[The beautiful peach orchard south of Vichegda!]
[The lord of the orchard is coming!]
[Noble, beautiful!]
Asha smiled as wide as she could and waved to the people. Karnov was beside Asha on the horse, followed by the knights and their luxurious carriages.
Her hair swayed with mysterious grace as she waved, and the short cloak draped over her shoulders responded with a feather-light bounce.
It was a hot, late-spring day, and the roadsides of the capital were crowded with people, singing at the top of their lungs to see her off.
There were also a few people waving small flags and handkerchiefs, all of them singing loudly a song Asha had never heard before. Asha got off the horse when they reached the train station.
“What… what is going on?”
Karnov had been laughing and looking out of the carriage window the whole time.
“What on earth is happening…”
Asha murmured, her face drained of energy. Next to her, Lise, who was fervently fanning Asha, was struggling to contain her laughter while also looking worried, making her face appear quite strange.
“What do you mean? They saw off the princess, who’s been fighting for peace in the empire. All the people of the capital.”
“What is that song? It’s my first time hearing it.”
“His Majesty had a new one composed for you.”
“So he’s seeing me off to the north this way, and he made up a new song?”
Karnov nodded, covering his mouth with his fist. The emperor wanted Asha’s safety more than anything else, given that this trip was not merely to Sedvoyer territory, but to meet the Noctis Elves beyond it.
– No, that means if you get hurt, I’ll wipe you out.
Before leaving, Tarjei, who was looking down at the knights who would be with him on Asha’s trip, said, looking back at Asha. His tanned, rugged face belied the passage of time, but the lines around his eyes had grown more wrinkled since meeting Asha.
The old knight chuckled at his granddaughter’s perplexed face as she stood beside him.
– If I’ve gone to all this trouble and you won’t treat our princess right, I take it you’ve agreed that this is a war, Your Imperial Highness.
– You don’t have to do that…
Despite Asha’s protests, the emperor appointed her an emissary to represent the empire, albeit in a lesser capacity, and made sure everyone in the capital knew of her whereabouts. If Asha’s work went wrong, all the people who saw off the imperial princess would be enraged.
“I hope I don’t have to wave to this song on my way back…”
When Asha was told she would have to mount a horse and ride across the crowded capital, she thought it was a joke at first, but the moment Lise draped a short cloak over her shoulders, she realized they weren’t kidding.
“I’ve decided to respect Alyosha and Karnov a little more from now on.”
“All of a sudden?”
“You’re both standing up in front of this huge group of people and giving speeches, and I’m exhausted from just smiling and waving. I respect you, Deputy Commander.”
“Your Highness, those are words I cannot easily accept, and Alexei says he’s going to walk hand-in-hand with you at the coronation.”
“What? No!”
“You’re going to refuse to do what the future emperor commands?”
“That’s… My father did that, and he lived well.”
“…Ah.”
“But if Alyosha needs it… then I will… set myself on fire…”
Lise couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
At the northern end, beyond the Sedvoyer estate, the entrance to the basin, Uve Whison, was too modest to be called a border. Dense trees grew like domes to enclose the basin, but otherwise it looked more like a fence than a border.
Standing at the entrance to the enclosure, waiting for Asha, Lilmari’s eyes widened.
“Lord Lilmari!”
Even to him, the girl, who was at the forefront of the group who appeared on a horse from a little distance, looked familiar. Lilmari blinked with a puzzled expression when the girl approaching him jumped off of the horse and greeted him warmly.
“Ana… Princess Anastasia?”
“Wow, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other~!”
“When we met not long ago, you were so small, when did you become so…? Even you, Duke Sedvoyer…”
Lilmari muttered in a voice of genuine shock.
“…”
“…”
Asha said quietly.
“First… It wasn’t that long ago that I met Lilmari. I was ten years old. At the peace treaty… Karnov was fifteen then, too. That was nine years ago.”
“Ah, I’ve heard that humans grow up fast… I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it. I’m embarrassed.”
Lilmari coughed embarrassedly. The other Noctis Elves behind Lilmari looked at her curiously, and then stiffened a bit when they saw Karnov and Tarjei standing beside her.
“First of all, this way… would you like to come in? Well, those knights…”
Lilmari hesitated for a moment when he saw Asha’s heavily armed knights. Asha shook her head quickly and grabbed the arm of Evan, who was standing behind her.
“All the other knights are here to see me and Duke Sedvoyer off, and since we have a peace agreement, there’s no need for them all to go inside Uve Whison, is there? The commander of the knights will be accompanying us, but he’s my maternal grandfather, and he’s worried.”
“Your Highness.”
Tarjei coughed in embarrassment. One Karnov Neustadter alone was equivalent to more than one knight entering, but Lilmari did not point it out. However, he looked a little surprised at Evan, which he quickly masked.
“If necessary, I will arrange for accommodations outside the forest. It’s just that there isn’t enough space inside to host so many outsiders…”
Asha’s visit to the Noctis Elves, simply to see their “summer retreat,” had been arranged in a very hasty manner, and even for the Noctis Elves, it was best to provide a residence for the imperial grandchild within Uve Whison.
Despite this, there was no particular discontent in accepting the arrangement, as the fact that the youngest granddaughter of the emperor, whom the empire treasured greatly, was visiting directly helped to reaffirm the peace treaty.
The village was created by the mysterious combination of buildings in contact with trees inside Uve Whison. It was a completely different atmosphere from the imperial cities. The gentle light that passed through the dense branches greeted the group warmly.
“What about Ahti who came to the empire before?”
“Hm? You remember him? He has recently been focusing on exploring the outside world.”
“‘Recently,’ how long ago was that?”
“Hmm…”
Lilmari looked rather awkward.
“How many years ago?”
Asha nodded.
“I didn’t get along with Ahti at the time. I guess Lilmari won.”
Asha said in a meaningful voice. Even at that time, Lilmari, who had come as the representative of the Noctis Elves, was a moderate, but Ahti, who had stood behind him, was glaring with anger and stubbornness. Lilmari winked out of reflex.
“For moderates to be moderate, they need to have strength.”
It sounded like the moderates had completely beaten up the hardliners who wanted to go to war.
‘It seems that now even the Noctis Elves can freely come out of the basin.’
<Much time has passed, and they are paying for their crimes.>
At Phoebe’s slightly dissatisfied chirping sound, Lilmari glanced in that direction and said.
“By the way… what brings you here? I don’t know if there’s anything we can do to help. As you know, originally we don’t venture outside the basin…”
Asha smiled and shrugged.
“I was thinking of having a little reading group and discussing various topics. I hope it won’t take up too much of your time.”
“It seems like just yesterday that we promised to warmly welcome you to Uve Whison whenever you visit as long as you keep your promise. And with the milk tea you made, I’m sure everything will be perfect.”
“Actually, I’ve brought a lot of strawberry jam this time.”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
It was summer, but the air was drier and cooler in the north, so Asha boiled coconut milk until it was hot and brewed a strawberry-flavored tea, then added a spoonful of strawberry jam she’d brought with her and stirred gently.
“I thought it was the special air in the capital that made it taste so good, but I guess my tea-making skills were lacking.”
Lilmari murmured like that, with an expression like he had melted away after savoring a taste of the milk tea. Asha smiled, embarrassed.
The residence that Lilmari had prepared for Asha was simple and shabby compared to the imperial palace, but Asha noticed that they did their best.
Decorations reminiscent of the palace in the capital hung throughout the room. They looked like the ones Lilmari had seen back then. Lilmari gulped when Asha noticed them.
“A little girl… I was afraid you’d miss your home if you’re going to come far away and stay for a few days… so I’ve prepared.”
“Oh.”
“I didn’t expect such a… such a grown-up princess to come. No, but I wonder if you’re still a bit small for being all grown up…”
Karnov, who was listening quietly by her side, coughed. It was to hold back laughter.
“Oh, I still have a year from becoming of age.”
Asha quickly replied, glancing at Karnov. Outside the window, Tarjei, having loosened up, was playing ball with the Noctis Elven youth and blending in with them.
While the elves, unsure whether Tarjei, who resembled an old oak tree, might fly away if touched or break if squeezed, played along, Tarjei quickly adapted to their game and began giving advice.
“Now, look. You can’t kick the ball at that angle! Be serious even if you play with the ball.”
“I’ve been playing this ball for eighty-three years…”
“It’s been a waste for eighty-three years!”
With the cheerful noise from outside serving as background music, Lilmari took a sip of milk tea and spoke.
“I enjoyed reading the ‘novel’ shown by the princess.”
Asha looked at Lilmari with a tense expression. Lilmari pointed to the book with the tip of his finger.
“Are you curious if this is true?”
“I know it’s true.”
“Then…”
“I thought that the ‘Queen of Darkness’… might still be alive. Do you happen to know who she is?”
Lilmari gently handled his teacup with his fingertips.
“Why did you think she might still be alive? The novel says she had a child and then died.”
“I was curious why she was called the ‘Queen of Darkness’ in the novel. If she were just a Noctis Elf, I don’t think the storyteller would have described her that way.”
‘A Noctis Elf with a status worthy of being called ‘queen,’ a love with a human man, a child taken by that man, and a long war.’
“Why didn’t she stay with the human man and have the child? The man said he heard from other elves that she had died. Their love was forbidden and unwanted by everyone except the two of them. Was there really no interference, collusion, or deceit regarding their union?”
And could the obstruction, collusion, and lies hide the truth to the end? Asha stared down at the cup of Anti-War Milk Tea that had been set out for her, then looked up.
“That’s what you said, Lord Lilmari. Noctis Elves don’t even venture out of Uve Whison very much.”
“…”
“But why did you go to war with the Empire? What did you want from the war?”
“…”
“Who was the one who asked you to go to war with the empire?”
Someone led the aimless war. Why did they have a self-destructive war of hatred, with nothing left but bloodshed? Lilmari sighed.
“It seems the ‘Queen of Darkness’ mentioned here refers to the great elder, and she is… alive, as you surmise. She wanted war in the past.”
Lilmari’s eyes turned to Evan, who was standing behind Asha.
“Maybe your knight is her descendant…”
Asha shook her head.
“First I must meet the Queen of Darkness.”
“That might be difficult.”
Lilmari replied in a somber voice. There was no nuance of wanting to protect the Queen of Darkness. Asha squinted.
“Why?”
“She has been in a deep slumber since nineteen years ago.”
