The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 26
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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 Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Confectionery
Chapter 26
“Imperial Etiquette is what I need when addressing His Majesty. Or when the Duke addresses me. Not when Asha does.”
“……!”
“……!”
Startled, Asha hid her sharp intake of breath by quickly wrapping her arms around Aleksei’s neck and burying her face against him.
“I heard Ilya was ill. Perhaps the journey to the Imperial Palace during this cold season has worn him out.”
Valery’s smile seemed ready to crack open into laughter at any moment. Asha felt ice slide down her spine and could only swallow hard, again and again.
“Worn out…… well, it’s hardly a difficult journey. Our home isn’t far from here. The boy is simply rather delicate by nature.”
“How fortunate that it’s so close. You’ll be able to return in no time. And the Duke as well, of course.”
Aleksei smiled faintly, offered a few words about going ahead to check on things, and turned away with Asha still cradled in his arms.
* * *
“…….”
“…….”
“……Am I too heavy?”
“You’d have to grow considerably before that became a concern.”
Lis, following behind them, looked positively moved by Aleksei’s tenderness. Only Asha, nestled in his embrace, could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry. That was supposed to be your chance to speak with the Duke, and I robbed you of it.”
“No, you didn’t!”
Asha burst out the words and gripped his collar more tightly.
‘I won’t speak with him—I won’t even step in his shadow if I can help it.’
“I told you, I don’t need anything as long as I have you…….”
Nothing frightens me! What have I to fear when the future Emperor stands at my side? Asha thought fiercely to herself.
And setting aside all questions of the future, Valery simply didn’t appeal to her. True, a brother has no obligation to support a struggling sister, but what was endearing about an uncle who’d had no contact for ten years, only to appear now and lecture her about propriety? Nothing at all.
‘Besides, befriending that man leads only to ruin.’
A prince who never became heir, growing close to his own niece? Aleksei might forgive it, but she couldn’t predict what Karno would do.
‘Mountains upon mountains upon mountains.’
As for Aleksei…….
Asha lifted her head slightly to study his profile. His blue eyes, fixed ahead, shifted toward her and softened into warmth.
She’d always believed he resented her, or that his smiles were mere courtesy. But she’d been wrong. It had all been a misunderstanding born of her own desperation, her anxiety, her preconceptions, and the false future she thought she knew.
‘Compared to how he looked at Uncle Valery, what he gives me is practically like falling petals.’
‘He could have been clearer about it!’
“Asha? What are you staring at?”
“Huh? Oh, your face.”
“What about it?”
“It’s beautiful.”
“You’re the beautiful one.”
Asha had to look away; the light seemed almost blinding. Aleksei spoke with his eyes closed, smiling, and she could swear he glowed like a saint in a painting.
“That…… no, I mean, no…….”
She didn’t think she could endure whatever came next. Instead, she pressed her forehead against his shoulder, dodging further conversation. Aleksei didn’t tease her; he simply laughed softly.
* * *
After clearing the air between them, Aleksei became more openly honest with her than ever, just as his guard Kiril had said he would. Truly honest.
‘People really do need sweets. Next time I’ll try adding tea leaves, or spreading fruit jam on top before baking.’
Asha gazed down at the cookie in her half-eaten hand. Sweet crystals dissolved delicately on her tongue. The kitchen had been busy with preparations for the Victory Ball over the past week, so she’d prepared a batch of Sable Dough all at once and frozen it, baking a few cookies at a time whenever she found a spare moment.
“By the way, Asha.”
Asha looked up from her reflections on cookies. Aleksei set down his cup and smiled faintly—but mischief glinted beneath that smile, and Asha swallowed nervously.
Where once his smile had seemed cold, it was now impish. And ever since the victory parade, when he called her name, there was something distinctly teasing in his tone.
“Um…… yes?”
“I heard you said you wouldn’t attend the Victory Ball tomorrow.”
“…….”
‘I’ve been trying not to think about that.’
“So you’re planning to have a stomachache at the Victory Ball tomorrow?”
“……There won’t be anyone there I know. It doesn’t seem like it’d be fun anyway.”
“Fun or not, I’ll keep you company.”
“But still…….”
“Are you afraid of something?”
Yes, there is! There is, I tell you! Really, there is!
But if she admitted it, Aleksei would clearly wrap her up tight from start to finish with that grinning face of his and drag her off to the ball.
“Is it because of Marquis Shapirokin……? Your uncle Valery?”
“What? Who……? Oh, no, it’s not that.”
“Right, it doesn’t seem like it. You didn’t even remember him until I mentioned it.”
At Aleksei’s words, Asha felt a little embarrassed. In the meantime, Aleksei rested his chin on his hand, closed his eyes, and smiled.
“My friend will be there too, so it’d be good to meet him this time.”
Asha buried her face in her teacup as if she didn’t want to hear it. It was precisely because of that friend Aleksei was talking about that she wouldn’t go!
‘Absolutely not!’
The friend Aleksei kept mentioning could only be Karno. And that Karno had his own rigid philosophy of action. Raised in the Northern Army from childhood, his sense of justice, tempered by harsh experience, carried the cold of the north and was harder than steel.
Karno had lived to make Aleksei emperor with that justice…….
‘He’ll really try to chew me up and spit me out, won’t he? I’m just selling Pibi powder to make a little money, just until I find—yes, that girl with the power of stability…….’
Asha lifted her head slightly and glanced at Aleksei. Here was a boy who even knew how to joke around.
“But if you’re your friend’s, then he probably won’t like me…….”
Just as Asha was stammering through this, there came a sharp bang and the Crown Prince’s door swung open without warning. The moment Asha recognized who had burst in, her face went pale.
‘A tiger, a tiger! How does he show up the moment you mention him?!’
The one who had opened the door with both hands and entered was a boy around Aleksei’s age with hair so black it gleamed silver. Yet from those sharply glowing violet eyes, one could not discern his true age.
It was none other than Karno, the very person she had encountered at the triumph ceremony not long before. Around him hung not a shred of visible emotion.
“Karno, you came?”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, I just heard an interesting story…….”
The blue lining of the military coat draped over Karno’s shoulders fluttered. By all appearances, he looked like a cruel young tyrant.
Karno strode toward the table with long, sweeping steps, only noticing Asha’s presence—hidden behind the partial wall—as he drew near.
“……It seems I didn’t need to bring it up myself.”
‘If his glare alone could turn a mixer, he’d have achieved revolutionary nanotechnology.’
Asha swallowed hard. Karno’s gaze quickly shifted to Aleksei beside her.
<Talk to him!>
‘What?’
<Hurry! Talk to him! Speak! Hold his hand! Embrace him too!>
‘What, what are you saying, Pibi? Are you out of your mind?’
While Asha was having this bewildering exchange with Pibi, Aleksei rose from his seat with a gentle smile.
“Karno, shall we talk for a moment? Asha, sorry, but wait a bit for me.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Asha forced herself to smile and nodded.
Pibi had at first been restless with ‘Go to him right now—!’ but only now seemed to have regained composure. Along with an inexplicable sadness.
Asha gently stroked the buttons on her sleeve and sighed. What the two of them would discuss was painfully obvious.
‘So this is how the dream of a prolonged life will come to pass.’
* * *
The moment the Study door closed, Karno turned back to Aleksei.
“What was that? The princess Anastasia?”
“Yes. Isn’t she cute?”
…….
Karno neither affirmed nor denied it, simply closing his mouth. Aleksei smiled knowingly and voiced the very thing he should have said first.
“Karno, you did hard work in the Northern Region war.”
At Aleksei’s words, as if changing the subject, Karno’s brow furrowed.
“Looks like you didn’t work hard at all. Your complexion’s gotten better.”
At Karno’s words, Aleksei let out a small laugh.
“Is that so?”
“Now you’re even bragging about wealth and glory to me?”
At Karno’s jab, Aleksei shook his head. The smile never left his face, and this time Karno finally folded his arms.
“This isn’t my friend Aleksei the Crown Prince. Either a spirit is impersonating Aleksei, or a fake is in disguise—reveal your true identity.”
“Stop teasing, Karno.”
“Back to square one. What is that thing?”
Aleksei understood what Karno was saying.
“Asha. Your uncle Yuri’s only daughter. She contracted with a Bird Spirit at the Spirit Contract Ceremony and stayed in the Imperial Palace.”
“A Bird Spirit? And His Majesty left her behind?”
“I still don’t know the reason.”
At Aleksei’s words, Karno narrowed his eyes and looked him over from head to toe.
“……Did you take a liking to her?”
“She’s my only cousin sister.”
Karno studied him with an unmoved expression.
Karno already knew well that for someone like Aleksei—who had lived by consciously suppressing any emotional turbulence—such a statement carried deeper meaning.
“And she thinks of you as her only cousin brother, doesn’t she?”
“She does. That’s what she thinks.”
“Just because the imperial heir Asha feels that way doesn’t mean everyone around her will, does it?”
The smile faded from Aleksei’s face at those words.
“That’s why I was going to ask you anyway.”
“……For what?”
“Make sure no strange vultures circle around Asha. I’ll keep an eye out myself, but.”
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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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