CH 61

<You didn’t leave her at the palace to make her your successor in the first place, did you?>

The emperor stared at Shamal with disgust and sighed.

It was as he said. He left his granddaughter with the excuse of an extra heir, and it’s true that he hoped Alexei would be wary of his cousin, but that’s it. Why did he choose his granddaughter among other royal grandchildren who could serve as an extra heir to awaken that awareness?

<It was as if you deliberately left a strong impression of disliking earnest pleading, while secretly enjoying it.>

“What nonsense!”

The emperor strongly denied it, but the wind only giggled and laughed.

<Still, did she not seem to be satisfied with your last gift? I was right.>

“…How dare she not like it when I’ve done that much.”

The emperor spoke as if it were natural, but the wind, who knew clearly that the emperor was anxious at the girl’s reaction, made a round of laughter. Shamal laughed for such a long time and then stopped softly, contentedly.

<You speak as if your peach’s reaction isn’t very pleasing.>

“Well.”

<Doesn’t that habit change even after decades?>

The emperor looked down at the shadow of the wind with his eyes narrowed. He had already mastered how not to express his feelings in his childhood, and he had never been shaken since.

Those who rejoice in good things only incur enmity, and those who are sad in sad things only get attacked. And the emperor could not accept that such accumulated trivial and small mistakes could become a stumbling block at some point.

But the delightful face that his granddaughter showed, the heart that he saw…

<I’ve never told you before. In fact, until now, no human being has listened to me, so I have stopped talking about it.>

The wind swept through his hair.

<Mikhail, the day will come when you will regret not smiling at the child.>

The emperor wanted to snort, saying he had no regrets, but somehow he couldn’t say anything as if he had a cramp in his throat.

The laughter of the wind seemed to fade away, and a short storm swept out of the window and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

In the room, where the light of a gentle and soft candle was gently shaking, Asha was sitting down and feeding Alexei warm tea and snacks.

“That’s a lot. Did you send it to the Marquis of Tataricha?”

As Alexei looked at the tea party invitations lined up on the tray, Asha looked awkward.

“Yes, it keeps coming. Do I have to go there?”

“You don’t want to go? You could make friends. If it’s Marquis of Tataricha, there’s a lot of delicious food. The marquis’s wife is very interested in snacks.”

The words shook her a little, but Asha overcame the temptation.

“I don’t need any other friends because I have Alyosha.”

“Me and friends are different.”

“Make a lot of friends then, Alyosha. Because I really don’t need it.”

As Asha shook her head and stood, Alexei smiled as if he had finally lost and said, ‘You don’t have to go anywhere.’

“Come to think of it, Asha, Baroness Saratov is visiting tomorrow.”

“Ah~! I asked her to bring me some ingredients.”

“What ingredients?”

“Baroness Saratov is opening a patisserie in a little while… making cakes to sell there.”

Preparations for the patisserie held by Baroness Saratov were on the way.

Now all you have to do is refine the prototype a little more, overhaul the recipe, and hire a patissier.

“If I make it, I’ll give it to Alyosha, too.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

One might have felt it was a courteous response, but Asha couldn’t perceive it that way. The soft particles gently emanating from Alexei behind her were quietly undulating and reached her as well.

After such a leisurely chat, Asha, who was about to wrap up the tea party and go to bed, opened her eyes wide at the last topic.

“Kar, Karnov?”

“Well, and to another.”

Asha looked at Alexei with a disconcerted face.

‘The land where the mine is… Lumen Vasilice is too simple for Karnov?!’

It was said that the two estates received from Noctis Elves will be distributed to the aristocrats who have contributed.

One of them was to give Karnov, who fought against the Elves on the battlefield, and the other to another aristocrat.

“Who else…”

Asha asked and shook her head. Without having to hear an answer, she could tell by the airflow around Alexei.

‘I see. If I give one to this side, you have to give one to that side, so that’s why you can’t talk, right?’

Karnov was, so to speak, the closest to the imperial family, so he should share his credit with any of the nobles standing opposite the imperial family.

“Who will… and what will they get?”

“Well, I suppose it will be discussed and decided by grandfather and the advisors. It’s not a small matter.”

“I see…”

“Oh, our little bean doesn’t like the idea of Karnov receiving gifts?”

“Hmph! Karnov annoys me every day.”

Asha pouted her lips but repeatedly calculated.

One of the two territories was dormant with something shining white and transparent, and the other was nothing.

‘Ah… Is this an unfair choice?’

For some reason it seemed to be unfair, but still it seemed better for Karnov to have it than for the diamond mine to go to the aristocracy hostile to the imperial family.

“Sigh.”

“The little pea sighed. You don’t like it that much? Should I not give it?”

“…Not giving it at all is also a bit…”

Alexei burst into laughter when he heard what Asha said after much consideration. Asha glanced at Alexei like that, and filled his empty glass with warm ginger milk heated on a fuelled ceramic warmer.

“Hurry up and drink.”

“I’m done with drinking.”

“I made it, don’t you want two glasses?”

“If you say that, I can drink a hundred.”

“One more drink, not a hundred.”

Alexei began to cough in the morning, perhaps because of the accumulated fatigue. So it was ginger milk that Asha purposely heated.

Thanks to Alexei saying that he didn’t want to eat alone, Asha drank a glass cleanly. When Alexei’s glass was almost finished, Asha made up her mind.

She was worried because she hadn’t seen Karnov’s face since she told him about the spirit…

“Alyosha, can you call Karnov for me?”

“You said you hated him so much, do you want to see him now?”

“Alyosha!”

Alexei burst into laughter again as Asha shouted. Then he called a servant from outside, ordered something in a low voice, and sent them out.

“I asked him to come by tomorrow afternoon. What are you going to tell Karnov?”

“Well, I’m going to talk about Alyosha.”

“I don’t think it’s a compliment.”

“I’m going to form a group against the tyranny of Alyosha.”

“What tyranny did I do?”

“At the last dinner with the Elves, you ordered Karnov to bring me! How much Karnov complained to me that he had been tyrannized.”

“What? Really?”

“Then really…”

“That is a really unfortunate false accusation. Karnov said he would go first.”

“What?”

Asha opened her eyes wide. Alexei squinted his eyes and then smiled deeply.

“That’s what Karnov said? That I sent him?”

“Uh…”

Alexei stroked Asha’s head with only a smile as she was stuttering in embarrassment of becoming an unintended whistleblower.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The returning Knight Commander of the Tingnes, Tarjei Nellin, frowned at the sight of the maid, Lise, and the strange boy beside her.

“What do you want to do?”

“This is a child who was a slave to Prince Anastasia and was recently liberated. How about you teach him?”

“What did you say again? What do you want to do?”

“This is a child who was a slave to Prince Anastasia and was recently liberated. We want Nellin to teach…”

“Oh, my God!”

Tarjei, exclaimed, took a deep breath, and fanned his hands violently.

“So you’ve been staying at the palace all this time, hoping to give me this misfortune?”

“Don’t be so hard on me, Lord Nellin.”

“Hmph. Now it’s ‘Lord Nellin’ all the time? You don’t even call me your master.”

“Well, I learned a little self-defense when I was young. And it’s the palace, so I had to be cautious.”

“…You should’ve been more cautious about such things…”

“I don’t think it’s something you dare to say to His Majesty.”

Tarjei looked almost as if he wanted to scream, took a deep breath, and looked at the boy in front of him. The boy, Ivan, stood still with no change in expression.

“…Forget it, it’s fine. I was the one teasing you. So what about this one?”

“He’s a servant who will be a servant to Princess Anastasia, and she wants to teach him swordsmanship if possible.”

“Hmm.”

Tarjei looked down at Ivan with his arms folded with a thick wrinkled face, and suddenly he snapped a branch and tapped Ivan’s arms and legs around. Even though he stumbled, he stood up well.

“I like your bones. He has a sense of balance. If you learn well…”

Tarjei, who had been talking so far, suddenly stopped talking and opened his mouth again.

“I want to check how much strength you have. Can you run a little bit around the training grounds? About two or three laps.”

Lise quietly said to Ivan, ‘Would you run?’ and Ivan nodded and soon began to run through the training grounds. When Ivan reached the other side of the training grounds, Tarjei quietly opened his mouth.

“…Did the royal family entrust that child to me?”

“No. I said I would look for a good swordsmanship teacher.”

“…Yes, I see.”

Tarjei stared at Ivan, who was running silently. Lise lowered her eyes.

“Go ahead and say hello.”

‘To whom’ was omitted, but the meaning was clear.