The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 64

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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
Episode 64

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In a secluded corner of the Imperial Palace Garden, where clouds drifted lazily overhead but the sun still warmed the air, Asha fidgeted with the sleeves of her robe—clenching and releasing, clenching and releasing—until she heard footsteps behind her. She spun around at once. Kalno was approaching, pushing aside the drooping wisteria branches that had grown more profuse as the weather warmed.
“K-Kalno. You came?”
This was the first time they’d faced each other since that confession—about the Spirit’s true nature. Kalno studied her anxious expression with an impassive gaze, tilting his head as if searching for something.
“K… Kalno?”
“Where’s the flower I gave you?”
“Huh? Oh… it’s in my room. I put it in a vase in my room.”
“I thought you might have tucked one behind your ear. Didn’t you like the flowers?”
Flustered by the sudden question, Asha fumbled for words while Kalno chuckled softly and glanced around. He spotted a bud swelling on its stem and reached toward it. The pale Marguerite blossom, still underdeveloped, burst into full bloom as if witnessing a miracle. Kalno plucked several of the freshly opened flowers and approached her.
“Forgive my forwardness, Your Highness.”
“Oh, um…?”
He tucked the flowers behind her ear. Asha watched, entranced, as the blossoms unfurled in Kalno’s hands and then nestled against her skin. She glanced up at him uncertainly.
Kalno’s expression remained composed. He looked somehow lighter than before, as though a weight had lifted from him.
“And there is something I must ask of you, Your Highness.”
Kalno spoke with an theatricality so deliberate it was almost transparent. Asha played along, nodding solemnly.
“Yes, Kalno. Do tell.”
“I would be most grateful if you kept the matter of my Spirit in confidence.”
Asha blinked up at him. Kalno shrugged—a signal that the “serious performance” had ended.
“The first reason is that I expect old men will come seeking to regain their youth.”
“Ah! That could certainly happen.”
Hearing nothing but “Time Spirit,” people would naturally assume that what can move forward can also move backward. It was only human nature.
“The second reason is…”
“The second reason?”
“The Noctis Elves seem a bit… unsettling.”
Kalno said this while watching her expression carefully.
“The true power of the Time Spirit exceeds even that of the Spirit of Death, yet mere mention of its name will stir certain notions. We’ve signed a peace accord with the elves, but…”
As he spoke, Kalno recalled the day the Noctis Elves departed. The fact that a hardline faction had been dispatched as an advisor to the peace delegation itself suggested unease within the Noctis Elves’ ranks.
And having seen the grim look in that hardline elf’s eyes, there were undoubtedly those among the elves harboring other intentions.
“I don’t like that.”
Asha spoke with a petulant pout at the second reason. Kalno blinked in surprise.
“Asha?”
“I don’t understand why you shoulder all responsibility for the war alone.”
“Asha.”
“But still…”
Asha thrust out her lip stubbornly, yet nodded.
“I understand what you’re saying. Let’s keep it secret.”
“Good.”
“But why didn’t you visit sooner?”
Asha abruptly shifted tactics and demanded an answer. Kalno shrugged.
“I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“No! Before I called for you! Why didn’t you come find me?”
“Why should I have?”
Just as Asha was about to huff in indignation at his counter-question, he offered his answer.
“Learning the Spirit’s true nature made me feel its power anew. I’ve been preoccupied adapting to that.”
There was nothing to say to that. Asha slowly closed her mouth.
“You could have at least written to me.”
“I’ll do that next time. But why did you call for me now?”
“Oh! Right, I needed a favor. I was wondering if you could help me find someone.”
“Someone? What kind of someone?”
“Among people close to you, isn’t there someone capable I could use?”
Kalno fell silent for a moment, then exhaled with a furrowed brow.
“So suddenly?”
“No one? Not a single person?”
“How would there be?”
Kalno leaned back in a chair at the tea table arranged in the Garden, his voice dripping with exasperation as he posed the rhetorical question.
“You summon someone without warning, claiming it’s urgent, don’t offer them so much as a glass of water, and then you ask if there’s anyone competent to be found? Your Highness?”
Asha studied Kalno for a long moment, then retrieved a small box she’d set beside her chair and placed it on the table. From the pocket of her dress, she then produced a small glass bottle that looked to be about the size of her two fists pressed together. Inside the transparent crystal vessel, delicate fragments of orange and pale violet petals floated in an exquisite arrangement.
“This is a Picnic Cake I made today, and what’s in the bottle is Orange and Violet Infused Water.”
……
Asha opened the box with deliberate grace. Inside lay a slice of the Picnic Cake she’d baked that afternoon alongside Sarato.
She placed a fork beside it and slid both the bottle and box toward Kalno, who regarded her with an expression of considerable bewilderment.
“As if you’re feeding a dog.”
“What? What are you talking about? Am I a dog?”
……
“I’m just offering a friend a treat. Why would you say it like that?”
“…… Fine. I’ll eat quietly. I’ll have some.”
“Good, that’s the spirit.”
……
Kalno stared at the cake with a complicated expression before taking a fork with a soft exhale. When he took the first bite, he found himself wrestling with whether to speak about what he was tasting and feeling—a peculiar sensation of wanting and not wanting to say anything at all.
Yet moments later, he had to wonder if he’d truly remained silent.
“Kalno……”
“……What?”
“You like tart flavors.”
“……Why are you bringing that up out of nowhere?”
“……Should I bake you a lime pie next?”
“I don’t even know what that is, so never mind.”
The Young Princess wore an expression that was somehow both pleased and delighted, yet too complex for a child to pull off naturally. Kalno was about to voice his objection to that expression when Asha shifted the conversation faster than he could speak.
“So about the person I asked you to introduce. If you don’t know anyone you’re close with, then what about someone who struck you as honest? Someone good, trustworthy, and with some skill—as long as they’re around your level would be fine.”
“…… If someone’s at my level, they’d be quite exceptional.”
“Are you really saying that about yourself? That’s actually impressive.”
……
“So there’s really no one like that?”
“What would you need them for?”
Asha fixed Kalno with a contemplative gaze, then spoke with a sigh.
“Kalno, this has to stay secret.”
Kalno paused briefly before nodding. Asha noticed he was suppressing laughter and shot him a sharp glare, her eyes widening with indignation.
“Remember the day I twisted my ankle? The day you pushed me.”
“…… Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”
“Just listen.”
“Sigh, I suppose I have no choice but to yield.”
Asha pressed on without regard for Kalno’s expression of defeat.
“That day in the Kitchen, Sarato came too, remember? You saw him?”
“I did.”
“Well, I made a contract with him that day—to open a Patisserie in Jedo using the Chocolate Cake Recipe I created. That’s what it was.”
“Has some curse befallen the Baron’s house?”
“So the Patisserie is finished, but apparently he still hasn’t found a Pastry Chef.”
“A truly dreadful curse, it seems. Surely you’re not asking me to recommend a retired soldier for the Pastry Chef position?”
“That’s…… my idea.”
Asha let out a small laugh. Kalno furrowed his brow, his expression one of utter disbelief.
“Even if you find someone from the mess corps, the most they’d have done is boil watery stew.”
“The cake isn’t that difficult to make. With a little instruction and practice, anyone can manage it quickly. I’m not looking for a former mess cook anyway. What matters is sourcing the ingredients, and the Baron will handle that well enough.”
“Hmm……”
“It’s about finding someone you can trust.”
At Asha’s words, Kalno folded his arms and looked down at her with a slightly skeptical tilt of his head.
“Do you think all soldiers are trustworthy?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Asha pouted slightly.
“I meant if they got along well with you, they’d probably be decent.”
“…… That doesn’t make any sense. Wouldn’t it be better to ask Alexei to find someone?”
“Alexei’s busy. But speaking of which, I just remembered.”
Asha clapped her hands together.
“If you need to contact him separately, how should I do that?”
“Contact me?”
“Yes. I’m tired of always asking Alexei to fetch you.”
“I see…….”
Kalno’s expression grew complicated. His lips parted and closed several times before he finally exhaled a deep sigh and drew a hand across his face.
“I can give you a postal box number…….”
“That takes days.”
“Usually it does take days. Having someone appear on the spot like today is actually quite improper, you know.”
“What about a messenger bird?”
“When a person hears something, they should at least pretend to listen…… Or wait, what?”
Kalno’s voice betrayed his bewilderment. Asha replied with complete sincerity.
“I’ll send you something like a messenger bird. Don’t be alarmed, understood?”
“Messenger birds? This isn’t the Autroph era…… Fine, do as you wish. And for the person, I’ll see what I can arrange.”
“Really?”
Asha leaned forward sharply, her eyes gleaming as she looked at Kalno. He frowned and gave her forehead a light flick of his finger.
“So that’s the whole matter, Your Highness? The Empire’s radiant star, Imperial Heir Asha.”
“Oh! Actually, I summoned you for a different reason. This came up conveniently at the same time.”
“And what’s that?”
Asha hesitated a moment before speaking.
“Well…… now that the Noctis Elves have left. The territory we received as War Reparations……. You’re going to receive it soon, aren’t you?”
“Ah yes, that. I suppose so.”
“You still don’t know which of the two plots of land you’ll receive?”

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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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