CH 72

Even when the second act started after a short break after the first act.

“Anyway, the relationship between the two of them is better than I thought.”

“I mean. Doesn’t the crown prince think of the princess as a competitor?”

“Prince Valery approached Prince Anastasia and was scolded by the crown prince.”

“Yes, yes. I heard that happened at the victory ball. How much does the crown prince care about his cousin?”

“By the way, it seems that His Highness Valery still hasn’t given up. Tsk tsk.”

The mournful voices of the nobles soon dissipated.

“But Princess Anastasia, isn’t she still young? She’s only ten, right?”

“Yes, she’ll be ten years old on her next birthday.”

“Even though she’s just ten, she’s really well-behaved.”

“Our child never stays still, always running around like a rabbit that stole coffee.”

“Is your child the same?”

“Well, kind of.”

After the performance ended, the moment the curtain call went up and the main cast appeared, the princess they had been stealing glances at all night, jumped to her feet. Even so, she didn’t stand out because she was small.

“Oh my, how adorable. She watched the performance diligently and even gave a standing ovation.”

“It seems like you were only watching the princess and not the performance.”

“Well, I came here to see the relationship between the two anyway. I’ve seen the performance more than five times.”

“Haha, let’s stand up and applaud too.”

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

However, the reason Asha jumped out of the audience and ran straight to the back door of the theater was not because she was moved by the stage.

‘That woman!’

The brown-haired maid who stood out for her exceptional singing voice was the same woman who had spat out the cake right in front of the patisserie.

“No wonder her vocalization was good.”

Even at that time, she had thought that her voice was strangely clear. It turns out she used to be an opera singer.

In fact, finding her didn’t mean that she decided to do something right away. She might have just been a person with a picky taste who didn’t like the cake, or someone with a difficult personality.

However, there was something unsettling about it.

Alexei, seeing that Asha was looking for the brown-haired singer, draped a coat over Asha’s shoulders.

“Asha, even though winter is over, the nights are still chilly. Why don’t you wait inside the carriage?”

“It’s okay! It’s not that cold. I just want to see that person’s face…”

“Butler, how did you manage to find your way all the way here?”

And before Asha could finish speaking, a small yet sharp voice resounded from the other side of the alley. Contrary to her stage appearance, the woman, wearing a plain cloak, uttered sharp words one after another with frightening speed.

“And I told you that I would never do that again. Don’t come back again unless you give me more money! No, even if you give me more money… don’t… come…”

“Which butler are you looking for?”

With a voice mixed with annoyance and fear, the woman, who had been hastily rambling, finally noticed the little girl’s shoe stuck in front of her.

After seeing Asha, the luxurious carriage behind her, the escorting knights, and the servants, the woman was stunned. Asha approached the woman with quick steps.

“You! You’re the woman who caused a scene in front of our patisserie!”

“W-who, no, I need to go see who called me…”

“I called you. It’s you, right? Who hired you? Who told you to do such a thing?”

“W-what are you talking about…”

The woman started to panic, with a clear expression of fear, as if she had guessed her identity from the people around her and Asha’s luxurious attire.

“I need to go, um, pick up my child quickly…”

It was then.

From the alley where the woman came out, small and impatient footsteps rang out, and soon a childish voice calling “Mom!” came out. A boy even smaller than Asha ran quickly towards the woman without hesitation.

“Mom! Your singing was amazing today…”

“N, Niki. Come here. Quickly!”

The woman turned white and hurriedly sent the child behind her back, as if trying to hide her own child.

Amidst this, Asha was still able to catch a glimpse of the child’s face and attire. The thin face, neat but worn-out clothes and oversized shoes, even the bruised back of the hand.

As tears began to form in the eyes of the woman who was at a loss in front of the child and the people around her, Asha was stunned.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The woman, Zoya Asmus, was at a loss after revealing the child’s appearance to them.

A noble, fueled by anger and curiosity, had conducted a background investigation and had come all the way to the theater. It was clear that the guards surrounding them were not mere security personnel.

Holding the child’s hand tightly, Zoya had no other choice but to desperately plead with the girl. Promising to reveal everything if only they spared the child, she sobbed uncontrollably. The startled girl quickly helped her up.

“I,I truly don’t know who it is. I don’t even know which noble household they serve.”

“But how did you know that the person who hired you was a butler?”

“Well, if someone who’s not a noble acts like a noble and no one questions it, it can only be the butlers of the nobles.”

Zoya spoke quickly in an anxious and restless voice, but when her eyes met with her young son, Niki, who was playing with a kite near Vichegda River, she smiled brightly.

When the Vichegda River froze in the middle of winter, people would often came out to the river and fly lanterns. Niki, who had never done this before, was excited because it was a game that only rich people enjoyed. At first, he didn’t want to leave his mother’s side, but when Zoya tried to calm him down and gave him a lantern, his curiosity was piqued.

So while Alexei’s attendants were taking care of Niki, Asha was interrogating Zoya from a distance. When the child turned his head to chase after the wind lantern, Zoya dropped her head down.

“Just because they gave me 1.5 million karousas.”

“1.5 million?”

“Niki’s old clothes were props from the last opera, but it was hard to get. My rent was two months overdue… Going up on stage as a minor role in the opera costs money instead… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said this.”

Zoya shook her hand in a hurry.

“What I meant was… I was in urgent need of money, and someone happened to make such an offer. They said if I just said a few words criticizing the taste and calling the dessert made by a one-handed deserter as tasteless, they would give me 1.5 million karousas.”

Zoya apologized, regretting her actions even though she was desperate for money. Asha shook her head with a calm expression on her face.

‘What’s the use of getting angry at someone who knows nothing about it?’

Asha, who just told her not to do this again and parted with her, pursed her lips at the thought that suddenly came to her mind.

‘But where is her husband?’

As if she had noticed Asha’s inner thoughts, Zoya lowered her eyes with a slightly bitter face.

“Once he found out about Niki… he stopped contacting me and disappeared.”

“Ah…”

In the end, Asha’s frustration boiled over, and she spoke sharply.

“So, did you receive the 1.5 million karousas?”

“Y-yes… I did?”

“You went to such lengths just to receive that money. Did you receive it?”

Zoya seemed to be at a loss for what to do, but she appeared to have successfully obtained the money. Asha, with a troubled expression on her face, looked at Niki, who was flying a kite in the distance, and took off her thin gloves that she had been wearing.

“I recognized you because you sang so well.”

“…What?”

“One of the chorus members sang better than the female lead, so I kept looking at them because I was wondering what kind of singer they were, and that’s how I found out.”

“Oh…”

Zoya didn’t seem to understand what she heard for a moment. Asha, who gave an excuse that summer was coming to an end soon, and that at night she was not very cold, and that she had grown tired of her gloves, hesitated before finally handing the gloves to Zoya and returning to the carriage.

Zoya, the pure white gloves adorned with pearls and a white satin ribbon in her hands, was unsure of what to do, but when she saw the approaching figure who was difficult to discern as either a young man or a boy, she quickly extended the gloves towards him.

“S, she left this behind, so…”

“Keep it.”

When Zoya tasted a sense of intimidation she had never felt before in the cool blue eyes of her opponent, her hands trembled and she dropped her gloves.

Alexei leaned down and picked up his cousin’s gloves that fell at Zoya’s feet. And he asked Zoya in a soft voice.

“I have a question for you. Do not lie, but answer me.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Was there a scar under the eyes of the butler who came to see you?”

“Scar… Oh, there was a wrinkle-like mark under his left eye…”

Zoya replied, groping hastily under her left eye. Alexei smiled broadly and held Asha’s gloves again, which Zoya had dropped.

“It’s a glove made of valuable pearls, so selling it will make money.”

“I,I couldn’t possibly accept something like this…”

“If you were trying to deceive that child, I wouldn’t forgive you.”

Zoya felt a shiver run down her spine as she heard Alexei’s words, felt a threatening heat somewhere, but she couldn’t move.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

<The singer smelled of Prasti.>

‘What?’

Asha, who was flipping a pancake, looked back at the little chick sitting on the counter with a serious expression.

‘You mean that… the fragment of the Sword of Sin, Prasti?’

<Yes.>

‘Does Zoya have Prasti in her?’

<No. It seems that she made contact with the person who bears Prasti. The smell was so faint that I didn’t notice it at first but since I started gaining back my power…>

It was Phoebe’s story that she had noticed the slow return of her power recently. Seeing Asha’s surprised expression, Phoebe wiped her own beak with her small yellow wing.

<It’s all due to you. Looks like Karnov is interacting with his spirit smoothly. Although I don’t think they’re having a conversation yet.>

<The Spirit of Time? So, if Karnov does that, will your powers come back?>