Asha, who had been busy in the kitchen since dawn, took a deep breath. Today was the day ‘Pesheranskaya Pastry Shop’ was opening. There had been tumultuous days leading up to it, which were hard to explain in a few words.
The emperor’s abdication announcement had caused a stir in the capital, and following that, Asha confessed to Mikhail and Alexei about her relationship with Karnov.
Alexei congratulated her with a smiling face, but Mikhail was flabbergasted. He had no idea how things had progressed so far. Asha, finding his reaction amusing, nearly got a playful knock on the head.
She then suggested they use the second floor of the shop as their grand ducal residence and live there with her parents, which almost got her another knock on the head. Mikhail, standing in front of her shop, had teared up, looking at the building she called the shop and the ‘future grand ducal residence.’ In the end, the discussion about the grand ducal residence was postponed until after Asha got married.
Asha asked, “So if I don’t get married, I can’t be independent?” only to receive simultaneous stares from Karnov, Mikhail, Alexei, and her parents.
“Is this the last thing to do?”
“Yes!”
Asha answered, cutting the figs Natalya brought in half. She had sprinkled coconut powder on the edge of the lime pie made and chilled yesterday, and added dried figs soaked in alcohol to the freshly baked madeleines and financiers.
There were cheese scones that she often made for Alexei and canelés she had eaten while traveling to the north with Karnov.
Having placed everything on the display stand and lastly putting the figs on the ‘Tarte Sasha,’ Asha kept thinking about the possibility of no customers showing up.
‘What if everything is left over? It would be a waste to throw it away. Can I eat it all?”
While giving them to friends and family would solve the problem, they would surely ask, ‘Didn’t you sell any?’ with pitying looks. Those looks would make her feel even more depressed.
“Is it time to open the shop?”
Lyudmila, dressed simply to help Asha today, peeked into the kitchen.
“Yes! Are the tables all set?”
“Yes. We finished everything yesterday. We just had to arrange the flowers. Should we open the shop now?”
“Let’s do that. I’ll just finish cutting this tarte.”
“Aaah~! Tarte Sha-sha~?”
Lyudmila always stretched out the ‘Sha-sha’ part when pronouncing Tarte Sasha. Asha giggled and winked. Lyudmila returned a look that said she would let it slide this time.
When Asha, with a focused expression, finished cutting a piece of tarte and looked up, Natalya, who had been watching seriously, tilted her head. Lyudmila, who had gone to open the shop door, still hadn’t returned.
“I’ll go check outside!”
“Okay, go ahead.”
Asha took a deep breath and cut a few more pieces of tarte, then regretted it. If nothing sold, it would have been easier to move if she hadn’t cut it.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Oh, Karnov…”
Karnov, who had come to help like the other friends, entered through the back door of the kitchen and spoke. He had been helping with the cleaning and organizing while Asha was busy all morning.
“I was thinking I shouldn’t have cut the tarte…”
“Why? Because it’s easier to move if it doesn’t sell?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re having those silly thoughts again.”
“They’re not silly thoughts. I feel like I have a stomach ache.”
“If you were so worried, you should have opened the shop on the main street.”
“Maybe I should have? No, no! Today, there might be no customers, but I’m really good at making pastries, so soon there will be lots of customers… If there are too many, I might not be able to handle it with my strength. Today will be fine!”
Asha mumbled to herself like a self-hypnosis, and Karnov looked around while laughing.
“Are Lyudmila and Natalya opening the shop door?”
“Yes, but why aren’t they coming back? Is the door broken and won’t open?”
“If you’ve finished cutting the tart, let’s take it out and check.”
Karnov, holding the tray with the display tart, gestured towards the kitchen door. Asha quickly washed her hands, wiped them on her apron, and cleared her throat a few times.
When she opened the door, Lyudmila and Natalya were still standing at the entrance. The curtains over the windows were still drawn, making the shop a bit dim.
“Natalya? Lyuda?”
“Your Highness.”
“Asha, um…”
Both of them looked a bit flustered. Asha tilted her head.
“Why? Is the door broken? Should we try using force?”
Asha gestured to Karnov with her chin. Lyudmila shook her head, and Natalya rubbed her face. While Karnov was putting the tart in the refrigerated display case, Asha approached the door.
“Is there something strange outside?”
“Ah… no, it’s not that…”
“What is it then? Oh! Did Olga send some huge flowers?”
Asha forced a smile and opened the door, only to quickly close it again.
“…”
“…”
“…”
She swallowed hard.
“Uh…”
Karnov, having finished the display, looked up. His face had a hint of a smile. Asha’s expression was hard to read, whether she was laughing or crying.
“I thought I saw Grandfather’s face.”
“Hmm. I expected that.”
With Alexei’s coronation imminent, the emperor was using his newfound free time as he pleased.
“I think I saw Mom and Dad too. And Grandfather.”
Irina and Yuriev, who had been staying at Asha’s villa in the capital since her coming-of-age ceremony, were also there.
“I saw my uncles too.”
Asha blinked nervously.
“There are more… unknown people… too many… What should I do?! What should we do?”
Hearing that, Karnov pulled back the curtains that had been drawn over the window. A long line stretched from the entrance all the way to the main street.
Lyudmila quickly grabbed Asha’s hand.
“Princess, Natalya and I will handle the customers. You go in and start baking more pastries, and as for Sophia, who was supposed to start tomorrow, it’s best to contact her to come in today.”
Asha took a deep breath and nodded vigorously. Seeing this, Natalya energetically opened the shop door.
“Welcome to Pesheranskaya Pastry Shop!”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[Monthly Vichegda Winter Edition Advertisement: Do you remember the little angel who changed our kitchen? Come to that angel’s shop now.]
[Monthly Vechegda Spring Special: The ‘Pesheranskaya Pastry Shop’ that’s recently changed the dessert scene in the capital!
If you consider yourself an intellectual in the capital, you must have heard about this pastry shop. One day, it appeared like a comet in an alleyway and captivated everyone’s taste buds. But if you actually visit, you might be surprised. The exterior is shabby, and there might only be one or two customers inside.
But don’t be disappointed. The reason there are only one or two customers is that for the first five days after opening, the excessively long queue led to the city guard managing the line, and from the beginning of the month, the shop switched to a voucher system due to high demand.
The shop sells tangy-sweet tarts, cute-shaped baked goods, and chocolates filled with an adult taste…]
[Letter from Kseniya Pasapo of Pasapo Lefkadiya to Olga Byshovets: Isn’t this too much? How come I didn’t win the voucher but you did? Did you cheat?]
[Olga Byshovets’ reply: Don’t say scary things. You might never get to eat the pastries again.]
[Letter from Dimitri to Ilya: Please send me some lime pie. The kids here only eat fish. They even eat fish pies! I feel like fish are going to be born in my mouth.]
[Ilya’s reply: I didn’t win the voucher. Sorry… Even if I did, the lime pie would have spoiled by the time it got there.]
[Package from Anastasia to Dimitri (with pastries): I heard from Ilya. Are you an idiot? You should have told me. The pies would spoil, so I’m only sending baked goods.]
[Dimitri’s reply: As an imperial investigator, can I break the rules? But since you care about me so much, I’ll accept.]
[Anastasia’s reply: (Blank)]
[Dimitri’s reply: I bow to the Grand Duchess Pesheranskaya’s grace every morning, facing the capital and eating pastries. Please…]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[New article: A New Emperor, A New Era, and Light!
The coronation of Emperor Alexei was conducted grandly. The former emperor personally…
…And everyone witnessed it.
The sky was covered by a magnificent and enormous bird. A bird unlike any ever seen in this world, which blessed the new emperor’s reign before disappearing into the sky.
Emperor Alexei, having completed the coronation successfully, concluded his coronation speech with his cousin’s hand in his, showing a tender image…]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“Lord Karnov will be arriving soon, Your Highness. Please wait a moment.”
Asha closed the newspaper she was reading and smiled brightly. Today, they had decided to temporarily close the shop and take a summer vacation. She had arrived early at the Duke’s residence in the capital, but Karnov had gone to the royal palace to pick her up, and they had missed each other.
The people at the Duke’s residence had escorted her to Karnov’s room, and they were anxiously waiting for his arrival. Asha waved her hand, telling them not to worry, and sat at Karnov’s desk, resting her chin on her hand and looking around.
Karnov’s desk was always well-organized, unlike hers, which was cluttered with recipes. There was a row of military strategy books, and recently a theoretical book on shop management had been added. On the right side of the desk was a small lace mat where a snack plate was usually placed, and below it was a half-open drawer.
“Oh… should I open it?”
Asha tilted her head, intending to close the drawer, but then noticed an envelope inside labeled “To Her Highness Anastasia.” She couldn’t resist and carefully opened the drawer.
Inside the tidy drawer was a small velvet-covered box and two somewhat faded envelopes. Unconsciously, Asha opened the box and, seeing the light reflecting off something inside, quickly closed it and put it back.
Then she slowly lifted the envelope labeled “To Her Highness Anastasia” from the bottom left corner.
‘Why didn’t he send it to me?’
The envelope wasn’t sealed and seemed quite old, thin, and crinkly.
In the top right corner of the envelope were written “259th letter” and “263rd letter.”
Just as Asha was carefully opening one of the letters…
“Your Highness! Lord Karnov has arrived.”
“Oh, he’s here?”
Asha stood up with a bright smile. In the distance, she could hear urgent and large footsteps approaching.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
[This is the 259th letter.
It somehow feels chilly. I don’t know what the weather is like in the capital. Are your wounds healing well… I miss… The people here somehow want to see you… I want to see you…]
[This is the 263rd letter.
I miss you, I like you, I miss you…]
Annnnd that’s it for the main story folks! The side story has 7 chapters to go. I will see you (hopefully) soon for that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this surplus of chapters.
Thank you so much for the excellent translation! I love this story and I’m so happy with the development and how it went! Karnov and Asha and pastries, I love it (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡.
Thank you so much for translating! I really enjoyed reading this series.