Asha often leaned against the railing of the second-floor corridor, watching Alexei shoot arrows in the courtyard below. Her main companion was Cyril Schnine, Alexei’s escort.
“Cyril.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Asha stood on the footrest, looking down at Alexei before turning her head to the side. The knight, much taller than her, had a gentle expression. Asha flipped through the pockets of her dress and handed Cyril a scone.
“Is there something you want?”
She felt Phoebe’s laughter ringing in her ears. Asha pressed the button with her fingertips.
“…I don’t only give you snacks when I ask for something.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“But I have a favor to ask.”
Asha’s face turned slightly red due to embarrassment. Cyril suppressed a small laugh. Perhaps if Lise were nearby, she would have faced her disapproval.
“Is Cyril from the Knight Order?”
“Oh, that’s right. Dame Anne Marka, who is now the deputy commander, was my… senior.”
His expression soured when referring to her as a senior. It seemed to bring back intense memories of their time in the knights.
“There’s something called an apprentice knight test, right? I’m not curious about what will be on the test this time, but about the tests you took when you were an apprentice.”
She had thought about asking Tarjei, but it felt like cheating. She would hear the answers and tell them to Ivan, making it even more awkward if she received grandiose responses.
“What? Knight… apprentice… test?”
“Yeah, Ivan said something about him having to take a test to become an official knight. Did Cyril not take the apprentice knight test? Or did you become a full-fledged knight right away?”
Cyril looked like he had never heard nor seen it, so Asha asked, blinking her eyes. Cyril, who had been looking stunned for a long time, belatedly clapped both hands.
“Ah! Ah! I’ve heard of it.”
“You’ve heard of it? Did Cyril not take the apprentice knight test? Oh, did you become a full-fledged knight right away?”
“Oh, no. It’s… I…”
Cyril, with a belated reaction, nervously clasped his hands. He suddenly looked guilty.
“When I was about fifteen, I automatically became an apprentice knight, so…”
“Oh? Automatically? How?”
Asha’s eyes widened in surprise, and she asked with a puzzled expression. Cyril coughed loudly, and his cough echoed for a while.
“Keum, keuh, keum!”
“Are you all right, Cyril?”
“Oh, yes, I’m fine.”
Cyril, who took a breath, observed Asha’s reaction.
“Well, usually, you become an apprentice knight without any special test…”
“But why does Ivan have to take a test? What’s the usual way? What’s usual about that?”
“I…”
Cyrill, feeling like he was confessing a crime, hesitated for a moment and then carefully spoke.
“It’s because I’m a noble…”
“…!”
“The Knights of the Imperial Palace are usually only noble children… and naturally become apprentices when the time is right.”
“So Cyril became an apprentice without taking a test?!”
“N-no, it’s not just me! No one in that order took the apprentice knight test!”
“But why does Ivan have to take the test? Because Ivan is not considered a noble?”
Asha’s eyes flashed. Cyril swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
“Well, knights… as the main force for the protection of the palace, maintaining dignity is an obligation. If you are of noble descent, you don’t need to prove it explicitly.”
Asha clenched her fists on both sides. Asha trembled as if she was going to hit someone with that fist, but eventually, with a lackluster sigh, she relaxed her hand.
“Do you know who makes the test?”
“Oh, probably the Bureau of Civil Affairs…”
“The Bureau of Civil Affairs?”
“Yes. Otherwise, would it be possible to ask an apprentice knight who has been tacitly approved by the knight commander to take the test?”
“Since it’s your grandfather who acknowledged the apprentice knight, why insist on a test…”
Asha poked her lips as she folded her fingers one by one.
“I guess he and Alyosha are on bad terms?”
“Well, rather than saying it’s bad, it’s a place where Marquis Oleg’s power is a bit greater. The Marquis’s younger brother is the director. Still, it’s not due to personal bias. It’s because he is a righteous person, despite being in a faction, and that’s why he is appointed by the emperor.”
“Nobles don’t need to take the test, only commoners have to…”
Asha rolled her feet and drooped her shoulders as if she wanted to argue about something. She thought she couldn’t say anything because she was the most privileged. Cyril spoke cautiously when he saw Asha.
“If you talk to the emperor and Crown Prince Alexei…?”
“That’s not possible.”
Asha bit her lips tightly.
“If I advocate fairness, but act unfairly, it might make things difficult for Ivan later. My influence… I don’t know if I have such a thing, but if it’s known that he became a knight because of that, Ivan might feel upset.”
Then she clenched both fists again.
“Wait and see. Ivan will definitely pass the test!”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
When Asha flipped the twenty-third pancake, Phoebe, with her beak covered in syrup, flew up, creating a mess. All that remained in the spot where Phoebe had flown were pancake crumbs.
<What are you so upset about?>
“Ah…”
Asha suddenly came to her senses when she saw pancakes piled up like mountains next to her.
<Are you worrying so much about that mixed-blood’s qualification test? Even though he knows all the test questions.>
The apprentice knight test had concerns, but the disciplines and questions were all public. While there were quite a few, it wasn’t something insurmountable.
“I’m worried because Ivan is the only one among the knights taking that test. Ivan must be feeling really bad, right?”
<I don’t know.>
“I shouldn’t have suggested he become a knight…”
<Just meet him once and talk to him.>
“Ivan never shows any signs of dislike in front of me. He occasionally reveals his emotions, but he’s never…”
During the time they spent together, Ivan’s emotions were never murky. Asha expressed her concerns, and Phoebe flapped her wings urgently.
<Now is not the time to worry about that. Priority should be preparing for the test. If he fails the test, it’ll feel even worse.>
Asha nodded firmly, holding the completed stack of thirty pancakes.
“Yeah, even if it feels bad, he needs to pass the test!”
With that determination, Asha carried the stack of pancakes and headed toward the knight’s quarters.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“Where did everyone go?”
The training ground was eerily quiet. The only person present in the courtyard was Bethelnic. With a towel draped around his neck, Bethelnic gave a nod of acknowledgment to Asha and chewed on the pancake she offered.
“Ivan is out here watching the test for apprentice knights. Lord Karnov came because of that…”
“Karnov is here?”
Bethelnic nodded when Asha asked in amazement.
“He said he’d observe the practical test. Many of us are unfamiliar with the concept of an apprentice knight test, so there’s quite a crowd watching.”
“…Didn’t Bethelnic take a test?”
“I didn’t.”
Bethelnic answered confidently, but then he became aware of Asha’s gaze. Asha turned away as she saw Bethelnic reach for another pancake.
“Your Highness? Where are you going?”
“To see Ivan!”
Asha moved her feet quickly, heading toward the back courtyard of the training ground. There, she found knights sitting or standing, watching Ivan and Karnov with curiosity.
“Ivan! Karnov!”
Asha’s sudden shout made the knights stand up and turn toward her. Asha was taken aback. Their reaction was more than what one would expect from the sudden appearance of a royal princess.
“The princess has arrived!”
“She’s here!”
“What… what’s going on?”
Asha looked dazed and faltered back. Karnov pushed through the crowd and approached her as the knights excitedly cheered.
“Princess Anastasia, why have you come here?”
“I came to help Ivan with the practical test… Why did Karnov come?”
“I thought Your Highness might need assistance.”
“Why… I’m touched…”
“Why did you bake so many pancakes? What else is bothering you so much?”
“It’s not that I’m bothered, but rather I was concerned… Ivan!”
Asha, who was humming back, handed the pancake plate over to Karnov and quickly approached Ivan.
“Ivan! Why are you so skinny? Are you eating well?”
Ivan knelt down, intending to greet her. Before Ivan could fully bend his knees, Asha lifted him up and examined both of his arms, speaking with a worried tone. Anne, who approached from the side, casually remarked.
“Um… Your Highness, maybe it’s just that Ivan’s muscles have grown…”
“Is that so? He seems tall too. Just a word of advice…”
Ivan was already a bit taller than Asha.
“Haha, Ivan is growing fast.”
“…”
As Anne came closer, Karnov mumbled, “Peas hardly grow at all,” and received an elbow to the side from Asha.
“I think you broke my rib.”
Asha pretended not to hear Karnov.
“Ivan, did you see what kind of questions will be on the test? What were you practicing?”
“Ah!”
Anne suddenly came to her senses and clapped her hands together.
“There’s a waltz section on the test. We were trying to practice it, but none of us knew the steps for the female part, so we couldn’t even show an example. However, practicing only the male steps felt awkward, so we were struggling.”
Anne admitted that she was not good at dancing and shook her head.
“Oh! Then I’ll help. I can do it. How should we start? Should I show an example first?”
It seemed to be for that reason that Asha was fiercely welcomed. It was time for Karnov to sigh as he looked at the knights who were pleased with Asha’s words.
“What are you doing here?! This is not training, you’re acting like this is a playground…”
Tarjei, who had a throbbing forehead due to a hangover, stopped his rambling and looked curiously at Asha.
“Oh, Asha! Your Highness! Why are you here? And why is the deputy commander…?”
Before Tarjei, who realized that he had shown his granddaughter him suffering from a hangover, rambled and had a bigger accident, Anne quickly approached and briefly explained what had happened so far.
Tarjei, who listened quietly to the story, laughed out loud and raised his right hand.
“Isn’t it the duty of the predecessor to set an example for the younger generation! If so, then I’ll do it!”
“Hasn’t it been more than thirty years since you’ve waltzed?”
“How could you forget what’s engraved in your body? Huh? Are you still the deputy commander even after saying that, you rascal!”
Tarjei pushed out all the knights around him like a bad cat that swept away things on the table, and then came to Asha.
Asha looked at her maternal grandfather with embarrassed eyes and stopped laughing. Standing next to her, Karnov shook his head with a faint smile and took a step back.
At the same time as someone quickly began to play the lute, Tarjei coughed several times, raised his collar and hurriedly pulled down his sleeve.
And the grandfather and granddaughter’s tumultuous waltz began.
King grandpa gonna make a fuss again 🤭🤭