CH 23

“What should be done…?”

It was like looking down from a high place even though they’re facing each other. Alexei looked at Emperor Mikhail and thought so.

“If it’s Lord Tarjei… I know that the deputy leader is still waiting for him, leaving his post empty.”

“Yeah. It will have been 10 years this year. I can’t believe he’s going back to work after 10 years. This guy is truly shameless.”

If Tarjei Nellin had just been shameless, the Emperor would not have called in even the Crown Prince to discuss the reinstatement of the Knight Commander.

“What do you think? Should I accept this application for reinstatement? Or should I throw it out.”

The Emperor’s murky blue eyes flashed fiercely and looked at Alexei. Alexei held the Knight Commander’s application for reinstatement. A piece of paper with a concise purpose in beautifully written.

Alexei remembered, because of this paper, that a little girl who would be waiting for him. The reason why the Emperor wanted to summon him to discuss this reinstatement was…

“Sir Tarjei Nellin… Although I’ve never met him, I know he’s been on the battlefield for a long time with grandfather, and he’s credited with securing the northern frontier. I think 10 years is too soon to forget.”

“Is that all?”

“…”

“I didn’t think you wouldn’t know… Then I’ll tell you.”

The Emperor opened his mouth with his chin resting on his hand.

“Ten years ago, my youngest son married his only daughter and left everything and ran away. Then I heard that he disowned his daughter, too.”

In other words, Tarjei Nellin was the maternal grandfather of his cousin Anastasia, who was now waiting for him in his room. And when he heard that his granddaughter was left in the palace, he said that he would return to the palace.

“He knows too, Grandfather.”

“So you mean you agree to his return?”

The Emperor’s eyebrows rose.

After his first son died and even his youngest son, who he thought was his successor, got married and ran out of the palace, Mikhail left his eldest grandson Alexei at the palace to discipline him as the next Emperor.

His brilliant brain never forgot a word he had heard once, and his ageless wide field of vision backed up his good judgment. Alexei was born to rule people. In addition to that, he polished up how to recognize people, and looking at him, it seemed as if he had created a ‘perfect successor’ and turned him into a human. 

Nevertheless, there was only one thing that he didn’t like about Alexei, and that was the part where his heart was so soft.

“Grandfather, why did he disown his daughter?”

“Hmm?”

“I heard that it was because she betrayed the knight’s duty out of self-interest to the future monarch.Would such an upright knight, Sir Nellin, have any other thoughts than to follow grandfather’s will?”

“Do you mean to believe in his loyalty?”

“…To put it like that would be a very easygoing idea. Actually, rather than…”

Alexei took a breath for a moment and calmly continued.

“The Knights of Tingnes are the central Knights of the Imperial Palace. I think it’s time to fill it up again, since he left the position of Knight Commander empty in such a place for 10 years.”

“Well.”

“The Noctis Elves will soon send a peace mission… Some of them may not have forgotten Sir Nellin’s name yet. Even if they have made up their mind to cause trouble, wouldn’t you give up that idea when you see Lord Nellin’s face?”

“That’s all?”

“Is there any other reason?”

Alexei had a beautiful smile on his face. The Emperor looked down at the cookie Alexei put down after taking a bite, and shook his hand.

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Alexei patted his cousin’s back, who suddenly started coughing, but it seemed to have embarrassed the girl more.

“Maternal grandfather…”

“Didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know I had any relatives other than my mom and dad…”

The light green eyes were at a loss. Alexei just stared at the face. He could see all sorts of thoughts on her little face as she vigorously brushed her flowing pink hair. Alexei smiled and went on.

“He’s a great knight, and I asked grandfatther to allow him to return to work.”

“Oh…”

Alexei looked down at his share of the scones that the girl had handed over.

– That’s all?

Knowing what he had asked their grandfather, Alexei replied, 

“…Anastasia, your parents… Uncle Yuriev and Aunt Irina probably won’t come to the palace.”

There are some exceptionally clear memories of childhood.

One of them was the face of his youngest uncle, who was firmly angry. The day he fought with the Emperor loudly, shouted, and cracked. Yuriev, who quietly woke him up in the middle of the night, hugged his beloved nephew hard and left the palace.

– I’ll never see you again, Alexei. My brother’s beloved son, my nephew. Because I love you.

He knew what that meant now.

The return of the youngest prince, who the Emperor tried to make the Crown Prince, to the imperial palace again, would also create a stir. An uncle he knows will not come to the palace on his own feet until the day he dies.

His cousin would probably not see her parents until the day she leaves the palace, because of him.

“It will be difficult to meet you until you leave the palace, so wouldn’t it be helpful to you if you had a maternal grandfather?”

– I want to go home.

When he said he would grant what she wanted, the first thing she said was that she wanted to go back home. Alexei knew. What his little cousin had in mind to bring it up.

She didn’t say it because she missed her parents because she was small and young, and she didn’t say it because she couldn’t adapt to the unfamiliar palace.

Whether someone had spoken to her or she enlightened herself, it was clear that the girl thought her presence would be a burden to Alexei.

Otherwise, she found out for the first time in her life that she had a grandfather on her mother’s side, and there was no way that she would make that face.

“Oh, no, Alyosha, I…”

The little girl looked at him in great embarrassment.

“I… I just need Alyosha!”

“…What?”

This time Alexei panicked and turned over the tea and put down the tea cup.

“Even if he is my maternal grandfather, I don’t even know if he is still here, who he was, what kind of person he is now…”

The girl shook her head violently.

“If it’s not because of me, I can’t help it, but if it’s because of me, can’t I cancel?”

“…he’s your grandfather. Don’t you miss him?”

“Adults always talk about boring things… Right now, it’s a little… I think it would be better to meet him together when I meet my mom and dad later.”

“But you’re still a family? You won’t be lonely when you meet…”

“Alyosha is family. I’m not lonely at all.”

The girl’s light green eyes glistened desperately. Without knowing why, one side of the heart was in pain as if it were stabbed with a curved needle.

Alexei unwittingly pulled back the hand he had held out to stroke the girl’s hair. With his fists clenched to hold back.

“…it can’t be helped. We need him to welcome this peace mission.”

“Oh…”

The girl mumbled that he couldn’t help it then, and thrust out her scones with jam and butter to him.

“Then… Then that’s really… It can’t be help…”

“Your maternal grandfather will be nice to you, but if he bothers you, tell me right away.”

“What’s Alyosha going to do for me?”

“I’m going to scold you not to bother our pea until she becomes a kidney bean.”

“I’m not a pea!”

“Really? Are you already a kidney bean?”

He grabbed a small cheek and pinched it, and it quickly turned red. She was going to take back the scone she was going to give him.

Alexei calmed the girl with a laugh, took the scones and put them in his mouth. The sweet taste, incomparable to the cookies he had put in his mouth in front of the Emperor, boosted his mood.

“Is it good?”

The girl was looking at him with an expectant look as if she had never grumbled.

“Very.”

Alexei smiled, and suddenly thought that he wished it looked like what Anastasia called a “real smile.” However, the reason for such an idea was unknown.

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“What should I do?”

Asha let out a sigh and pressed the butter in a small bowl with a spatula. The butter was gently crushed into a milky white color.

Carbohydrates were the right thing to make when you’re upset. She intended to escape from the problem by baking snacks. However, after hearing the name of “Tarjei Nellin” from Alexei, she hadn’t been able to stop sighing.

“Grandpa on your mother’s side?”’

Of course she had a family, because her mother wouldn’t have been born from an egg…

‘No, even if she was born from an egg, I would have a family. But she hasn’t seen him in ten years.’

She tried hard to traceback to the original, but she couldn’t remember. Did he apply for reinstatement in the original? Wouldn’t the Emperor have accepted it? Or would it have ended without a hitch even though he accepted it?

Whatever it was, it wasn’t a small problem.

‘Alyosha must really believe me. No, he can trust me…’

When he heard that his cousin’s maternal grandfather, who was left at the palace, was about to return to work, he thought ‘Yes! Let’s reinstate him!’

“The ground will sink. What’s so serious?”

Asha raised her head up. The chef with a grim face was looking at her.

“Pavel…”

Pavel was brewing tea in milk as she asked.

Mix sugar in gently beaten butter and the egg mixture, then sift almond powder and flour. Add half a teaspoon of Phoebe powder and deep milk tea brewed by Pavel to complete today’s cake dough.

Asha put the dough in a pretty teacup – something she got from harassing Pavel – and squatted in front of it.

“You know, Pavel. Are all your friends chefs too?”

“No, that’s a teacup, but to stick it in the oven… What are you talking about!”