The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 29

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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 Gingerbread House
29

Every thread of that current lay bare before her eyes.
Warmth, joy, happiness, tenderness…….
She could not force this deception now, not after seeing and feeling all of it with her own eyes.
“……All right. I’ll cancel it. I’ll call it off, so please grant me my wish instead.”
Asha spoke those words and looked up at Aleksei with an earnest expression. Aleksei tilted his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“The Victory Ball is so tedious…… Could I leave now, before it ends? Even if I stayed, it seems like only strange people would show up, like Uncle Valery.”
Asha pointed toward the Garden. If one walked straight across it, one would reach Taimir Palace. Aleksei’s expression shifted to one of thought.
“Then I’ll have a maid escort you.”
“I’m all right. I can really go alone.”
Asha waved her hand dismissively. Valery glared at her, Maksim shook his head, Karno pressed down on her with his presence, and because of it all, Asha hadn’t managed to eat anything yet. Her plan was to slip away to the Kitchen immediately.
“……Hmm, very well. Go on, then.”
She hadn’t expected him to agree so readily. Asha’s eyes widened as she looked at Aleksei, and before he could change his mind, she quickly vaulted from the balcony toward the Garden below.
She waved her hand cheerfully, watched as Aleksei waved back in response, then turned away. Just as the girl’s small figure receded into the distance, a solitary shadow emerged from the corner of the terrace.
“Karno.”
“…….”
“I hear you had words with the officers. Did it resolve itself?”
“Resolve? What else would there be to resolve?”
At Karno’s words, Aleksei found himself smiling bitterly. Karno’s spirit was the Spirit of Death. Everyone trembled at the mere meeting of his gaze.
His mere approach would have sufficed. Those drunk on wine would have sobered in an instant, and those who had lost their reason would have recovered it just as swiftly.
“But tell me—how was she? Our Asha. Did she cry?”
“……It seems she did not.”
Karno fell silent for a moment before answering. He had sought out Asha and spoken to her only because Aleksei had asked it of him—to keep strange people from approaching her while he returned to the Banquet Hall.
“She does not know my spirit, it would seem.”
Indeed, the girl’s reaction suggested she had no knowledge of his spirit.
Aleksei merely smiled mysteriously, and Karno furrowed his brow sharply, gripping the terrace railing where he stood. He looked ready to leave altogether.
“Leaving already?”
“I have no taste for such gatherings.”
Given his temperament, it would be difficult for him to find taste in anything. Aleksei thought as much to himself and opened his mouth.
“Then as you go, would you check that Asha makes it safely to her chambers?”
“…….”
“I’m concerned about her entering alone, without a single maid.”
Karno’s face twisted. Given his nature, he would not grant this favor twice—playing nursemaid—but the recent mistake in the Banquet Hall itself—Asha being seized by the Marquis Sereneteф—left him no easy grounds for refusal.
Karno finally shot a look at Aleksei, then planted one arm on the terrace railing and vaulted over it lightly. And Aleksei, as though he had been alone all along, walked naturally back into the Banquet Hall.

* * *

Not long after Asha slipped out of the Banquet Hall and peered into the Kitchen, the sleeve buttons decorated in regular patterns shifted into the shape of a bird.

‘Yes, I’m hungry.’
But the Kitchen was quiet.
‘They must be preparing the banquet food in the Main Palace Hall. Did Pavel go help there too?’
It was then that Asha had reached this thought.
“Um…… Hey!”
Someone called to her in a voice barely louder than a whisper. Asha turned around with a broad smile. There stood Pavel, his face a jumbled mixture of desperation, disbelief, compromise, despondency, and despair.
“Pavel!”
“……Really? Truly?”
It was clear what he was asking with such urgency. Asha became flustered and nodded with an embarrassed grin.
“Yes, really.”
“……Why! Why didn’t you say so, or rather, why didn’t you mention…….”
“I did tell you. When we first met? Anastasia Urievna Kaiye Rus. My last name got drowned out by you squawking so loudly.”
“The end! You should have told me the end! The full name!”
“I told you already, so stop complaining.”
“Why didn’t you mention it again after that!”
“Well, I didn’t have a chance to talk about it?”
“There was so much! I baked several kinds of scones! All that ginger cordial and poached pears! There was so much of it!”
“All right, all right, I understand. I know Pavel is truly sorry. That’s enough of that now—let’s get to the kitchen.”
Pavel looked as though he might burst into tears. Asha rose on her toes and gave his back a few gentle pats before heading inside first. A beat later, Pavel bounded in after her.
Pavel was dressed oddly. He wore a neat Tailcoat as if attending a party, yet in his left hand hung a Basket filled with eggs bedded on straw. The bottom was lined with straw and packed full of eggs.
“Where did all these eggs come from? And why are you wearing such strange clothes?”
“…No, Your Highness. This isn’t the time to discuss such things. After all this time… no matter how I look at it, it’s strange… you’re calling that strange…”
Pavel tugged at his Tailcoat, sighed heavily, and closed the kitchen door. He had surrendered to everything, let it all go.
“…I stopped by the Victory Ball but grew tired of it and left.”
“You did too?”
“You left the Victory Ball as well, Your Highness?”
Asha smiled broadly and nodded, then quickly wrapped her arms around her stomach. In the quiet kitchen, a loud gurgling sound echoed through the space.
“Did you not eat?”
“…The tables were too high.”
Asha answered with calm composure, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“Can we use those eggs?”
“Yes. I obtained them from the Banquet Hall Kitchen. They were meant for this Victory Ball, but it seems there will be leftovers.”
“Wow! Did you finally make a friend who actually shares eggs with you?”
“…”
Pavel mumbled something about how he did have friends, that his relationships with them simply weren’t close, it wasn’t as though he had none at all, before hastily changing the subject.
“W-what will you do with the eggs?”
“I’ll make sandwiches. Egg Salad. I have the Mayonnaise I made the other day, so.”
“Egg Salad?”
Asha nodded and rolled up her billowing sleeves. At her mention of boiling the eggs first, Pavel asked no further questions and simply brought her a pot of water as she requested.
“But Your Highness, can you really leave the Victory Ball in the middle of it?”
“I have a cousin, so I don’t need to be there. You’re the one who can leave his work and go to the Banquet Hall—doesn’t that mean you don’t have friends?”
“A cousin…”
Now Pavel understood with sudden clarity who this cousin was that Asha always spoke of—the Crown Prince Himself!—and his face drained of all color as he scrambled for an excuse.
“…Taking responsibility for the cooking at such a grand banquet is a tremendous opportunity for experience. Everyone’s eager for it.”
“Then you couldn’t get in there?”
“…”
Pavel placed eight eggs into the pot and sighed. If only eggs were slightly firmer ingredients—then he could have thrown them onto the countertop…
“Let me see. A little sugar and salt. Pepper, Cream Cheese and…”
As she spoke, Asha paused to think for a moment.
“How convenient that we need Mayonnaise. Once I make the salad, the old batch will probably be gone, so should I make a generous batch of fresh Mayonnaise? While we have eggs.”
“Oh! I approve!”
“This time without the condensed milk?”
“Yes!”
Pavel threw his hands up eagerly and scrambled to gather the ingredients. He had become utterly smitten with this soft, cream-colored, rich sauce ever since he and Asha had made it a few days prior.
The ingredients for Mayonnaise were simple: Rapeseed Oil, Wine Vinegar, and plenty of eggs. Finding a cylindrical bowl that could hold a Whisk tightly, Asha cracked two egg yolks into it and sprinkled in a little salt.
“Since the eggs have been kept at room temperature, it should come together quickly.”
It was Pavel who began whisking the room-temperature eggs with vigor.
The last time, she had held the Whisk herself, but seeing how pathetic she looked, Pibi had wept, and Pavel eventually helped her finish the task.
“The problem isn’t me—it’s the Whisk.”
“This is a premium article.”
“This bundle of twigs?”
“It’s made entirely of natural twigs gathered and carefully crafted from the northern Sedvoyer Territory.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Asha pretended to be unbothered and secretly resolved to replace this old-fashioned bundle of twigs with a modern Whisk made from twisted wire.
Pavel whisked the eggs vigorously with the old Whisk, while Asha stood beside him, slowly pouring in one cup’s worth of oil little by little.
Between pours, she added a few drops of Wine Vinegar. Following Asha’s instruction to mix from bottom to top, Pavel whipped the Whisk with all his strength and quickly obeyed her directions.
“Done, done~!”
Thanks to the vigorous whisking, the warm-colored Mayonnaise came together in no time.
“All finished now—we’ll use this after letting it sit a day!”
Meanwhile, the eggs in the pot had cooked through. She peeled the shells from the boiled eggs and pressed them with a Whisk, crushing them. With eight eggs, she would use one-third cup of Mayonnaise. Asha set aside the freshly made batch and retrieved the Mayonnaise she had made days before.
‘This is completely like a cooking broadcast, isn’t it?’
<What is a cooking broadcast?>
‘Well, it’s like magic that deceives time.’
<Magic?>
‘The trick is to prepare the time-consuming parts in advance, then serve them up as if you’ve just made them — ta-da!’
Asha ignored Pibi’s chirping protests, unable to make sense of what the spirit was saying, and focused on finishing the Egg Salad. She sprinkled in salt and sugar, a measured amount of pepper, and finally four tablespoons of Cream Cheese.
“If you like cucumber, you could thinly slice some, salt it to draw out the water, rinse it, mince it, and fold it in — that would be delicious too. But I’m quite hungry today, so this will have to do!”
Asha scooped a spoonful of the finished Egg Salad and pushed it into Pavel’s mouth. He swallowed the salad and then drooled slightly.

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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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