The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Villainess Crown Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House
Chapter 18

“What—what?”
Asha’s eyes went wide. Pibi clicked his beak as if stating the obvious.

Pibi trailed off mid-sentence, his beak twisting as if he wanted to speak but couldn’t. While Asha stewed in frustration over this riddle-like exchange, Pibi suddenly took wing and chirped sharply.

“Do you have a way right now?”

Asha narrowed her eyes.
“This is serious. This is grave.”

“…Really?”

Is that so? Asha tilted her head. She’d noticed the attendants wearing more layers, so perhaps there was something to it.
“So just eating sweets is enough? You’re sure?”

Pibi retreated back into the button decoration. And in that same instant, Asha clenched her fist and bolted toward Aleksei’s chamber.
She brushed past the startled attendants and burst in to find Aleksei wearing a pale, thin smile over his exhausted face. Upon seeing Asha’s flushed features, he seemed to think better of something and waved the servants away.
The deep, low blue hue that clung around him—was it sorrow, melancholy, or fear? Asha stood deliberating until she suddenly let out a shout.
“It’s Paphnir who can’t control it!”
“…What?”
At those words, a shadow of flame bloomed and wavered near Aleksei.
“If Aleksei didn’t have the aptitude and ability in the first place, Paphnir wouldn’t have made a contract with him. Why would a Spirit King contract with someone lacking capability?”
Aleksei’s expression became serene as he grasped the meaning of her sudden outburst.
“…But that’s because I was so desperate back then…”
“Who isn’t desperate?”
Asha drew a sharp breath and gripped Aleksei’s hand. He flinched but didn’t pull away.
“When I held my Spirit Ceremony, not a single person smiled. You saw it yourself, didn’t you? Everyone wanted to contract with the Spirit King but couldn’t—not one person was happy about it. Every single one of them was desperate. But Aleksei alone succeeded in contracting with the Spirit King because Aleksei has the aptitude!”
“That’s…”
“What’s wrong with being angry? What’s wrong with laughing from the heart? I’ve already gotten angry at you, and nothing happened.”
At Asha’s words, Aleksei’s face went pale.
“It’s Paphnir who can’t control it—not Aleksei. Whether Aleksei laughs or gets angry, nothing will happen. It’s obvious. So why…why do you think that way?”
“Mama said…”
Aleksei’s voice shattered like thin ice. Asha drew in a sharp breath. A tidal wave of deep blue seemed to surge from Aleksei and sweep over her.
“Father died. After contracting with Paphnir…”
Aleksei continued with his azure eyes cast downward, trembling.
“When I was five, Father was an emotionally volatile man…and ultimately couldn’t control Paphnir’s strength. That’s why my Spirit Ceremony happened in such haste.”
Asha fell silent, her face ashen. The matter came back to her in fragments. Aleksei’s father, Nikolai, had contracted with Paphnir, but as Aleksei said, never ascended to Crown Prince and died young. And yet…
‘…That’s not what happened at all….’
Emperor Mikhail had deemed that Nikolai, his eldest son—sensitive, weak-hearted, and passionately volatile—did not suit the imperial throne.
And so, in his stead, he resolved to name the youngest son, Yuri, who though he had not contracted with the Spirit King, possessed the keenest intellect among his children, as Crown Prince.
Learning this, Nikolai threw himself into raging fire not long after, unable to accept his father’s decision. From that point on, all else followed as history knew it.
The youngest prince left the Imperial Palace in fiery fury at his father for driving his elder brother to death, and the Emperor cast all his other sons out of the palace as well, their abilities lacking.
When Aleksei, Nikolai’s only son, contracted with Paphnir, the Emperor appointed him Crown Prince.
‘Was that why he’s held to such a control method all this time? Thinking his father lost control of the Spirit to his emotions and died?’
“No. Aleksei, that’s not it! You’re Aleksei. You’re not like your uncle. If Aleksei doesn’t wish it, nothing will happen.”
“But the Imperial Palace has been…ever since I contracted with Paphnir, it’s been going on until now…”
“That’s just Paphnir doing as he pleases! Excited! Happy to have contracted with Aleksei!”
At Asha’s cry, Aleksei’s face was confused and dazed—there was barely time for him to ask how she knew.
Aleksei swayed slightly before sinking back down. The red shadow that began to shimmer near him wavered with increasing intensity.
“I underwent the Spirit Ceremony suddenly and contracted with Paphnir without understanding anything. I didn’t even know I had contracted not with a candle Spirit, but with the Spirit King of Fire. I only learned it after I returned from the ceremony, when Halba Mama told me. At that moment, I…”
Aleksei’s eyes began to glisten rapidly. Asha covered her mouth with her hand.
“I couldn’t even…cry.”
With each blink, tears fell from Aleksei’s eyes. He seemed terribly perplexed by his own state, merely pressing his hand to his eyes.
The murky, ash-gray wave that pressed down from Aleksei stole her breath. Asha steadied herself with effort, pulling him close with trembling arms.
“Whether you cry or laugh, whether you’re angry with me—nothing changes. Not for me.”
She’d meant to embrace him, but found herself cradled instead in his arms.
There, clutching his shirt, she heard only the rapid beating of his heart—a heart that seemed to speak of long, aching loneliness. And in that same moment, a fierce crimson current rose and blazed, wrapping around Aleksei and drawing him deeper into its warmth.

* * *

After she’d let him cry his fill, Aleksei fell ill. The court physician made his diagnosis—exhaustion, accumulated fatigue, a mild case of body aches—and departed.
“That’s it? Just the diagnosis? No medicine? You’re not giving him anything?”
Asha, back in her own chamber at Lis’s insistence, spoke from the bed with evident bewilderment. Lis soothed her with a gentle voice.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince… medicines do not work on him. And so…….”
“Ah.”
She’d heard before that poison had no effect on him. It seemed medicine worked the same way.
Even after Lis had settled her in and left, Asha couldn’t sleep. She paced restlessly until at last she knocked on Aleksei’s door again. Kiril opened it, his face shadowed with concern.
“Your Highness Anastasia.”
“I’m worried about him. I came back. Is he still asleep?”
Kiril nodded. Asha sat at the head of Aleksei’s bed. On the side table, a single small candlestick burned with a gentle glow.
<What am I supposed to do about this, hmm?!>
Then came a sharp crack, and Asha nearly gasped aloud before catching herself. Kiril, standing a little distance away, tilted his head slightly. Asha waved her hand dismissively and turned her attention to the candlestick on the table. The flame burned now bright and crackling, like a log fire, quite unlike before.
‘You’re not…… surely not…….’
<You brat! How dare you speak to my contractor without permission!>
<Give me a break! What am I supposed to do? Our boy won’t wake up!>
<This is your fault for being so careless! Figure it out! And don’t you dare speak to our boy!>
Asha barely held onto her scattered thoughts as the candlelight blazed and the embroidery on her pajama sleeve grew clearer and clearer.
‘Pibi! Pibi, wait. Be quiet for a moment. Is this…… Paphnir?’
<Yes! Finally, my name is spoken!>
<Your name should be heard from your own contractor, not from her!>
<How can my name be called when my contractor lies asleep like that! So, what do we do about this, hmm? Aleksei won’t wake up.>
Her mind threatened to scatter again. Asha forced herself to focus.
‘Until now I never heard Paphnir’s voice. How is he able to speak now?’
<Because of you! Well, because of me!>
Pibi tried to interject, but Asha wrapped her hand around her pajama sleeve. The candlelight flickered sharply.
<Hmph, whether that other spirit understands or not, it’s because of you! Since the Spirit Realm and Human Realm were divided and darkness came between them, a Spirit cannot speak unless the contractor recognizes them first……>
‘The Spirit Realm and Human Realm were divided? They were connected before?’
<Well…… it’s ancient history. In any case, it’s all thanks to you pulling me out.>
‘You mean I pulled you out?’
Asha questioned this in utter confusion, and the candlelight flickered with agitation. A bit of wax spattered.
<You stared at me so fiercely that I wouldn’t speak to Aleksei, as though you might kill me.>
‘I didn’t glare at you like I wanted to kill you! ……But that’s how we could start talking? I’m not even your contractor.’
Asha blinked in surprise, and Pibi grew smug instead.
<To perceive something truly is itself to open the channel of communion. Even with a being you think you could never speak to. It proves you have the qualifications of a contractor to me. This is why I am the greatest Spirit, Asha.>
The candlelight—now burned down to a stub—still shone bright as the full moon, while Pibi continued as if unheard.
<All this time, no matter how much strength I poured out, I could only watch Aleksei from afar, unable to speak to a single soul……>
Pibi gasped at this.
<What a mad Spirit! No wonder this place stays warm even in the depths of winter!>

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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