Even now, while installing ice and fanning herself, it was still so hot…
“Lise, aren’t you hot? You don’t have to fan me.”
“I’m fine, but it seems like Your Highness is particularly sensitive to the heat. Irina… The princess was also very sensitive to heat. I guess that’s why.”
Asha found the term “princess” referring to her mother, Irina, unfamiliar and had to pause to think for a moment.
“Maybe that’s why my parents left the palace. Because it’s so hot.”
As Asha grumbled, Lise suddenly looked anxious and hurriedly spoke. She seemed worried that Asha would insist on going back home because of the heat.
“Does Your Highness want to exercise? Perhaps if you get used to moving, you won’t feel as hot.”
“Do you understand Phoebe?”
“What?”
Lise tilted her head. Asha shook her hand, saying it was nothing, and tried to get up.
“Your Highness, where are you going? Get some more rest.”
“I’m tired of feeling hot. I prepared something in the morning, so I want to eat that.”
Asha said so and took the fan from Lise. Lise’s gentle fanning was only a light breeze, so it didn’t cool Asha down. With firm fan strokes, Asha led the way to her own kitchen.
“Ahhh…”
Feeling the coolness as she tasted the cold air from the corner of the refrigerator, Asha momentarily melted and regained her senses. Then, she took out something that she had prepared and stored inside.
The freezer was a place that required a lot of resources to maintain, so it was highly valued in the palace.
The only place where the refrigeration warehouse was installed was the kitchen of the Ashtad Palace where the emperor lived, so Asha had to go back and forth, which was quite inconvenient.
However, each kitchen in every palace had its own refrigerator. Even Asha’s small kitchen had one.
“Your Highness, what is this?”
“A simple sorbet that I made.”
“Sorbet? That’s something only found in the Ashtad Palace freezer. How…?”
“Well, it’s not the real thing, just a simple version. So it may not be as exquisite-tasting…”
Asha lifted the towel covering a large bowl. Inside, it was filled with ice, and in the middle, a large bowl with a white-colored liquid was frozen. As soon as the towel was lifted, a tangy and sweet aroma filled the air.
“A while ago, I made a shasling liqueur. I added a little bit of that, mixed it with clear apple juice and a syrup made by steeping apple mint and lemon, and froze it.”
“How did you freeze it without a freezer?”
“If you sprinkle salt on ice, it gets extremely cold.”
Asha explained patiently while taking two forks, handing one to Lise and holding the other herself.
“Now all we have to do is mix it.”
Asha scraped the frozen white ice forcefully. As it wasn’t completely solid, it made a crunchy sound and began to sparkle like snowflakes. Just feeling the cold air emanating from the bowl already felt somewhat refreshing and relieving.
When the contents were mixed to the right consistency, Asha paused for a moment and looked down at the bowl.
“Your Highness? What’s wrong?”
“Sigh. It’s so hot even for me… I wonder how much hotter the trainees are in the training grounds?”
“…!”
Asha thought of Ivan. She had always kept an eye on whether the knights took care of him, but she had never seen him training separately.
“Are you planning to visit the knights?”
“Since I made a whole batch of this, and it’s so hot outside, I thought it would be nice if we all shared it… Is that okay?”
Initially, she had no intention of visiting the knights’ training grounds. Tarjei’s intentions were suspicious, his reinstatement coinciding with her arrival. But now, Asha believed that neither Alexei nor the emperor would have any major misunderstandings, and Tarjei’s intentions…
With that thought in mind, Asha looked at Lise with a determined expression. Lise smiled and nodded in agreement.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Princess Anastasia did not visit the Knights Templar very often. But whenever she did, chaos would ensue in the training grounds.
And this moment. Tarjei, who struggled to brush his hair and button his shirt, immediately found Ivan and snatched him by the neck.
“You punk! You tried to run away because you were embarrassed when the princess was coming, right?”
“…No.”
The slender boy denied it in a soft voice. Tarjei burst into a loud and frustrated tone.
“You, I swear if you keep running away, I’ll tie a leash around you and keep you restrained!”
“I’m somewhat accustomed to that…”
“…”
“…”
Suddenly, the bustling knights’ quarters fell into silence. While Tarjei was still taken aback, his lips trembling, Anne glared at him with a reproachful gaze and cleared her throat.
“Oh, what kind of nonsense are you spouting again with Ivan? We’re about to welcome Princess Anastasia, and here you are causing a scene at the knights’ quarters.”
“Oh, no, I…”
“And Ivan! I understand that you feel embarrassed to meet the princess, but why is she coming here to see us today? And it’s not like she has any reason to go out.”
“…”
“This must be because she’s coming to see you, isn’t it? But look, you’re not here. How embarrassing would it be for us to be unable to present ourselves properly to her?”
“…”
“So just stay put, all right?”
“Yes, understood.”
Upon Anne’s instruction to stay put and not go anywhere, Ivan nodded quietly.
Tarjei, wearing an uncomfortable expression like someone swallowing ice, kept glancing around, and as soon as Anne left, he gave Ivan a light tap.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“When I talk nonsense, you can just punch me instead of… saying things like that.”
“…Yes?”
“Ahem. Well… ahem, I’m sorry.”
“Yes?”
“Seriously! I said I’m sorry!”
“Commander! Why are you shouting again?!”
Anne cried in the distance. Tarjei closed his mouth with a pungent expression.
To be honest, the knights found this situation very unfamiliar, where the deputy commander and commander would get flustered every time a noble visited.
Until Tarjei Nellin, the former captain of the knights, retired ten years ago, the norm in the knights was that unless the visitor was the emperor, they wouldn’t fuss over anyone who came to visit.
And in the years since he retired, when Anne took over as deputy commander, whenever there were visitors, she would be the one to greet and entertain them.
“I really don’t understand how something like this can affect people’s minds.”
Speaking in a somewhat incomprehensible tone, Bethelnic put the old fruit peel he found in the knights’ quarters into the trash bin. Because it was the commander’s special situation, he coordinated their hands and feet, but the first question was whether doing so would make them look great to the sharp-eyed girl.
And the second question was whether it is possible to change the mind of that bright girl by making it look cool and forcibly decorated like this.
“When people become anxious, they tend to do pointless things.”
“I see.”
Bethelnic nodded absentmindedly at Anne’s words. Not long after, Princess Anastasia arrived.
On the day Princess Anastasia visited for the first time to select an escort knight to accompany her on a trip, the girl was actually very embarrassed to see the lined-up knights. Thanks to that fact, today the knights had gathered together to witness their captain’s flustered state instead of being organized.
“It must be hot for you all. Thank you for your hard work.”
The petite girl looked at Tarjei and spoke politely. Tarjei was so nervous that he blurted out something incoherent, but the girl didn’t pay much attention.
“How’s Ivan doing?”
“Ivan! Ivan, come out!”
With his unusual background as a former slave from the northern region, mysterious bluish skin, and his rare silence and lack of emotional expression, the boy stood out even among the knights.
But the knights quickly got used to Ivan’s presence. Even though he spoke little, he did not lie, and he knew that he was a boy who worked day and night to compensate for his flawed background and lacking skills.
“…I see Your Highness.”
“Ivan, isn’t it hard to train in hot weather? Are you okay? How are you? I haven’t seen you for a few days.”
The suspicion that arose when Princess Anastasia first visited, due to Ivan running errands for the captain’s clothes, seemed to have not completely subsided. Standing next to Ivan, Tarjei was biting his lips tightly with an expression that spoke of unfairness.
“Everyone treats me well. Training…is hard, but enjoyable.”
Ivan spoke awkwardly but clearly. Bethelnic, who had been observing from afar, couldn’t help but be impressed.
“I’ve never seen him talk so much before.”
“He works hard in training because he wants to be of help to you, Your Highness.”
Anne looked at the boy and the girl with a happy expression. The girl smiled broadly at the boy who was her slave and now wanted to be a knight. Then she winked behind her. Lise, who was holding a large bowl wrapped in cloth, approached.
“It was made by Her Highness to praise the knights for their hard work.”
When she removed the cloth, a large ice bowl and white and transparent snowflakes in it appeared.
“Snow? In this season?”
“It’s not snow, it’s sorbet. It may not be of exquisite taste since it was made quickly, but still…”
Princess Anastasia said with a smile as if she were a little embarrassed, but Tarjei seemed to have already been sold by the fact that his granddaughter had made something herself and brought it.
“Deputy commander, if you let it be, won’t the commander end up eating all of it alone?”
Bethelnic expressed a reasonable doubt. At the same time, Anne, who has been avoiding Tarjei in consideration so far, jumped up and shouted.
“No, Your Highness! How could you go through such trouble?”
“Anne! I thought you were away.”
The girl looked back in surprise.
“You were coming, Your Highness, so even if I didn’t come to work today, I should show up. Isn’t that right?”
Tarjei frowned at Anne’s sly words, but he couldn’t push her away.
“It’s lemon sorbet, but I brought it because I thought everyone would suffer in the heat. It’s better to eat it quickly before it melts…”
“You guys! This is Her Highness’s beneficence! Come out and form a line quickly!”
Anne shouted quickly.
Outside the shade of the Knights Templar, Asha, standing with a satisfied smile, watched as the knights gathered together, scooping sorbet into small bowls and enjoying conversation.
“Ah, it’s refreshing. Feels like it’s revitalizing me.”
“Oof, it’s tangy. Wakes me right up. It’s not just lemon flavor, but somehow it has a faint peach aroma too.”
“Do you smell a hint of grape flavor too?”
“Oh, it’s so refreshing and delicious. Can’t we get a bigger tub?”
Asha, hearing the enthusiastic responses from all around, turned her head towards Ivan, standing beside her.
“Ivan, hurry up and eat. This melts quickly. Do you dislike the sour taste?”
“Ah… no, I don’t.”
Ivan kept holding the bowl, and the sorbet inside had already melted halfway.
“Do you like the sour taste, too?”
“…”
It seemed that distinguishing between likes and dislikes was still difficult for Ivan. Asha watched him quietly. Ivan carefully and meticulously pushed the remaining sorbet into his mouth. His attitude was very cautious.
