Every time Asha baked a pancake, she stared at the empty small tray next to it. It was the tray that Lise always filled with letters.
It had already been well over fifteen days since Karnov went to Sedvoyer. Summer was about to end, and Karnov had never contacted her privately.
‘It seems he’s been sending various reports to Alyosha…’
That made sense. With issues arising in the northern territory, it was only natural for Karnov to maintain close contact with the crown prince. But Karnov had promised to write to her separately as well, and yet there was no news.
“Could something have happened…?”
<Still no reply?>
Asha nodded with a rather sullen face. Just because she hadn’t received any letters from Karnov didn’t mean she had simply waited passively.
She had sent several letters inquiring about his safe arrival, the cold in the north, the status of the monsters, and if he had been hurt… but no replies came back.
By now, she felt that if she kept sending letters, Karnov might think she was being too persistent, so she stopped. With a sigh, Asha flipped the pancake.
<He must be busy. Catching rampaging monsters isn’t an easy task.>
“He’s not hurt, right?”
<Even if he is, he’d recover quickly, wouldn’t he?>
Asha glared at Phoebe. Phoebe, who had been about to peck at the warm pancake, flinched.
<No, what I meant was… Oh, here it comes.>
Phoebe sensed someone approaching and flew up to perch on Asha’s shoulder.
‘Who?’
<Karnov’s oak tree*.>
[*TN: Implying a strong, wise, or enduring presence, much like an oak tree.]
Asha’s eyes widened as she glanced toward the kitchen entrance. At that moment, General Yekaterina appeared. She was dressed in a splendid uniform, likely having just come from an audience with the emperor.
“Oh! General!”
“I came to pay my respects to His Majesty and thought of Your Highness, so I decided to stop by for a moment.”
Startled, Asha hastily put down the spatula, tidied up the batter bowl, and removed the pan from the stove.
“Oh, I just meant to say hello, so feel at ease.”
Standing next to her, Yekaterina dissuaded her, but Asha shook her head.
“No, it’s all right. I’ve already made plenty.”
“I hope I haven’t been a disturbance…”
General Yekaterina trailed off as she noticed the mountain of pancakes. Asha smiled a bit awkwardly.
“I did make quite a lot, didn’t I? Since you’re here, would you like to have some with tea?”
At Asha’s suggestion, the old general nodded. Asha placed the plate piled high with pancakes on the table. She then brought out jars containing soft cream cheese and dried apricots that were minced and bottled into a softened compote.
“With my grandson in the north, the mansion is quiet and lonely, so I ended up bothering the imperial family.”
Asha smiled with a slightly playful expression at General Yekaterina’s words.
“That’s not true. You visited because you thought I might be bored without Karnov, didn’t you?”
“Haha.”
The old general drank the hot tea with pleasure. Asha held her head high and responded confidently.
“I’m not that bored, so you don’t need to worry. I have plenty to keep me busy.”
“Oh.”
General Yekaterina smiled teasingly and looked at the piled pancake plates. Asha blushed and cleared her throat.
“Today was a short day off.”
“Then what are you busy with on other days?”
“Someone from the south will be arriving soon. I’m negotiating a publishing rights contract for a novel. It’s a novel that Prince Nothea brought last time…”
Yekaterina, who listened silently to Asha’s chattering, initially widened her eyes in surprise, then her expression turned amused.
“I’ve heard of a similar story.”
“What? Really?”
“It was a fairy tale my parents told me as a child… it’s fascinating to find a similar story in the south.”
“What story did you hear, General?”
“You said it was the story of a man who fell in love with the Queen of the Night, right? What I heard was the story of a human man who fell in love with an elder Noctis Elf.”
“Wow, really? They have such stories in the north too? I actually thought of the Noctis Elves while reading it.”
“Isn’t it intriguing?”
“Yes, Ka…”
Asha nearly mentioned that Karnov hadn’t shared such stories, but she quickly swallowed her words. Fairy tales are traditionally told by adults to children, just as Yekaterina heard from her parents.
“Ahem, it seems people everywhere have similar tales.”
“Indeed, they do.”
General Yekaterina smiled. She was an unexpectedly good interlocutor. Despite her typically sharp and cynical demeanor, she was surprisingly an excellent conversationalist. In informal settings, she displayed a lively and witty side. Sometimes, when she looked at Asha, she seemed to see her as a granddaughter, and other times as a friend.
“Oh dear, I got so caught up in our conversation that I lost track of time.”
The pancakes, cheese and jam that Asha baked on the table were already gone. The teapot was empty, and a thin line of dried tea marked the inside of the cups.
“Actually, I came to give you something, Your Highness.”
“To me?”
Asha tilted her head. General Yekaterina smiled with a proud expression and took a lump out of her pocket.
“Letters…?”
Asha’s eyes shone bright for a moment. General Yekaterina nodded.
“One of our household members went down south for some business and brought these back.”
“From the south?”
Asha was taken aback as she hadn’t expected anything from that direction.
“Yes. Aren’t the prince and princess by Lake Bishti?”
Asha’s eyes widened even more as she eagerly sifted through the bundle of letters. After passing a few letters from unfamiliar nobles, she found one with a beautifully written address.
“I thought you might like to receive these a few days earlier, so I took the liberty of bringing them. I hope you’re not displeased, Your Highness.”
“Of course not!”
Asha stood up abruptly and hugged General Yekaterina. The general, initially surprised, opened her eyes wide but then burst into hearty laughter and returned Asha’s embrace.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“You’ve spent the last two weeks entertaining grandfather, and now it’s finally my turn.”
“Umm…”
“Shall we change the pose? Is it difficult to draw like this?”
“Umm…”
As Asha continued to struggle, Ivan handed her a small piece of bread. Asha sighed and gently erased some pencil lines.
“I thought I got a lot of practice drawing Grandfather, but it’s still difficult.”
“Having trouble with your drawing?”
“Maybe it’s because Alyosha is too handsome. It would be easier if you were less good-looking.”
Alexei chuckled lightly at Asha’s ridiculous comment.
“Uncle and Aunt will love whatever you draw for them.”
“Still, I want to do a good job and send them something better.”
Asha had decided to draw pictures of the emperor and Alexei to send to Lake Bishti because of what she learned a few weeks ago from the letters Yekaterina brought.
The letters from her parents were quite thick. They contained drawings by Meura, folded neatly inside. One showed Asha in a pretty dress, smiling among her peers at a party, and the other depicted Asha dancing with the emperor in the middle of a grand ballroom.
Meura had given these drawings of Asha’s birthday party as a birthday gift to her parents. The words in the letter from her parents expressed joy, longing, and love, seeing their daughter growing up happily from afar. Touched by this, Asha decided to draw the scenes she saw and send them as gifts.
“But it seems Meura’s tips on coloring are really helping.”
Asha bent down and started sketching again, saying that. Alexei, watching her with a smile, nodded when she gestured toward the desk, and then he turned back to his documents.
After more than an hour, Asha finally finished her sketch, but she still looked a bit dissatisfied.
“I’ll stop here for today since we have guests coming.”
“I heard it was someone from the publishing house from the Kingdom of Kirelete. You must have an escort with you when you meet a stranger, Asha.”
“Of course!”
Asha proudly patted Ivan’s back, standing next to her, saying so. Then, as Asha’s eyes turned back to the canvas, she became sullen.
Having seen Meura’s and Mariya’s drawings every day, her own work didn’t seem satisfactory. Alexei, noticing her expression, smiled reassuringly.
“You can come and sketch again tomorrow.”
“I feel like I’m bothering you too much…”
“You spent two weeks with Grandfather, but you’re only planning to spend one day with me?”
Asha finally smiled bashfully. Alexei, watching her smile, gestured for her to come closer.
“Yes? Alyosha, what is it?”
“I have something for you.”
Asha tilted her head as she approached. Alexei opened the drawer and pulled out a small box from it. It was a transparent box made of glass with metal edges. Inside were a half-dried white dandelion and a violet.
“This is…”
“These flowers were included in the latest report from the north, and I thought they might be meant for you.”
Alexei gently closed the box and handed it to Asha. She hesitated for a moment, then sighed as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Karnov…”
“He must be very worried about you.”
“Does he say that? It’s a report, so he wouldn’t include such personal comments…”
“I know, though.”
Alexei flipped through a few pages of the report he had received. Asha squinted at the formal, stiffly written document, noticing that the handwriting seemed unfamiliar, likely not Karnov’s.
“See, he expresses his concern for you at the end.”
Asha’s mouth dropped open. The ‘end’ that Aleksei referred to read as follows:
[The Duke of Sedvoyer asks if the pea harvest in the capital is okay.]
[The Duke of Sedvoyer sends regards to everyone in the Imperial family.]
[The Duke of Sedvoyer inquires whether the peaches in the capital have ripened.]
[The Duke of Sedvoyer asks about the acorns on the capital’s oak trees…]
“Hey, this is…”
Asha blushed deeply and waved her hands, wanting to deny that this was about her, but Aleksei’s certainty made it hard to argue. She finally slumped her shoulders and gently touched the end of the report with her fingertip.
‘If you’re going to do this, you can just write to me. Silly Karnov.’
He seemed so busy that it was difficult to send a letter separately. However, he couldn’t ask for personal regards in official documents, so…
Alexei looked at Asha’s face and smiled with his head tilted. He mentioned that he could add a line in his reply to the north, which made Asha ponder for a long time before finally leaving a single sentence and leaving Alexei’s room in a hurry.
[Ask if the violet is blooming well in the north.]
