Lyudmila and Raki left first, and Karnov was waiting in front of Asha’s carriage that was headed toward the palace. Asha embraced Natalya lightly in front of the carriage, their cheeks touching as they exchanged farewell greetings.
“Natasha, thank you for talking to Lady Lyudmila. It helped a lot.”
Without Natalya, it would have been more difficult to arrange another meeting and have a conversation with Lyudmila.
Natalya tidied up a strand of Asha’s hair blown by the wind while slightly raising her chin and gave a fleeting glance to Karnov standing behind Asha.
“…True friendship is not about monopolizing, but about sharing. Lady Lyudmila also seems to want to get to know Asha.”
Karnov snorted lightly and turned his head. Natalya gave a small nod before bending her waist again and brushing her cheek against Asha’s.
“Oh, that’s right. Natasha, please teach me horseback riding again.”
“Horseback riding?”
Natalya blinked her dark green eyes and looked at Asha with a rather worried look. Karnov, who noticed Natalya’s eyes, smirked in the background. Asha spoke to Natalya in a desperate voice after glancing at Karnov.
“Yes, horseback riding. I want to try learning it again.”
“Um…is it really necessary for you to ride horses?”
“Keum.”
Dimitri, who was standing next to Karnov, took a breath. It seemed that Karnov found Dimitri’s reaction amusing as well. Asha glanced at Dimitri for a moment, then looked back at Natalya with a piteous face.
“That’s true, but I’m the only one among us who can’t ride a horse.”
“You can ride with me, right?”
“What if people say something like, ‘What kind of noble can’t even ride a horse?’ I need to make an effort too.”
“If there are such arrogant people, they deserve a mouthful of…”
“Dimitri, just stay quiet for a while.”
“Hmph.”
Dimitri made a sour face and crossed his arms.
“Then practice riding with me first.”
“Yes, yes!”
Asha smiled brightly.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“Why can’t you ride a horse as well as you do everything else?”
As the carriage began to move, Asha sighed heavily at what Karnov said.
“I didn’t know I would be like this either.”
When she rode with others, the movement didn’t seem that difficult, so she thought she could quickly do it alone too, but in the past few years, the number of times she had ridden a horse properly could be counted on one hand.
She could somehow move her body in tune with the horse, but as she could see the horse’s emotions, it ironically made it more difficult to control it as she wished.
If the horse indicated interest in a different direction than where Asha intended to go, it was difficult for her to ignore. Consequently, Asha’s horse riding often ended up looking more like she was accompanying the horse on a stroll.
“So Lady Natalya is your tree hidden in the forest?”
“Yes. It can’t be Dimitri. He always behaves as if he’s the older one, even though we’re the same age.”
At Asha’s stern words, Karnov leaned against the carriage window and smiled.
“Oh, I see. What about Lady Lyudmila Shchedrin? You said she had Prasti too, right? Will you summon her to the palace?”
“Yes, I think I should hold her hand and feed her snacks.”
“Didn’t you say you had something that could trace her through the Noctis Elves?”
It was a question as to why she hadn’t known until now. Asha sighed heavily.
“Yes…I did… But he seems to have lost his job.”
Whether it was by age or rank, Ahti, who came as a lieutenant on behalf of Noctis Elves, wasn’t a person Asha should’ve referred to as ‘that child’ four years ago, but Asha referred to him that way.
“But she was a little different from what I thought. Lyudmila Shchedrin.”
“What did you think?”
“Lord Valery also had Prasti and tried to ruin your store by hiring people. But Lady Lyudmila Shchedrin is a little… isn’t her impression different from them?”
Asha nodded. There seemed to be some kind of feeling that swirled inside Lyudmila, but it wasn’t a jaded and terrible feeling.
“It’s similar to Ivan, right?”
“That kind of feeling.”
“I think it’s because I discovered it early. But when I found out about him, Uncle Valery was already in his final years… Besides, the gap where he was possessed was a little… different. Neither Ivan nor Lady Lyudmila were possessed with a gap in their personality… Ah! And, I fed them a lot of cream puffs today.”
“Do you ever hear that you’re too much for people, Your Highness?”
“T, that’s the truth!”
Asha spoke coyly and tilted her head to a question that suddenly came to mind.
“But you know, Karnov. Lady Lyudmila seems to want to do something with Karnov.”
Karnov felt a small cough as Asha spoke with her head tilted. There, Asha found a suspicious sight and squinted. Anxiety, expectations, and worries were secretly buzzing behind Karnov’s back. However, Karnov, who had been glancing at her lips for a moment, sighed lightly as if he were soon dissuaded.
“…I don’t know…”
“You know. Hurry up and tell me.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t. How would I know the heart of a person I see for the first time? I’m not Your Highness.”
“Hmm. No. There’s something. Ah! Isn’t it because your family home is close to Lady Lyudmila’s family in Linum Yushita? Did Lady Lyudmila’s parents and Karnov’s parents say something to each other?”
“…What are you talking about when you hardly know each other?”
“Trying to connect Karnov to Lady Lyudmila…”
“No.”
At Karnov’s firm denial, Asha widened her eyes.
“Ah, no?”
“No.”
“But Lady Lyudmila seemed to be waiting for Karnov? Does Karnov really not know what’s going on?”
Karnov swallowed a groan as he crossed his arms.
“Our parents might have had some conversation…”
“You don’t know, Karnov?”
“Why would they talk to me?”
Karnov replied sourly. Asha rolled her eyes.
“Then you should speak to Lady Lyudmila.”
“What will I say?”
“Ah, it looks like Lady Lyudmila must have heard something from Karnov’s parents and moved to the capital accordingly. She’ll be assuming Karnov heard the same, right?”
“So?”
“If Karnov has no such intention, she should be told so. If not, she can’t possibly know it.”
“Hmm. Would it be nice if I told her that?”
“Well…”
Asha, who was about to answer, narrowed her eyes. Karnov was looking at her with some sort of expectation.
“You want me to make it clear that there will be nothing with Lady Lyudmila Shchedrin?”
And he asked again. Asha curved up the corners of her mouth.
“Ohoho. Is our baby Karnov asking for confirmation and permission from this grandmother~?”
“…”
“A good child would clearly express their thoughts to prevent the other person from misunderstanding, right? Hahaha~! Because our Karnov is a good child~!”
“Stop it. Please, really stop it!”
“What’s up, why? It was Karnov who said he would make me a grandmother.”
“That was four years ago!”
“Did the memories of four years ago… all fade away in the mist? Karnov… did you forget all our sweet memories?”
“…How did things turn out this way? Was something wrong from the start?”
“If you say from the beginning? Are you talking about that cold night of the victory ball, when Karnov pushed me onto the cold stone floor of the palace?”
“…It wasn’t a stone floor. There was carpet.”
“But I still sprained my wrist. And ankle too.”
“I will carry you for the rest of my life. Then would you forgive me, Your Highness?”
“Phew. Do you want to play with me again for the rest of your life? Do I have to play along? I got it, I got it.”
At Asha’s laughing words, Karnov pretended to be angry for a while, but eventually laughed. After the laughter died down, Karnov asked.
“When are you going to call Lyudmila Shchedrin?”
“Maybe next week? If I had my way, I’d like to call her tomorrow, but Lyudmila seems a bit strict on ettiquette, so it won’t work to call her right away for the next day. By then the roses will be blooming too.”
“Hmm, then I can speak to her that day.”
“It’s better to talk about that kind of thing separately…”
“I don’t have time for that. ‘Empire’s Protection Day’ event is very soon.”
“Ah, right. Yes, it is.”
Karnov, who is still in the position of deputy commander of the Imperial Army, was quite busy these days. When he had a spare moment, he would attend Natalya’s tea party with Asha or visit the palace.
Asha pondered for a moment and reached out her hand.
“What? Why?”
“Give me your hand, Karnov…”
Karnov hesitated for a moment, and soon reached out his hand. Karnov’s hand was a world bigger than Asha’s. Asha held Karnov’s hand in both hands and smoothed it as if she were massaging him.
“What, what?”
“Come to think of it, Karnov must be very busy. Since it might be a bit difficult to make time for horse riding or waltz practice. Whenever we have a chance, we should hold hands like this to help Karnov talk to spirits even a day faster.”
“…”
However, it’s a bit awkward to hold it still, so Asha, who was pressing between the joints of the back of his hand, suddenly saw sparkling particles falling over the back of Karnov’s hand, and slowly raised her head.
Karnov was looking out of the carriage window, covering his mouth with his other hand. And from Karnov’s shoulders, things that were sparkling enough to hurt the eyes…
“Uh, Kar… nov?”
“…I took some time to practice waltz and horse riding with you during the busy time, so I don’t have time to talk separately with Lyudmila.”
“Ah… Ah. Oh, then should we stop doing this?”
Asha gently lifted Karnov’s right hand, which she was massaging with both hands.
“Do it. Let me hear my spirit’s voice, too.”
“Oh, dear. My baby Karnov. You should say, ‘Please do,’ to be a good child, right?”
“Please do it.”
“How formal, it’s like you’re afraid someone won’t believe you’re the deputy commander. Just look at your rigid speech is.”
Asha casually glanced at Karnov, then suddenly brightened up as something came to mind.
“Ah! Come to think of it, as Linum Yushita has developed so wonderfully. Isn’t it about time there were some results at Lumen Vasilice?”
“Ah, about that result… it does seem like something has happened.”
Karnov mumbled in a meaningful tone. Asha widened her eyes.
“Really? For real? What happened to the mine? Did something… something come out from within? Is it shining?”
“It did. I’ll bring it to the capital soon. It just took some time for processing.”
“You know all this progress is thanks to me, right?”
“Would you like me to return the favor?”
“For me, I just need a little bit of what’s coming out of there.”
“A little bit.”
Karnov murmured in a sure tone. Asha hummed with a look of anticipation.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
After arranging the schedule to invite Lyudmila to some extent, Asha headed to the next room. Unlike Alexei, who was given the Taimir Palace before he was even ten years old, Asha still did not have her own palace.
The emperor once insinuated that she needed her own palace, and Alexei also mentioned it with a bit of disappointment, but Asha refused. She intended to live in the same palace at least until Alexei and Fafnir started talking to each other.
So when Asha brought guests to the palace, she would always consult Alexei. Because Alexei was really happy with Asha’s saying, ‘Since we are living in the same palace, we need to talk when inviting guests.’
“Have you come, Princess Anastasia?”
“Where’s Alexei?”
The servant who was guarding Alexei’s door smiled.
“His Highness the Crown Prince has been away for a while regarding the Empire’s Protection Day event. Would you like to go inside and wait?”
Asha nodded. The only person who could come and go in the crown prince’s room even when the owner was absent was Asha.
Thank you for the update!