The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 68

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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 Pastry Shop
Chapter 68

To him, Emperor Mikhail—called both father and the Brain of the Realm—held the nobility and bureaucracy in nearly perfect command. They followed without question the one and only heir this Emperor had chosen.
‘Nearly perfect’ was the phrase used precisely because there were those who did not accept the Emperor’s decision to make his grandson the successor. Chief among them were Valery himself, the Emperor’s own son, and Marquis Tatarcha.
Unlike the other nobles who gave the Emperor their thoughtless loyalty, Marquis Tatarcha saw through what they missed: that Alexei was far too young, and his contract with the Fire Spirit King remained unstable. It was as if he had glimpsed the very thoughts dwelling in Valery’s heart.
Yet the two men’s accord ran deeper than that single reason. Together they had concluded that aside from Yuriey, who had fled the Imperial Palace, and Maksim, who played the rake, Valery alone was a successor to the throne whom they could trust.
Marquis Tatarcha and Valery had drawn close to one another with remarkable speed—like adolescents becoming fast friends overnight.
‘I had planned to gradually win over the nobility, starting with Marquis Tatarcha…….’
That plan had existed for Valery—right up until Marquis Tatarcha fell down the stairs and died.
‘Why did he have to break that teacup!’
There were other things to throw! Did it make any sense to hurl Myura’s teacup in a fit of rage and shatter it? The sudden death of a Marquis still in the prime of life had stirred considerable scandal among the nobility.
The rumors grew so wild that some whispered he had been beaten to death by his wife over breaking her treasured teacup during a marital quarrel. The very thought made Valery’s blood boil. He struggled to contain his burning anger.
“If only it weren’t for that teacup…….”
More than anything else, the bitter truth was that without that accident, Myura might have painted his portrait. The thought still cut him deeply.
The funeral held after Marquis Tatarcha’s death had been desolate. Myura, who attended the service out of courtesy, had expressed her condolences to the widow. And then, shortly after, came her sharp reply to Valery—a letter stating she could not accept portrait commissions due to insufficient skill.
The moment Valery received that letter, he burned it in a fury. The Empire’s finest painter of genius offering excuses about lacking skill? Was that not mockery? One consolation was that the painter had refused commissions from every high-ranking noble, not just him.
Valery pressed his brow with both hands before waving roughly at the Butler standing beside him.
“If she’s going to open a shop in our front courtyard, we ought to hold an inauguration ceremony.”
“As you wish…….”
“How delicious can a mere cake possibly be?”
The Butler seemed to understand the unspoken order. He bowed deeply and withdrew.

* * *

Kalno, standing before the entrance to the Imperial Palace, let out a dry laugh at the sight of the pink-haired girl leaping from the carriage. She approached him in quick strides and burst into bright laughter.
“Kalno~!”
“Kalno…… Noischtetter, I entrust you to look after the Imperial Heir. Please take good care of her.”
Bowing behind the girl was the Chief of Palace Attendants, his expression one of disbelief at what he was witnessing.
“Please assure His Majesty there is no need for concern.”
“Yes, yes of course.”
Though taken aback by Kalno’s actual appearance, the Chief of Palace Attendants did not forget his formal courtesy toward him.
The girl’s usual attire showed the doting affection of her older cousin, but today she was dressed deliberately plainly: a pale blue skirt with a white shirt above it, and a pale blue jacket matching the skirt. A neat brown ribbon was tied at her collar.
“You sent a formal letter saying you’d only use me as an escort knight?”
He bent slightly and spoke in a low voice, and the girl’s eyes widened before she shook her head with a bright smile.
“That wasn’t it at all! It was an invitation—wouldn’t you like to go out together if I happen to need to go into the street?”
“Was it?”
“You said you had business in the city today anyway.”
“I said no such thing.”
“Well, you do now.”
The girl grinned with the clear awareness that she was being stubborn. Kalno shrugged.
“Consider it payment for hiring Sophia.”
“Huh?”
The girl lifted her head and looked to the side. Kalno raised one eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Because then I’d owe you something. You helped me find someone to hire.”
“……Hmm.”
The answer was not what he expected. Kalno fell silent for a moment, and the girl exhaled sharply.
“Honestly, the way you fail to take what’s owed to you…….”
“What did you just say?”
Bewildered, he let out a short, incredulous laugh, and the girl placed her hands on her hips, regarding him with mock concern.
“You’re terrible at calculating what you give and what you receive.”
“Are you speaking to me right now?”
It was a kind of remark he had never heard before and never imagined he would hear.
“I introduced you to Sophia—that’s something you should be grateful for. So I taught you the Lumen Basilice in return. Mark my words, you’re going to be incredibly grateful to me later.”
“Your Highness certainly keeps your accounts with exacting precision.”
“Then what!”
Watching him puff up with pride, I wanted to flick his forehead, but just then people began rushing through the street in the early dawn crowd, so I had to wrap an arm around the girl’s shoulders instead.
“Watch yourself.”
“Whoa!”
The girl stumbled and leaned toward him.
“There are so many people here…….”
“Is there?”
“Where I lived, even when a market opened, it was never this noisy.”
The girl murmured this while glancing around, then gave a small sneeze.
“It’s definitely cold outside the Imperial Palace.”
“It’s still winter, after all.”
Kalno glanced at the maid Lis following behind them both, his eyes asking whether she hadn’t brought an overcoat.
Lis was already unfolding the girl’s coat she’d had draped over her arm. Kalno stepped back one pace from the girl’s side. Lis gave him a respectful nod, then quickly draped the coat over the girl’s shoulders.
“I did tell you it was cold outside, didn’t I?”
“It’s much colder than I thought! Achoo! Much colder.”
“We should just take a quick look at the shop and head straight back.”
“Yeah, yeah. I understand.”
The girl sniffled once, looked around, then kept glancing down at the address written in her hand.
“This way.”
“Kalno, do you even know how to get here?”
“There’s an address written down.”
Kalno walked ahead several paces, waited for the girl to catch up, then repeated the pattern—walking ahead several paces, waiting for her to follow.
“We need to go this way, so be careful……?”
Then, turning back once, he found the girl wasn’t following. She was distracted by a vendor’s stall.
“Imperial—Asha!”
“Kalno, look at this.”
“What on earth has caught your eye now? If you get us lost…….”
“These look like jewels, don’t they? They’re so pretty.”
Kalno looked at the stall the girl was pointing at and suppressed a small groan. There, lined up in glass vials filled with various colored oval beads, all wrapped in ribbon and cloth, were dozens of them.
“Well, look at the keen eye on this little lady! Would you like to try one?”
“Yes!”
The merchant bent down to meet her eyes, smiled pleasantly, and placed a small pink bead in the girl’s hand. As she moved it eagerly toward her mouth, Kalno let out a short sigh and snatched it away.
“Kalno!”
“What, what now.”
Both the merchant and the girl widened their eyes and looked up at him as Kalno popped the bead into his own mouth as though it were medicine.
Sweet particles dissolved as a violet scent brushed past. The candy crackled and shattered, and the hidden almond inside crumbled pleasantly. At the crisp, crunching sounds, the girl’s expression turned sulky, yet curiosity got the better of her as she asked.
“What is that? What’s inside it? It doesn’t seem to be just candy.”
“You’ve never seen one before?”
“No. I’ve only ever seen sweets like this since coming ‘here’—and only the ones I made myself. Is it good? What’s it like? What does it taste like?”
“Hmm…… sweet?”
…….
The girl shot him a deliberately displeased look, so Kalno raised both hands in surrender and bought two small glass vials from the merchant, handing them to Lis. The merchant’s face lit up.
“For customers purchasing two bottles of our Sugar Candy, we offer a complimentary small floral arrangement.”
The merchant graciously presented a modest bouquet of three roses to the girl. She laughed with delight.
“You like flowers?”
Kalno felt a slight curiosity and asked in a quiet voice once they’d moved away from the vendor. Even amid the street beginning to fill with bustle, the girl caught his words and answered.
“Yes! The leaves are soft, the color is beautiful, and the scent is lovely. They look pretty displayed in a vase, and holding them makes me feel good. When Grandfather made me the kitchen, I actually thought the flowers there were the real gift.”
“Heh.”
Kalno barely suppressed a laugh. He’d heard about that incident from Alexei, too. How the supreme Emperor of the Empire had gone to great lengths to build his granddaughter a kitchen—and the granddaughter had ended up taking home a vase instead. It was an open secret.
“Here! Take one too, Kalno.”
The girl, who had been stroking the petals with her fingers, suddenly plucked one rose and held it out to him.
“Never mind.”
“Don’t you like flowers, Kalno?”
“It’s not that I dislike them.”
If they were soft and beautiful in color and pleasant in scent, he’d come to realize recently that he didn’t actually dislike them. Kalno thought this to himself as he gazed down at the girl. Her pale green eyes sparkled as she looked up at him.
“Then here! Take it.”
“I said no.”
“Again!”
With a thought about how to break that stubborn habit of hers, the girl forcibly placed the rose in his hand.
“But Kalno, if you don’t even like it, why did you snatch that candy from me and buy these flowers anyway?”

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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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