Joel took a bite of the lime pie, momentarily touched his forehead, and then hastily began to jot down various things. Dimitri grumbled as he turned his head, momentarily dazzled by the brilliant spectacle of light emanating from Asha.
“It’s a lime pie that took me months to get, but it’s being taken away.”
“I’ll make you another one.”
“Ah, forget it. Make it for Uncle Valery over there.”
It seemed that Asha’s continuous visits to Valery’s sickbed, even after Alexei’s coming-of-age, without visiting Dimitri, were somewhat disappointing. Asha smiled mischievously.
“Should I?”
“…”
Dimitri looked angry. Asha burst into laughter and pushed a bite-sized tart into Dimitri’s mouth with a fork.
For a moment, Asha stared in amazement at the sour, light-green particles bursting out around Dimitri and then laughed.
“Isn’t it good?”
“…”
“Do you want me to make another one for you?”
“…Do whatever you want…”
Asha burst into laughter.
Since Joel saw the fabric shown by Maxim and listened to Asha’s discussion, he appeared to have been contemplating various designs for dresses.
Moreover, it seemed like he was inspired by the dazzling display of the lime pie. Mumbling about something, he quickly measured the sizes of the three people, bundled the fabric, and went off to sew.
When Asha told Natalya about the story a few days ago on her kitchen terrace, Natalya clapped her hands and burst into laughter.
“That sounds like him. Something like… not being able to resist when he envisions clothes that would look good on someone in front of him?”
“Oh, really?”
“He’s been making clothes for me since I was a child, and it was the same back then. He was sketching alone, and when mother suddenly said, ‘But she should wear pants,’ he made a face like he was struck by lightning and then just left.”
However, he returned shortly afterward with almost-completed pants and a jacket.
“He said he thought of something that inspired him, and he spent the night making it.”
Asha nodded as well.
“Come to think of it, Joel was introduced to me by the marchioness. I think I should give the marchioness something.”
Natalya’s eyes shone with anticipation at Asha’s words. Asha looked at Natalya’s expression discretely and swept away her heart.
<Aren’t the feelings of children like soap bubbles? It swells up and then bursts, right? But why are you paying so much attention to it?>
‘Whether it’s an adult’s or a child’s feelings, it’s the same, isn’t it? But if something suddenly bursts a lot, it’s natural to pay attention.’
Since their visit to Lake Bishti last fall, Natalya had strangely become quiet. She didn’t seem upset, but her usually lively demeanor had become unusually calm.
“Hold on for a moment. I need to get a stool. You need to get the one up there.”
While Asha was looking for a stool, Natalya stood on her toes, reached up, and took one of the bottles from the top shelf.
“This one?”
“Oh, ah. Yes…”
Asha, who had moved diligently and brought a stool, nodded with a slightly disappointed expression.
“These are peach preserves that we made together last summer. The marchioness would like it too, right?”
Natalya nodded vigorously. The glass bottle in her hand was filled with thickly cut peaches in a clear pink syrup. Natalya was familiar with the taste of it.
Boiling peach peels along with the syrup, which was seasoned with Asha’s special alcoholic shaslings, highlighted the flavor, and the firm peaches were steeped deeply. It was peach preserves that preserved the taste and aroma of summer.
However, there was a commotion outside when Asha covered the lid of the jar of preserves with a hand-embroidered handkerchief and tied it with a ribbon.
“What’s going on?”
Asha raised her head and wondered, Natalya tilted her head.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I think someone’s here…”
At that moment, the kitchen door opened quietly, and Lise came in at a brisk pace.
“Y, Your Highness.”
“Huh? Who’s outside?”
“Lyudmila Shchedrin is here.”
“What? Suddenly, Lyuda?”
“Yes, without saying anything… But her condition…”
“What’s wrong with Lyuda? Is she sick? No, tell her to come in.”
And Asha found out why Lise couldn’t speak properly. Lyudmila was crying as she ran inside. She struggled to stop the tears, but in vain, so she fell to the floor with tears on her cheeks.
Seeing this, Natalya was also stunned, uncertain about what to do as she awkwardly got up. Asha hurriedly moved and first grabbed Lyudmila.
“Lyu, Lyu! Lyu! What’s going on? Why are you crying? Where did you fall? Are you hurt?”
“I’m so sorry, Your Highness, but this is the only place I can think of…”
Lyudmila tried to compose herself and continue her speech, but she was swallowed by tears that rose. Asha pulled up her sleeves and wiped Lyudmila’s face while signaling to the others.
Lise closed the kitchen door first, Natalya brought a blanket and put it around Lyudmila’s shoulder. After crying for a long time, Lyudmila, who had burst into tears, finally managed to breathe and spoke with difficulty.
“I’m so sorry that I came here without notice… I’m so sorry.”
“No, that’s fine. It’s really fine! What happened?”
“That’s…”
Lyudmila hesitated for a long time whether to say this before finally opening her mouth.
“I had a little quarrel with my mother.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“What?”
Natalya blinked as Asha took a breath.
“Isn’t arguing with your mother a normal day?”
Natalya whispered. Asha shook her head.
“Oh, how did you fight?”
“I mentioned it to my mother today. About wanting to try the business with Linum Yushita…”
When she saw the brocade velvet fabric piece sent by Asha, she came up with a good idea, and at the same time, she finally made up her mind.
“But what did your mother say?”
“That idea… she liked it.”
“Did she like it?”
“Yes, but as the conversation got longer… I kept talking about things that I wanted to do, so I even talked about continuing my family.”
“Ah…”
“When I was young, I wasn’t feeling well, so my family decided to give me a younger sister.”
“Oh, you have a younger sibling.”
“Yes, a year younger than me…”
When Lyudmila’s health showed no signs of improvement, her sister, who had to be the heir to the family instead of her sister, was the first to support her when she started dreaming of achieving something again.
“My sister talked about it. She said that if I wanted to do what I talked about, it would be better for me to continue the family legacy…”
“Your sister doesn’t want to be a family member?”
“She had been trying hard to continue our family the whole time I’ve been sick. I didn’t want to take it away. We… then we agreed that we could work together. My sister would continue the family legacy, and I would support her while running the business. But…”
“Did the marchioness object?”
Tears, which had stopped in Lyudmila’s face while she nodded, burst out again. Asha was surprised and wiped away the tears again.
“Lyu, Lyu. What did the marchioness say to oppose it?”
“She told me not to push myself because of my health… She said that I shouldn’t burden myself. She suggested leaving the family legacy to my sister, saying that I never know when my health might deteriorate again. According to her, marrying a good person and living a peaceful life would be the best for me…”
“Ah…”
“I just couldn’t accept it. And then the same conversation kept repeating, and I was like…”
“What did Lyuda say?”
“I, I said… I said… Ugh…”
“What did you say?”
Lyuda burst into tears again.
“I don’t want to live like my mother…”
As soon as she said, “Like my mother,” she already knew her mother would be hurt, but she couldn’t stop. When she finished speaking, she saw her white face and thought she should apologize, but her lips didn’t move. So she ran away without realizing it, and there was nowhere to go…
While Lyudmila managed to stop crying and calmed down, Natalya seemed to be shocked. She had never seen Lyudmila argue with her parents until today.
“And before today? If your mother told you to sleep early, did you just go to sleep?”
“What? Yes… Of course.”
After finally calming down, Lyudmila, who was holding a cold towel around her red, swollen eyes, looked at Natalya with a confused expression, unable to understand.
“Why… don’t you sleep? It’s nighttime, so shouldn’t you be sleeping when your mother tells you to?”
“Oh, no… Sometimes you can’t fall asleep, or you might want to do something else.”
“Even if I can’t sleep, I fall asleep when I lie down, right? If you want to do something else, sleep and then do it when you wake up.”
Natalya stood behind Asha, faltering, frowning, as if running away from the incomprehensible. Asha coughed in vain.
“First of all, Lyuda. Uh…”
To reconcile with her parents, she would have to meet and talk, but it seemed too harsh to tell Lyudmila to go home right away.
“There are a lot of rooms in the palace, so tonight…”
“Oh, no. I can’t. I’ve committed a rude act of coming without telling you in advance, and beyond that…”
“Are you going back home now?”
Natalya, who was standing behind Asha, said as if muttering. Lyudmila also answered as if muttering, her breathing getting steady.
“Since there’s a hotel, I’ll stay for just one night.”
“Ah! Then do you want to go to my villa? I have one in the capital. Otherwise…”
Asha glanced at Natalya standing behind her. Delicate lavender-colored pieces were falling from Natalya like a gentle rain.
Despite being very surprised to see Lyudmila, who had lived a completely different life from her, Natalya kept thinking, ‘Shouldn’t you help with something?’
“Natasha, do you have any spare room at home?”
There was no way there wouldn’t be a spare room in Marchioness Tataricha’s mansion. But Natalya pretended to do the count for a moment.
“A, a room? Hmm, I guess there’s one…”
“Yes, then let’s stay at Natasha’s house for one day and send a letter to your parents.”
“Letter? Yes, a letter.”
“If you suddenly leave and stay out without contacting them, your parents will be extremely worried.”
“Would they be worried?”
She said something so bad… Tears welled up around Lyudmila’s eyes again. Asha gave Lyudmila a big hug like that.
“Of course they’re worried. They won’t be able to sleep if they don’t hear from you.”
After that, Asha prepared the carriage and pulled out a paper and pen to write to Marquis Oleg. In the meantime, Natalya sneaked up to Asha’s side and whispered.
“Well, Asha… actually, it seems like we have an extra room in our house.”
Asha, who was holding a pen, leaned her forehead on Natalya’s shoulder and asked.
“You think it’s going to be awkward when there’s only two of you, right?”
Natalya nodded urgently. While it seemed like she should help Lyudmila when she was crying so hard, now that she was actually planning to take only her, Natalya seemed worried about the awkward atmosphere with Lyudmila.
“I should bring several jars of peach jam. Whatever I eat… Oh! No, I can’t. I’m supposed to be writing a letter. I shouldn’t get carried away if I’m going to send it!”
As Natalya tried to lift Asha up, Asha quickly raised her hand and defended herself. Natalya pouted her lips and quietly lowered her hand.
