The only person who showed interest in Fjord was Valery, the third son of the emperor. It was Valery who demanded that Pavel Marka be defeated somehow.
“Ah, seriously how long is that guy going to show off with bread crumbs?”’
Fjord looked at an envelope lying in the depths of one corner of the counter with eyes mixed with irritation and sensitivity.
In order to console Fjord, who had gotten hurt by the emperor’s indifference to his food, Valery borrowed his name and launched breadcrumbs used for cutlets.
The bread crumbs that boasted of being ‘the Emperor’s Head Chef’s favorite!’ It was just a mere advertisement slogan. Although it lent its name once and gained a considerable amount of money and some reputation, Fjord initially wanted to entrust his tears and soul to Valery…
‘I don’t use this either, damn it.’
As the word “lending the name” did not contribute to the launch of breadcrumbs at all, in fact, Fjord tried the breadcrumbs himself after a celebration party that brought all his acquaintances together. Valery sent ten boxes of bread crumbs to the person in charge of the product sales.
After frying about five cutlets, Fjord began to secretly mix other bread crumbs with the one with his name. It was because he couldn’t bear to throw it all away. And he had never bought the bread crumbs since he used up all the boxes he received.
Now there were only a few people left who used the breadcrumbs, and they only used them to look good to the royal chef, Fjord. But whenever they brought up the topic of bread crumbs, Fjord felt like tearing their mouths apart and had no desire to do anything for them, even if it meant his own death.
The tears that he tried to leave to Valery had been dry for a long time, and the soul was quickly recovered from him and held in his heart.
‘No, how the hell am I supposed to upset Chef Pavel, who’s not even in the same palace.’
That was Valery’s spell, and the trick that Fjord had racked his brains was the reception of the envoys of the Noctis elves.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it… I missed the chance to learn that cake recipe.’
A black cake that smelled so sweet that the emperor called it out separately. He couldn’t forget the impression he got when he took a bite that was baked with the remaining dough. He couldn’t ask for the recipe, so he was just looking for an opportunity…
“Damn it, even with these kind of bread crumbs, they still have high expectations!”
Fjord opened a palm-sized note in his arms and sighed. The cake recipe was written in a rather complicated way, surprisingly a recipe that did not use any milk.
If Pavel came crying and said he couldn’t do it, Fjord was going to take it generously and serve this cake instead.
The thought annoyed him a little. That he had to ask for Pavel’s black cake recipe.
Fjord slowly swept away the anger accumulated in his heart and left the kitchen with a sandwich prepared on one side.
He intended to visit the imperial knights before evening.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“Let’s make it a demonstration first. Coconut oil is used to make the oil taste luxurious. The savory smell will go well with carrots and walnuts, right?”
Asha said so, she picked up a pocket full of carrots and staggered along. Until now, Karnov had not even moved.
“Phew.”
“Your Highness? I think I heard your tongue clicking”
“No, no, it can’t be. That can’t be.”
Asha laughed, followed by brown sugar, vanilla, flour, walnuts and cashew nuts.
“Pavel, are you in touch with Baroness Saratov?”
“You seem busy these days? The cake… Preparing chocolate.”
“Oh, you’re doing that… No, there’s that too!”
For a moment, Asha’s eyes sparkled.
“Please contact her, okay? Because I need something.”
So when all the ingredients were ready, Asha asked Karnov for a carrot.
“Karnov, roll up your sleeves and grind carrots on a grater…”
“I will! I will! Please! I will do it! Please!”
However, when Pavel hugged the carrot bag and shouted desperately, it fell through.
“Why, what’s the matter, Pavel. Karnov can grate carrots well. Seriously. It’s true, isn’t it, Karnov?”
“…”
“Oh, no! I’m not saying you can’t, just because I’m the chef! Please!”
“Do you really want to do it?”
“I really want to do it! I’m dying to do it!”
Pavel’s eyes showed a desperate desire to not entrust the task to the Neustadter family’s heir to grind carrots on the grater. Asha stared at him and shrugged her shoulders once.
“If you want to go that far, do it. But if you’re doing it, it’s better to chop it with a knife.”
“Yes! I see!”
“And then, Karnov, you’ll have this instead of carrots.”
Asha’s presentation to Karnov was not comparable to the size of a carrot bag, but it was still a bag the size of her head.
There was a whole lot of cashew nuts inside.
“What should I do with this?”
“You can grind it on a millstone. Oh, don’t just grind it once, put it back in and out, and several times until it feels like butter, OK?”
“…!”
“…!”
When she removed the carrot steel plate from Karnov Neustadter, the cashew nut millstone turned. A carrot fell from Pavel’s hand, who was looking at the situation with an expression as though he couldn’t believe it.
Asha secretly burst into laughter.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“Now that we have come to this peace agreement, I’m sure the Commander-in-Chief must have mixed feelings.”
Gilhellam tilted his tea cup. The Crown Prince in front of him also moved the teaspoon with an elegant movement.
“I think it’s a relief. It’s also a pleasure. All thanks to His Majesty and His Highness.”
If it were not for the emperor and crown prince, the war would have ended, but it would have been difficult to lead to a peace agreement.
“Can you compare it to the hard work you’ve done in the North?”
“…I’m embarrassed to hear you call it hard.”
Gilhellam’s words were sincere. The crown prince only tilted his teacup and then set it down. Gilhellam continued slowly, looking down at the transparent ripples of the teacup.
“It was the Deputy Commander Neustadter… Everything was organized so easily that it would be embarrassing to say it was a real struggle.”
“…I see.”
When the emperor put Karnov Neustadter, who was just fifteen years old, as his deputy commander, everyone said he was crazy. They might fear the power of the spirit of death he possessed, while at the same time, despising him like a plague.
Even when the officers expressed their indignation at this absurd greeting, Gilhellam remained silent, not adding any particular remarks. Rather than maintaining neutrality as the Commander-in-Chief, it could even be said that he lacked enthusiasm for this war. Gilhellam didn’t care if a nonexistent five-year-old imperial child was appointed as the deputy commander.
And on the first day of his arrival in the north, Gilhellam was first grateful for his lack of enthusiasm. Everything in front of gun turned black, and soon the black thing was scattered to ashes.
The death’s erosion lasted half an hour. Half an hour for Karnov, who was sitting on a horse, to come forward.
The only reason for needing half an hour was Karnov’s mercy to give the Noctis elves time to run away.
“Since the battle began with the ringing of the bell and ended in just 30 minutes, if one were to say ‘Good job,’ it would be an awkward formality, like enduring the biting cold.”
“You can sense the resilience of the commander in chief in his expression of being taken aback by the extraordinary coldness in the North.”
The crown prince smiled softly.
“By the way, I was worried about the age difference between Neustadter and the officers, but I guess I didn’t have to worry about that.”
“No one in the army treated him as a fifteen-year-old boy. I have to say I couldn’t.”
It was a war that relied on only one person who had blood on his hands alone on behalf of the entire army.
The moment they treated him as a 15-year-old boy, they would have known deep down that the one in charge was a 15-year-old boy.
So Karnov Neustadter became the perfect deputy commander.
Gilhellam smiled a little bit bitterly. He returned to the capital after the war, which had been entirely dependent on him. Now, hoping for a boyish life and expression from him felt like excessive self-consolation.
But it bothered him. For Karnov, the battlefield and the capital did not seem much different. Everyone made their way for him and he didn’t bump into anyone.
“…but still… But he’s still a minor, isn’t he? So, now that he’s in the capital, I think the deputy commander is more… “
“That’s why you recommended a special lecture at the Vichegda Magistrum Academy?”
“…Did you hear that?”
Alexei tilted his teacup and laughed.
“Some students complained, asking who would take care of them when they faint and collapse.”
“…I think their words are right…”
They didn’t get close while they were together on the battlefield, and nothing would be achieved by just teaching students at the academy. As he said, students wouldn’t be able to make eye contact with him.
“So I really… I thought there would be no one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone who can approach Deputy Commander Neustadter.”
But there was.
Gilhellam thought it wasn’t a person at first.
For a moment, he thought, ‘Was the spirit of Karnov like that?’ and ‘Was the spirit visible to me?’
Because it’s the first time he had seen Karnov rush to see someone and talk to them first.
It was a little girl with peachy hair and light green eyes. It was only then that Gilhellam knew that the day had come when he saw Karnov asking after others.
“To be exact, the deputy commander was the one who approached first. I…”
“You mean Asha.”
Gilhellam quickly recognized that it was a nickname for Her Highness Anastasia. And the moment he saw the crown prince’s smile, he even knew that he was seeing through his meaning.
