Marquis Oleg, who visited the Imperial Palace for a meeting with the emperor, struggled to shake off his rather bewildered expression.
“So, are you suggesting that support be provided for the farmers to immigrate to Linum Yushita to allow them to cultivate linen?”
“Ah…yes, that’s right. And if we want people with experience in fiber cultivation and distribution to migrate north…”
The Marquis of Oleg looked confused as he tried to achieve his goal in his meeting with the emperor.
‘How did Anastasia, the emperor’s granddaughter, end up on His Majesty’s lap…’
He glanced at the chamberlain to find an answer somehow, but the chamberlain also seemed to have given up, showing a half-resigned expression.
“Ah…in the future, Linum Yushita’s linen will become the empire’s linen, so it might be important to…check its quality in advance and improve it.”
The emperor listened carefully to his words, then suddenly furrowed his brows. Marquis Oleg’s heart sank at that expression, and the emperor looked down, not at Marquis Oleg, but at Princess Anastasia in his arms.
Yes, there was a girl in the emperor’s arms the entire time. It was Princess Anastasia with a strangely sour expression.
“Are you bored already? Why can’t you stay still for even a moment?”
“Grandfather’s leg is uncomfortable.”
“Ah, really? And the same was true for your maternal grandfather?”
“…”
‘Grandfather? Your maternal grandfather?’
A familiar title that he never imagined he would hear in the palace made him even more confused. The girl pouted her lips with a bitter look on her face.
“The marquis is talking about Linum Yushita’s manpower support.”
The emperor frowned, but returned to the marquis’s agenda, as the girl said.
“…There is a point in what the marquis says, so it would be right to support the migration. A certain amount is given in the form of an initial settlement, and the rest is a two-year tax reduction.”
The emperor said so, and took away the feather pen that the girl was scribbling with, and finished adding to and signing the document. The girl looked up and glanced at the emperor. The emperor put the pen back in the hands of such a girl and spoke to the marquis.
“Marquis Oleg, the Linum Yushita project holds significant meaning. I hope you cultivate it well.”
“Y-Your Majesty, I will do my best.”
“How is your daughter? Has her condition improved?”
“Ah…! Yes, thanks for your consideration… Once the settlers have all prepared their belongings, I plan to go north with my daughter as well.”
“Linum Yushita?”
“Yes. I think the air from the north would be better than the air from the city, and since my daughter wants to go there…”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s better to take a rest in a less crowded place.”
Marquis Oleg nodded, bowed, and exited the emperor’s office. The last scene he saw was a girl pulling at the emperor’s collar and begging to get off.
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
“I’m embarrassed.”
“You gave Sir Nellin a good hug and went all the way to your room, and this is embarrassing?”
The emperor spoke with an expression of disapproval, but he gently opened his arms so that Asha could jump down. Asha jumped, out of breath, exhaling forcefully.
“There was no one looking at me then, but today we’ve seen more than ten people since this morning. They all stared at me in surprise with their eyes wide open.”
“Enough people had already seen you, to the point where even I had heard the news.”
Asha looked away at the emperor’s remarks with a frown.
‘What on earth… went wrong from the beginning?’
Until now, how much anxiety had she felt, afraid of showing any interest in the throne or of damaging her relationship with Alexei? That was why she had been careful in her relationship with her grandfather.
But it was only belatedly, when she met Tarjei face-to-face and thought about improving their family relationship, that she realized that a certain level of trust had already been built between herself, Alexei, and the emperor. She wanted to believe that even if she met Tarjei, it would be nothing more than a granddaughter meeting her grandfather…
‘But is it too much to trust?’
She didn’t know that walking through the corridor in her maternal grandfather’s arms would make her own grandfather furious! Thanks to that, Asha had been scribbling with a pen in the emperor’s office since morning. She turned away from the astonished expressions of the people who came to the office…
“And my maternal grandfather… Sir Nellin was hugging me for only ten minutes, and I’ve been like this with Your Majesty all day. If you think about it that way, it’s very unfair.”
“…”
“I’m really going to go now.”
“…Hmm, do as you please.”
Asha wanted to scream, but she held back at the thought of the kitchen the emperor had given her.
“I’m going to get a birthday present for Grandfather!”
“…Why are you doing that? It’s okay if you don’t do anything. Just…”
“I want to do it. I didn’t want to say anything, but you got upset, so there’s no choice but to tell you. You’re not allowed to secretly find out what it is.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Promise!”
“I give… you my word.”
“If you secretly find out, I’ll really be mad at you.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“Your Majesty, just by looking at your face, I can tell if you’re lying or not. It’s true.”
“…I got it. I promise.”
It seems that the emperor intended to find out secretly. After urging him not to lie because he would get caught, the emperor seemed genuinely attentive. Asha reiterated her earnest request and left the emperor’s office.
“Ha.”
“His Majesty cares a lot about you.”
Lise couldn’t hide her smile for a while. Asha glanced at Lise.
“It’s because Lise didn’t see the expressions of people who came into the office.”
“How did they look?”
“Like they saw a dog with three heads.”
“What?”
Lise tilted her head at the peculiar metaphor. Asha breathed a deep sigh.
“It didn’t seem really scary right now, but in the future, it might become something scary, something… that kind of expression when you see something inexplicably strange?”
“…”
“I wish Alyosha were here…”
Alexei spent the morning working with the emperor – with Asha sitting on the emperor’s lap – and left in the afternoon to prepare for the emperor’s birthday banquet, which was just around the corner. Asha stopped lamenting about what had already happened and asked as she walked diligently toward her kitchen.
“Where is Lady Meura and our painter? What’s the progress?”
“They said they would come on time, and since there hasn’t been any other contact, they’re probably already inside the palace by now.”
At Lise’s words, Asha nodded. Today was the day when Mura Aylau said she would complete and bring both the portraits of Asha and the emperor.
In accordance with that, Asha also called the painter working with Baroness Saratov. This was because when Mura left the palace after finishing her portrait sketch last time, she wanted to see the painter working with Baroness Saratov.
As Asha arrived at the kitchen with Lise, just as she was about to boil some tea, she heard a gentle knocking sound from outside. Asha hurriedly went to open the door, finding both of them waiting for her side by side. One was Mura Aylau, whom she was familiar with, and the other was a red-haired girl she had never seen before.
Around fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed modestly but neatly. The red-haired girl stood upright with a tense posture. In contrast, Mura looked relaxed and greeted Asha with a bright smile.
“I see Your Highness! By the way, Your Highness, is this the artist you mentioned last time? The one who painted the signboard?”
“Uh…uh…”
No matter who it was, she should have been a completely unfamiliar face…but as soon as they met, a vivid memory struck Asha’s mind and swiftly passed.
The shabby attire and tense expression in front of her right now, followed by a vision of a silk dress and a bright face. And then, standing next to Alexei, a figure in a white wedding dress came to mind…
“I… I’m Mariya. I contracted with Baroness Saratov, and right now… I’m designing the packages of Phoebe powder.”
“Ma… Mariya!”
Asha half-shouted Mariya’s name, and everyone in the room turned to look at Asha.
“Your Highness? Are you… Are you all right?”
Asha forced herself to suppress her shocked expression as she looked up at the red-haired girl. The striking red hair and shabby attire seemed like a theatrical prop. And the name Mariya!
‘She’s the female lead!’
Although Asha now vaguely grasped what had happened to her, it was difficult to say if this was still the original work or that Mariya was the protagonist. But it was the only way she could express it. The girl who was married to Alexei!
‘How did she end up here?’
Was she originally a painter? Asha barely came to her senses after twitching her lips. Mariya looked very embarrassed and anxious at Asha’s fierce response, and Mura seemed a little surprised. Asha managed to pull herself together.
“Ah… no, nothing. You… have such a pretty name that I was surprised.”
“My… name?”
“Yeah. It means a person who is loved, your name is really pretty.”
After saying that, Asha quickly led the two of them inside. Lise looked at Asha and Mariya alternately with a worried expression. She had never seen Asha so flustered before.
“Um… So, Mariya. You also painted the patisserie sign, right? I thought it was really beautiful. That’s why I wanted to work with the same person for this painting.”
“It’s… It’s an honor, an honor that you treasured my humble painting.”
Mariya wanted to say something more, but she didn’t seem to be able to say anything. She repeatedly clenched her lips and clenched and unfolded the skirt with her hands. Asha looked carefully at Mariya’s appearance and turned to Mura.
“Did you two meet before? Did you greet each other? This is Meura, no, Mura Aylau. Lady Mura is also an artist, so…”
