“Ha, but Asha came to the palace for her cousin.”
“Yes, cousin. His Highness Prince Alexei is her cousin…”
“…!”
Arten’s face rose as pale as the other fellow performers.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
After greeting the harpist in the hallway, the girl headed to the kitchen. The girl opened the kitchen door, put her hand on her waist, inhaled and exhaled.
“Pavel! If you named my cake, you should tell me… No, you should have asked me from the beginning!”
“That…”
“I thought something bad was going to happen today!”
In front of the girl, a man three times the size of the girl stood crouching to the fullest. Pavel, the man who heard of the dizzying moment at the dinner hall, bowed his head with an expression that he had nothing to say even if he had ten mouths. The girl who saw the expression waved her hand.
“No, no, I’m not mad at Pavel… Didn’t the chef say he’d name it himself? Is that so?”
But the little girl, who took a deep breath for a moment, seemed to say, ‘It couldn’t have been my good kid, right? Is it because he made bad friends?’
She may not like Fjord, the head chef, but could she really let him take the blame for something he didn’t do?
“That’s not it…”
“It isn’t?”
“Honestly… Honestly speaking… I’ll just say it…”
“Yes, yes.”
“Actually, I was worried that you might name it like ‘Asha’s Carrot Cake,’ so I told the head chef to do it on his own…”
“…!”
The girl opened her eyes as if she were amazed, but she couldn’t get any more angry. It reminded her of her record.
“That…”
“…”
“…”
There was an awkward silence between the two.
“…Well, uh… Anyway, it’s a relief that it went well, right?”
“I’m so sorry…”
“It’s fine, it’s done. Stop talking now. I have work to do.”
The girl, Asha, waved her hand and then crossed her arms.
“W, what are you going to do?”
“I’ll organize the recipe and give it to you. While I’m here, I’m going to make milk tea.”
“For whom?”
“Who do you mean, it’s for the Noctis Elves. And I’m going to make milk tea, so milk…”
“A recipe for carrot cake?”
“Then shall I give them a chocolate cake recipe? And I’m going to make strawberry milk tea…”
“You can’t do both!”
Pavel, who was seemingly downcast just a moment ago, shouted with an unexpectedly firm attitude. Asha was taken aback and staggered for a moment. She decided to put the milk tea topic aside for the time being.
“Really? Not possible?”
“I would pay a fortune for the recipe, and yet you give it away for free!”
“It’s not that special of a recipe… Carrot cake, after all, is something everyone has had before.”
“But it’s not just any carrot cake!”
“Oh… really? Thanks for the compliment…”
“No, why are you giving it to them like this? Is it because they asked for it?”
“They didn’t ask for it exactly, but it was delicious enough to ask for it. Don’t you think it would be okay if I could give them a piece of cake to completely end the war?”
After saying that, Asha touched her cheek. Pavel’s face was almost jaw-dropping. Asha went on quickly.
“Of course, the relationship can go wrong at any time if there is an opportunity, but the Elves seem to believe that we worked hard to make the carrot cake, and they said it was really delicious. If I tell them the recipe, why don’t we… get along well with each other… and not have a war?”
Asha wriggled her hands and answered, she suddenly noticed how innocent her words looked, but there was no way to stop Pavel, who had already looked so moved that he almost cried.
“And while I’m here, I want to make ‘anti-war milk tea.’ Can you please give me some milk now?”
“Oh, my.”
First, put a lot of strawberry-flavored black tea leaves in a pot, and boil the water until the leaves are tightly submerged. When the tea leaves bloomed after absorbing water, add coconut milk and heat it until it steamed, and add only one piece of sugar.
This completed the strawberry milk tea without milk.
“It’s late, so you have to go home quickly.”
Now, Lise, who had given up disrupting Asha’s kitchen play, said silently, following her. On the tray Lise held, there were teapots with warm milk tea, strawberry jam, and small notes of Asha’s recipe for the carrot cake “Lumen Vasilice.”
“Yeah. There’s no need for a long explanation.”
The reason why Asha tried to arrange this kind of event secretly was because after a conversation with Phoebe, she came to the conclusion that she couldn’t let the Elves go like this.
Although she did not have the power or ability to protect the world, she could not let go of the intention to separate the spirit world and the human world again.
‘At least so that I can track it in an emergency.’
When Karnov conveyed the words, ‘The Noctis Elves were curious about the dessert recipe and said how delicious it was,’ Asha was so delighted that she almost did a mid-air somersault in her excitement. However, her lack of ability prevented her from fully executing the move.
Asha inhaled, raised her hand and knocked directly at the door of the place given to the Noctis Elves.
Lilmari and Ahti, who were in the room, seemed a little perplexed by Asha’s sudden visit, late in the evening, but they did not hesitate to welcome her.
“Your Highness? Is it all right if you don’t sleep at this hour?”
“I came to see you because I had something to give you. It’ll be just a moment!”
“What?”
Asha first held out the note she had brought.
“Because Lord Karnov told me. I heard you enjoyed the cake. That’s the recipe.”
“…!”
Lilmari opened the notebook and made a surprised expression. As Asha looked at the sparkling crystals rising from behind Lilmari, Lise poured warm milk tea from a teapot next to her.
“This is a strawberry milk tea I personally brewed. It’s made with coconut milk, so you don’t have to worry about any lactose concerns.”
Asha took a teaspoon of strawberry jam. The jewel-like red and transparent jam went into the teacup and gently melted away.
Lilmari smiled softly as if to match the child’s talent, and willingly touched the teacup.
“It smells very savory… This sweet strawberry scent is impressive, too.”
“The strawberry jam is made by the chef. How many of these would you like?”
A warmer atmosphere flowed behind Lilmari’s back. Encouraging Ahti, who was by his side, to have a sip as well, Ahti showed some reluctance, but he couldn’t refuse and picked up the cup.
‘Come on, drink it, drink!’
Asha murmured eagerly to herself and gave Ahti a sidelong glance.
There was no poison in the milk tea. If she did that, the blood shed by Karnov, Alexei, the Imperial Army, and the Elves would be meaningless.
‘That’s right, you drink well.’
Asha clapped inwardly. What she added to the milk tea was not anything else but simply her heartfelt sincerity.
Phoebe said that she could only exert her power through Asha, and that the power bloomed at her fingertips, but Asha had never realized it. So she just had to work hard to make it.
Luckily, Phoebe said that there was enough strength in the milk tea. Now, anyone who had tasted her cooking would have a rough idea of what Phoebe was capable of doing if she set her mind to it in the future.
‘I wish I had had enough of the carrot cake.’
Making the cake “Lumen Vasilice” didn’t mean much. But Phoebe said the cake was made with Pavel, and that they ate too little to track them all the way north.
“It’s embarrassing to have to receive something like this from the royal granddaughter.”
After watching the two drink milk tea, the tension eased.
‘What should I say now?’
“Oh, well, then~! Next time I go to Uve Whison, show me around!”
Will the imperial grandchild ever go to Uve Whison, where the Noctis Elves reside? It was all out of courtesy. However, Lilmari, who was savoring milk tea at Asha’s words, put down the glass and gave a soft look.
“If you come, I will welcome you with pleasure. Although it may not be the dinner you prepared today, we will have a party.”
Lilmari said so and raised himself for a moment, saying he had something to bring. What he brought was a simple little box. wrapped in thin slices of plain cloth.
“What is this?”
“Actually, I brought it to give it to the imperial grandchildren from the beginning, but I thought it was too simple, so I put it back… Since I received so many, I have no choice but to give this at least.”
“Can I open it?”
Lilmari nodded. As Asha untied the ribbon, small earmuffs were seen inside.
“…!”
They were shaped like little deer ears, with a soft cream-colored furry material on the inside and delicate geometric patterns embroidered on the outside. It was evident that this was not an ordinary item just by looking at it.
“It’s very cold in the north. It’s early spring here, but I thought it’d be still cold, so I prepared it as a gift… The Imperial Palace does not have a cold day even in winter.”
“Oh, it’s a little hot, isn’t it? Because of Fafnir.”
“That’s true.”
“But starting next year, winter will be cold, so I think I can use it really well.”
“Next year… What do you mean it’s getting cold?”
Asha put the earmuffs on her ears herself, and smiled at Ahti, who asked back.
“Until this year, Alyosha, oh, so His Highness the crown prince was like this because he was adjusting to the spirits. I’m done now.”
“I see. I sincerely congratulate you on the occasion of the Empire.”
It was Lilmari who greeted her with a smile. Ahti’s complexion was greatly darkened.
Asha rose from her seat after thanking him for the earmuffs a few more times. Each Elf saw Asha off with a different expression.
