The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 74

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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 74

“That’s not really the issue. I mean, let’s say Kalno was some kind of commander in the Imperial Army. Well, everyone leaves their little comment. But not all of them are compliments, are they? Things like, ‘I don’t understand why the Vice-Commander never smiles and always acts so serious,’ or ‘I don’t like how he tries to look impressive,’ that sort of thing.”
“Mm.”
“But here’s the problem—what if the entire Imperial Army passes around and reads these comments? If somewhere in there it says something like, ‘I can’t even stand to look at the Vice-Commander,’ then it doesn’t matter anymore whether it’s sincere or not. Even if a wooden toy sword stabbed me hundreds of times all at once, what would happen?”
“……Mm.”
Asha looked at Kalno’s expression, which gave nothing away, and decided to stop explaining.
“Truth be told, I’ve never expected anyone to like me in the first place, so I can’t quite grasp it……. But it can’t feel good to become the subject of gossip. That said…….”
“What? Why?”
Asha stared at him with a shocked expression, her voice rising. Kalno forgot what he was about to say and turned his attention to her.
“Why what?”
“Why wouldn’t people like Kalno?”
“They wouldn’t. Everyone’s afraid of me. Can fear and affection coexist?”
“Of course they can!”
Asha burst out emphatically.
“You can be terrified and still think someone’s good if they save your life! So even if you’re scared, you can still like them.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! And now this…….”
Asha lowered her voice for this part.
“When people learn the truth about the Spirit matter, it’ll be even more that way. It’s a secret for now, though.”
“Is that so?”
“Kalno, you don’t agree with me at all, but you’re just pretending to go along with it because you don’t want to keep talking about this, aren’t you?”
“A little.”
Asha’s brow furrowed as she stared at him, but Kalno only laughed it off.
“How can you be so confident that people will like me?”
“It’s not that I’m confident—it’s just a fact…….”
“Might it be because the Imperial Heir is so fond of you, my lady?”
“……!”
Asha sprang to her feet and began poking at Kalno with her spatula, then her ears flushed red with irritation and she pressed her lips firmly together, flipping the pancake. The moment she’d flipped it perfectly, she spoke quickly.
“I don’t like Kalno. That’s right—I’m the one who’s actually afraid of Kalno. I misspoke.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Exactly. I’m terrified out of my mind, so please just eat your pancake, Kalno.”
As Asha spoke, Kalno dipped his pancake in syrup and brought it to his mouth, then asked matter-of-factly.
“Truly frightened?”
“Yes, I’m absolutely terrified.”
“Then this frightening Kalno Neuschtetter won’t be able to read you that letter, will he?”
“A letter? Did you write me a letter, Kalno?”
Asha leaned over in surprise. Kalno pushed her back slightly with his fingertip and withdrew a letter from his chest.
“Why would I? Someone else wrote it. Apparently, they sent a letter to the shop saying they’d enjoyed your cake so much. Sophia passed it along to me.”
“Really? What does it say?”
“But you just said I frighten you—and now you want me to read the letter?”
“I’ll read it! Give it here!”
“You said I frighten you, yet now you’re ordering me to hand over the letter?”
“Only an idiot like Kalno would scare me! Not one bit!”
Kalno readily received Asha as she rushed at him, lifted her up, set her down in a chair beside the table, and smiled quietly.
“Your words do seem to contradict themselves, my lady.”
“Even if I wake up in the morning thinking, ‘I should bake some bread and spread strawberry jam on it,’ the moment I step into the kitchen, I end up choosing apple jam instead. It’s just who I am.”
“Then there’s truly nothing to be done about it.”
Kalno said this and handed the letter to her. It was a cleanly written letter that had already been opened once before.
“The sender’s name……there isn’t one?”
Asha tilted her head and unfolded the letter.

[To the esteemed Pastry Chef,
I am a traveler by nature, wandering from place to place while sketching in my spare time.
Recently, I returned to Jedo, my hometown, after a long time away, and a friend recommended this newly opened cake shop to me.
At first, I was startled by the bold presentation. I’d never seen a cake so dark in color before. And that single sprig of mint leaf arranged on top…….]

The letter, which had begun in a most formal tone, stretched across several pages. The first page praised the cake’s appearance, the second its flavor.

[The moment the spoon touched it, the surface seemed to crack slightly, but inside was moist. And when I lifted a spoonful, that thick, rich sauce flowed away, the chocolate melting on my tongue, the harmony of its sweetness and bitterness, its crispness and softness, the remarkably delicate flavor hidden beneath that rough and resolute exterior—I…….]

And the final paragraph at the end of that praise held a wish to offer something in return. It said that though his skill was modest, all he knew how to do was draw and make things, and if it wouldn’t be presumptuous, he would like to paint a portrait for her.
“Ahhhh…….”
While Asha clutched the letter to her chest and savored the overwhelming emotion, Kalno spoke.
“There’s something in there about painting a portrait, isn’t there?”
“Hm? Oh, yes.”
“Sophia mentioned it. If he’s going to paint a portrait of the person who made him the cake as thanks, wouldn’t it only be right to paint you?”
“What? Then he should just paint Sophia. The person who tasted it and was moved was eating Sophia’s cake.”
“But you’re the one who conceived that cake recipe and gave Sophia the opportunity in the first place.”
Asha read over the section describing the cake’s flavor again before answering.
“The opportunity came from Kalno introducing her anyway, didn’t it? Why don’t you go and have your portrait painted with Sophia? You could hang it on the cake shop wall.”
Asha grasped the front page of the letter again, grinning from ear to ear, when Kalno spoke in a curious tone.
“Have him paint your portrait instead. And stop baking pancakes.”
“Why? Why?”
“His Majesty has apparently sent for someone to give the Imperial Heir a new dress.”
Following Kalno’s glance, attendants had gathered by the kitchen entrance, waiting for her.

* * *

As the season shifted, the days were beginning to lengthen.
“Ma’am, the letters that arrived today.”
The Marchioness of Tataritscha, who had been examining flowers in the garden, straightened her back while wiping beads of perspiration from her brow. The tray the maid was holding was brimming with letters.
“Good heavens, what’s all this?”
The Marchioness of Tataritscha was a woman with a gentle face, her frame rather slender, her long hair braided and draped to one side. Having removed her hat and gardening gloves and handed them to another maid, the Marchioness walked into the manor, opening the letters one by one as she went.
“How strange—suddenly all these people are pressing to attend our daughter’s tea party?”
“Hmph, as if it matters now…….”
The maid who had been organizing the Marchioness’s hat and gloves spoke with a slight pout.
The Marchioness of Tataritscha said “Don’t speak like that,” and gave the maid’s forehead a gentle flick.
“I’m afraid all these late applications will have to be refused. Since the Imperial Heir Asha arrived in Jedo, she has apparently spent all her time with the Crown Prince alone—she would find anything too bustling disagreeable.”
The Marchioness smiled warmly, glanced through the final letter, then tossed all of them into the fireplace.
“But why did the Imperial Heir say she would attend your tea party, Ma’am? I’ve heard she hasn’t gone anywhere else.”
The maid, having swept the tray clean, retrieved ink and pen from the table and expressed a small question. The other maid, who had been arranging the Marchioness’s gloves and hat beside her, whispered.
“I hear His Majesty dotes on the Imperial Heir terribly. He refused all the other nobles’ invitations, but didn’t scold her even once.”
“I heard His Majesty doesn’t let her out of the palace.”
“Really?”
At the maids’ murmurs, the Marchioness drew a gentle smile.
“His Majesty has only the one granddaughter, after all. His Majesty must understand how taxing it is for a young girl to be running about here and there.”
“If that’s the case, why would she suddenly decide to come here?”
“Could it be because of Miss Natalya? They’re the same age, after all…….”
All three—the two maids and the Marchioness herself—fell briefly silent. The Marchioness of Tataritscha took on a somewhat grave expression, smoothed her brow with her fingers, and took up her pen.

[Dear Count Linchel, Thank you for your interest in this late-winter tea party…….]

The Marchioness wrote swiftly, then passed the letter to the maid beside her to be sealed before speaking with firm resolve.
“The day before the tea party, take out three leather balls from the storage room and give them to the three youngest and strongest hands among the servants.”
“Will that be…… enough?”
“Before then, have all the trees and walls oiled so Natalya can’t climb them, and put away the vault horse and the cricket bats. Keep her from riding too. When you tell her the stable needs quick repairs before the tea party, she’ll understand well enough.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And…… do we still have any dresses left in the house?”
“Miss Natalya’s dress…… is that what you mean?”
The Marchioness of Tataritscha quickly read from the maid’s expression the unspoken ‘Surely you’re not asking that.’
“Just thinking aloud. Well…… Let me entrust Natalya’s formal dress to Jose Alman. He knows how to make a trouser seam flow elegantly.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“There’s nothing to prepare for flowers, and the tea is already laid in, so we only need to arrange the sweets.”
Having written perhaps five more refusal replies by this point, the Marchioness picked up a new card and rattled off a list of pastry shops to the maid.
“Make sure you bring back cookies from the Lemerothil Cake Shop.”
“Yes, madam.”

* * *

Ripe as red jewels, gleaming with a lustrous sheen, their flesh studded with tiny seeds, crowned with a fresh green calyx like a monarch’s diadem—Asha cradled the final basket of strawberries of the season against her chest, unable to suppress a pleased smile. She had been planning to make a Strawberry Tart as a gift to bring to the Marchioness of Tataritscha’s tea party.
But the moment Asha set the basket down on the counter, she heard what Lis had to tell her, and her expression soured as though she’d bitten into an unripe persimmon skin.
“It has to be that way?”
“Yes. His Imperial Majesty himself conveyed the message. And he also said that the Knight you bring along must first stop at the Knight Order so that His Highness can select her personally.”
“When you told me about the tea party, there was no mention of any of that.”

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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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