Something resembling Lyudmila’s screams echoed from inside, then faded. The young men standing guard at the door swallowed hard.
Next to them, Ilya was trying to soothe Lyudmila’s maids, who were at a loss for words. He assured them that they had nothing to worry about, for the princess loved Lady Lyudmila dearly.
“But His Excellency the Duke of Sedvoyer seems to have a lot of time on his hands, coming ‘along’ to places like this every time.”
Karnov shrugged at Dimitri’s comment as he stood before the door.
“Her Highness says I’m needed, and it’s my job to comply.”
“Wasn’t the duke’s job to serve His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“His Highness is concerned about the safety of the princess, so I must relieve him of that concern.”
Dimitri’s face contorted into a scowl, but he said nothing more than a pout of his lips, as if he were tormented. Karnov thought that was a bit surprising, considering his past behavior, which he could barely recall now.
‘I guess you’re not afraid of me anymore,’ Karnov started to say, but then realized he was teasing too much and changed the subject.
“How did that imperial investigator exam you were preparing for go, did either of you get the results?”
Dimitri flinched and looked back at him, his expression clearly saying he was caught off guard. Over there, Ilya, who had sent the maids to fetch tea and snacks for Lyudmila, also flinched.
“No, I was just asking how you were doing. I didn’t pray for you to fail.”
“I didn’t fail! The results just haven’t been announced yet!”
“Then why do you seem as if you’ve already failed?”
“It… it could happen…”
“In fact, you’ve already failed once before.”
“Ilya!”
Dimitri bellowed. Ilya smiled shyly. Karnov looked at them with a rather absurd expression on his face.
“I had no idea.”
“That’s because I didn’t tell anyone!”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I was too embarrassed to tell!”
“Is that so?”
“If the duke fell off his horse, would he be able to tell Asha about it, I don’t think so.”
“Of course I’d tell her, because Her Highness Anastasia would grieve if I hid such a thing. I don’t fall off my horse in the first place.”
“…”
Dimitri clenched his fist and trembled a little. Just as Karnov was about to shut up, realizing that he had reacted too childishly, Ilya quietly interjected.
“B,but, I believe I can pass this time and bring good news.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Will you call in a military band if I fail?”
“Why would I do that? If you have good news, Lady Anastasia will also be pleased.”
“Ha, Duke. Every time you say something, it’s always Asha, Asha, but Asha…”
“What about Asha?”
Dimitri, who had been about to retort, found himself at a loss for words and merely chewed on his lip. He wanted to say something like “Asha doesn’t really care about that,” but the ‘that’ in question was his well-being. He didn’t want to deny it.
Saying, “What does Asha’s pleasure have to do with you?” would contradict Karnov’s earlier statement that he cared about the royal heir’s well-being and feelings. No matter how he put it, he would come off as foolish.
“Ah, forget it! Never mind.”
“Is this how you’re handling the interview?”
“…!”
Ilya opened his eyes wide. With a look that seemed to ask, “How did you know?” Dimitri yanked Ilya, and both of them tumbled backward, making a loud clattering noise. Karnov chuckled and shook his head at the commotion.
A loud noise came from outside. Asha and Natalya exchanged glances, shook their heads, and whispered.
“Seems like they caused a commotion outside.”
“Do you think they’re all right?”
“It’s probably just Dimitri pulling Ilya and then falling over while fooling around.”
A sound of the chair being pulled sharply was heard. Asha and Natalya straightened up.
“Hmmm. Lyuda, are you feeling better now?”
“…”
“Are you angry?”
“I’m not angry.”
“Then are you upset?”
“…I guess so, just a little.”
Lyudmila was lying with her back to the bed. She hadn’t gotten out of bed in a long time because she felt that Asha had been leering at her. She pulled the covers up and down.
“I don’t think much has changed, and I wonder if I’ve become more honest.”
Asha choked back a laugh. After spitting out Prasti, Lyudmila’s brief feeling of dizziness and nausea seemed to wash away.
Other than that, she didn’t notice any outward differences, but she felt a little more honest. Normally, she would never have mentioned being vomited on.
Natalya and Asha, sitting side by side at Lyudmila’s bedside, exchanged glances with each other. Then Natalya gathered her fingers to make a circle. Seeing it, Asha opened her eyes wide and nodded.
“Well, now that I think about it, something interesting happened before we got here.”
“What happened?”
Natalya responded somewhat awkwardly to Asha’s words. Asha continued with her chin on the bed.
“I was on my way back with Olga from seeing how the opera was going, and someone recognized me.”
Lyudmila’s shoulders flinched. Asha continued.
“Pasapo Lefkadiya? Have you heard of it? It’s a very famous wine-producing place.”
“If it’s Pasapo wine, my mother likes it too. She especially enjoys their sparkling wine. She says it’s delicious with desserts.”
Asha also nodded at Natalya’s words.
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“But did those people recognize Asha?”
“Well, they said they met me by chance. They asked me if I knew of any rumors about this amazing drink. I think they were talking about shasling wine.”
At that point, Lyudmila kicked off the covers and jumped to her feet.
“You mean they found out about your schedule and snuck up on you, and you let them?”
“I was just wondering how the rumor of the shasling wine came about.”
“You can ask them that in jail!”
“I,is that something to go to jail for?”
“It is clear that they dug up other people’s schedules and secretly followed them, but of course, this should be severely punished. Moreover, as royalty…”
Lyudmila pursed her lips, as if remembering in hindsight that she was in a state of exhaustion. Asha scooted closer to the bed.
“So I told them I wasn’t going to sell the recipe for shasling wine, and I couldn’t even if I tried, but I decided to do something else fun instead.”
“What fun?”
Natalya chimed in from the side.
“I’m not going to sign a contract, but I’m also curious about Pasapo wine. I’ve decided to exchange a bottle of shasling wine for a bottle of Pasapo wine. At my coming-of-age ceremony, since I can’t drink yet.”
“…Was that a fun thing to do?”
“Well, we happened to be passing by the famous dessert café patissier named Fedin Buicker and met him…”
“All of them…!”
Lyudmila jumped up again, then shut up again. Asha smiled.
“I scolded them, not because I’m royalty… It’s bad form to sneak up on someone without telling them, isn’t it?”
“You scolded them?”
“Of course, of course. You’ll be in trouble if you do this from now on! Like that.”
Lyudmila’s shoulders sagged a little as if she was finally relieved to hear that, and Asha smiled at the look on her face.
“Anyway, so, Fedin and I made a dessert using alcohol, and I brought it for Lyuda!”
“Wooow!”
Asha took out the small box she was hiding behind her back. At the same time, Natalya clapped loudly in an apparently contrived motion.
At this point, Lyudmila couldn’t stay in the sheets any longer. She knew she had made herself vomit, but she knew it was to help.
The embarrassment was too much to overcome, so she stuck to her guns but…
“Me and Natasha aren’t old enough to eat it after I made it. Only Lyuda can eat it.”
“Oh…? Wait a minute, Asha.”
Natalya called Asha in a hurry, but Asha shook her head strictly.
“You’re not eating it either.”
“Where is it!”
“Here.”
Asha said that, and held out the flat box to Lyudmila again. Lyudmila sat right on the bed and hesitated to hold the box in her hand. Then, she thanked her with a little cry.
“Thank you, thank you… for this… for everything… Natasha, get your hands off…”
“…Tch.”
“A moment ago, my… stomach. You helped me throw it up and I feel so much better, thank you.”
“That’s the least we can do between friends!”
“But…”
“Huh?”
Asha cocked her head. Lyudmila hadn’t even finished untying the mauve ribbon on the box. Her ears were turning a deep shade of red.
Asha was momentarily dazed by Lyudmila’s reddened ears and the shy pink air currents that emanated from her.
“Lyuda?”
“Why… why am I Lyuda and not Lyusha?”
“Oh? Huh?”
Asha’s eyes widened. Natalya, who had been surreptitiously tugging at the box’s ribbon, blinked too. Lyudmila clutched the box tightly.
“I’m the only one… Lyuda.”
“I’m the only one who’s Asha.”
“Natasha is also Natasha!”
“Well, that’s because Natasha is a nickname for Natalya. But for Lyudmila, it’s Lyuda.”
Each name had its own nickname. The nickname “Anastasia” was Asha, “Natalya” was Natasha, “Alexei” was Alyosha, and “Lyudmila” was Lyuda.
“But Lyudmila can also be called Lyusha.”
“That’s… That’s true.”
“Don’t you think Lyuda is prettier?”
“It’s not really about being pretty…”
Lyudmila’s expression turned a little sullen. It seemed to have been on her mind. Asha smiled and put her hand on Lyudmila’s hand.
“Shall we call you Lyusha from now on?”
“I, it’s hard to pronounce, so it’s okay.”
Now that she said it, she sounded shy. Asha thought for a moment, then lowered her voice to a whisper. Natalya, next to her, leaned in.
“Then I’ll call you ‘Lyusha!’ in a moment of crisis where we can’t let others know. What do you think? It’s like our code.”
“What about me? Natale?”
“All right, Natale. I’m Stasha. We’ll call each other that and we’ll help each other, okay, promise.”
“So what’s this crisis moment that you can’t tell anyone else about?”
“When you’re at a party and the conversation goes on and on and on and all you can say is, ‘Oh,’ ‘Yeah,’ ‘Wow,’ and ‘That’s amazing’?”
“Or is it when the food is so bad but the party host is in front of you?”
“Either that or when you eat so much that your button pops!”
The girls said so and burst out laughing.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
After eating a piece of chocolate, Lyudmila fell asleep again. She seemed to have fallen asleep quickly because she ate chocolate made out of alcohol while she was shaken up and tired after experiencing a big incident – throwing up in front of Asha.
Natalya, Dimitri, and Ilya went out to see the city of Rokta, which they would be leaving in a few days. Asha, who was left alone with Karnov in the hotel, took out the box when the surroundings became quiet. Inside was a white, chubby seed the size of a child’s fist.
“The scream… this is what it was.”
“More precisely, the scream that Lyuda let out when I tried to touch it…”
Natalya had somehow managed to get it out of her system, but Lyudmila had acted like she was going to faint when Asha tried to touch it.
