The servant sent by Karnov was surprised to see all the imperial servants gathered and quickly stepped inside.
“Princess, the young master received excellent fabric from Marquis Oleg this time… and… sent this gift to you. He mentioned that it’s nothing extraordinary, but he hopes it will be helpful,” the servant stuttered, glancing briefly at the already revealed pajamas, then regained confidence and smiled. Upon seeing that expression, the emperor’s envoy subtly commented.
“His Majesty and His Royal Highness have already sent her two pajamas.”
“Well, my master sent her something else.”
The emperor’s servant frowned. It was an expression that said, “At least this should surpass the others.” The crown prince’s servant, on the other hand, smiled broadly with a triumphant expression, as if to say, “Who can possibly surpass this?”
Amidst this exchange, the servant of Karnov proudly opened the lid of a flat box he had brought. Then, in a magnificent tone, as if reciting an epic poem, he spoke.
“These are three apron sets specially made by the skilled tailor Joel Alman, hoping to help the work of the princess. One that can be wrapped up to the sleeve, one that can be tied at the waist and worn lightly, and the other is made in a basic form.”
“…!”
“…!”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
In a saucepan, melt butter with milk and a little water. Once the butter is completely melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and add cake flour to make the batter.
When the batter is ready, gradually add egg yolks, thoroughly mixing them into the batter. Place rounded portions of the batter on a baking pan and bake it in the oven, making it resemble the lively playfulness of children frolicking under the sun-filled clouds.
“The cream puffs came out really big.”
Asha laughed bashfully at Alexei’s words as he was looking into the oven.
“I’ll fill them generously with cream. Mix pastry cream and whipped cream. It’s spring, so let’s keep it light!”
Although she spoke playfully and with a smile toward Alexei, when she turned her head towards the candles illuminated on the kitchen counter, her expression turned fierce.
“Fafnir, you’ll drown in the lake if you burn this as well.”
<Oh, no, how incompetent do you think I am?>
“Four years ago in winter, you burned my apple cookies. In spring three years ago, you used my genoise as fuel. In autumn, you set fire to my pumpkin tart. Last summer, you melted and ate my sorbet, and…”
<Turn it on and I’ll jump in, so turn it on right away.>
<This half-wit. Would you really jump into a fountain? Or into the lake?>
<Cruel creature…>
Asha laughed heartily and then brought out the custard cream she made using fresh egg yolks and fine sugar. She mixed the custard and whipped cream with a spatula. As she did, Alexei, who had been silently observing, spoke up.
“The new apron suits you well.”
Asha let out a deep sigh while still holding the spatula. In recent days, the members of the royal family had been paying close attention to her attire.
“Alyosha.”
“I thought I won this time. I didn’t expect Karnov to make a move.”
“I said I liked all the pajamas.”
Alexei smiled softly at Asha’s words and tapped her nose.
“You know, your statement of ‘like all three gifts equally and convey it to the owners’ didn’t really seem to work.” It was clear that the servants had interpreted Asha’s reactions differently and conveyed different messages to their masters.
“Grandfather hasn’t been calling me to have snacks for the past few days, and now I know why.”
“He’s scared to see whose pajamas you’re wearing.”
“I’m just glad Karnov didn’t come and make pajamas as well.”
Alexei smiled softly and rubbed his neck as Asha grumbled.
“Do you have to go now?”
Asha, holding a piping bag filled with the mixture of whipped cream and custard, asked Alexei in a slightly sad voice.
Whenever Alexei felt tired from his duties, he would take a short break in the space where Asha was. It was a small opening that Asha had stubbornly requested to be created, as they used to have no time like this before.
“Seeing you gives me strength to work. Can you stay a little longer?”
“If I stay here longer, what time will I go to bed tonight?”
“…”
Alexei pursed his lips and smiled. Asha squinted her eyes.
There were occasions when Alexei stayed up late because he spent time with Asha. Since their time to wake up was fixed, it meant that he ended up losing sleep.
“Okay. Go ahead. Cyril! Here, take this!”
Asha grabbed one éclair, filled to the brim with cream, and motioned to Cyril. With a puzzled expression, Cyril bent down.
Asha fed him the éclair and handed another one to his hand before shooting a glance at Alexei and giving him one too.
“Whenever Alyosha is in a bad mood, I will give Cyril one more snack.”
“Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”
Cyril matched the response skillfully. Alexei placed his left hand on his right chest, a sign of remembrance, and greeted Asha with a cheek-to-cheek touch.
“Oh, that’s right. Asha, I heard you’ll be visiting Marchioness Tataricha tomorrow.”
“Yes, the marchioness is hosting a tea party this time.”
“If you go, you’ll go with Karnov, right?”
“Karnov gets bored without me.”
Alexei chuckled softly and left without asking any further questions.
Asha tilted her head slightly, then filled the remaining éclairs with cream. She planned to bring some of them to the tea party tomorrow.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Natalya, who turned fourteen, was almost as tall as Dimitri. She was a good inch or more taller than Asha. Natalya wore dark green pants and a cream-colored shirt, and her long limbs gave her a slender and elongated appearance, making her look like a calm and literary figure at first glance. However, in reality, she had quite a bit of strength for her age.
So…
“Natalya, it’s been a while. Wow!”
Natalya spun Asha around in the air as she greeted her with a smile, effortlessly lifting her up and setting her back down.
“Natalya, it’s been a while. You’ve been practicing this, haven’t you? It’s not just something you’ve done once or twice.”
Asha briefly seemed flustered, but Natalya smiled confidently and responded.
“I practiced with the servants. I wanted to surprise you. It’s fun, isn’t it, Asha?”
“Well, I…”
She wanted to say that she would return the favor, but Asha looked at Natalya and then dropped her gaze.
It didn’t seem possible with her short stature, even if it was disregarding her strength.
“Natalya! Stop growing taller!”
“Haha. Do you want me to do it again?”
“Don’t. Don’t just keep doing it. I’ll bite you.”
Natalya burst into laughter again at Asha’s words.
However, Natalya’s laughter gradually subsided on the way to the marchioness’s garden.
“…Asha, I’m sorry. We have some strange guests today.”
“Strange guests? Oh, right. I heard that the eldest from the Viscount Ceilistria family came. What was his name? Raki, was it?”
“Oh… I’m really sorry. It’s because of me.”
Natalya said, furrowing her nicely shaped eyebrows and expressing deep embarrassment.
It was because Grisha, the second son who was always sent by Viscount Ceilistria, was unable to attend due to his broken arm, which was the result of a fall while playing too vigorously with Natalya.
And the reason the viscount sent their firstborn son, Raki, instead of asking for an apology, was because he knew Asha would be attending this tea party.
“No, the marchioness already informed me in advance. I knew about it. It’s nice to make new friends too.”
“There’s one more besides that.”
Asha smiled broadly. If she had to guess, it would probably be about Marquis Oleg’s daughter, who unexpectedly decided to attend this tea party. She had already heard about it.
However, before Asha could say anything about it, the two of them arrived in front of the tea table set up in the garden.
There, she saw a girl whom she had seen pass by once a few years ago. The girl, who seemed to be around seventeen, had very dark brown hair that reached her waist and was wearing a soft mustard-colored dress.
“Greetings, Your Highness. Lyudmila Shchedrin, daughter of Marquis Oleg.”
Lyudmila rose and greeted her with an elegant motion. At the same time, Asha’s sleeve button changed into a new shape.
<What… what is this? What’s happening?>
‘Wait, it was my turn to speak, right?’
<No, why is Prasti over there?>
‘Well, when they left the capital, it wasn’t there, right?’
Before leaving for the northern region, when Marquis Oleg’s family made their last visit to the palace, there were clearly no problems with the girl. But Lyudmila’s haughty blue eyes were staring directly at Asha.
‘Prasti attaches itself to certain cracks, right? What crack does she have that made her like that?’
<Well, her body is weak, so there might be room for weakness…>
‘Is that what you call an explanation now?’
Asha clicked her tongue.
“Oh? Then if we remove Prasti, her health won’t improve?”
<That’s nonsense. Even if you remove Prasti from your uncle, he would still naturally have a dishonest nature, and even if you remove Prasti from your servant, would you be able to separate the offspring of a crawfish and sparrow?>
“Oh…”
In other words, in order to solve Lyudmila’s Prasti, she could give her snacks freely.
‘Didn’t I give a lot of milk tea to Ahti? Wasn’t she watching?’
<But… No, that guy didn’t show any reaction! If there was, I would have known!>
‘Did he get fired at work?’
Ahti, who came as an aide with the Noctis Elves’ peace mission, seemed to be looking for Ivan but couldn’t find him and left, so he might have been criticized for incompetence.
“It seems like even villains don’t have job security. Maybe he got fired for not doing well.”
Phoebe also made a tongue-in-cheek sound.
<What’s done is done. We’ll have to fix that first.>
At that point, Asha also looked at Lyudmila again. A faint red tinge of anger, a hint of green jealousy, and a strong ashen color of unwavering determination wrapped around Lyudmila like a fortress.
Asha swallowed a sigh.
‘I’m tired now, too. If she says she won’t eat my snacks, I’ll just put them in her mouth. Don’t stop me.’
<Don’t humans open their mouths when you squeeze their chin? I guess you can stuff it in that way.>
‘Ah… No, no, Phoebe. Not like that.’
<There is nothing wrong with the landlord’s saying that it is difficult to match your rhythm.>
Phoebe grumbled.
