Asha sighed heavily and pulled out a small box hidden under the bed. It was a box with a few jewel buttons on the clothes that clinked well, and it was collected from the moment Asha thought of the “Escape of the Imperial Palace.”
‘Will there ever come a day when this will be useful? Ha. Why didn’t you leave me behind?’
<Why would they leave you behind? They all recognized the greatness of this body. Only those who have signed with the Great Spirit remain!>
Asha stared at the bright yellow chick with cloudy eyes and then turned around. Her boasting wouldn’t end if she tuned in to the topic of such a proud yellow chick.
“My cousin seems to hate me so much, so that’s a bit of a concern.”
‘And I don’t understand… But…’
His mother died when he was born, and his father died when he was young, leaving Alexei alone in the Imperial Palace. The only important thing to him to preserve the position of the son of the Crown Prince against their cold-blooded grandfather would be the position of the Crown Prince.
But suddenly, one of his cousins was left in the palace. It was said that the Emperor, who was not interested in anything else, decided it himself.
How anxious was Alexei now?
‘It’s not like I wanted to stay, but what the hell is this…’
<Your cousin? Do you mean the eldest grandson of the landowner?>
“Yes, but why, Phoebe, do you call His Majesty the Landlord?”
Phoebe pouted insensitively at Asha’s question.
<Why? It’s because he’s controlling this large land.>
“…!”
In other words, it was correct to say that the Emperor controlled this large land by commanding nobles and officials. While Asha swallowed her inward admiration for Phoebe’s theoretical expression, Phoebe was mulling over the ‘landlord’s eldest grandson.’
<He seems to think that you will inherit at least the legacy of the landlord.>
“I really don’t care…”
She intended to run away from the palace but wanted to get along well until she ran away. She thought it was a long way off.
<Hmm. But is it true that the landlord’s eldest grandson hates you?>
“Didn’t you see him staring so coldly?”
<Well? The person who hates you must be the cheeky little one yesterday. I should’ve given him a good scolding.>
“That’s true, but…”
Asha recalled the air current that was shimmering around Alexei. It was bluish and still, like a light frozen mist. Was it true that the landlord’s eldest grandson hated her…
In addition, Asha, who had muttered with a sullen look on her face thinking of Dimitri for no reason, jumped up from her seat at the thought of a thunderbolt.
“Is that right?!”
<What, what?!>
“Yes, it was Dimitri who hated me!”
And there was one thing that worked for Dimitri. Whether Phoebe understood what she meant or not, Asha’s eyes sparkled.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Asha stood at the kitchen door, leaning her forehead against the door, contemplating. It was good to run all the way here, but when she was about to have the kitchen in front of me, she was worried about whether it would be okay.
Then someone snatched her by the neck and turned her around.
“You little chestnut, you must have run away a few days ago!”
“Pa, Pavel!”
It was Chef Pavel glaring at her with her eyes wide open. Asha drew in her breath and hurriedly waved her hand.
“Oh, no. I didn’t run away, but I was in a hurry then…”
“What’s the urgent need for this little kid? Huh?”
“Still, the cake problem was solved well at that time… ”
“Don’t even talk. It went to His Majesty!”
Pavel threatened her to scare her. But Asha tilted her head at another issue.
“Huh…? How did you know His Majesty had a cake?”
“How do I know? As I was dying while looking for that cake, the attendant informed me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He said he brought it up to His Majesty.”
“After that? Didn’t you hear anything else?”
“I was so preoccupied with the impending death that I couldn’t hear.”
“…”
Asha swallowed her dry saliva. Apparently, Pavel had heard everything else but hadn’t heard that she was a royal grandchild.
‘So you just saw me and snatched me from the back of my neck?’
“How could even that attendant take the snacks for the Emperor without saying a word to me!”
“Did you really hit me?”
“…What else are you up to, chestnut?”
Pavel responded awkwardly and let Asha go. Asha tilted her head cautiously.
“Didn’t you see that I left a note?”
“What note?”
The note seemed to have been blown away by the wind. Asha shook her head.
“No, I wrote that you don’t have to worry because His Majesty enjoyed the cake. You didn’t see it.”
“What, chestnut? Did you know?”
Pavel’s awkwardness increased. Then he said right when Asha was about to say something.
“Well, if you say so… When His Majesty wants to eat, I’ll let you come and bake.”
“Can I?”
Pavel shrugged his shoulders, saying that he was pampering her, but for Pavel, who knew that Asha was like a young maid, he was giving her a great favor. One of the maids got a chance to make her food for the Emperor!
“Of course, under my supervision. And anyway, His Majesty eats snacks here about once every few months.”
But that wasn’t important to Asha. Her eyes twinkled. Was there another good excuse like this?
“Then let me use the kitchen. I have to practice!”
She was worried about not being able to use the kitchen. Pavel raised his brows at Asha’s words.
“Okay. Just rename the cake instead.”
“You didn’t like Pavel’s chocolate?”
“Just do something similar!”
“Then… to Asha’s chocolate cake.”
Pavel sighed like a sigh at Asha’s dry tone.
“What is Asha?”
Asha smiled with a mischievous look. How far should she tell Pavel to find out who she is?
“Are you asking because you don’t know, mister?”
“What?”
“My name is Asha. You didn’t know?”
“… are… you?”
“Yes, I am. It’s really amazing. It’s been about ten years since my name was Asha. That’s because I was born for the first time in the world.”
“… No, you didn’t tell me about it, so it’s only natural that I don’t know.”
“Isn’t it because you don’t call people by their names, but you call them things like chestnuts that you maybe don’t know?”
“…”
Pavel rolled his lips in and avoided her eyes. Asha burst into laughter and rolled up her sleeves.
“Then I’ll use the kitchen again today!”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“By the way, chestnut, didn’t you say you wouldn’t come to my kitchen twice?”
“You never know what will happen. You said you wouldn’t bake snacks, but you’re asking me to make snacks again with my recipe.”
“…losing words against a child?”
“You can’t win a word against a child.”
Pavel coughed violently and turned his words around.
“Well, so! You said you were practicing!”
“Ah! I should. You know the leftovers from yesterday’s chocolate?”
But Pavel wasn’t confident again this time.
“… recipe.”
Asha rolled up her arms and turned to ask, but Pavel shut her mouth. Asha tilted her head.
“Pavel?”
“That’s it. As I said yesterday, the chocolate was left unattended because it was unnecessary to continue using it afterward.”
“So, there’s a lot, right?”
She had a big lump the size of an adult’s forearm yesterday. She made only a few of them.
“Chestnut… I thought I could use it according to your cake recipe. It’s been a headache until now. So what happened last night…”
“How was it?”
“Don’t rush me!”
“Should I stop it?”
“No, this is serious! I used it up! I’ve been doing this and that…”
“Really? It’s mister’s kitchen. You can do whatever you want. It’s fine without it.”
“This… this is serious.”
Pavel trembled.
‘He’s a funny old man.’
The recipe she showed him yesterday might have been outstanding since the chocolate hadn’t been appropriately made here yet. And he said he was so engrossed in it that he used it all night.
At a glance, the sugar bag was new. In other words, the bag she saw yesterday was already empty.
‘Then you must have a sweet tooth.’
<Then are you going to make this salty?>
One of the leaf ornaments on her lapel had been strangely changed into a bird shape. It was Phoebe.
