<But! If I don’t do that, would Alexei even know I exist? Huh? What do you want me to do!>
The candles roared violently.
At that moment, the candle that burned the last wick went out.
“Fafnir?”
<…Light… Turn it on…>
<Hahaha! That’s perfect. Asha, you don’t have anything to deal with a spirit like this.>
Phoebe shouted excitedly, but Asha glanced at the cuffs and turned around and whispered to Cyril, who was a little away.
“Cyril, the candle here is out, can you bring me a new one?”
“Ah… All right.”
Cyril seemed a little puzzled when he heard that the candle that had been left for a long time had been burned out, but he ordered the attendant to bring a new candle.
<Puha!>
<I said to be quiet for a while, I did.>
‘Phoebe, don’t be so mean. Can’t Fafnir speak without a flame?’
<Of course not! This body is the Fire Dragon, Fafnir, who controls flames!>
‘But?’
<Not yet… It’s just that I’m a little less adapted to the human world!>
Phoebe giggled and laughed excitedly. Asha stared at the fast-burning candle and sighed, ‘Ahew.’
‘I’ll have this conversation with you later when Alyosha wakes up, Fafnir.’
<What conversation?>
‘It’s all your fault!’
<I, I did nothing wrong!>
‘Why not! Because you couldn’t talk to him, and you were so stubborn that Alyosha thought he couldn’t control his power! That’s why he hasn’t been able to cry or laugh!’
<…>
‘Apologize straight away and then be friendly. Understand?’
<Oh, I got it…>
This time, the candle was dimly smaller than the starlight. Phoebe laughed so loudly that Asha had to press the new embroidery on her sleeve several times.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Asha asked Cyril to light several candles and quietly left Alexei’s bedroom.
<Where are you going?>
“To the kitchen?”
<Are you going to cook or something?>
“Yeah. It’s okay to leave it alone because the medicine doesn’t work. I thought it would be nice to have something like ginger syrup… Alyosha says the medicine doesn’t work because of Fafnir. Will the one I give him work?”
<Of course, this body is a great spirit.>
Asha clenched her fists and grappled with the fence on the terrace. As she crossed the garden in a straight line to the kitchen of Tamir Palace, Pavel, wearing casual clothes, looked down at the note, turning one shoulder.
“Pavel!”
When Pavel recognized Asha, he did not ask what happened, and Asha talked about her business.
“I’m going to make something for my cousin because he’s sick.”
“Cousin?”
“Yeah. He has a fever and he’s sick.”
“Oh, does the cousin know you’re trying so hard?”
“Um… Even if he doesn’t know, it’s kind of weird to let it hurt.”
Asha grumbled and called out the ingredients she was chewing on in her head.
“Do you have ginger and pears? Cinnamon and whole black pepper.”
“What are you going to make with that?”
“Ginger for ginger… Making cordials and boiling them?”
Cordial was made by adding sugar to the juice and boiling it. It was usually an ingredient for food and beverage. Pavel brought the ingredients with a curious expression on his face as to how a cordial made of ginger or braised pears would taste.
She started by rolling up my arms and washing away the soil from the ginger. As she was working hard on the ginger on the grater, Asha raised her head because she suddenly remembered something.
“…But Pavel, don’t you have to go home?”
“I should have. About five minutes ago?”
“…”
Only the sound of grinding ginger rang quietly in the kitchen. Asha stopped her hand from moving towards the next ginger with an awkward expression.
Pavel said.
“But I’ve never seen a cordial made of ginger.”
“Ahaha… It’s… … It’s nothing great.”
“…”
“I’m sorry… I’m… I’m not going to do this again.”
Pavel laughed at Asha’s mumbled apology and messed up her hair.
“Oof!”
“The little one says all kinds of things.”
‘I can’t keep borrowing the kitchen forever. The kitchen as soon as possible… Ouch!’
While grinding ginger on the grater while thinking about this and that, she also grounded her knuckles slightly. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she only bit her lip without Pavel’s knowledge, thinking of the circumstances in which she was interrupting Pavel’s work.
<This sloppy thing.>
‘Be quiet.’
Asha grumbled at Phoebe for no reason and continued to work. All 500 pieces of ginger were ground on a steel sheet, and Pavel collected it, filtered it out of cotton cloth, and extracted only the juice. Juice from ginger was poured into a bowl.
“Now… I have to wait a little bit. Pavel, do you want to go home? I’ll sort it out and go.”
“Hahaha. Everything that happens in this kitchen?”
“It’s Pavel’s responsibility…”
“How long do we have to wait?”
“It’s… an hour or two… About that much? Then, the starch settles to the bottom, but only the top water is used. But even after that… ”
Pavel let out a deep sigh and shook his head.
“But what are you going to use the pear for?”
At the well-intentioned change of topic, Asha’s face quickly brightened.
“This is also good for colds.”
“Where do you learn that? Is this a book, too?”
“The wisdom of ancestors?”
“You’re not a ten-year-old chestnut kid, but an old woman who’s ninety-years-old?”
“…”
<Puhahahaha!>
This time, Phoebe burst into laughter without anyone knowing. Asha grabbed the button tightly once and let it go, and lifted the pear that Pavel brought. It was shaped like a vial smaller than an adult’s fist. Pavel grabbed the knife first when he heard that he had to peel the pear.
Without Asha having time to touch it, the pear showed its flesh. After a moment of consideration, Asha asked to cut the pear horizontally.
“What are you going to do with this?”
“Do you have a… human-shaped cookie cutter or something?”
At the mention of human figures, Pavel laughed wildly to himself and then straightened up.
“What do you think? I don’t bake snacks.”
“Then how about garnish stamps instead of cookie cutters?”
“…”
Pavel pondered carefully, and searched the shelves in the corner of the kitchen for his pouch. There were some cutters in it that could be used for small decorations. There was even the gingerbread man cookie cutter that Pavel said was missing.
“What are you going to do with this?”
“It has to look pretty to eat well.”
“Your cousin must be very young.”
After thinking for a while, Asha decided to pretend not to know. The pear slice was cut with a cookie cutter, and two whole peppercorns were inserted in the face and three whole peppercorns in the body. The above were eyes and on the body was a button.
“…”
“…don’t you think it looks like something you shouldn’t eat?”
Asha was silent, too. When two whole peppercorns were stuck in the gingerbread man’s small face, he looked like a mysterious creature.
“…”
“…Uh, it can’t be helped. My cousin is brave, so he will eat everything well.”
“You said it needs to be pretty to eat well…”
“Don’t say the secret out loud.”
“This little thing.”
In any case, the underlying preparation was completed by turning all ginger-shaped pears into large-eyed creatures.
“Put cinnamon and ginger in the water, and when it boils, put the pear cutouts. Boil the pear until it’s fully cooked, and it’s done. It’s good to eat when you have a cold, so Pavel, eat it when you’re sick.”
“You must have eaten it often.”
Asha simply replied, putting the trimmed pear in the boiling pot.
“What are you talking about? I don’t like ginger or cinnamon. If you catch a cold, take cold medicine.”
“…”
Asha, who had been thinking for a while after putting the remaining pieces of pear in, clapped her hands.
“Oh! Adults can boil it like this in wine instead of water.”
“Oh?!”
Pavel opened his eyes at the news and hurried to the wine cellar. With a long bottle of wine in his arms. Asha squinted her eyes.
“What a drunkard.”
“The palace is warm even in the middle of winter, but it is cold on the way home from the palace. My mansion is far away.”
Pavel hurriedly made an excuse and quickly imitated Asha’s stewed pears next to her. It didn’t take a lot of work, and Pavel’s main job was a cook, so it was quick to make it. Even more so because they didn’t make a creepy creature gingerman out of a cookie cutter.
“The ginger juice has also subsided.”
After letting the pear and wine boil, the two turned their eyes to the ginger juice in which the white starch had settled. Ginger juice and the same amount of sugar were poured into it and boiled over high heat, stirring slowly. The process of skimming the foam was long and cumbersome.
“Cinnamon…”
“What?”
“Add cinnamon, too.”
“Your expression looks like you’re putting poison in it.”
“I hate cinnamon…”
“Then take it out.”
“But this is good for a cold.”
When the ginger cordial was boiled down like that, it was after the moon rose. Asha tasted the still hot ginger syrup and looked worried for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
“The taste is too strong… What if my cousin doesn’t eat it?”
At that, Pavel tasted the ginger cordial, too. With ginger and cinnamon, it was definitely strong and spicy.
