The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 23

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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 Grand Princess Wants to Live in a Pastry Shop
23

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“……so what would you have me do?”
Even as they faced each other, Aleksei found himself feeling as though the Emperor were gazing down from some impossible height. That was the thought that crossed his mind as he regarded Mikhail.
“As for Lord Tariei Nelin……I understand the Vice Commander has kept the Commander’s seat vacant all these years, waiting for his return.”
“Yes. It’s been ten years now. Ten years, and suddenly he wants reinstatement. The man’s audacity is quite remarkable.”
Had Tariei Nelin possessed merely audacity, the Emperor would not have summoned the Grand Prince himself to discuss the Knight Commander’s reinstatement.
“What do you think? Should I grant this Reinstatement Application, or turn him away?”
The Emperor’s murky blue eyes flashed keenly as they fixed upon Aleksei. Aleksei took the Reinstatement Application the Emperor offered him—a sheet of paper bearing a few sparse, elegantly written lines.
Behind that paper, Aleksei’s mind turned to the small girl waiting for him in his chambers. That the Emperor had summoned him to discuss this reinstatement matter meant……
“Lord Tariei Nelin……though I have never met him myself, I understand he campaigned alongside Your Majesty for many years and has merit in securing the Northern Border. Ten years seems too short a span in which to forget such service.”
“Is that all?”
“……”
“I didn’t think you wouldn’t know. Then allow me to tell you.”
The Emperor rested his chin in his hand and opened his mouth.
“Ten years ago, my youngest son married his only daughter and abandoned everything to flee. At that time, he also severed relations with his own daughter, I’ve heard.”
Which is to say, Tariei Nelin was the maternal grandfather of Anastasia, the cousin sister waiting in Aleksei’s chambers. And the moment he’d learned his granddaughter had remained in the Imperial Palace, he’d sent word requesting reinstatement.
“I am aware of this, Your Majesty.”
“Yet you still advocate for his return?”
The Emperor’s eyebrows rose sharply.
After the death of his eldest son and the youngest, whom he’d groomed as successor, threw caution to the wind, married, and fled the palace, Mikhail had kept only his grandson Aleksei within the Imperial Palace, training him as the future emperor.
His keen intellect forgot nothing once heard, and his broad vision, timeless in its maturity, buttressed excellent judgment. Aleksei was born to command men. Beyond that, he’d honed his skill at reading people, and watching him was like observing a “perfect successor” given human form through painstaking craft.
Yet for all that, there remained one flaw that displeased the Emperor: Aleksei’s heart was far too soft.
“Your Majesty, why did he sever relations with his daughter?”
“Hmm?”
“I have heard it was because she harbored private feelings for the lord she would one day serve, abandoning her duty as a knight. Would such a steadfast knight as Lord Nelin entertain any thought other than obedience to Your Majesty’s will?”
“You mean to trust in his loyalty?”
“……If you put it that way, that would be rather naive thinking. The matter is rather……”
Aleksei paused to gather his breath, then continued calmly.
“The Tingnesu Knight Order is the central order of the Imperial Palace. Leaving the Commander’s seat vacant for ten years—surely it is time to fill it once more.”
“Hmm.”
“And soon, if I’m not mistaken, the Noctiis Elves will send a Peace Delegation. Among them will surely be those who have not forgotten Lord Nelin’s renown. Should any of them harbor dark intent, wouldn’t the mere sight of him dispel such thoughts?”
“That is all?”
“What other reason could there be?”
A graceful smile played across Aleksei’s face. The Emperor gazed for a moment at the Cookie Aleksei had begun eating but set down, then waved his hand in dismissal.

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Aleksei stroked his cousin’s back as she suddenly began coughing, though the gesture seemed only to fluster her further.
“Y-your grandfather?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Apart from Mother and Father, I had no idea there were other relatives at all……”
Her pale green eyes widened in confusion. Aleksei simply gazed at her, watching as countless thoughts flitted across her small face, her rose-pink hair falling loose as she tucked it aside with determination. He smiled softly and continued.
“He’s a magnificent knight, and he’s requested permission to return to service. I asked Your Majesty to grant it.”
“Ah……”
Aleksei looked quietly down at the Scone she’d handed him—his portion.

– That is all?

He knew what his grandfather had been pressing him about with that second question, yet Aleksei had answered simply: that was all.
“……Anastasia, your parents……Uncle Yuri and Aunt Irina likely won’t be coming to the Imperial Palace.”
Among childhood memories, a few stand out with particular clarity.
One of them is the face of his youngest uncle, livid with rage—the day he’d raised his voice against the Emperor, the day they’d shouted, and glass had shattered. It was that Yuri who’d quietly woken him in the dead of night, held his beloved nephew tight, and left the Imperial Palace.

– I won’t see you again, Aleksei. My brother’s only son, my nephew. Because I love you.

He understood what that meant now.
He grasped what upheaval the youngest imperial prince—the one the Emperor had tried to make Crown Prince—would stir up upon returning to the Imperial Palace. And if his uncle was the man he knew, he would never set foot in the palace again as long as he lived.
His cousin might never see their parents again before leaving the palace, all because of him.
“It will be difficult to meet until you leave the Imperial Palace, but wouldn’t it help if you at least had your maternal grandfather to rely on?”

– I want to go home.

When he said he would give her what she wanted, the girl’s first request was to return home. Aleksei understood. He knew what she was thinking when she said those words.
It wasn’t a thoughtless plea born from missing her parents because she was small and young, nor was it the weary cry of someone struggling to adapt to the unfamiliar Imperial Palace.
Whether someone had hinted at it to her or she had figured it out on her own, the girl clearly believed her very existence was a burden to Aleksei.
There was no other reason she would make such an expression upon learning for the first time that she had a grandfather.
“Ah, no, Aleksei, I…….”
The small girl looked up at him in visible distress.
“I just…… I just need Aleksei!”
“……What?”
This time it was Aleksei’s turn to be startled; he set down his teacup mid-sip.
“Even if you’re my grandfather, I didn’t even know you existed until now, and I don’t know who you are or what kind of person…….”
The girl shook her head vigorously.
“If it’s not because of me, then there’s nothing to be done, but if it is because of me, can’t you cancel it?”
“……Don’t you want to see your grandfather?”
“Adults always talk about boring things……. Right now is a little……. I think it would be nicer to see him together when I meet Mother and Father later.”
“But he’s family, isn’t he? You won’t feel lonely if you meet him…….”
“If he’s family, then I have Aleksei. I’m not lonely at all.”
The girl’s jade-green eyes sparkled with yearning. His heart twisted as if pierced by a curved needle, for reasons he couldn’t name.
Without thinking, Aleksei reached out to touch the girl’s hair, then forced his hand back down. He clenched his fist to restrain himself.
“……There’s no helping it. I need him to receive the Peace Delegation.”
“Ah…….”
The girl murmured something about there being no choice, then suddenly held out a scone generously spread with jam and butter.
“Then…… then that’s really…… no choice now…….”
“Your grandfather will take good care of you, but if he bothers you at all, tell me right away.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll have a word with anyone who troubles our little pea until she becomes a full-grown bean.”
“I’m not a pea!”
“No? Have you already become a bean?”
He gently pinched her small cheek and shook it; it flushed crimson in an instant. She even tried to take back the scone she’d offered him.
Aleksei laughed and coaxed her, then accepted the scone and popped it into his mouth. The sweetness was incomparably more delicate than the cookie he’d eaten before the Emperor, and it lifted his spirits.
“Does it taste good?”
The girl watched him with an expectant face, as if she hadn’t just been complaining moments before.
“Very much.”
Aleksei smiled, and for a moment he found himself hoping it looked like the “real smile” Anastasia had spoken of. But he couldn’t fathom why that thought had crossed his mind.

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‘What am I going to do.’
Asha let out a heavy sigh as she kneaded the butter in a small bowl with a spatula. The butter softened into a pale cream.
Carbohydrates were perfect for when she was anxious. She was baking as a form of escapism, if she was honest. But ever since she’d heard the name “Tariei Nelin” from Aleksei, the sighs hadn’t stopped coming.
‘A grandfather?’
Of course Mother would have family since she wasn’t born from an egg…….
‘Wait, no—she’d have family even if she was born from an egg. But not seeing him once in ten years?’
She’d racked her brains trying to remember the source material, but nothing came to her. Did he also submit a Reinstatement Application in the original story? Did the Emperor refuse him? Or did he accept but then nothing came of it?
Either way, it was no small matter.
‘Aleksei really does trust me. But even so…….’
When she’d suddenly heard that her cousin’s maternal relative had submitted a Reinstatement Application to stay at the palace, what had she been thinking to blurt out, “Yes, let’s reinstate him!”?
“Look at you—the whole world’s caving in. What’s got you so worked up?”
Asha looked up. Pavel, the gruff-faced head chef, was watching her.
“Pavel…….”
Pavel was steeping black tea in milk just as she’d asked him to.
Soft butter is creamed with sugar, then eggs are beaten in. Once that’s done, almond flour and wheat flour are sifted in together. Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder and the strong milk tea Pavel has brewed—these go in last, and today’s cake batter is ready.
Anastasia poured the batter into a lovely teacup—one she’d coaxed out of Pavel through sheer persistence—set it in the oven, and then crouched down in front of it to watch.
“Tell me, Pavel—are all your friends cooks too?”
“Wait, wait—do you have any idea how much that teacup costs? You can’t just shove it in the oven like that… What are you doing!”

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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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