The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 38

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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 Cake Shop
38

Asha swallowed the rest of her words. Somehow, the more she spoke, the tighter her chest grew. She deliberately scattered a very old memory that was trying to surface.
“I don’t need a spare button like that, Your Majesty. I do better without such things…….”
“I’ve been watching Crown Prince Alexei for over a decade, and now you’re telling me that you, who’ve been here mere months, understand him better.”
“Did you ever love him as a grandson during those ten years?”
“Before grandfather and grandson, there is emperor and heir.”
“Emperor and heir are also grandfather and grandson.”
Asha spoke with stubborn conviction. Of course, she could muster such courage only because of the light visible behind the emperor’s grave expression.
“Asha has no mother or father, and relatives only once every few years at the Coming-of-age Ceremony, but even then they all…… hate Asha and envy her…… and…….”
“…….”
Her voice grew thin with tears. And now that she’d said even that much, she had nothing more to add. Asha swallowed the remaining moisture down her throat and let out a hollow cough to clear the air.
“So…… what I’m trying to say is, I want to study something different from Asha…….”
“You?”
The emperor leaned forward. His hand, resting on the table, tapped the surface slowly—tap, tap.
“Yes?”
“If I am grandfather to Alexei, am I not the same to you? Is there nothing you wish of me?”
Asha’s eyes went wide at first in surprise, then she laughed softly and shook her head.
“Well, I didn’t even know I had a grandfather until just recently.”
“…….”
But the emperor’s reaction was not what she expected. Asha blinked and opened her mouth to salvage the situation as best she could.
“Oh, no, I mean—I never knew I was of imperial blood until now! And the house, it’s so old the roof leaks when it rains and sometimes catches fire during storms, and hardly anyone ever came to visit…….”
“…….”
She felt she’d said the wrong thing. And now that it had come to this, she’d lost her chance to say what she truly wanted. Asha felt as though she might cry.
“……No, I mean…… I don’t really want much…….”
“Is that why you wanted to repair the house yourself?”
“I’m sorry?”
Asha’s eyes widened. She couldn’t leave the house in the first place, so how could she want to repair it herself? The question made no sense to her.
When she’d thought that far, wondering if the emperor disliked her mention of the old house, he withdrew something from his breast pocket.
A moderately thick stack of documents folded into an envelope. Asha tilted her head curiously and slowly unfolded the envelope he offered her.
“Oh……!”
“Baron Sarato sent you documents proving the transaction. Thirty million Karus, and half the product revenue? That’s no small sum.”
“Ah…….”
“It says here ‘recipe compensation.’ Is this that Cake Recipe you made, using what used to be Baron Sarato’s genuine merchandise?”
“Yes, that is…… correct…….”
“So you really did make it yourself.”
“Of course I did!”
Asha bristled only on that point. The emperor regarded her with a steady, lined gaze.
“Then I’ll give you fifty million Karus—sell that recipe to me instead of Baron Sarato.”
“I’m sorry?”
Asha’s eyes went round with confusion.
“Sell that recipe to me, not to Baron Sarato.”
It wasn’t that she hadn’t heard him; the emperor was simply repeating himself for her sake. Asha tilted her head to clarify that that wasn’t what she meant and asked carefully.
“What…… would you use it for?”
“……What?”
“You don’t cook, Your Majesty……. What would you use a recipe for……?”
“……Is that what matters?”
“You’re suddenly trying to take something from someone else—the reason matters.”
“Everything within the Empire is mine. Taking, you say—nonsense.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“……What do you mean, a lie?”
“You don’t actually believe that! So why would you suddenly want a Cake Recipe…….”
Could it be? Really? Asha studied the emperor with disbelieving eyes. By any measure of common sense and judgment, it seemed impossible, yet around the emperor a current of warmth was rising steadily, visibly.
Something innocent and virtuous—curiosity, shyness, embarrassment, hesitation, and the faintest whisper of doubt about himself…….
Could it be……?
Surely not?
“You don’t mean… you’ve taken an interest in cake? You’d like to try baking it…?”
“…….”
“Oh well, if that’s the case, I’d be happy to help!”
Asha spoke thus while forcibly suppressing a laugh that threatened to burst forth.
An Emperor might well feel embarrassed to ask the Imperial Palace’s head chef to teach him such things, even if he’d developed an interest in them. And yet.
“Besides, others will just see you as a grandfather indulging his granddaughter, so there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll handle the preparations…….”
“‘Like’ a grandfather and granddaughter — not merely like one.”
Asha, who had been bubbling with the thought that if the Emperor took a fancy to baking, she could surely secure generous resources for it, suddenly fell silent at the Emperor’s suddenly chilled tone. He stood now with arms crossed, regarding her steadily.
“Not ‘like’ a grandfather and granddaughter, but actually a grandfather and granddaughter — isn’t that so?”
“That is… yes, that’s true. You and I really are…….”
“How much longer do you intend to call me by my title?”
“Pardon?”
“I told Alexei to see to his grandfather properly, and I’ve heard enough scolding from you about it — so why do you persist in calling me ‘Your Majesty’? Are you making some sort of statement?”
“I never scolded you……. And what sort of statement? You are Your Majesty, so I…….”
What statement could it possibly be, anyway?
Asha recognized that her conversation with the Emperor was veering off course, but she couldn’t quite grasp what the right answer ought to be. The Emperor’s lips moved soundlessly for a moment, then he sighed. His expression seemed somehow weary.
Asha watched carefully for a moment, then offered him another Dacquoise. The Emperor gazed down at it distantly before turning his gaze back to Asha. She found his expression looked somewhat more sullen than before, but told herself that surely it couldn’t be that.
“Excessive indulgence in food is the root of all evils. How much more so when a member of the Imperial House indulges in confectionery like luxury goods.”
“Ah…….”
He really is pouting! Asha swallowed hard.
“But sweets aren’t a luxury, sweets are…….”
“That which one does not die from lacking, nor which is absolutely necessary for life — to expend effort and assign great cost to such things is what we call luxury.”
“Sweets are absolutely necessary!”
Asha shot to her feet, then promptly settled back down. Her ankle throbbed, and tears sprang to her eyes, but she held them back.
“Sweet compounds quicken mental function…… they improve judgment, and in the morning they dispel sleep, and in the evening they overcome fatigue!”
As Asha spoke with her small hands clasped together, the Emperor’s eyes narrowed.
“Where did you hear such things?”
“From books. It’s true! And…… it’s true that one doesn’t die from not eating sweets, but…… merely keeping life lingering — we wouldn’t call that truly living, would we?”
Yuriye and Irina, despite their difficult circumstances, would invite musicians whenever opportunity allowed. They wanted to show her that there existed something beautiful in life.
“…… So it is the right thing for me to eat this cake, then?”
Asha nodded eagerly.
“If Your Majesty attends to the Empire in a joyful mood, it benefits the Empire! And the farmers who grow sugarcane and those who raise dairy cattle will be pleased as well. They’re all citizens of the Empire who deserve to have their futures assured, aren’t they?”
“What eloquence. Yuriye possessed no such gift for speech.”
“Then perhaps I inherited it from Your Majesty.”
“…… How much longer will you continue like this…….”
The Emperor seemed about to say something more with a displeased expression, then stopped himself and picked up the Dacquoise.
“Very well. In any case, that recipe will go to Baron Sarato, not to me.”
“But Baron Sarato purchased it first, so that’s only right.”
“Surely your grandfather should take precedence over some mere baron?”
“And that’s exactly why we’re going to learn Baking together, Your Majesty.”
“You really do end every sentence with that…….”
Muttering quietly, the Emperor broke the Dacquoise in half, placed one piece before Asha, and opened his mouth.
“Very well. I shall establish an account to hold the funds Baron Sarato mentioned.”
“……!”
Could he have refused? While Asha drew in a sharp breath, the Emperor placed the half Dacquoise in his mouth.
“You said you wanted to pursue your studies in something other than the usual subjects.”
“Ah! Yes! I…….”
“Then you shall learn several different things for now, and choose whichever suits you best.”
“I’m sorry? I mean, yes?”
While Asha stood with her mouth open, matters seemed to be proceeding one after another of their own accord.
“I’m told the gift we discussed when that cake arrived has now been delivered, so I’ll have it sent to you this afternoon.”
“Wait, Your Majesty! I…….”
Should she speak up about wanting something entirely different — not such gifts, not lessons, but what she truly desired? No, that wouldn’t do. Asha’s late-arriving sense finally told her to keep silent.
The Emperor regarded Asha carefully.
“It seems you want something else.”
“……!”
“Hmm…… very well.”
With that, the Emperor crossed his arms in a leisurely manner and closed his eyes slightly.
“I will give you a chance. If you address me ‘properly,’ I shall grant you one wish.”
Asha’s eyes widened as she tilted her head in confusion, but she parted her lips carefully, as if choosing each word.
“I… Your Majesty, the luminous sun of the Empire, eternal and never-setting…?”
……
……
Was it… not?

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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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