The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 47

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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 47

The two of them had waged war together, and soon the very enemy they’d fought against would arrive at the Empire—surely they’d have plenty to discuss. Asha pressed down on her heart, which was hammering against her ribs for no good reason.
‘Goodness. We’re close enough now that I don’t need to hide, but I’ve gone and gotten all tense anyway…’
What’s more, Aleksei had mentioned summoning Kalno specifically because of her, which only made the burden heavier. Asha was trying to think of a way to slip out without awkwardness when—
“Your Highness?”
“…!”
‘What—did he just leap over here?’
He’d been nowhere near her a moment ago. How was his voice suddenly coming from behind her?
Asha turned her head with a rigid, grinding motion. Kalno’s expressionless face loomed directly behind her, looking down.
“K-Kalno. Hello, how nice to see you. Ah. Hello, and, um… Commander.”
“Gihelm Elmin Sherib. Please, call me by my name.”
The man beside Kalno greeted Asha with a faint smile. His skin, weathered by the North’s cold sun, looked somewhat rough.
“Oh, yes. Gihelm, lovely weather we’re having. But what brings you both to the Imperial Palace…?”
Gihelm softened his slightly rough expression and lowered his eyes. But before he could answer, Kalno spoke first.
“We were discussing the upcoming Peace Treaty.”
“Ah! That’s thanks to both of you. You worked so hard in the North. I’m glad you returned safely…”
Gihelm paused, as though caught off guard, then spoke gently.
“It was only through the Emperor’s grace that we were able to complete our mission and return in safety.”
“War is hardly comfortable, no matter what. Did you rest well when you returned? Though it seems you’re already busy again.”
“It is a joy, given the Emperor’s grace in entrusting us with such responsibility once more.”
Kalno, who had been watching the exchange between Gihelm and Asha, suddenly spoke as their conversation lulled.
“But where are you headed, Your Highness?”
“Hmm? Oh, just over that way a bit…”
In truth, she was only now heading out, but Asha deflected smoothly. Gihelm’s eyebrow rose slightly. Asha rushed to continue.
“Are you two heading somewhere as well? Kalno, have you eaten? It’s nearly evening.”
Her habit of asking whether someone had eaten their fill was burned into her soul; she’d grasped at it like a desperate lifeline to change the subject. It also meant, quite plainly, *go eat dinner*. It made no impression on Kalno whatsoever.
“Shouldn’t it be Your Highness who ensures she takes her meals?”
“…I’m eating just fine. Really.”
“I find it rather difficult to trust that, when you claim to be eating well at barely a sack of grain’s worth.”
“Everyone my age weighs about that much.”
“At your age, the Imperial Crown Prince would weigh twice that.”
As Asha bit her lip in frustration at Kalno’s remark, Gihelm suddenly spoke—just as abruptly as Kalno had before.
“Oh, I’ve just remembered a pressing matter. Kalno, would you mind escorting Her Highness? I must take my leave now, Your Highness—please forgive me.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Both Asha and Kalno stared at Gihelm, who continued smiling faintly as he bowed toward Asha.
“It has been an honor to meet you, Your Highness. Farewell. I’ll be in touch, Kalno.”
In the blink of an eye, Gihelm vanished like the wind, leaving only Asha and Kalno in the corridor. The moment it grew quiet, Asha waved her hands frantically.
“I wasn’t actually heading back. I was about to say I was going somewhere else, but the Commander—Elmin—Gihelm left so quickly that…”
“Does Your Highness always wander about without attendants?”
“That’s not the point. I’m going this way, so Kalno and I should part here…”
In that instant, a spark of an idea flashed through Asha’s mind. Before Kalno could speak, she seized his hand.
Kalno flinched slightly. “…W-why are you doing this?”
“The Noctis Elves are coming as envoys, remember?”
“They are.”
“And the Noctius Festival falls during their visit, so apparently the dessert preparations are turning into quite the ordeal. Desserts usually call for a lot of milk and butter, you see, and during the Noctius Festival…”
“Ah… this season.”
Indeed, Kalno, who had faced the Elves on the North’s front lines, seemed well acquainted with their customs. Yet he began to regard Asha’s unfolding scheme with caution.
Asha beamed with exaggerated brightness.
“The head chef of Alosha’s kitchen has taken it on, but it seems quite difficult. I’d like to help as well. Would you help me too, Kalno?”
“An amateur getting involved isn’t helping. It’s getting in the way.”
“I know. That’s why you just need to whisk for me. And grate some carrots, and chat a bit while we work.”
They continued their conversation, each carefully ignoring that they meant different people when they said “amateur.”
“No, I wasn’t referring to myself…”
“Oh dear, my ankle again!”
“By now, shouldn’t a broken ankle be knitting back together?”
“The wrist too, for that matter!”
“…….”
In truth, Asha had unilaterally forced Kalno to pretend not to notice and cross over with her. His face had darkened, but he didn’t pull his hand away. Asha beamed.
Judging by Pavel’s vacant stare that afternoon, he would be useless today, and the cake she’d thought of required considerable hands to make. Besides, most crucially—
‘No matter how much mischief I cause, Kalno can put up with it for five years!’
It hadn’t even been a year yet, so she had plenty of time to spare.
“If I go, I’ll truly be in the way of the head chef.”
“Pavel would find it far more terrifying to fail in entertaining an honored guest of state. Besides, you need to see faces often to grow close.”
Kalno abandoned his last objection.
“Since you helped with this matter, I understand.”
“This matter?”
Asha tilted her head, puzzled. Kalno wore an expression that was, for him, unusually weary.
“Gihelm suggested I give a special lecture at the academy…….”
“The academy?”
“Yes. The Vitchegda Magistrorium Academy. I declined clearly, yet he persists without letting it go.”
The academy, named after this ancient course that crossed institutions, was founded directly by the Imperial Palace and stood as both a producer of bureaucrats and scholars and unmistakably the Empire’s premier university.
“A special lecture there? To give?”
“Or would you prefer to attend and receive one?”
“So Kalno would become a teacher?”
“Something like that’s what was suggested.”
Yet by any measure, his expression showed no enthusiasm. Asha tilted her head curiously.
“You don’t want to?”
“Would you?”
“Why don’t you want to?”
“Gathering students who believe they’ll die if they fall out of my favor and giving speeches has been something I’ve done plenty of, even on the battlefield these past few years.”
“Ah.”
Asha slightly drew her brows together and tilted her head.
“But what would Kalno teach?”
“Tactics or something like that, I suppose. War stories or the like.”
“That hardly seems like the sort of thing young saplings ought to hear.”
“Since those saplings will likely be twice my age, you needn’t worry about such things.”
“Oh, so they’re all grown?”
Kalno looked down at Asha, whose head didn’t even reach his shoulder, then shook his head slowly.
“Rather, why do you insist on involving yourself in this matter at all? It’s the head chef’s affair, not yours.”
“It seems to be because of me.”
Asha walked along, trying to hide her embarrassed expression.
“Because I’ve been going in and out of the kitchen so much, the head chef seems to have fallen out of favor with those around him, and that’s why he received this task, I think.”
“That’s likely not the case.”
Kalno spoke carelessly. Asha’s eyes widened.
“Do you know something?”
“Ryus Marka—or rather, Count Petrov—has a gentle temperament, but his loyalty to the Imperial Palace is quite exceptional. And those who possess something exceptional always bring along people who resent that something.”
“……?”
When Asha’s expression showed she didn’t understand why he was suddenly speaking of a count she barely knew, Kalno seemed caught off guard this time.
“……You truly don’t know? The head chef of the Imperial Crown Prince is Count Petrov’s eldest son.”
“What?”
“Pavel Marka wanted to open a restaurant, but his father the count wouldn’t yield on that one thing. So eventually he entered the Imperial Palace, or so I’ve heard.”
“Good heavens…… No wonder he said he had no friends. The nobles wouldn’t even play with him because of his rank…….”
This time Kalno covered his mouth.
“……In any case, the head chef must have political enemies as well. If he’s fallen into difficulty, it’s their doing, so your involvement…….”

is something you ought to avoid…….”
“No. This is when I absolutely must get involved!”
Asha clenched her fist tightly.
“Those who saw Count Marka’s loyalty to the Imperial Palace as an eyesore must harbor other intentions, right? That’s what bothers Aleksei too.”
“…….”
“Right then. I’ll make sure to bloody their noses thoroughly.”
“……Do you have any way to do that?”
“I’ll make a Carrot Cake. You know what Carrot Cake is?”
“I don’t.”
Kalno shook his head without hesitation. Asha regarded him again, her expression growing more careful.
“Have you really never seen anything like this in the North?”
“Surely you’re not asking me about the culinary preferences of the Noctis Elves now?”
“Well, it would help to know what they like.”
“In wartime, do you think soldiers choose what they eat? They’d gnaw dirt if that’s all that was offered.”
……
……
A chill hung in the air. Only then did Kalno clear his throat softly.
“……Though it seems there may have been carrot cakes of some sort…….”
“There shouldn’t have been.”
“It seems there may not have been.”
“So which is it—they had them or they didn’t?”
……
Asha, grumbling to herself, launched into a description of the cake she had in mind, though she knew full well that Kalno would show little interest and probably wouldn’t understand much anyway.
“You grate carrots to create a soft sweetness. Walnuts too—chopped fine and mixed in. Candied orange peel for tartness and sweetness together. Brown sugar for a hint of caramel flavor.”
“Is such a thing actually palatable?”

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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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