The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 6

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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 Pastry Shop
Chapter 6

“It’d be even better if you mounted the bell directly on the oven instead of using an hourglass. You could even add a function that stops the oven automatically when the time’s up.”
“That won’t work. Running the oven drains an enormous amount of Mana Stones. That’s why the Imperial Palace keeps theirs running twenty-four hours a day, year-round.”
“I see.”
“You don’t have to pretend you understand when you don’t.”
Pavel said it deliberately, but the girl only smiled—as if she understood perfectly well but simply chose not to engage. His expression tightened almost imperceptibly.
In the meantime, the hourglass signaled that eight minutes had elapsed. Pavel, whose attention had been sharpened by the sweet aroma steadily wafting through the air, hurried to pull the batter from the oven. Inside the white ceramic dish sat a magnificently split dark cake, its fissures revealing a lustrous crumb. The bittersweet fragrance tickled his nostrils.
“Ooh… oh wow.”
Pavel felt an exclamation rising unbidden from his throat, but the girl’s gasp beat him to it—and so he managed to preserve his composure.
“What…… what is it, Asha? You made it yourself—why are you marveling?”
“I’ve never made one before.”
“…… Never?”
At Pavel’s echo, the girl kept her eyes fixed on the finished cake and spoke with barely contained excitement.
“My family was incredibly poor. I’d never actually seen sugar or cream in real life until now.”
For a moment, Pavel found himself at a loss for words. The dress the girl wore was clearly expensive, and he had never imagined such a background behind it.
But once you enter the Imperial Palace, fine clothes like that are within reach if you know a few tricks, regardless of how you lived before. Yet at the same time, another fact surfaced in his mind.
‘If she’s never seen sugar or cream before, how did she manage to make something so convincing in one breath……?’
Just then, the girl suddenly hopped down from the stepstool and dashed toward the back.
“Hey…… hey, where are you going!”
“This!”
What the girl had found in the corner was a sprig of herb, no thicker than a child’s fingernail, topped with tiny green leaves.
“What are you going to do with that?”
The girl picked off the leaves one by one and arranged them atop the finished Fondant Chocolat. As each pale green leaf settled on the dark cake in the white ceramic dish, the presentation became suddenly elegant. Pavel couldn’t suppress a low sound of admiration.
Now that it was baked and beautifully garnished, it was time to taste it. Both Asha and Pavel quickly grabbed spoons.
“Will you eat some too, Pavel?”
“Everything that comes from my kitchen passes through my mouth.”
“Pavel, nobody’s going to steal your kitchen. You don’t need to be so defensive.”
……
Pavel fell silent and waited for the hot dish to cool slightly, then plunged the spoon deep inside. The outer layer crackled slightly where it had cracked, and through those fissures the spoon slipped smoothly inward, releasing a thick sauce-like substance.
“What? It’s not fully baked?”
“Goodness, this is meant to be eaten like a cream.”
……
The girl’s words didn’t sound like she was making excuses. Without waiting for Pavel’s response, she took a deep breath and pushed the spoon into her mouth.
“Mmm…”
Asha closed her eyes and savored the sensation fully. It had been ages since she’d eaten a confection made with such lavish amounts of sugar and butter. Even before her reincarnation, she’d rarely made desserts properly. There had been no time, and far less money to buy them.
Asha’s expression crumbled for a moment, but she quickly spooned another bite into her mouth.
‘If only I had a cup of coffee, this would be absolutely perfect.’
Perhaps because it was the Imperial Kitchen, the ingredients were of such quality that even her clumsy hand-made cake tasted divine—with just one bite, her entire body felt like it was melting. It was overwhelmingly delicious.
‘Maybe the intensity is stronger because I’ve lived on such meager food. Still, I could add a bit more cream next time.’
The chocolate had a high cocoa content, giving it a strong, intense flavor, but once it set on the palate, the pleasantly bitter aftertaste rolled through nicely. All the same, a slightly softer, sweeter version wouldn’t be amiss.
When she finally looked up, having devoured nearly half of her first-ever Fondant Chocolat in one sitting, Pavel’s face was filled with genuine shock.
The tiny teaspoon and Fondant Chocolat in his large hands looked almost like doll’s toys, and behind him orange-tinted particles shimmered like a halo. Asha blinked hard.
‘What…… what is that?’
“What did you call this again……?”
“Huh? Oh, that……”
Asha hesitated for a moment, then decided to brazen it out—he’d only see her once anyway.
“I know! Let’s call it Pavel’s Chocolate.”
“…… What did you just say, Asha.”
“Well, I made it, so I’ll call it whatever I want. You helped me, so I’m naming it after you.”
“Don’t you dare slap the Imperial Kitchen chef’s name on whatever you please!”
Asha paid him no mind and spooned another bite into her mouth. All the restless wandering of her heart throughout the day melted away, warmed by this one spoonful of warm Fondant Chocolat.
With her cheeks flushed from the residual heat of the oven and half the cake demolished, Asha looked at Pavel with an earnest expression. Pavel made a startled noise and retreated a step.
“What now!”
“Cold milk.”
“Ah…….”
Hot chocolate cake paired with cold, white milk—the harmony alone was enough to set his mouth watering. Pavel asked no questions, just hurried back with two glasses of milk. Asha finished one cupcake cleanly and fell silent for a moment, lost in the taste.
“……But there’s no fruit?”
“This is His Highness the Grand Duke’s kitchen. How could there not be? That’s kept separately in the produce storage.”
“Do you have oranges there?”
“Of course we do. What if we…….”
Pavel stopped mid-sentence, his mouth snapping shut. The moment he imagined the taste—how the tartness and brightness of fruit would balance perfectly with this bittersweet chocolate cake—his mouth flooded with saliva.
“……What are you thinking?”
“If we infused sugar with orange zest, let it sit so the fragrance soaks in, and made this cake with it—wouldn’t it taste even better?”
“……!”
Pavel and Asha’s eyes met, and they bolted together toward the cold storage.

* * *

“Chef Marka! We need a snack to bring to His Majesty right now……Chef?”
The attendant arrived breathless and found the empty kitchen suffused with sweetness and oven heat, turning slowly to look around.
An urgent order had come from above to send refreshments immediately, yet the head chef was nowhere to be found—only four finished cupcakes arranged neatly, still steaming as if freshly baked.
“Well, Chef Marka. You’ve even prepared them ahead of time? What a stroke of luck.”
The cakes were such a dark brown they appeared almost black, and blue leaves had been arranged on top as decoration. Drawing closer to smell them, the attendant caught a scent that was sweet yet somehow nutty and antiquated all at once. Though he’d never seen this kind of cake before, he placed two of them on a tray without hesitation.
As he considered what beverage to bring along, he spotted two empty cake dishes and a half-full glass of milk, quickly pouring the milk into a glass. With that, the attendant hurried out of the kitchen even faster than he’d entered.

* * *

Mikhail, the Emperor and Alexei’s grandfather, skimmed through the report with an elegant gesture bearing the marks of age. Alexei, having finished answering the Emperor’s questions, waited in silence for his judgment.
“The war with Noctis Elf draws to a close, then. Kalno has served us well.”
The Emperor recalled the boy—now perhaps fifteen years old, though he could scarcely be called a boy of his age—with those cold violet eyes. When that boy had contracted with the Spirit of Death, a great balance had tipped.
And that balance now rested with the grandson before him.
“Yet among those Kalno saved, there was a slave. You recommended pardoning this slave’s crimes.”
The Emperor tilted his head as he spoke. Alexei answered with an unwavering, gentle voice.
“He is but a child of ten. Though his parents’ guilt runs deep, he served under Igor Akinfe and merely stitched as commanded.”
“Did he not know that what he was commanded to stitch was a text summoning Darkness?”
“……Is ignorance not the burden of rulers rather than of the low-born?”
“That ignorance killed three hundred of my subjects. How do you account for that?”
“A person with intent commits murder, not the blade itself. Punish the person.”
“A beast that tears flesh is put down, and a blade that pierces is broken and melted in the furnace.”
Alexei’s smile remained unbroken, but he had nothing to say. The elderly Emperor, watching him quietly, spoke again with a bitter laugh.
“Do you truly believe that saving this commoner will earn you his gratitude?”
“I did not consider such a thing. That commoner’s parents are already dead for crimes they did not understand, and Igor Akinfe, who ordered it, was himself torn limb from limb—was he not?”
“Then what will you do with this child by keeping him alive?”
“Your Majesty?”
The Emperor tilted his chin.
“His parents were executed for summoning Darkness and conspiring with Noctis Elf. The child cannot remain in the Northern Region, and no official will employ him even as a slave.”
“……!”
“Put him in an orphanage, and the other children will stone him to death. No family will ever adopt him. Where will he go but to die of hunger in the streets?”
“…….”
The old Emperor’s words were so cold they had turned almost callous. After Alexei’s silence, the Emperor rested his chin on his hand and continued.
“Very well. You said this slave is ten years old. Yurie’s daughter has just turned ten as well. Being of similar age, they should get along easily.”
“……Your Majesty……”
“Though Yurie’s daughter appears small and frail, she seems clever. I shall keep her in the Imperial Palace, and the common child you saved shall be given to her as a slave to raise. Though I wonder if that commoner might harbor wicked thoughts of revenge and seek to kill Yurie’s daughter.”
For the first time, the mask of a smile fell from Alexei’s face, and his violet eyes froze. The old Emperor, his eyes flickering with the same light as his grandson’s, held his gaze.

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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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