[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
I heard a rumor that the Phoebe powder posters appeared in your room. What happened? Did you actually want it even though you said you weren’t interested?]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Grandmother took it without permission. How did you know what was in my room anyway?]
[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
Phoebe told me while passing on the diary that she saw it in your room. She said you kept it very preciously? I can pretend not to know if you’re embarrassed.
More than that, I think I have to get a new coat this week. So I got a tailor introduced from Marchioness Tataricha, do you have a proper winter coat? It’s going to be cold in the royal palace from this winter on.]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Why is Prince Dimitri wearing the same coat as you?]
[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
I won Dimitri’s fabric at the Kerum game on my grandfather’s birthday, remember? I felt a little sorry about it so I made his coat while making mine.]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Even if you’ve made a coat, don’t go out and stick to your room in case you catch a cold.]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
No, stop replying to the exchange diary and rest.]
[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
I think Alyosha is so sad that I’ve become a wilted pea. Could you come and play with Alyosha?]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Alexei’s sadness will go away only when you become a fully grown pea.]
[To Karnov.
There’s currently a commotion because it’s the first snow in the palace in many years. The garden is also covered in snow, and it’s so beautiful. With such a beautiful landscape, I’m considering calling over Lady Meura to show her.]
[To Her Royal Highness the Princess Anastasia.
The snow-covered garden was beautiful, but I caught a cold again from admiring it until night.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
Some very pretty strawberries came in today. They’re the first strawberries of this year. I’m planning to make a cake tomorrow that involves honey-infused, moist layers with white cream on top. Would you like to come and have some, Karnov?]
[To Her Highness.
Just because you’re the one offering it, doesn’t mean Ivan will eat more.]
[To Karnov.
My intuition is telling me clearly. It seems Ivan is still a little shy around me. Can you help encourage him to eat more?]
[To Her Highness.
If he’s shy, he’d be even more so with me…]
[To Karnov.
Why did you suddenly send so many white dandelions? I was surprised. They are so beautiful, I dried a few between books and put the rest in a vase.]
[To Karnov.
Karnov, wait. Just a moment.
My room has become a paradise of white dandelions. Lady Meura saw it and laughed so hard, then suddenly said she would like to draw it!]
[Karnov!
Stop now!]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[Her Highness.
You suddenly sent me a lime pie. Do you have a favor to ask, Your Highness?]
[To Karnov.
Ilya has sent me an invitation to a Kerum game. I’m thinking of going to see if Uncle Valery is doing well. Karnov, do you want to go too?]
[To Asha.
Try going alone.]
[To Karnov.
That’s why I asked you if you’d like to go with me.]
[To Asha.
Do you enjoy tormenting them that much? I think Prince Dimitri cried.]
[To Karnov.
I was going to go easy…]
[To Asha.
What’s happening at Marchioness Tataricha’s that you’re wanting to go?]
[To Karnov.
They said we could all partake in the shasling fruit harvest together. It would be nice if you also participated in the fruit picking, Karnov.]
[To Asha.
Do you think of me as a wine barrel, not a person?]
[To Karnov.
We agreed to keep that as our little secret. At the marchioness’s house, we will just go fruit picking.]
[To Asha.
I think that treatment is worse.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Asha.
There’s a rumor that His Majesty the Emperor is suddenly undertaking a large civil engineering project in the palace.]
[To Karnov.
Ah… Last year, the house I built for my parents was on a lakeside, wasn’t it? After talking about that, he suddenly decided he wanted to build a lake in the royal palace… I thought he was just saying it, but… Can’t we find a way to dissuade him?]
[To Asha.
Why?]
[To Karnov.
Nevermind…]
[To Asha.
My grandmother ended up having a fistfight with someone while bragging about the alcohol you gave her.]
[To Karnov.
What?! She didn’t get hurt, did she? My grandfather suddenly twisted his back, too.]
[To Asha.
Although it might be more appropriate to ask if she didn’t kill anyone. She wasn’t hurt, but next time we should only give her a single drink’s worth. Not sure if His Majesty is okay.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
When I visit Mom and Dad this fall, I’m thinking of making a ton of marron glacé. Marron glacé is when you cook chestnuts in sugar syrup for three days.]
[To Asha.
Chestnuts are sweet, too. Are you also going to marinate them in syrup?]
[To Karnov.
Can you bring a bag too, Karnov?]
[To Asha.
Are you saying I should go together with you? The knights also decided to go to Lake Bishti for field training. We went together last year because you said you wouldn’t take the knights.]
[To Karnov.
Can Karnov bring two bags?]
[To Asha.
Let’s go together.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
I heard that when the Vichegda River freezes, everyone skates and flies lanterns there. Have you ever been to, Karnov?]
[To Asha.
Do you want to go?]
[To Karnov.
I’ve observed from afar before. Shamal says that this winter will be colder and the ice will be firmer. I want to go, but I suppose it isn’t possible because there will be many people, won’t there?]
[To Asha.
Won’t the Imperial Palace’s lake freeze, too? We can hang out there.]
[To Karnov.
There’s something about the lively atmosphere when there are many people. Will you come to play as well, Karnov?]
[To Asha.
You don’t have a hobby of catching a cold every year, do you?]
[To Asha.
Please refrain from writing unnecessary exchange diary entries trying to induce my guilt.]
[To Karnov.
Well… I didn’t mean to catch a cold, but somehow it happened.]
[To Asha.
That’s what happens when you play in an ice lake for three or four hours. But you didn’t mean to do that.]
[To Karnov.
Karnov, didn’t you catch a cold? Are you okay?]
[To Asha.
I don’t usually catch a cold.]
[To Karnov.
There’s no one who doesn’t catch a cold. I might have infected you.]
[To Asha.
If you can recover after me getting it, go ahead and infect me.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
This time an elderberry tree has come in. The flowers are blooming now and they’re so pretty. They’re small, white and have bloomed in abundance. Do you want to come and see them, Karnov?]
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
I can only admire Your Highness’s artistry in inviting someone under the pretense of admiring flowers, only to use them as an assistant in making elderflower cordial.]
[To Karnov.
Are you sulking? I gave you a bottle of cordial though.]
[To Asha.
If you’re going to make me work, just say so and ask. I always come anyway.]
[To Karnov.
I didn’t initially plan on making elderflower cordial.
I really just wanted to show you the pretty flowers. But it ended up like that while seeing it.]
[To Asha.
I’ll believe you this time.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
I received some roses from the royal garden department. They said that they are discarding them because, although they have a strong scent and grow well, the petals aren’t pretty.]
[To Asha.
What would you do with a rose like that?]
[To Karnov.
I’m going to plant those roses in the greenhouse and make rose jam next year.]
[To Asha.
Who will be harvesting those roses next year?]
[To Karnov.
When did you become so perceptive, Karnov?]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
The figs we harvested this time are so delicious, I’m thinking of using them to make alcohol. I’ll use the burst or ripe ones to make jam. What do you think?]
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
It is an honor to be asked for an opinion even as an oak barrel for brewing alcohol.]
[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
Then, the oak barrel should report to the royal palace tomorrow.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Asha.
Are you thinking of bringing chestnuts again this time?]
[To Karnov.
It seemed like Mom and Dad really liked it. We also did it last year, do you think it’d be boring if we do it again?]
[To Asha.
No, I think it would be fine. Get enough to make some and take it to His Majesty as well.]
[To Karnov.
I’m worried that Dad might get upset if he finds out we’re also giving some to Grandpa… We’ll have to keep it a secret and take care of it.]
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Your Highness, if you take so many chestnuts, anyone would notice that there’s a strange intention behind it.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Asha.
What’s the reason for sending me this magazine article? “Three Years After the Launch of Phoebe Powder, Changing Our Kitchen”?]
[To Karnov.
Actually, I wanted to brag, but there’s no one else to brag to except Karnov]
[To Asha.
You have your maids, His Majesty, Alexei, the chef, and even Baroness Saratov.]
[To Karnov.
They already put the article on the wall when I went over there. It’s very embarrassing. Karnov is just right. I’m now satisfied, that’s it.]
[To Asha.
What?]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
It seems Your Highness often forgets that I am the next Duke of Sedvoyer and the deputy commander of the Imperial army. Otherwise, I can’t understand how you could order me to dig up potatoes all day.]
[To Karnov.
That’s because I want to make you potato scones~! Scones made savory by adding basil and cheddar cheese. How does that sound?]
[To Asha.
Even if it’s for potato scones, when on earth did you cultivate that potato field?]
[To Karnov.
I did it with my grandfather and the knights. Isn’t it better for us to dig up what we’re going to eat ourselves?]
[To Asha.
We’re going to eat that much?]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
Stop bothering Ivan. The child is embarrassed and is trying to avoid you even in the practice field. If you try to feed him a snack while sticking close to him, do you think it will make it into his mouth?]
[To Karnov.
Then Karnov, please do it…]
[To Asha.
He might feel pressured if someone is watching while he is eating, so just give him the freedom to eat.]
[To Karnov.
Ivan is so good-natured that I’m worried he might get taken advantage of by others around him.]
[To Asha.
Most recently, I heard he almost beat Sir Bethelnic. When he stops, he has no competition.]
[To Karnov.
So Ivan is stronger than Karnov?]
[To Asha.
That’s a different story.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Asha.
Won’t you get a cold if you swing for so long in the cold wind by the lake in the winter? That’s why they say you’re as stubborn as a bruised peach.]
[To Karnov.
But I wanted to keep riding it because it was a swing that my dad made for me.]
[To Asha.
You being sick is likely to make the prince even sadder.]
[To Karnov.
Karnov is a nag.]
[To Asha.
Don’t think about writing the exchange diary and just get better fast.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
When spring comes and the ice melts, I’m thinking of launching a boat on the palace lake and going on a picnic. What do you think?]
[To Asha.
Who’s going to row the boat?]
[To Karnov.
Me! I’ve been strength training with Grandfather lately.]
[To Asha.
Why are you strength training? To knead dough? Or to whisk?]
[To Karnov.
To sweep everyone away in a Kerum game.]
[To Asha.
I told you not to make the kids cry…]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
This time, seeds of a flower called terenis have arrived from the Kirelete Kingdom. Olga shared some with me. When spring comes, flowers bloom, and you can apply flower sap to the tip of your nails.]
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
I didn’t know that the reward for helping the flowers bloom quickly was applying flower sap to my nails.]
[To Karnov.
Since you’re doing so well in the garden… Honestly, you wanted it too, right? It suits you perfectly~!]
[To Asha.
Don’t presume to know others’ thoughts. You got it all wrong.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[To Karnov.
A few days ago, when the weather cleared up, my grandfather gave me a small boat. Would you like to come sailing with me?]
[To Asha.
If someone else is rowing the boat, then I’ll come.]
[To Karnov.
Are you doubting my rowing skills?]
[Her Highness the Princess Anastasia.
I will refrain from saying anything to protect our friendship.]
[To Lord Karnov Neustadter.
Please come when you can speak kindly.]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Dozens of letters traveled back and forth between the capital and the Lake Bishti mansion, when the Post Office finally decided to establish the Lake Bishti branch, when five notebooks flew back and forth between the Imperial Palace and the Duke of Sedvoyer. When the magical powder that bloomed pastries started selling like hotcakes and became a staple in every kitchen in the Imperial Court, and when there were eleven paintings by Aylau in the palace.
Princess Anastasia also turned fourteen.
