– What’s the difference between Father and a monster? I see why the darkness of the North didn’t dare invade the empire! I wouldn’t dare come! An empire with something worse than itself!
He thought that the words his son uttered were nothing, but it didn’t seem to be, given that it still came to mind so clearly nearly ten years later.
“I wonder if there really are monsters whose minds are troubled by such trifles.”
Just the fact that one granddaughter was sick in bed. The Emperor wanted to ask his youngest son, but he soon gave up on that idea and took other documents. Soon enough, there would be a big change between the Empire and the Northern Noctis Elves. Along with spring.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
After three days of illness, Asha opened her eyes.
“You look so thin.”
“It’s just because I’m lying down.”
Lise’s eyes were moistened by Asha’s polite words as if they were soothing. Asha smiled awkwardly.
“His Highness, Ka… Lord Karnov Neustadter has come to see you.”
“…?”
If she really was thin, it wasn’t because she was sick, but because she heard something else at this moment.
“What should I do?”
While Lise went to get the food to feed her, another maid said so; her face pale.
Asha opened her eyes wide. At first, she thought she really misheard the name. But she soon found out that she didn’t mishear it. As if no one had stopped him, Karnov Neustadter himself opened the door and entered her room.
‘Oh my.’
He even held a bouquet of flowers.
It was a luxurious bouquet of ranunculi, roses, and pale lavender flowers mixed with bright cream and pink. Asha almost had a seizure as soon as she saw the bouquet and Karnov in sight together.
“W…Why are you here at dawn?”
Karnov seemed to have an objection to the expression dawn, but he didn’t talk about it, perhaps because he was aware of his unannounced situation.
“…Are you feeling better?”
Asha, who regained her composure, pouted her lips at once. It’s because she remembered what happened that night. Meanwhile, a teapot and orange juice were brought forward.
Asha glanced at the shaking hands of the maid pouring tea into Karnov’s teacup, but Karnov did not seem to care.
“Ah—no, I don’t think there’s anywhere that doesn’t hurt. I had a fever, I’ve been coughing, my ankle was twisted, and my wrist hurts.”
The teapot and the teacup bumped into each other and made a sound, but Karnov said regardless.
“Maybe it’s because you’re still too small.”
“…What are you doing here?”
Karnov gave strength to his hand holding the bouquet. Asha noticed that he was a little nervous as she looked at his emotion, which was extremely restrained.
‘I’m so nervous about what he’s going to talk about…’
“I’m here to apologize.”
“What?”
Asha tilted her head.
“An apology?”
As Asha looked at him with a puzzled face, she held out the bouquet of flowers that Karnov was holding. It was also the maid’s job to receive the goods handed over to the owner, but the maid’s hand to receive them shook once again. In the end, Asha, who couldn’t be bothered to see it, snatched the bouquet from Karnov’s hand and held it in her arms and asked.
“What apology?”
Karnov stared blankly at the flowers in her arms for a moment, then corrected himself and spoke politely.
“I didn’t mean it a few days ago. I was so surprised… I apologize for hurting Your Imperial Highness.”
“…”
Had she been too caught up on the label of ‘someone who might kill me in the future’? Asha reflected a little. She never imagined Karnov would come to apologize or something. Although it was a very stiff apology.
After a moment’s pause, Asha fumbled with the bouquet that she had so haphazardly snatched.
“… That… I apologize, yes, I did come too close too suddenly, but that doesn’t mean you have to push people around like that.”
“…”
“I thought you were trying to attack me or something.”
“…”
“As a result, my wrists hurt, my ankles hurt, and it’s hard to walk.”
Karnov was silent and added to a series of comments by Asha, who did not want to tell him that it was no big deal even if she died.
“If there is anything inconvenient for you to do, I will help you. …If you… If you wish.”
“Really?”
‘Even if I die when I die, I can’t just be unfairly treated!’
Asha’s eyes twinkled like stars.
Emotions around Karnov were mixed, but it was clear that it was not a murderous intention toward her, so Asha sighed with relief as she dismissed it as human resentment that had usually been covered up.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Asha left the maid in her room as if she were going to doze off all the time. When Lise came, the maid, who said she would accept Asha’s words to tell Karnov that she had been out for a while, looked stained with some kind of fear and concern.
Asha returned and vowed to inquire into the reason, and left the room with Karnov. It was because of Asha’s story that she wanted to bake snacks but couldn’t because she sprained her wrist.
After leaving the room, Asha asked Karnov, who stood for a moment and was silent.
“Why? Are you not heading to the kitchen?”
When she looked up with her eyes with the expression of ‘Because you’re too young?’ Karnov frowned and avoided her gaze.
“I hope you don’t regret it.”
“Oh, my ankle…”
“…I’ll give you a piggyback if you want.”
After thinking for a while, Asha decided to get grumpy. He was here to apologize, and she wasn’t going to want to treat him to a lesson for being wrong?
“But, I’m too heavy. It’s a bit of a burden for Karnov, right?”
“…That’s a piece of cake.”
She thought such a silly provocation would not work, but there was an unexpected response. But Asha didn’t lose and held out her arms. Meaning to lie on his back. Karnov raised his eyebrows. Asha smiled back.
“I’ll be about a bag of wheat. Wouldn’t it be really hard for Karnov?”
“…”
However, when Karnov really showed his back to Asha’s teasing remarks, a whisper of reason and honor came from deep inside Asha, saying, ‘Now’s the time to quit.’ Asha willingly pretended not to hear the sound of her mind.
“Oh, my!”
She deliberately threw her body, but Karnov did not shake and easily carried her on his back.
“…Heu,heung. You’re stronger than I thought.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, I’m impressed.”
“I’m impressed, too.”
Asha glanced at Karnov’s ear. She didn’t think he’d ever say anything nice…
“…What?”
“To make me suffer, you don’t care about your own shame.”
“…I’m really impressed with Karnov’s willingness to sacrifice himself for my shame.”
Grab his hair? Asha was conflicted for a while, then she stopped. Her eyes burning instead, she decided what sweets to make with him.
‘I decided on it!’
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
On Asha’s way to the kitchen on Karnov’s back, Phoebe, who had disappeared in the morning, flew over her shoulder and went into the button.
‘Phoebe!’
<Oh no. I thought you were weak, but now you can’t even walk? You didn’t listen when I told you to hold hands.>
‘Oh, isn’t it? He said I wanted him to have a hard time because I was bullying him.’
<Hmm? I don’t think you’re a big deal to this human being.>
‘…Whose spirit are you?’
<Are you on your way to the kitchen anyway? What are you going to make today?>
“Dacquoise!”
Dacquoise was a small cake with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue and whipped cream. It was a cake with a crispy surface and a savory taste, but of course, it was not easy to foam the white into a meringue. Especially with the whisk, which was like a bunch of messed up branches.
<What’s the cream inside?>
‘Since the dough is sweet and savory, the butter cream to put inside is sour… lemon or orange?’
Phoebe’s satisfactory laughter seemed to be heard in her ears.
‘She secretly likes sweet things…’
When she arrived in the kitchen like that, Pavel provided surprise enough for thirty attendants, which she hadn’t encountered on her way here.
“Y, Y, Your Highness? Why are you being carried? Did you get hurt? When Lise took the soup, they didn’t say that. No, but this… can’t be…”
“Oh, really? We must have missed each other. More than that, ah, hmm, Pavel! Say hello. This is Karnov Neustadter who is supposed to help me today. Karnov, this is Pavel, the chef of the Taimir Palace.”
“…”
“…”
Neither of them said anything to Asha’s introduction while on his back. Karnov soon sighed deeply and put Asha down.
“Pavel? Today’s snack is meringue… Pavel?”
Asha tilted her head.
Pavel’s face was black and blue, more than when he first found out her identity. She didn’t think he even heard the meringue part.
“Kar, Karnov… Neustadter… Why are you in the kitchen, no, what the hell…”
“He’ll help me cook. My wrists are swollen like this.”
“What? Where is the swollen wrist? No, I can, I can help you?”
“Yes, you can’t.”
“Why?”
That’s because this was a plan to get Karnov to repent and whisk to death! Without telling the truth, Asha pushed Pavel to get eggs, almond powder, and sugar. Karnov was looking at her with his arms folded from a step away.
