Tatkan blinked for a while, then flew around the ceiling excitedly as if truly happy and spoke hurriedly.

[You can understand what I’m saying! How joyous! How can this not be a happy occasion! You must help Asti!]

Latifa was inwardly surprised by the very polite and mature tone, unlike the impolite speech he usually imitated.

‘Tatkan is truly an intelligent animal. He speaks very well, like Caesar.’

“It’s a secret that I can talk to you. If you keep that secret, I’ll help Princess Asti as much as I can.”

“Alright, that’s a promise even a bird brain can keep!”

Tatkan was so happy that he shouted loudly with his beak, not his spirit, and came down to the floor to rest his head on Latifa’s palm. Then the silver spirit became a bit darker and spoke to her.

[The Sultan told her to go to the madrasa. Asti doesn’t want to go. She has no friends but me. No one likes Asti.]

‘The madrasa must be the school for literary studies inside the harem. I guess even princesses are no exception?’

“Madrasa? She doesn’t have to go if she doesn’t want to. Asti is a princess after all.”

[Asti still can’t read. She needs to go to the madrasa to study. Also, the Sultan ordered Asti to make friends. Asti can’t make friends. Asti is a noble princess!]

‘What a true father.’

Latifa smiled bitterly, recalling Princess Asti’s usual somewhat spoiled behavior. She had thought the Sultan just doted on her, but he turned out to be an ideal father who did what needed to be done.

[No one talks to Asti during break time at the madrasa. Tatkan doesn’t like Asti being sad. Tatkan is a Frau.]

Tatkan weakly rested his beak on Latifa.

“I see. I understand you because I’m a Frau too. But friends… That’s a bit difficult since we can’t force them to be made.”

Latifa suddenly felt drained by this unexpected problem. She fiddled with a round peony bud from the sack Hades had given her.

‘It’s a Frau’s duty to please their master. Tatkan must be very upset too. Especially since he’s a highly intelligent animal who can speak freely, he must know everything.’

Oh. But…

‘Being able to speak means he could also attract attention from others.’

Children naturally like interesting and new things. Of course, Tatkan being a mynah bird meant that speaking wasn’t particularly special, but that wasn’t the important part.

‘What Tatkan says is the key.’

Suddenly struck by an idea, Latifa excitedly said to Tatkan:

“Tatkan, are there many children at the madrasa? There’s something you can do for Asti! I’ll help you!”

“The bird brain will help?”

“Please stop calling me bird brain. And you’re the bird brain here.”

Latifa smiled and touched Tatkan’s beak.

Ever since arriving at this Grand Bazaar, there was nothing that wasn’t frightening.

But, because I believe you’re there even if I can’t see you.

I take another step forward today.

Latifa stood up, tightly clutching the precious gift Hades had risked his life to bring into the harem.

‘It’s okay even if he doesn’t see me as a woman. We are…’

Latifa’s steps along the corridor were filled with unprecedented confidence.

‘We have a relationship more special than that.’

Because she was his happiness, his Frau.

**

The next day.

“That’s an Imperial slave. She’s even whiter than the Imperials I’ve seen before.”

“I know her. She’s supposed to be General Hades’ Frau.”

“I heard she’s not anymore?”

Latifa stood in front of the entrance to the building leading to the madrasa, enduring the sharp gazes and whispers of the desert children.

Slightly older girls gathered on a terrace-like area through large windows to look down, while younger girls Asti’s age sat on the windowsills of the lower floor, staring up.

“I won’t go.”

“Oh my, Princess. It’s an order from the Sultan, so we have no choice. The teacher might whip you when he arrives soon.”

“You take the whipping!”

Asti’s maids were struggling with the princess, who was shaking her head, refusing to go.

“Let her be if she won’t come. What use is it for a princess to learn to read? She can just have her maids read to her.”

“Right. No matter how much the Sultan favors her, she’s still an outsider of semi-royal blood when she marries. No reason to be friendly with that personality.”

“She’s never shared her snacks even once. No wonder she’s getting so fat.”

The young girls gossiped about Asti, glancing out the window loudly enough for her to hear.

It hurt Latifa to hear this about a complete stranger, so how must the actual target feel? Her heart ached.

Latifa approached Asti, who had large tears hanging in her eyes, and warmly held her hand.

“Princess. If you just go for today, I’ll tell you what the Moon Goddess dress I wore in the Empire looked like. It was even prettier than the one the Golden Princess supposedly wore.”

“…Really?”

There was no way Latifa had a Moon Goddess dress in the Empire, but Asti was still too young to notice such things.

“Yes! We might even be able to cut cloth and make one together. So please just go today.”

Latifa said this while silently praying for Tatkan, perched on Asti’s shoulder, to succeed.

“Well… I’ll go just for today then.”

Asti puffed out her cheeks and swung a white calfskin wallet containing charcoal, quill pens, paper, and books over her shoulder.

“Tatkan will go with you, so you won’t be lonely. Making friends can be fun. You might even find a friend to make clothes with.”

Latifa understood the princess’s loneliness well, as no one had played with her when she was a princess either.

Of course, in Latifa’s case, it was a bit different as she had deliberately avoided associating with any nobles to appear uninterested in the succession struggle, but the loneliness of self-imposed isolation was no different.

‘If I had had a female friend my age, maybe even that desolate palace would have been a bit better. Princess Asti needs friends her own age too.’

How envious she had been of the young ladies invited to tea parties and dance parties, coming to the palace in groups of three or five in gorgeous dresses, chattering about which young man was handsome, which book was interesting, or which dessert was delicious.

The older you get, the harder it is to make friends, and Latifa didn’t want Asti to experience that loneliness.

“I’m only going to attend morning classes! I won’t do afternoon classes! You hear me? Do you understand?!”

Asti pleaded earnestly with her maids, waved to Latifa, and headed towards the madrasa.

‘Tatkan. I’m counting on you. You remember everything I told you yesterday, right?’

[I’m not a bird brain, so of course.]

Tatkan’s white tail feathers fluttered slightly as he followed Asti.

“Phew, good job. The princess’s stubbornness is something else, isn’t it?”

The maids following Asti comforted Latifa.

“You go back to the palace first. I’ll stay here in case Princess Asti comes out early.”

“Oh, thank you! I hope the princess finishes her lessons safely. The madrasa teacher is scary even to us when angry.”

When Latifa volunteered to stay, the maids rushed off to the kitchen, saying they should prepare snacks for the princess.

After sitting crouched on a rock beside the fine white sand-covered ground under the leather awning in front of the madrasa entrance for a while.

Through the windowsill, the sound of the madrasa’s writing teacher reading a boring book drifted over, and Latifa found herself nodding off without realizing it.

‘This is really boring. No wonder the princess doesn’t want to study.’

Latifa had never systematically learned the desert language, so while she could read and speak it, she wasn’t confident in her spelling or grammar.

−17th Princess, you’re learning so quickly!

Hearing the sound of studying the desert language suddenly reminded her of someone praising her from the edge of a distant memory.

‘That administrative scribe who helped me study the desert language in the palace library back then. I wonder if he survived the chaos and is still alive?’

He was a young man who seemed to have clear eyes and looked intelligent.

If someone asked Latifa who her first love was from those hazy memories, she might name that young man.

Although she hadn’t felt any romantic flutter for him then, Latifa had been captivated by the reassuring situation of someone helping her.

Perhaps she had studied the desert language even harder to receive more praise from him.

He was the one who had struggled to get her a desert language dictionary. He had learned the pronunciation of unknown languages from somewhere and taught her.

‘R.P…. I hope he’s alive.’

As Latifa was reminiscing about the imperial library, a clear bronze bell rang, signaling the end of the first class and the start of break time.

And as soon as the bell stopped, Tatkan’s voice could be heard speaking in a loud and beautiful tone through the window.

“You all!”

‘Ah, it’s starting!’

Latifa held her breath and listened intently to Tatkan’s voice from under the windowsill.

“Do you know of the brave hero Harsept and the beautiful dancer Suriya! Do you know of their fourth journey that no one has known since the third journey? Tatkan, Princess Asti’s Frau and storyteller, wishes to tell of that journey here.”

“What? What story?”

“Could it be the sequel to the Harsept Hero Tales?!”

“Princess, do you know the sequel?”

The sound of girls murmuring a little was followed by silence falling all around.

Tatkan began to teasingly unfold the story of the Harsept Hero Tales as Latifa had taught him the night before.

‘Manut definitely said that. No one knows the plot after the 3rd book. I don’t know if what I know is really written by the author of that book, but it’s definitely interesting. The children will all be captivated.’

“Our Harsept, training with his sword day and night for the kidnapped Suriya. O Kalruups, protect them.”

The break time was 10 minutes.

During those 10 minutes, Tatkan was doing very well, not forgetting the story and even adding interjections.

She had been waiting outside in case Tatkan forgot the story, but this little mynah bird was so clever, or perhaps he liked Asti that much, that he passionately brought the story to life.

The Harsept Hero Tales she had read dozens, no, hundreds of times. She had endured her lonely life in the palace for days and nights, thrilled by the stories of heartbreaking love and adventure.

When Latifa stood on her tiptoes to peer through the window, the children were not just entranced but crowded around Asti like clouds to listen to the story.

−Ding, ding.

As soon as the bell signaling the end of break time rang, Tatkan abruptly cut off the story.

“The next part of the story will be in the next break!”

“Aww, how can you do that!”

“Princess Asti, please tell him to continue the story!”

“Is this really the story of the unknown 4th book?! Princess, do you know the whole Hero Tales story?! You’re amazing!”

The Harsept Hero Tales that men and women, young and old of the desert people supposedly read with interest, and the Harsept Hero Tales that made everyone cry because no one knew the ending.

‘I know that ending.’

Latifa chuckled and looked fondly at Asti. She was blushing, not used to being surrounded by friends.

But she was chattering away excitedly, thrilled that her friends were speaking to her first with words of goodwill.

It would be busy having to tell the rest of the story today, tomorrow, and continuously, but what did that matter if she could see such a beautiful sight?

“He’s my Frau! My master’s joy! Tatkan, you’ll tell us more next time, right?!”

“Anything for the princess.”

Tatkan said, scratching his head with his leg.

In the end, Asti ate her lunchbox at the madrasa that day, attended all the afternoon classes, and walked out proudly on her own feet.