Yekaterina looked around while the attendant was crying.
“I heard Tarjei has been reinstated.”
“These days, he’s busy teaching a new student.”
“Do you mean that he took in a disciple? I thought he stopped taking disciples after his daughter’s incident.”
“That daughter’s daughter asked him to train them, so what could he do with him?”
If it was the daughter’s daughter, Yekaterina was also familiar with her. Wasn’t she the recent center of attention in the capital? But Yekaterina’s knowledge of the girl wasn’t merely based on rumors.
“Is it that princess who is said to get along well with Karnov these days?”
Yekaterina casually dropped the bomb.
“What was her name again? Was it Anastasia? I heard that the imperial princess is exceptionally brilliant.”
“Brilliant? No, she’s very mischievous.”
The emperor grumbled, causing a clear expression of surprise to show on Yekaterina’s face. The emperor pressed his forehead and shook his head.
“She knows just how to toy with people’s hearts. She resembles her mother and father so much, and she’s full of mischief. Once you meet her, you’ll agree with what I’m saying.”
“Oho…”
Yekaterina narrowed her eyes and drew a smile. When someone mentioned that someone else was toying with their hearts, it meant that their own heart had already gone back and forth in that direction.
Then.
A brief noise erupted from outside and quickly subsided. The palace servant hurriedly went outside and returned to the emperor, looking slightly bewildered as he bowed and whispered.
“Your Majesty. Princess Anastasia has just arrived…”
“Why did she come?”
He was talking about Anastasia, so the emperor asked in a rather stiff voice to hide his embarrassment.
“She baked some snacks this afternoon, and she said she wanted to give them to Your Majesty. Well, since there is a guest, should I just take the snacks and tell the princess to go back?”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
Yekaterina, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, waved her hand dismissively.
“Don’t mind me and tell her to stop by. Don’t you feel sorry? And she came herself to bring the snacks that her grandfather will eat.”
The emperor frowned. Just a while ago, he told General Yekaterina, ‘You’ll know when you meet her.’ However, it was strangely awkward when she came out in such a blatant way of saying, ‘Let’s see her face.’
But it had been quite a while since he had seen his granddaughter. Even the little one had her own busy schedule, running around here and there claiming she had important matters to attend to. The emperor pressed his forehead with his fingertips, pondering, before finally letting his shoulders sag a bit.
“…Do not mention that there is a guest inside. Just let her in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The instructions not to mention the guest inside were added out of concern for his granddaughter’s temperament. He worried that if the considerate granddaughter, who was full of oddities, heard that there was a guest inside, she might just turn around and leave. Soon, the door opened, and a petite girl with peach-like pink hair walked in.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Asha tried baking the newly studied snacks after a long time. Until now, if she had used a lot of recipes she had written down, this time she got help from imperial confectionery books and Pavel’s basic baking knowledge.
What was baked like that was a crescent-shaped cookie that broke in the mouth.
It was completed by sifting powdered sugar on the white baked snacks so that the color did not get too dark. The snack really looked like a fragment of the full moon. While writing down what to improve on the recipe and packing up what to distribute around, the emperor suddenly came to mind.
“But it’s his birthday soon, and I prepared a present, so it’ll be okay to see him then, right?”
She had been quite busy attending Natalya’s tea party and Ilya’s gathering, and it had been a while since she had seen the emperor’s face. As she pondered, the powdered sugar she was sprinkling on the cookies suddenly blew up and covered her face.
“K, keum, keum! Keum!”
<Wouldn’t it be nice to take a look once in a while?>
<No, what is this crazy wind doing to my child!>
As the wind blew, Phoebe, who had been dozing off with a grumpy look on his face, suddenly woke up and exclaimed, catching a whiff of the sweet smell of sugar. Anastasia stood frozen in the midst of the two spirits, with a white sugar powder coat on her, and slowly opened her mouth.
“The spirit is… I heard that you can’t exercise your power unless you go through the contractor. Shamal is amazing…”
<This much wind has always been blowing into the palace, courtesy of Mikhail. Fafnir spews heat. He seems to have calmed down a bit lately, so I’m just putting some of that to use.>
<Can’t you just shut up and leave?>
While Phoebe was peeping loudly, Lise came running in surprise and shook off the powdered sugar.
In the meantime, Asha thought that she would go to the emperor with cookies baked today, as Shamal said, and she came all the way here.
“Oh? There was a guest?”
Asha, who was going inside, tilted her head. There was one more person in the emperor’s office besides the emperor. She was an old lady with short hair as white as frost. She looked at her with slightly murky purple eyes as if to dissect her.
The emperor said.
“You’re here?”
“Yeah, I baked some cookies in the afternoon. They came out in a pretty crescent shape, so I wanted to give them to you… But who is this person? Huh?”
As Anastasia stepped further inside, she naturally glanced at the unfamiliar guest. Her eyes widened. As she got closer to the stranger, she caught a familiar scent from her.
At first, it was the hot scent reminiscent of golden grains of sand from a hot place. But then, a cool breeze followed, bringing with it the fragrance of northern snow. Anastasia had experienced this scent before.
“Oh? No way… Karnov’s grandmother?”
“…!”
“…!”
The emperor and the old lady both looked surprised. Asha was surprised even after getting the answer right, and quickly greeted the old lady, General Yekaterina.
“Ah! Hello, Asha… I’m Anastasia.”
“Ha ha, well, it’s quite a rare thing for someone to notice that I resemble my descendants. How did you know, Your Highness?”
“Huh? Well, it’s just that your eyes are exactly the same, so I recognized you right away.”
“But I didn’t know you had a guest… I should just go…”
Anastasia pointed toward the exit, about to leave, but General Yekaterina kindly smiled and quickly intervened.
“No, that won’t do. Since you’ve come all this way, wouldn’t it be nice to have a chat, Your Highness Anastasia? Or perhaps you find talking to this old grandma boring?”
The emperor suddenly snorted at General Yekaterina, who spoke kindly, but he agreed with her.
“Yes. Is there anything urgent? It seems that traveling abroad is very interesting these days.”
Asha sat opposite Yekaterina and glanced at the emperor. A file folder on the emperor’s desk was secretly being blown by the wind, sliding over silently. It was Shamal’s discreet way of signaling, ‘Aren’t I right?’
“But grandfather is too busy, so he can’t even play Kerum with me.”
“You never asked to!”
“Then would you like to play?”
“…”
“…”
“Look. You must be busy.”
The emperor, who was going to respond to Asha’s pointed reply, closed his mouth and sighed. General Yekaterina, who had been observing their interaction, widened her eyes, blinked rapidly, and then, narrowing her wrinkled eyes, she smiled deeply.
“Do you like Kerum?”
Asha nodded.
“I tried playing it when I visited Ilya’s place. It was fun.”
“If it’s Kerum, I like it, too. I often used to spend time playing Kerum with my grandson in the north.”
Anastasia pondered for a moment. What should she say? Should she suggest playing together? But she couldn’t say that.
“If she’s going to play, she should play with me. Why is the general interfering?”
“Your Majesty is busy, so there’s nothing you can do about it, right?”
“General, I don’t believe you’re free either.”
“What do you mean? I have an abundance of time, that’s why I came all the way here.”
The emperor glared at Yekaterina with a disapproving look. Even in the face of the emperor’s intimidating gaze, General Yekaterina did not back down. Anastasia awkwardly watched the sudden war between the two and attempted to mediate.
“Then, should we all play together when grandfather isn’t busy?”
“Why do we need to play together?”
“Yes, Your Highness, you can play with me.”
General Yekaterina denied the idea as if it were absurd, but the emperor also stood his ground. Anastasia gave up on trying to resolve something between the two.
“Then, let’s play at the emperor’s birthday celebration. Only those who want to play can join, right?”
“Hmm.”
“And the loser will write a review of the cookies we had today.”
“What if you lose?”
The emperor crossed his arms and asked. Anastasia’s eyes widened. She hadn’t actually thought she would lose. The emperor chuckled as if he had understood her thoughts and spoke.
“It would be ridiculous for you to write a review of your own cookies if you lose. If you lose, just write a letter or something.”
“A letter? What kind of letter?”
“That’s up to the writer’s discretion.”
Anastasia was taken aback but nodded her head. After all, she knew she wouldn’t lose.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
General Yekaterina looked at the back of the little girl leaving the room as if she were running away and then turned her head when she felt the emperor’s gaze. The emperor said with a sharp look.
“Why are you so interested in her all of a sudden?”
“What do you mean? Then do you want me to be rude to her?”
“I never knew you were such a warm person, like the sun.”
“I am like a mirror. To warm and affectionate people, I act the same way.”
“Hmph!”
The emperor let out a mocking snort. Only then did General Yekaterina speak frankly.
“Didn’t she say she realized I was related to Karnov by looking at me?”
“You liked that, didn’t you?”
“If she knew in advance that Your Majesty’s guest was me, she’s prepared and wise, and if she really noticed that I’m Karnov’s grandmother by just looking at my face, she has excellent eyes. Isn’t she talented in every way?”
The emperor folded his arms.
“That child would not have known the general’s whereabouts in advance. She has no interest in such matters.”
The meaning behind the emperor’s words was clear. Recognizing the every move of the head of the Neustadter family, the core of the northern part of the empire, would mean she needed her power. And there was only one reason the princess would want that power.
To be the next heir to the throne.
Absolutely love this series, thank you so much for translating it!