“Where? They’ll just give me what I ask them.”
“Is that so? You don’t have to talk to the other person?”
“Marquis Oleg? He wasn’t even directly involved in the war. After I choose, he gets what’s left.”
“Then have you decided where to ask for, Karnov?”
When Asha asked with a glistening look, Karnov squinted and looked at Asha suspiciously.
“Why are you saying that?”
“No, I’m just curious…”
“What would you like to do, Your Highness?”
“One of those two places is Lumen Vasilice.”
“That’s right.”
“I thought it would be nice if Karnov got it.”
“All right.”
“Because there… Huh?”
Asha looked at Karnov with her eyes wide open. Karnov was slowly pushing the last piece of the picnic cake into his mouth.
“Oh… you understand?”
“Yeah. It’s not about asking His Majesty for the Lumen Vasilice. I got it.”
“But… is it okay?”
Without even listening to the reason, he just understood? Perplexed, Asha asked in response, and this time Karnov opened the lid of the water bottle and answered.
“Well, at least two people will like it.”
“Two?”
“Yes. Marquis Oleg and you.”
“…Why Marquis Oleg?”
“If I say he will have a barren wasteland or a desolate plateau first, he would probably kneel and beg me, wouldn’t he?”
“A barren wasteland…!”
Asha tightly bit her lips and twisted in frustration. She wanted to shout, “There’s a diamond mine there!” but held herself back.
“If only I could explain the source of my information!”
The fact that she conversed with spirits was still a secret confined within the palace.
“There will come a day later when you thank me. I’m purposely telling Karnov since you’re going to find someone that will help me.”
“When the day comes when I can express my gratitude to Your Highness, I will definitely repay the favor.”
Asha stared at him with a hateful expression. Karnov shook the water bottle gently and got up from his seat.
“Then I’ll go look for people now.”
“That water bottle is mine!”
“I’m using it to help you find people.”
“Yeah, and I also told you which territory to choose!”
“I’ll repay you with an even better bottle.”
“You’re just making promises you won’t keep.”
“What if I don’t keep it?”
“I won’t bake you another cake like we had today.”
“…”
“…”
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
The transparent pale purple liquid shook in the crystal bottle. Violet petals swam in the liquid. Karnov looked at it for a long time with his back resting back on the seat, and only took his eyes off when he reached his destination.
The carriage stopped in front of an alley overlooking a small, shabby house. It was because the alley was too narrow for the carriage to enter. Karnov nodded his head once to the coachman, who was apologetic, and went into the alley. He knocked lightly on the door in front of the house, but the door was hollow, so Karnov had to stop knocking.
“Sophia? … Is she not here?”
As Karnov frowned and stood in front of the quiet and old mansion, appearing as though no one was there, someone suddenly poked their head out from the backyard.
“Who… Deputy Commander?”
It was a woman with sharp and keen features, holding firewood in her arms.
She was very surprised to see Karnov, but finally came to her senses and quickly approached.
“Sophia, long time no see.”
The age difference must have been twice as big, but Karnov was tall and slender, and his opponent was so thin that he seemed older.
“Uh… What brings you here?”
“I have something to say. Can we go inside and talk?”
“Uh, yes, uh, just a moment…”
Sophia said there were no tea leaves, so she served plain water in a thin porcelain cup.
“…Well, it’s been a long time. How have you been? You came without any notice…”
Karnov shook his head briefly, conveying that it was his fault for visiting without contacting her. Sophia responded with a faint smile. She was used to Karnov’s way of not explaining his actions in detail.
“As you’re not fond of small talk, let’s get to the point.”
“Yes.”
That too was also a familiar sight. Sophia nodded. Then she tried to anticipate what Karnov would say to her, but she stopped. Because even when he was in the military, Karnov always talked about the unimaginable.
“Sophia, I’m here to offer you a job.”
“…What?”
And she heard something really unexpected.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“I never thought we could find someone so quickly.”
“It was Your Highness who emphasized the urgency.”
Asha glanced at Karnov when he said something casually.
“I said it’s urgent, but you don’t even listen when I tell you to be discreet.”
However, Asha’s glancing eyes quickly relaxed.
She really didn’t think Karnov would get someone in a few days. If things were resolved quickly, Baroness Saratov would be able to release herself from stress, and the patisserie would be done safely.
“Then tell them to come in quickly.”
Karnov entered the palace today to introduce Sophia to Asha. It was kind of a sort of informal interview. Karnov did not leave it to the servant, but opened Asha’s kitchen door himself.
“Come in.”
As Karnov gestured inward, the woman who had been standing outside followed him inside. Seeing that, Asha quickly got off her chair and approached the woman.
“Sophia Schweiker?”
“Uh… Yes. I… I see Your Highness the Princess Anastasia.”
The woman was tall and thin and seemed a little nervous when she saw Asha. Nevertheless, she calmly shook Asha’s hand and greeted her by touching her forehead to Asha’s hand.
“Sophia, did you hear what you have to do in the future? Did Karnov explain?”
At Asha’s words, Sophia lifted her head in amazement and looked at Asha and Karnov alternately, then bowed her head again as if she noticed her rudeness.
“I heard that I’ll be working at Your Highness’s shop… If I knew who I should become, I will get ready right now.”
“No, it’s not about becoming someone else. Ah, really. Karnov, didn’t you explain?”
Asha leaned over and retorted in a whisper. Karnov picked up the cake with a fork and pushed it into her mouth.
“I would never encroach on Your Highness’s rights.”
“Mmph! Karnov!”
Asha glared at Karnov, pushing the cake she made aside. Then, she turned her attention back to Sophia.
“Sophia, to be precise, it’s not my shop. It’s a shop where they sell cakes made from my recipes. I’m looking for someone to make those cakes… Understand?”
“Ah…”
“So um, I hoped we could make a cake together! This job might not suit Sophia, so check it out. Do you have time?”
“Time is fine. But I…”
“Then let’s make it!”
“Well, Your Highness.”
Sophia seemed embarrassed. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then she nodded her head as if she had made up her mind.
Wearing an apron alongside Sophia, Asha was the first to head to the sink.
“Then you have to wash your hands first.”
Asha’s eyes turned to Sophia’s hand in gloves. Sophia hesitated for a moment, then slowly took off the glove on her right hand. There was a hand made of wood. It was a prosthetic hand that looked like a doll’s hand that was elaborated by cutting joints at each joint.
“Here’s the soap.”
Asha foamed enough and held it out to Sophia. Sophia hesitated for a moment, then held the soap with her hand, not her prosthetic hand, lathered both hands, and washed it away.
Then she held out a towel to Sophia, asked her to wipe her hands, and pulled out her thin gloves.
“These gloves?”
“Gloves coated with a mixture of the sap of the Tannin tree and sulfur. You must wear this when you cook in the store.”
When cooking for yourself or sharing with others, you could do it with bare hands, but it was not possible when making products for sale. So, after hearing about the patisserie from Baroness Saratov, she started using these Tannin gloves.
They were made by soaking cotton gloves in a mixture of sap from the Tannin tree and sulfur, providing both water resistance and flexibility. They could be washed and reused.
Sophia looked at the glove and put it on her hand.
“Today, we’ll be making cookies with butter. They’ll be shaped like cartwheels.”
Asha handed Sophia a bowl filled with softened butter left at room temperature. Inside the bowl was a whisk made of twigs, which Asha found repulsive.
“First, use this to soften the butter. Like this, gently shaking it. Don’t shake too vigorously.”
Sophia easily copied what Asha said. When a considerable amount of butter was lightly melted, Asha picked up some fine and powdery flour.
“This is flour. Now mix it in, just enough for it to blend. Like this. Then comes the egg. You need to crack it and separate the egg white and yolk. We’ll only use the egg white.”
Asha calmly explained as she fetched a basket of eggs. Sophia successfully cracked the egg with her left hand, but she ended up breaking the yolk completely and couldn’t separate the egg white and yolk.
“Ahaha. I’m not good at breaking eggs either. You can’t do it too hard. Just a little bit. Let’s try again?”
“Oh… it’s okay…”
“Yes, there are a lot of eggs, and the broken ones can be used to make other cakes.”
Asha took a step back and pushed the broken egg aside, then brought another bowl. While Sophia did crack three more egg yolks, she managed to separate the egg whites and yolks smoothly afterward.
The separated egg whites were then mixed rapidly with the butter, which had been softened to a creamy texture, before adding the sifted flour and gently stirring it together, like folding with a spoon, into a pastry bag.
Sophia had shown some clumsiness in controlling her strength in other areas, but when it came to mixing the butter and flour, she was very skilled. She even helped with the parts that Asha couldn’t properly mix due to her lack of muscle strength.
“I will… I will exercise too.”
“Isn’t this a lack of exercise, but a lack of growth?”
Asha glanced at Karnov, who was standing far next to her and looked at him, when he said something, and turned her eyes again.
“Hey, now we have to weave this into a round shape. Like a wheel.”
After rubbing butter on the oven pan and spraying flour on it to make the cake not stick, Asha grabbed the piping bag with both hands with a careful expression. The piping bag was also made by coating a cloth with Tannin sap in the same way as Sophia’s gloves.
“This… like this… like this… like that…”
Contrary to how soft the butter cookie dough looked, it was quite stiff to squeeze through the narrow gaps, and it was even more difficult for a ten-year-old. Asha clasped her hand, unfolded her, looked down at her slightly clumsy dough pie, then turned to Sophia.
“Hmm, like this…with a feeling.”
“I’ll… give it a try.”
Sophia said so and held the piping bag in both hands, her expression showing careful consideration.
Swoosh!
At that moment, from the end of the pastry bag, the dough burst out almost explosively onto the pan.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Ha… it’s a bit strong, Sophia. Could you do it a little gentler, per… perhaps?”
Asha hastily gathered the dough that burst out and put it back into the pastry bag while looking at Sophia.
“…If it’s not too bothersome.”
“Of course not! Now, let’s try it again.”
After a couple more attempts, with dough bursting out of the pastry bag, Sophia was able to draw perfectly uniform circles as if she were a machine. After baking the cookies they made together, Sophia signed the contract that Asha presented to her.
“I can’t believe there was a talent like Sophia hiding.”
“I found her, Your Highness.”
“Yes, yes, Lord Karnov. Have a cookie.”
As Asha pushed the baked cookie into Karnov’s mouth, she felt Sophia’s gaze and made an awkward expression.
“S, Sophia, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh… no. I am excited and nervous to be working again… Thank you very much for the opportunity.”
“No! Thank you for saying that you’ll work for me. Baroness Saratov will love it, too.”
Asha smiled and held Sophia’s hand, saying thank you once again. Sophia looked down for a long time at her hands held by Asha.
