“Is this the place?”
“Yes, you took me here… Thank you.”
She was going to say thank you and talk about the sandwich packaging, but Karnov bowed his head and turned around. Without Asha handing over the sandwich basket. A little embarrassed, Asha was impatient and grabbed Karnov’s sleeve first…
“Oh, wait…”
Karnov, who looked back before she could say anything, shoved her away.
“Ack!”
However, Karnov, who had not expected Asha to fall to the floor so easily, looked a little embarrassed. Asha looked up with a bewildered face, lying on the floor.
“…”
“…”
‘A similar thing happened with Alyosha.’
Alas, a life of being pushed aside.
The sandwich she brought also fell on the floor of the corridor.
Asha, who raised her head a little emotionally, was at a loss on what to say. Since meeting Karnov, his air current, which had only been blackened, was swaying as if they had met a storm. His complexion also seemed a bit pale. How surprised he was that he forgot to even extend his hand to the fallen Asha.
‘I’m the one who was pushed, but why are you making such a surprised face.’
She didn’t think he would help her at all, so Asha got up alone, put the sandwiches back together, and brushed her collar. Her heart ached at the sight of the ruined sandwich.
‘I was going to give it to Lise.’
“Basket… I was going to lend it to you. It looks uncomfortable to carry.”
“…”
“You must be very surprised that I suddenly grabbed you.”
“…No. I’m so sorry, Your Highness.”
Perhaps because he was the heir to the duke’s family and a war hero, Karnov, who had been strangely arrogant to her, who was also an imperial grandchild, bowed politely and apologized this time. Asha had no intention of doing much in the first place, but with a little sadness, she sniffed and looked down at the floor.
“No, sniffle… it can happen…”
‘Maybe I’m violently grabbing people by their collars?’
Why did she keep getting shoved away? However, it was uncomfortable to watch the opponent keep his head down. Asha eventually grabbed his lowered head and raised it. Even if it was raised, it felt like she was pushing it because he was so tall.
In a rapidly cold and awkward atmosphere, Asha was at a loss, coughed, and picked up her skirt clumsily.
“Uh… Anyway, thank you for taking me there. Take care!”
She could feel the gaze behind her back, but Asha did not look back.
Lise was stunned by Asha’s return from the banquet with a sprained wrist and leg. Asha thought the ceiling of the palace was shaking just by Lise’s nagging.
But her ordeal didn’t stop until the next day. At first, she just thought my sprained ankle hurt a little, but before she knew it, Asha’s forehead began to heat up. After that, she had little memory of things throughout the day.
Asha wheezed while lying on her bed. Considering her hectic days after coming to the Imperial Palace and her fragile body in the midst of growing, she was so tired that she could lie down. Lise thought Asha was sick because of her nagging, so she looked half-crying.
<What did your body experience to suffer like this?>
‘Because I’m growing up… It’s like that.’
<What is your growing up period?>
‘I’m growing little by little every day.’
<Growing up?>
Phoebe tilted her head in a tone like she had no idea. Asha wrapped her head inwardly.*
[*TN: the feeling of being frustrated]
‘Like a sprout from the acorn and it becomes an oak.’
<You’re not an acorn, but a human being.>
‘Humans are similar.’
<Does a branch come out of my head?>
Phoebe didn’t seem to understand at all and flew out of her pajama button.
‘…I should’ve learned to curse.’
Asha repeatedly woke up, leaning her cheek against the cold part of the bed, without thinking or talking anymore, because her fever was hot again.
“Are you having a hard time?”
Lise, who brought linen cloth in ice water, looked almost on the verge of crying. Asha shook her head, leaning her cheek against her cold hand.
“His Highness Alexei was going to come…”
“Oh, no. It’s okay. He can’t catch a cold for no reason.”
Asha shook her head in a hurry.
‘You don’t have medicine. What if you get it…’
Lise was busy being moved by her good heart, but Asha only dropped her head because she didn’t have the energy to deny it. But within hours, Asha regretted her own words of her complacency.
‘I should’ve been clear!’
Hearing the sound of the door opening in the distance slowly, she woke up and opened her eyes, and a familiar bluish mist permeated her from the gap of the door. It was like Alexei’s airflow…
No, no, no, no, it shouldn’t be him. She was repeating those words in her mind when she heard Lise’s small voice.
“Your Highness, it’s nice of you to come…”
“It’s better to come and see my sister because she’s sick. I’ll be taking care of her for a while, so you can leave.”
Lise went out in the distance. And Alexei, who appeared near the bed shortly after, only quietly approached and sat by.
“Asha.”
She was pretending to sleep because she was embarrassed for some reason, and she opened her eyes slightly, and there was a shadow over her head with a clattering sound. Alexei was wetting linen with ice water and putting it on her forehead.
“Are you up?”
“Oh, just now…”
She knew it wouldn’t work, but she tried lying. Alexei was staring at her quietly without questioning her.
“You said that you could go from the ballroom to your bedroom by yourself, so I sent you first, but are you sick like this?”
“…”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you go alone now.”
“It’s… It’s not that, it’s just that it’s time to get sick, and that’s why!”
She couldn’t help but say this. If she just let this go, she’d feel resentful and she wouldn’t sleep.
“I guess you set a day when you’ll be really sick.”
“That’s not what I meant… I took a long carriage to get to the palace… But why did Alyosha come?”
“I came to see my sister because she’s sick.”
“Alyosha doesn’t take medicine… What if you get infected?”
“There’s something my sister made for me, so I can eat it.”
“It’s… It’s just… It’s good to eat… It’s not medicine…”
Alexei smiled low and put a hand on her cheek. Surprisingly, his hand was cool, so Asha only blinked her eyes.
“Oh no, the pea is going to dry up before she even becomes a kidney bean.”
“I’m not…”
“All right, I’ll reward you when you’re all better.”
“I don’t like two cages…”
“To something other than a cage. As you wish.”
“Then…”
Asha murmured, rubbing her cheeks in her cool hands.
“Sugar…”
“…Sugar?”
“Butter is also…”
“Butter?”
Asha’s head was buried in the pillow, and although it was a little irregular, a deep breath began to be heard. Alexei looked down at her face for a long time and left the room only after changing the cloth on her forehead.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“They say her fever hasn’t gone down yet.”
The Emperor frowned. The attendant, who delivered the word, remained crouched as if to bury their body. The Emperor waved his hand and waved his attendant out.
“I was trying to ask what this was. It’s a coincidence. She’s not faking a disease.”
At the same time as the Emperor’s disapproving voice, the wind blew hard in the room, and the shawl on his shoulder disappeared, and a precarious figure appeared. Something translucent that frantically traveled back and forth between the figures of dogs and cats, cats and trees, and wood and cloth.
It was Shamal, the Spirit of the Wind.
<An interrogation? You were just trying to see how the young peach is on the pretext of having a suspicious account.>*
[*TN: He’s talking about the deal with the Baroness]
“You’re funny.”
The Emperor uttered a word of denial. The figures of the wind came and went frantically.
<The fact that she has a large fever and softness resembles your youngest son.>
“…”
Even though he knew that the words relentlessly stabbed the Emperor’s sore spot, the Spirit King had no hesitation.
<I already accepted the account application, but I can only interpret it as a joke to say that I will call you and scold you.>
“You have become so proficient in the human language, Shamal.”
<Since I’ve been with you for so long.>
Shamal moved to and fro in front of the Emperor, then smiled in the form of a human being, unfamiliar and familiar.
<Do you want me to check how hurt the soft peach is?>
“No need.”
The Emperor flatly refused, but the wind had already disappeared quickly. And he came back before the Emperor could breathe out a wonderful sigh.
<The poor little thing was wheezing and couldn’t open her eyes. She seems to be twice as hot as other humans.>
“…”
<Oh, no. I guess You’d rather she have a fake illness.>
The wind laughed loudly and then really disappeared before him. The Emperor crumpled up the paper he was holding and threw it away.
“There’s nothing I like…”
Yuriev, the youngest son, who had frequent fevers when he was young and got on his nerves, did not act his way even when he grew up. But now, even the only daughter of the youngest son was doing that. The Emperor recalled the day when Yuriev left him.
