The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 48

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Villainess Princess Wants to Live in a Pastry Shop
Chapter 48

“I’ll just drink water and live on that — water alone!”
Asha’s sullen complaint was met with Karno covering his mouth with his fist.
“……Ahem. Since I’ve never tasted it, I can’t imagine what it would be like. But if you’ve already thought of something, it seems the problem is solved.”
“I can’t do the decorations in cream, can I? That’s something else I’d have to think about. And I need to actually taste the cake to see if it’s good.”
“……You proposed making a Carrot Cake as the solution without ever having tasted one?”
Asha’s face flushed with embarrassment, and instead of answering, she suddenly began limping exaggeratedly. Karno sighed and raised both hands in surrender — he understood well enough that she was done with the argument.
Asha grinned and straightened up immediately.
“We can make it now, can’t we? And you’re going to help me, aren’t you?”
“…….”
So saying, Asha strode into Pavel’s kitchen.
Pavel, who had been holding a basin of soaked Oatmeal and sighing to himself, looked up, then jumped to his feet in alarm.
“Oh!”
“Pavel! The water! You’re spilling it!”
“Yes, yes! But that over there——”
Pavel had already spilled about half the water and was just barely managing to steady the basin before the Oatmeal spilled completely. Yet his gaze remained fixed on Karno — the man who looked as if he’d been forcibly dragged here.
“You’ve seen each other before, haven’t you? This is Karno. I brought him because he said he’d help us today.”
“What?”
Hearing this, Pavel looked utterly stunned.
Asha deliberately offered no further explanation and simply turned on the sink tap. Karno gave up sighing and placed his hands under the running water.
But Pavel did not give up.
“No, but the kitchen work is something I should be doing——”
“You’re not paying attention.”
“I am!”
“You’re not.”
“Yes, I am!”
“If you were paying attention, would you have your hand in the bowl of Oatmeal right now?”
Pavel hastily yanked his hand out, flicking a few grains of Oatmeal across the kitchen.
Asha regarded him quietly for a moment, then grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to a corner. Karno stood at a distance with his arms folded, merely watching the exchange unfold.
“It’s because that man made a contract with the Spirit of Death. He was like this last time too.”
“No, that’s not it——”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
“……It might be a little true, but——”
“What are you talking about? Whether you look at his age or anything else, Karno would be completely within reach for you. What is there to be afraid of?”
“But Karno is taller than me! And anyway, these days a man of his stature would be made of Mithril——”
“Leaving all that aside — Pavel. Yes? Is it right to discriminate against someone because of the Spirit they’ve contracted with?”
“That’s not discrimination——”
“Pavel. Is that who you are?”
“No! No, it isn’t! It’s not discrimination — I’m just uncontrollably frightened!”
“That’s what’s wrong. You made a mistake. Come here and apologize.”
“Yes…… What?”
Asha dragged the bewildered Pavel forward and made him stand before Karno.
Karno, who had been waiting with his arms folded, raised an eyebrow, but Asha paid it no mind and pushed Pavel forward from behind.
“Pavel, hurry!”
“No, I——”
“Are you really this terrified?”
“Your——!”
Pavel’s voice came out nearly as a shriek. In that instant, Asha rose up on her toes and poked Karno’s cheek with her fingertip.
“……!”
“……!”
Karno, startled, cupped his cheek and stared at Asha, while Pavel’s face went pale as death.
“Karno, say something back right now.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Are you angry?”
“It’s not anger, it’s exasperation…… What on earth are you doing all of a sudden?”
“If you feel wronged, I can do the same to you.”
Asha swallowed hard, lifted her chin, and offered her cheek. Karno, who had reflexively raised his hand, quickly withdrew it and shook his head firmly.
Asha opened one eye slyly and looked at Pavel with a face that said, ‘See?’
She had just demonstrated that Karno was not the sort of man to threaten others, no matter what they did.
Pavel drew in a long, shaky breath.
“K…… Karno Neiswetter…… I behaved disrespectfully before. I…… truly…… genuinely…… offer you my sincere apologies.”
…….
This time, Karno actually looked taken aback — as if he’d never imagined such words would come from Pavel’s mouth. But before he could compose himself, Asha beamed at him, seized both their hands, and shook them together vigorously.
“What good children you both are! I should give you a reward.”
“That’s quite unnecessary, Your Highness…….”
…….
“Please stop saying that.”
“Truly, it’s unnecessary.”
…….

* * *

“A Carrot Cake done that way…… truly without any milk or butter. You’re substituting the fat with vegetable oil instead.”
“Exactly!”
“But I…….”
Pavel hesitated slightly. Asha knew what he was about to say.
Unlike Karno, who knew nothing of cakes, Pavel would understand.
“It’s too rustic, isn’t it?”
“Y, yes. Somehow…….”
Carrot cake itself had originated among commoners who couldn’t afford much sugar, so they’d turned to the sweetest of vegetables — carrots — to achieve any sweetness at all.
And this was meant to be served when entertaining an Envoy?
It was as good as asking for the head of the kitchen master.
“What if we just presented it the right way?”
“Presented it……?”
“Well, the Noctis Elves live in harmony with nature — simply, unpretentiously, as close to nature’s raw state as possible.”
“I think I’ve heard something like that before.”
“So wouldn’t the Noctis Elves prefer a taste that’s undergone fewer refinements — something less processed than finely milled flour or refined sugar? What do you think, Karno?”
Asha turned to look at Karno, who had been conferring with Pavel.
Karno, who had been leaning against the far wall watching them talk, paused to consider, then nodded slowly.
“There’s some merit to it, I suppose.”
“But even so…… would the head chef of the palace actually permit it?”
Asha bit her lip at that point too. But she had already thought of something.
“If His Majesty permits it?”
“What?!”
“If His Majesty permits it, what can the head chef do about it?”
“That…… I don’t quite understand why it would suddenly become that way…….”
“Or you could say the Crown Prince has already approved it.”
Karno, who had been listening quietly, interjected smoothly.
“Impersonating His Majesty or the Crown Prince is naturally a capital crime. At best you’d face execution, and usually they dig up your grave besides.”
“We’re not impersonating anyone! We’ll naturally get permission.”
Asha bristled, glared at Karno, then pushed him aside and headed briskly toward the vegetable stores.

* * *

“I…… Head Chef, do you really think this will work?”
Fyodor Byuker, the head chef of Ashtad Palace where the Emperor resided, turned to his assistant with a grim expression.
The assistant, whose face had grown anxious, flinched visibly.
“What are you so worried about that it won’t work?”
“No, it’s just…… this dessert for the Peace Delegation banquet. Chef Pavel doesn’t usually do Pastry Making…….”
“Doesn’t do it? I’ve seen him sneak around doing all of it. What do you mean he doesn’t do it.”
Fyodor reclined in his chair and propped his feet up on the counter, raising his eyebrows.
When Pavel’s father, Reus Marka — Count Petrov — had tried to install Pavel in the imperial palace, Pavel had struggled against his father, insisting that he didn’t handle desserts.
So he was saying he could never become—and would never become—the Imperial Palace’s head chef.
When Pavel ultimately could not bend his father’s stubbornness and entered the Imperial Palace to become the Grand Prince’s chef, Fyodor would watch him in secret with a quiet, satisfied expression.
He understood the reluctance to make mere trifling desserts, and he could even offer a small measure of respect for the spirit Pavel showed in voicing that refusal, but all the same—hadn’t it worked perfectly in his favor, placing Pavel in a position where he could never challenge him?
Though desserts were treated as trivial and beneath notice within the culinary realm of the Empire, one could not become the supreme head chef overseeing everything without mastering Pastry Making.
It had seemed that way, at least….
“Did His Majesty not recently summon Chef Pavel in person and demand that he bring forth a dessert?”
“That was… well, I heard it was made by the Princess Asha herself.”
“Who told you that?”
“It’s just rumor….”
“It’s not merely rumor.”
“Then… surely not?”
“It’s idle gossip, you simpleton! His noble Highness might amuse himself by baking some cookies, but creating a cake unlike anything the world has ever seen? Is that even remotely possible? She’s barely ten years old!”
Fyodor’s voice thundered through the kitchen.
Only after seeing his assistant shrink into himself did Fyodor wave his hand dismissively, irritation sharpening his movements. The assistant scurried from the kitchen as though fleeing.
Once Fyodor confirmed that everyone around him had vanished, he quickly lowered the foot he’d deliberately propped up on the counter to intimidate his assistant. Then he began polishing the counter vigorously with a cloth.
‘Besides, that’s not the real problem.’
Fyodor recalled the face of the Prince—vaguely reminiscent of the Emperor’s own. Valery Kaye Reus, Marquis Shapirokin.
Remarkably, Emperor Michael had no interest in cuisine. He was a man who neither enjoyed nor believed one should enjoy diverse, refined flavors.
Indeed, there was no need for the Emperor to plant informants in the kitchen; poison had no effect on him. And a place in which the Emperor held no interest was, by that very logic, a place of exile.
Fyodor had believed himself to have climbed with all his might to the very summit—only to discover, upon reaching it, that the peak was merely a snow-covered mountaintop, empty of all living souls. His despair knew no bounds.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————