The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 76

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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 Imperial Heir Wants to Live in a Pastry Shop
Chapter 76

‘That Head Chef? Who on earth…’
Asha, lost in thought, suddenly snapped to attention and clapped her hands together sharply.
“Oh! You and Pavel are siblings?”
“Cough. How did you—? No, how does Your Highness know of that fellow…?”
“Because Pavel is Alosha’s Head Chef. That’s why I know him. I figured it out because you two look alike.”
Anne Markaei’s expression contorted in a peculiar way.
“Look alike… I’ve never heard that before.”
“You haven’t?”
“No. That wretch—ahem, I mean, he… well, my older brother takes after Mother, and I take after Father. We look completely different.”
Seeing a woman in her mid-thirties pull the face of someone confronted with a table of detested dinner vegetables made Asha burst out laughing. At that moment, Tarie Nelin, who had been pushed back behind them, cleared his throat pointedly.
“S-so. Whom will you be taking with you?”
Asha’s expression turned awkward again as she studied the arrayed knights. Though looking at them would hardly allow her to judge their skill, she had different criteria altogether.
Above all, absolutely not Tarie Nelin.
“Then… this one and you.”
Asha’s fingertip gestured toward the distant knight, then toward Anne Markaei. The knight standing far off showed not the slightest interest in the proceedings, his face bearing a faint smirk of irritation, while Anne Markaei, though repulsed by the mention of resembling her brother, found her favor toward Asha deepening all the more.
Anne Markaei blinked, momentarily surprised, before her face brightened and she gestured for the knight Asha had indicated to step forward.
“It is my honor to serve Your Highness. I am Anne Markaei, Vice-Commander, and this is Bedelnik Terepo. Commander Terepo, do present yourself.”
“Knight Bedelnik… Terepo. I shall serve Your Highness.”
The knight made no effort to hide his languid expression, shuffling forward with obvious reluctance before dropping to one knee and offering a bow. Yet anyone watching could see he scarcely wished to be there. As Bedelnik brought Asha’s hand to his forehead and rose, Tarie Nelin, observing from beside them, suddenly spoke up.
“Ahem. Come to think of it, two seems rather few. Surely there should be at least three knights…”
“Oh, no. It’s not as though we’re going far. We’re only visiting the Marchioness of Tataritcha just nearby, so it’s quite all right.”
As Asha waved her hand in refusal, a shadow fell across Tarie Nelin’s face.

* * *

“Sigh.”
Tarie Nelin lay sprawled across a hammock in the Official Residence. Beside him stood Iben, silently holding his coat.
“Damnation.”
“…”
“Blast it.”
“…”
“Confound it…”
“…”
“Shouldn’t you be asking now, ‘Commander, what troubles you?’ Hmm?”
“What troubles you, Commander?”
“I’d rather die of anguish.”
Then, after genuine groans of distress, Tarie Nelin finally roused himself and sat perched on the hammock’s edge.
“When Her Highness visited, you absolutely had to go fetch my coat at that precise moment?”
“My apologies.”
“No, it’s just you…”
Tarie Nelin, about to say more, released a heavy sigh instead.
He was too embarrassed to voice what he truly meant: that among his peers none could match him, that he could lightly surpass even those a few years his senior, yet showing his strength to his own master brought such shame upon him.
“Blast it all. Her Highness was asking for you.”
“So I heard.”
“I told her I’d sent you to have my clothes laundered. Do you know how she looked at me? Hmm?”
“I can explain myself.”
“Confound it, how reassuring.”

— And what of Iben? Is he learning well here?

Tarie Nelin recalled, for the first time seeing them up close, his granddaughter’s pale green eyes. Then came the memory of other things in rapid succession. Hair the color of peach skin, soft and delicate; cheeks the hue of rose flesh; a voice dignified yet still bearing the tenderness of youth.
That voice calling him “Lord Nelin.” The melancholy returned to Tarie Nelin’s face. His first conversation with his granddaughter had gone against his wishes in every way, and when Iben came to the fore, it had become an utter disaster.

– For now… I have an errand to run.
– What errand, sir?
– Well…….

The disappointment and worry etched across his small granddaughter’s face, together with that faint, trembling distrust—as though she suspected Iben was being tormented—cut like a sharp spire. And he was a condemned man bearing the fate of being pierced through by it.
“Commander, are you still tormenting Iben?”
“Tormenting? Does this look like tormenting to you? We’re having a conversation!”
“Why are you in such a foul mood?”
“Do I look like someone who isn’t? Huh? I thought I might actually get some words out of him. You’ve got it good, haven’t you? Running off on outings together.”
“Why are you like this? It’s not as though you can go as well, sir.”
Tarie Nelin’s expression turned as though he wished himself dead. He’d taken up the vacant position of Knights Commander, thinking his granddaughter would never believe him merely idle, but now this wretched chair was shackling him like this!
“Your Highness seems remarkably perceptive and kind. Otherwise, I cannot fathom how you show such consideration to a heartless grandfather.”
“Ah, look who’s become a saint of truth and objectivity.”
“Moreover, if word spreads that the Knights Commander personally escorted the Imperial Heir’s outing—and that this Commander is moreover the Heir’s maternal grandfather—then without fail, everyone will suspect there’s some ulterior motive behind it all, will they not?”
“I have no such intention—what does it matter!”
“You were concerned it might tarnish your grandfather’s honor, I expect.”
“That’s not it…….”
Tarie Nelin nearly burst out with ‘No, you old fool must just despise me!’ but managed to swallow the words, leaving only his lips twisted in displeasure.
“……Damn it all.”
“By the way, Your Highness seems to have excellent judgment. How did you choose Bedelnik so quickly?”
Anne Markaei said this, tilting her chin slightly. Bedelnik cared nothing for the currents flowing through the Imperial Palace. His only concern was becoming supreme through swordsmanship, and he possessed unique skill among his peers to match that ambition.
Yet he did not flaunt it, and lacking any network of admirers unlike the others, few outside the Knights Order knew of his true prowess.
“Hm. Whose granddaughter is she, after all.”
“Then why did you reject her?”
“I didn’t reject her!”
Tarie Nelin cried out indignantly.
When his daughter had spoken of marriage, yes, he’d grown angry. Tarie Nelin thought anyone would have. The empire had countless knights. Among them, Tarie Nelin stood at the apex, and the knight he’d most carefully cultivated was his daughter.
Not because she was his own flesh and blood, but because she possessed the most talent among all the young warriors. She’d even been designated as Deputy Commander at the youngest age ever.
Yet just before a reassignment was to take place, she suddenly announced her marriage without warning? The news alone was staggering, but the groom was the Imperial Prince!
Tarie Nelin first worried that his daughter had developed a peculiar sense of humor. Had she said she’d become a common soldier’s wife, he would have gladly consented. But to become a Crown Princess—
The problem wasn’t merely binding herself personally to the object of her loyalty. It meant her brilliant talent would be wasted. He’d been forced to rage against that loss, that tragedy. Yet what could he do when that was what his daughter wished?
“I was merely…….”
He had been angry, yes, but he’d thought they could reconcile anytime. He had foolishly believed his daughter would come to soothe his anger.
But in the blink of an eye, everything fell apart. The eldest Imperial Prince suddenly died, and Crown Prince Yuriye—designated as the next heir—was said to have spouted disrespect to the Emperor. Then Crown Prince Yuriye and his escort knight, Irina Nelin—his only daughter, the one who had plagued his heart so!—simply departed Jedo and vanished.
The vacant Deputy Commander post passed to Anne Markaei, who possessed the next-greatest talent after Irina. And Tarie Nelin relinquished his position as Knights Commander and retired.
Then ten years later, when word came that Crown Prince Yuriye’s daughter had come to the Imperial Palace for a Spirit Ceremony,
Tarie Nelin found himself unable to refuse returning to court. He recalled the image of his granddaughter, swimming before his eyes. She resembled her mother in some ways, perhaps not in others, yet he was certain of one thing: she was profoundly lovely.

* * *

Kalno sat upon his horse, leading the family’s attendants beyond the city walls that encircled Jedo, waiting for his grandmother.
“Ah! There she comes.”
The attendant beside him spoke softly. Kalno recognized the sturdy but solidly-built carriage, those who pulled it, and the figure at the very front of the procession—an elderly noblewoman maintaining perfect posture, riding with such confidence as to command a kingdom. She was approaching.
“Grandmother.”
Kalno spurred his horse closer. It was their first meeting in several months, yet there was no effusive greeting between them.
“You seem to have leisure enough, coming all the way out to greet an old woman like me.”
“Only a little, ma’am.”
“Tell me—how are your parents?”
“Packing. We’ll be returning to the territory soon.”
The elderly noblewoman, Ekaterina Noishuetter, drew the back of her weathered hand across her rough cheek, long exposed to the northern wind, and smiled without warmth.
“Hm. Protesting to me that they don’t wish to return to the territory.”
To the aging general who had guarded the Sedvoyer Territory in the north with her own body alone, the actions of her son and his wife showed nothing of which she could approve.
They lacked the courage, the ability, and the will to love northern lands, so Ekaterina regarded her children merely as stepping stones—stepping stones to buy time until her grandson Kalno came of age. In that sense, she shared something with the Emperor himself.
“Is there any unusual trouble in Jedo?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Hm…….”
Ekaterina urged her horse toward the gates of Jedo, her eyes narrowing as she observed Kalno’s profile. He glanced sideways at her, sitting with fluid ease.
“What is it, ma’am?”
Ekaterina keenly noticed the change in her grandson.

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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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