The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 40

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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 Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House
Chapter 40

Asha hesitated at Pavel’s overly enthusiastic welcome.
“If you’re busy, I could come back later…?”
“No, no! It’s fine!”
Pavel quickly wiped his hands on his apron and welcomed her warmly. As the sun was setting, he hadn’t lit the lamps yet, but now he hastened to ignite the lanterns. Asha tilted her head.
“Pavel, did something happen?”
“No! No, nothing at all.”
“Your expression doesn’t look right. If nothing’s wrong, are you sick?”
“No… I’m not. It’s just something on my mind. There’s word that a delegation sent by the Noctis Elves will be arriving soon.”
“Oh! So you’re preparing dinner for the occasion too?”
“That’s the Main Palace’s affair.”
In other words, it was work for the head chef of the palace where the Emperor stayed—not his responsibility as the Crown Prince’s chef. Asha’s brows drew together.
‘But even so, Pavel’s expression…’
Asha opened her mouth to speak, but Pavel changed the subject first.
“So, have you come to make something again today?”
“Oh? Um, yes. Do you happen to have any apples?”
Pavel puffed out his chest confidently and tapped it twice.
After that, as she listed the ingredients, Pavel retrieved butter, flour, eggs, and sugar, then washed ripe apples and placed them on the cutting board.
“Are you making a sweet with the apples?”
“Yes, cookies. Sweet and tart. If I cut the apples into small pieces and bake them in the oven slowly until they dry out, they’ll become chewy, right? I’ll fill the cookies with that. And I’ll use plenty of butter in the sablé dough so it melts on the tongue.”
Asha went to fetch a footstool to reach the counter height, but by then Pavel had already finely diced half the apples.
“Oh! Pavel!”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“It is, but… but I was going to do it!”
“Well, at least you didn’t cut your fingers. I should be grateful for that.”
“I won’t cut them!”
“But if, by any chance, even the slightest mark appeared on your hands, my head might well roll from my shoulders.”
……
Asha gave up insisting about the apples. While she scooped sugar from the bag onto the scale, Pavel halved a lemon and squeezed out its juice. The tartness of lemon spread over the sweet aroma of the apples.
She combined the diced apples, measured sugar, and lemon juice, spread them on a pan, and placed it in the oven. When baked slowly at a low temperature like this, the natural sweetness concentrates and the texture comes alive. She planned to use this like jam inside the cookies.
Asha watched Pavel adjust the temperature as she’d asked, then rolled up her sleeves again. Now it was time to make the cookie dough.
“Here we go!”
She mixed butter, sugar, and a pinch of salt, stirring until it became cream-colored.
The more you beat the mixture at this stage, the softer and fluffier the dough becomes. Since the apple filling would be heavy, she needed to make the dough especially light and tender.
Once the butter took on a pale, fluffy color, she added an egg and a vanilla bean, followed by flour and a touch of the pibi powder she’d made before, finishing with just a whisper of cinnamon.
By then, the baked apples had cooled; she mashed them into a jam-like consistency and spread the chilled cookie dough thinly into small circular molds. She filled them with the minced apples and capped each with more dough.
Just as she was about to place the full tray into the oven—
“Asha? Are you here?”
“Hm?”
“Someone came… oh—”
Aleksei appeared in the kitchen doorway with a bright smile. Asha’s eyes widened in surprise. Aleksei, his face radiant, was dismissing his attendants and stepping into the kitchen.
“Your… Your Highness!”
“Aleksei? How did you…?”
“I went looking for you and was told you were here, so I came to find you.”
In an instant, a warm, shimmering presence swept through the kitchen. The flames of the lanterns illuminating it suddenly flared brighter.
“Aleksei! Aleksei! Look at me, please! Asha! Tell him something for me. I need Aleksei to—”
“When, precisely, will this incompetent finally be able to speak with his contractor?”
While Asha could only gape silently, Pafnir and Pibi bickered, and Aleksei greeted Pavel with a simple nod.
“The room seems much brighter all of a sudden.”
At Aleksei’s observation as he looked around, Asha let out a long sigh. Understanding the cause from her reaction, Aleksei smiled softly.
“It must be because of Pafnir. I should apologize.”
“Oh, no, that’s not—”
Pavel waved his hands frantically. Aleksei chuckled at his flustered response, then approached Asha at the counter. Looking down quietly at the tray of cookies she’d just finished forming, he drew a handkerchief from his breast pocket.
“I was told that everything you give me is baked by your own hands, and now I see it’s true.”
“Of course.”
At her words, Aleksei smiled faintly and gently wiped her cheek with the handkerchief in his hand.
“You didn’t drop peas into a flour sack, and yet look at this mess.”
“Oh!”
Asha’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she gave Aleksei a gentle shove.
“L-let me just get these into the oven first.”
“How long should they bake?”
“Seventeen zero degrees for fifteen minutes.”
At Asha’s instruction, Pavel adjusted the temperature and took over the task of sliding the pan into the oven.
“But Aleksei, what brings you all the way here? This is unusual.”
“Didn’t Halba Mama give you a special gift?”
There was something melancholy beneath Aleksei’s smile—a complex expression that looked both amused and somehow weighted down.
“I thought I’d give you something in return, so I came to ask what you’d like. When your maid mentioned you were here, I didn’t expect to find you baking pastries.”
“Lis told you……?”
Asha realized why Lis had seen fit to mention this to Aleksei. She must have thought he could keep Asha in line—stop her from doing reckless things.
Without warning, Aleksei lifted Asha onto the edge of the counter and took hold of her ankle.
“And with an ankle like this, you wanted to stand at this counter making sweets.”
Since her hands were still sticky from working with the cookie dough, Asha couldn’t push him away.
“It’s a-almost completely healed, isn’t it?”
“How did you even get here? Weren’t there attendants stationed at the door?”
“You’ll dirty the counter! Put me down, please!”
“Or were they there, but they couldn’t see you because you’re so small? I suppose it makes sense they’d miss someone the size of a pea.”
“…….”
He wasn’t listening. Asha’s lips moved soundlessly. It was clear that what Aleksei wanted from this one-sided lecture was for her to finish up in the kitchen quickly and return to her room to rest.
“……Once I finish making these, I’ll go back to my room and rest anyway, so please put me down!”
“Promise me that once these cookies are finished baking, you won’t come to the kitchen again until your ankle is completely healed. Promise me you’ll rest.”
Asha bit her lip hard and looked up at him with resentful eyes. The counter was quite high for someone her size, so she’d been standing on a step stool the whole time while making the pastries. Standing on that elevated platform with an injured leg had been taxing.
“Do you promise?”
“But then there won’t be any cookies for Aleksei.”
“I don’t need them.”
“Do you not want to eat them because the cookies I make aren’t very tasty?”
Aleksei fell silent for a moment at her words, then smiled, dipped his fingers in the flour sack beside him, and rubbed them across the tip of her nose.
“Anyone who says such things deserves a scolding.”
“No, that’s not what I meant!”
This time, Aleksei tapped flour onto both of her cheeks with his fingertips.
“Then I’ll never eat your cookies again.”
“That’s not it, I’m trying to say—!”
Now he pressed flour to her forehead.
“Or maybe I should throw you into the Ice Lake?”
“That’s not what I mean! I was talking about Aleksei!”
Since Aleksei showed no sign of giving her a proper answer, Asha finally capitulated, promising that once this batch was done, she’d stay in her room and rest until her ankle was completely healed. Only then did he set her back down.
“You asked me for sugar and butter as a gift, so I was wondering what you were up to…….”
“Pffft.”
Asha had been about to fill the cookie molds with batter and stewed apples when she flinched. The sound of air being let out came from Pavel, who had been quietly listening to their exchange.
“……Did I really say that?”
“You did, when you were fevered and bedridden. You don’t remember because you were half-dreaming.”
“……!”
Watching Asha’s face—that expression of not knowing what to say in response—Aleksei smoothly changed the subject.
“So how are these pastries made?”
“Oh, well…… you cook the apples, then mash the cooked fruit and make it like jam, then put it inside the cookie dough. After that, you just bake it in the oven.”
“That sounds delicious.”
“You like cinnamon, don’t you? I added a little cinnamon to the cookie dough too! I hope it suits your taste.”
“You’re making them for me?”
“Of course!”
Asha smiled broadly as she spoke, then tilted her head at a scent brushing past her nose. Until now there had only been the sweet smell of butter, but suddenly…….
“Hmm? Do you smell something burning?”
“You’re right, I smell it too.”
“Has something gone wrong?”
Pavel, who had been quietly standing by, also looked startled and glanced around. Apart from the lantern, there was no other source of flame lit, and they had definitely set the oven to the correct temperature.
“Doesn’t it smell like it’s coming from the oven? Why would that be? Sir, let’s open it and check.”
Pavel nodded and pulled on a pair of thick gloves, then opened the oven door. The moment he did, a blast of heat surged out, and both he and Asha recoiled in surprise.
“W-what on earth?!”
Aleksei quickly pulled Asha back, shielding her with the folds of his sleeve. She craned her neck to peer past him at Pavel.
“Pavel, are you hurt?”
“No, no, I’m fine. But this oven was working perfectly at lunch. I don’t understand what’s—”
Pavel checked the temperature settings again, but they were exactly where he’d set them. Still, cookies inside the oven—somewhere between brown and black—continued to bake.
“Is the oven broken?”
Aleksei asked.

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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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