Asha noticed that the Emperor was very disappointed in something – she couldn’t help but notice it when the grey air was pouring out like this – but she couldn’t find a modifier that elaborated any further.
The Emperor said nothing for a moment, but went back, leaving only word that he would send someone so that her ankle could be treated quickly. Asha, who was left behind, looked stunned, but could not know the answer behind his actions.
Before the Emperor’s gift arrived in the afternoon, the one sent by Alexei arrived first. It was a white cage made of pottery. A cage with a low wall in a hexagonal shape, a ceramic lance, and a dome-shaped ceiling.
Inside, crystals were even hung like chandeliers. The cotton was decorated with lace, and even that was made of very thin white porcelain.
“Oh, my God. I’ve never seen such a beautiful cage… His Highness the Crown Prince must really care about you!”
“Ye… Yeah.”
‘I asked for a birdcage, but I didn’t want something this flashy…’
Asha looked at the cage with a slightly discouraged face.
“What about the bird? It would be beautiful to just decorate it, but…”
“Oh, the bird… There is already one already.”
“Oh, did His Highness the Crown Prince say he would give it to you? What kind of bird is it?”
“A chick.”
“…What?”
After having enough of everyone, including Lise, who looked puzzled, Asha tapped a button on her jacket only when she was left alone in the empty room. Something sprang up like a balloon from that button, and soon a yellow baby bird appeared in front of her with a bang.
“Now, Phoebe, it’s your house that I promised.”
<You mean I’m growing up on the cold floor inside these bars while you sleep on the bed?>
“It’s not like it’s a real body anyway.”
<This body is the Spirit of the Senses! I can feel everything!>
Asha looked at Phoebe and sighed deeply.
“Then I’ll ask Lise to get me a cushion later. Something that can be put in here. All right?”
<…Hmph.>
Phoebe snorted, but it was funny to see a little chick do that. Phoebe opened the door of the cage with a single flap of her wings and sat down on a marble miniature bench inside.
“Like it?”
<It’s only worth using.>
“Was it better to live in a button?”
<I like it! I like it! I got it!>
As she heard the peep peep, Asha put her chin up and laughed.
“You are a real chick from now on. Remember when you promised to be just like a chick?”
<How did I end up signing a contract with a girl who looks like a soft peach…>
“A soft peach!”
Phoebe, who lashed out at the fact that her ankle had become that shape because she had fallen and said she would look around and come back, opened the cage door with her wing and went outside.
It was about that afternoon. A knock was heard outside as Lise changed the wet cloth attached to her ankle.
“Huh? Lise, what was it?”
As Lise, who had gone out, returned empty-handed, Asha asked. Lise pointed out with a slightly serious look.
“A gift from His Majesty… is here. Should I get it?”
“Yes, sure.”
Asha nodded readily. Soon there was a cold sound of metal colliding and several people walking together from outside.
‘What is it? I think it’s big? It’s a good thing, right?’
But when she faced the reality of the gift, Asha screamed for them to stop.
“E,eeeeek!”
Asha, who screamed without realizing it, hurriedly closed her mouth. The servant who brought the “gift” also seemed to understand her reaction. While Asha was surprised and dragged Lise out, Lise rushed the ‘gift’ back out. Asha swallowed her saliva.
“W, W, what is that, what is it? Why are you standing with the person on the leash… As if it’s a gift…”
“I heard he was a slave in the Northern War. His parents committed a crime and became slaves, but his parents were executed and only that slave was spared as a gift to you…”
When she was unknowingly hit, her eyes were dazed and she was completely unconscious. And there was one more thing that struck her mind.
The grey hair of the ‘slave’.
‘T,There’s no way this is already happening. It can’t be. A lot has changed. My relationship with Alyosha has gotten better…’
“How can a person be a gift… What if I say no? If I let him out…”
However, Lise also made eye contact with Asha this time and looked stern.
“You shouldn’t say such disrespectful things about what His Majesty has bestowed upon you.”
Asha only opened her mouth. She should have learned to swear when she was younger. She can’t even swear because she didn’t know anything. Eventually, when Asha nodded again, the servant brought the ‘slave’ back.
A little boy, who looked a year or two younger than her, knelt before her. However, gray hair covered his eyes, making his expression impossible to know, and crucially, he showed no air of emotion.
‘Uh? What?’
Asha was a little embarrassed. Even Karnov didn’t show any emotion at all?
The servant said it was a gift from the Emperor and put the end of the leash in her hand. In the end, Asha’s mouth burned only when she held the boy’s leash.
“Excuse me…”
When she approached him thinking that she should give him a full name, the boy remained silent with his eyes down.
“Your name… what is your name?”
“…”
“Um, name? I’m Asha.”
“…doesn’t…exist.”
Asha swallowed her saliva.
“Oh, you don’t have a name? What were you called before you came here?”
“…rash…”
“Huh? What?”
“Trash.”
Asha took a breath. Indeed, the slave was right.
When “Princess Anastasia” went too far, it was Alexei and Karnov who set the stage to purge her, but there was a separate sword that cut her down.
A slave who had been abused by ‘Princess Anastasia’ and had been called “trash” couldn’t overcome his anger…
Her saliva went down her throat. Even if she knew that it was just a story that she remembered, which had not yet happened, a corner of her mind naturally cooled.
“I,I’d better give you a name. You’re new… You’re in a new place, so a new name would be nice, right? Me too, at home it’s Asha, but here it’s Anastasia. What would you like?”
“…”
‘I’ll play the janggu by myself and make a music band and go on a march.’
[*TN: Janggu are Korean drums. The saying means help is needed sometimes. By saying that she’ll play on her own, she’s saying he isn’t helping her and since she needs his help for the conversation to flow, she might as well play on her own/do it on her own.]
Asha rolled her head desperately.
“Ah! Ivan, how about Ivan?”
“…”
“You don’t like it? Do you like another name? I’ve never named someone before…”
The boy, who had not answered for a moment, nodded.
“Oh, you like Ivan? Do you like it? That’s a relief. Actually, I said that was the name I would give my younger brother when he was born.”
Asha gulped down her saliva, thinking that a cold sweat was about to flow, and carefully raised both hands.
“Hey, wait… I’ll get closer.”
She had to say that because she had been pushed by Karnov and Alexei.
Ivan, boy, remained silent, with his eyes down. Asha put her hand to the nape of his neck, which was covered in his wildly cropped gray hair, and untied his leash.
“First of all, I solved that, so it’s over with. You can change your clothes with what Lise brings.”
Asha threw the leash far away and rolled her head desperately. She resented the emperor in a corner of her heart.
‘Where is the case of giving a slave as a gift to your granddaughter!’
“Ivan… Um… Is there anything you want to do?”
“…What?”
“If you want to learn something… Or do you want to be something… A poet or teacher… Knight… Something like that?”
Only then did Asha recognize that Ivan’s eyes were the color of light sand.
“I’m living in a palace right now, but I don’t have any money… I’m going to make money soon? I can do something for you then. What do you want to do?”
“…”
“Oh! Hey, but freedom doesn’t work right now. It might be uncomfortable, but just a little bit… bear with it.”
Just be patient for a little while and you’ll fly away! Far away! So far away that we will never see each other again! But the boy shook his head and said he didn’t want anything.
“Well, yes, then… Then…”
How can he tell me that there is something he wants? The slave who has been called ‘trash’, not even a name, to the Imperial Family. Asha understood Ivan’s heart so well that it hurt. So Ivan just kept his eyes down. Asha pulled up the remaining friendliness with all her might.
“Then…then! Let’s make welcome cookies! Apple jam cookies!”
She was going to bake it for a long time like drying it to make a sweet and sour jam with chewy apples, and make a cookie with apple jam in a dough that is crushed smoothly like snow by using a lot of butter. If she fed him such a jam cookie, she may be able to figure out how the boy felt when she doesn’t even see a grain of emotion now.
“Lise, the clothes. Can you dress him up with something that fits Ivan?”
It was clear that he had picked up and put on clothes that were too large for his size.
“You must have been nervous, so let’s get you to take a warm bath… After that, Ivan, there is a garden outside. Can you pick some flowers there? I’m going to have some snacks later, so decorating would be nice.”
Since Alexei signed with Fafnir, the Spirit of Fire, the Imperial Palace had become the headquarters of the horticultural industry. It won’t be hard to get flowers.
‘It’s kind of weird to make welcome cookies with the person who will be welcomed. It’s not even my kitchen, but I keep taking anyone with me.’
“Your Highness, you have to stay still. Because your ankle’s hurt too.”
Lise looked back at Asha as she moved her body to obey her. ‘You’re not going to go to a real kitchen to make cookies, are you?’ was how the look was read. Asha laughed bashfully.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Phoebe, who has a hobby of looking around these days, went out of the cage a while ago and caught up when she found Asha going to the kitchen.
<What are you going to make?>
“Today I’m going to make ‘Welcome Cookies’.”
<’Welcome Cookie’? Who is coming?>
The bird chirped and slipped into the button on her cuff.
“Yes, Ivan is the newcomer. But… Pavel, are you alive?”
But when Asha went to the kitchen and met Pavel, she couldn’t smile. Pavel looked a little worn out, as if his soul had escaped.
“Y… Your Highness!”
Pavel, who was dryly preparing the ingredients for dinner, was delighted to see Asha sticking her head out from the doorway of her kitchen.
“Are you here?!”
