The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 42

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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 Candy House
Chapter 42

Even Lis found himself at a loss for words before that gift.
“……Did you really make this yourself?”
“Of course. I tied yours with a ribbon. Isn’t it pretty?”
“……It’s truly beautiful. Thank you so much, Your Highness.”
“It’s a secret from everyone else, yes?”
“Yes……. But Your Highness, you’re not feeling well, and yet you’ve been moving about so much…….”
“No, I’m fine. I’m really almost completely better! But! From now on, I’ll stay in my room until you give me the all-clear that I’m fully recovered. I promise!”
“……Are you certain?”
“Absolutely!”
The thing that made me happiest today was that promise, Your Highness. Truly…… truly…….”
Lis’s downturned eyes trembled faintly—a measure of how much he had been worrying. By this point, even Asha didn’t know what to do with herself and could only repeat the gesture of opening and closing her hands anxiously. In that awkward silence stretched between them, Asha noticed Evyn standing quietly in the corner.
“Oh, Evyn! That outfit suits you. And this! It’s a Welcome Cookie for you.”
“……Thank…… you.”
Once the boy had put on proper clothes and brushed his ashen hair back into order, he looked presentable enough. Though the difficult journey had left him regrettably gaunt.
‘Is this how Lis felt when he looked at me?’
Asha had clapped her hands in delight at how well Evyn’s neat appearance suited him, but privately she tilted her head in puzzlement.
‘But Evyn—there’s something about his pallor that seems different from just not seeing sunlight.’
When she’d first seen him, his tattered clothes and her own bewilderment had layered over her perception, making her think his complexion was simply pale. But now she could see it was something else entirely—not merely the pallor of bloodlessness, but a face with a subtle, eerie bluish tinge, as if moonlight were seeping through it.
‘And there’s something unsettling about the complete absence of any emotion…….’
But Asha’s thoughts didn’t linger. Alexei, whom she’d assumed would be occupied with his usual duties, had come to find her again.
“Alexei?”
He was carrying the cookies Asha had asked Kiril to deliver—now brought to her personally.
“Since you’ve baked something for me, I thought we might have tea together.”
At Alexei’s command, a Bed Table with beautiful wood grain had been set up beside Asha’s resting place. On a delicate lace doily spread across its surface lay a cup of steaming tea, a glass of cold milk, and the Apple Jam Cookies Asha had just baked, arranged in a neat row.
After Evyn, following Asha’s direction, had placed a Flower Vase with a few cut flowers, Alexei dismissed all the attending servants and ladies-in-waiting.
“The flowers are lovely.”
“Aren’t they? Evyn brought those.”
“Evyn?”
“Ah…… His Majesty sent……that…….”
Asha couldn’t bring herself to say either “gift” or “slave,” so her words trailed off—yet Alexei seemed to have caught on regardless. An unreadable expression flickered across his face.
“……If anything happens, anything at all…… you must tell me at once.”
“What do you mean, anything?”
“Anything whatsoever.”
Asha smiled softly at her brother’s concern and changed the subject.
“Right. But Alexei, you don’t seem very busy today?”
Until now, Alexei’s schedule had been fixed down to the minute, yet today he seemed remarkably at leisure. He’d even gone to the kitchen earlier and returned, and now he wanted to share refreshment with her at precisely the time she’d finished baking…….
“Actually, today is the last rest day I have this month.”
Alexei spoke as he examined the cookie he’d picked up.
“When spring arrives, the Peace Delegation from the Noctis Elf will be coming, so I must prepare to receive them. There’s no end to what needs to be arranged.”
Asha had forgotten about this matter. The War was over, and all the soldiers had returned from the battlefield. Now only the stage remained where both sides would formally acknowledge that the conflict had completely ended.
“So for a while, you won’t be able to spend evenings with me.”
Asha deliberately pouted.
“That’s when I play with you.”
“That’s why I’ve found someone to keep you company in my place.”
“……Alexei? Are you listening to me?”
“Starting tomorrow evening, Carno will come to visit.”
Asha’s mouth fell open in shock, and Alexei smiled softly, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he bit into the cookie she’d baked.
Rich with butter, the dough crumbled delicately along its grain, and within was generous Apple Jam—tart and full-bodied. The fruit had a pleasant bite on the outside while the interior was moist, dissolving like a feather in harmony with the tender, light cookie. The subtle warmth of cinnamon steeped faintly through the pastry, striking a perfect balance with the apple’s sweet-tart notes.
“……So that’s what a pastry made by your hand is like.”
“Hmm? What…… what is it like?”
Asha looked at Alexei with a somewhat tense expression. Receiving praise for her baking always made her nervous.
‘The head chef did burst into orange fireworks right after taking a single bite…….’
Yet since he always acted as though whatever she made was a miracle, his opinions carried somewhat less credibility. Noticing Asha’s nervousness, Alexei crinkled the corners of his eyes again and smiled.
“It’s quite delicious.”
Asha’s face fell at his simple words.
“……Really?”
“Truly. I can hardly believe something so tiny made this.”
“……So you’ve decided to call me a pea?”
“Would you prefer something else?”
“I like ‘Asha.'”
“How about kidney bean?”
“I hate you, Alexei…….”
“What about baby peach?”
“I don’t like that either…….”
“You can’t hate me—that’s a problem.”
Asha stared at Alexei as if she wanted to tear her own hair out. When he laughed, something like cherry blossoms scattered around him in a whisper. Seeing such things, she had no words left. Asha slumped down where she sat.
“But it really is delicious. The best confection I’ve ever tasted.”
He spoke with a gentle smile that sounded almost like a courteous greeting, but Asha’s cheeks flushed crimson and she buried her face between her elbows. The current of air that swept around him like waves proclaimed nothing but sincerity.
“So you’re taking back what you said about hating me?”
“I don’t know.”
Asha mumbled, still turning her head away.
“Hmm, I’m not sure what gift would placate my sister.”
“If I’m a pea, then you’re a chickpea.”
“……Oh dear. Anastasha, my sister. You’ve won.”
“Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“……You really have defeated me, Asha.”
“That’s fine. I’ll even forgive Fafnir for burning all the cookies today, Alexei.”

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[Dearest
our
beloved princess Asha.
Asha, I wonder how life at the Imperial Palace treats you. Your mother and I miss you terribly each and every day.
However, it seems we won’t be able to visit the Palace for some time. So I’m sending you some of the things you used to have, through Maksim. I hope you’ll understand.
I’ve heard that a Peace Delegation will arrive from the North soon, and while I rejoice at this blessing for the Empire, I worry whether the busy state of the Palace might tire you.
Do you remember Artenne Juvanne? The harpist who visited our home some time ago.
I’ve learned that he will perform at the Peace Delegation Welcome Ball. I thought that meeting someone with whom you have a slight acquaintance might ease the loneliness you might feel in Palace life, so I’m telling you of this.
If you wish to send a reply or have anything you’d like to say, please write a letter and ask Maksim to deliver it.
And I hope you’ll do your very best not to fall out of favor with His Majesty.
From your father Yuriye and mother Irina, who love you so dearly, their one and only princess.]

[Dearest Mother and Father.
Everyone at the Imperial Palace is kind to me, and I’ve made many new friends. I miss you both terribly, but I’ll be strong.
I’ve begun raising a chick,
and Alo
Alexei, the Crown Prince, gave me a birdcage as a gift.
The chick is rather foolish and doesn’t listen to me very well, which makes me a little sad.
One of my friends—I’ll call him the dashing mustache—loves to cook, so we often bake confections together. But lately the dashing mustache seems to have many worries, and I’m concerned. I hope nothing bad has happened.
There’s another one, whom I’ll call the plump violet cape.
The plump violet cape always wears a sullen expression, but he’s very skilled with a whisk.
This month I promised to play with him, and soon we’re planning to make a soufflé.
Uncle Maksim is helping us, so I’m sending along things we gathered from the Palace. Until we meet again, please stay healthy and don’t fall ill.
From your one and only daughter, Asha, who loves you so very much.
P.S. I will take to heart what you said at the end. I love you!]

* * *

After sealing her letter, Asha read through her parents’ letter again. The last line of their letter, the honorific “His Majesty,” was written in different handwriting. It seemed her mother Irina had hastily added it afterward, worried it might cause trouble later.
‘Not much good without changing the content, I suppose.’
Only after putting away her reply and letter could Asha turn her attention to the box.
A single box, not large and roughly made, that Maksim had conveyed to her through Alexei—filled with the things and clothes she used to have when she was with her parents.
“My pajamas!”
To procure linen fabric generous enough to drape the body, along with frills and lace to ornament its edges, Yuriye had to sell off the blue pigment he’d ground from lapis lazuli.
Asha clutched the Pajamas to her chest and rubbed her cheeks. Inside lay several Picture Storybooks that Yuriye had drawn for her, the Leather Boots that Irina had made, and……!
‘There! It’s here!’
Asha quickly drew out several worn notebooks and spread them open. They were records she’d desperately preserved during those days when she still believed the family’s fortune would recover—around age six, that is—determined not to forget the recipes she remembered. That these notebooks had made it this far without trouble was owing to her parents’ character; they were not the sort to pry open their daughter’s diary without cause.

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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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