The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 9
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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 Candy House
Chapter 9
“……?”
The yellow bird embroidered on her nightclothes writhed, and suddenly a chick materialized before her eyes.
The same chick that had seized her nightclothes and clawed at Pavel’s head—the very Spirit she had bonded with at Staden Palace.
Asha glanced rapidly around the room, then stiffened, holding her breath.
“You’re the foolish one! Why couldn’t you speak until now, and suddenly you can?!”
“So you couldn’t speak because you’re incompetent, and you’re blaming it on me not having sweets to eat?”
The bird fell silent, its beak opening and closing soundlessly. Asha glared at it with a sullen expression, then something occurred to her and she knitted her brow.
“Wait—Spirits can actually speak?”
I have no memory of anything like that, she thought, swallowing the words. In this place, a Spirit, and the Spirit Rite itself, seemed less like a communion with a being capable of discourse and more like a blessing or awakening of power granted to ten-year-old children. Most would live ordinary lives forever, and only a tiny fraction would ever awaken such power. Among those, only an infinitesimal few would ever sense a Spirit’s true existence, and none—not a single soul—could actually communicate with one. That was precisely why the Spirit of Anastasia, the imperial heir, had been treated as something so extraordinary in the original story.
“Other people don’t seem to be able to.”
“Oh, so that means I’m clever, then?”
The bird clearly didn’t want to concede that point, for it pecked its beak a few more times before stammering open its mouth and hurriedly saying something else as if it were a different matter entirely.
“Not a bird Spirit?”
‘Did something change from the original story? Or did no one ever… know?’
Probably no one knew. If they couldn’t communicate with a Spirit, it would have seemed like nothing more than a brilliantly radiant bird from the outside.
“You couldn’t speak either until now, so you and a bird are basically the same. And you look like a bird too.”
Asha teased it about being a bird Spirit for a while longer, only changing the subject when tears began to glimmer in the chick’s eyes.
“So you really are a Great Spirit of Sensation? Is that why I saw those things? Earlier, around Lis there was something like a colored mist hovering… and around the Head Chef too.”
The chick puffed with pride. Rather than encourage its vanity, Asha decided to satisfy her curiosity instead.
“Can you only show me emotions directed at me? Or can I see them whenever I want? Or do I have to live in some kind of rainbow wonderland forever? Can I stop seeing them if you tell me to?”
“My capacity? What do you mean by that?”
“Proficient at what?”
“How do I become proficient?”
“So basically, you don’t know how either?”
The Spirit clacked its beak defiantly. Asha found herself briefly tempted to hang this chick upside down, then lifted her head instead.
Still, she had managed something with this Spirit. Today, she had baked a genuinely elegant pastry for the very first time in her life. A cake that had tasted impossibly delicious.
“Was it because of you that I baked those sweets so well?”
“Wait? Didn’t you drag me to the Kitchen because you couldn’t do that? You told me to do it.”
“Can’t you do it directly?”
“Ah! So when I accidentally left eggshell fragments in the batter, that was you too?”
The Spirit conversing with Asha’s voice began to quaver slightly.
“Oh, so in the end I did it all myself? I’m the one who’s amazing!”
“So do you at least know things like recipes? What amounts of what go into something to achieve a certain flavor?”
“Right, right. You can make anything with your hands and do anything with your body. Are you finally understanding the magnificent power of this great Spirit?”
Asha smiled broadly and nodded in rapid succession.
‘So basically an all-purpose recipe book, then?’
“Yes, yes! Wonderful! Since it’s come to this, let’s bake pastries ten times before we leave the Imperial Palace.”
“Ten times? Merely ten?”
Asha’s expression grew serious, her brows drawing together.
“That’s not ‘merely.’ About a week from now, they’ll throw me out of here. Even baking twice a day, I’ll need a full five days.”
“A week?”
“Yes. Because I made a contract with a little bird like you. You can only stay here if you’ve contracted with a Spirit King.”
She’d said it to tease the bird, but the creature’s small, bead-like black eyes glinted with unusual intensity.
“I am the greatest of great Spirits, and what nonsense is this!”
“No, I mean the others. Water, fire, earth, wind—that sort of thing. My grandfather contracted with the Spirit King of Wind, and my cousin contracted with the Spirit King of Fire, which is why he’s here. But me? I did it with you.”
“Those fools are always pestering me for something—what foolish talk is this!”
“Pestering? What do they pester you for?”
At that, the bird snapped its little beak shut. It seemed to have run out of things to say rather suddenly.
“You… ignorant and childish thing—what would you understand from hearing about it?”
“Since I don’t understand, I’m asking you to explain.”
“In any case, didn’t I say you cannot remain here because I am but a small bird?”
The bird snapped its beak again.
“This form is what it is because you asked to become small—surely if you became large, that would work.”
As the words left its beak, light flashed brilliantly. Asha’s face went pale in an instant.
“No! No, no, no! Shrink down! Back to small! Hurry! …What?”
“What?”
The light flashed again, but the bird remained the same size—if anything, the yellow bird’s form seemed to grow even smaller as it emitted the light.
“It’s… not getting bigger?”
Asha’s eyes widened in shock while the bird panicked, fluttering its small wings frantically. The light flickered many times, but the bird did not grow.
After much of this—until Asha finally intervened, muttering that it would shrink into a pea—the bird accepted its fate.
“I… I’ve been made a fool of… because of you!”
“W-what? Suddenly that’s my fault?”
“Forget it! I’m done!”
* * *
The next morning, Asha opened her eyes, exhausted rather than sleepy. After squabbling with the bird half the night, sleep had brought no real rest.
“This Pafnir—or whatever—is supposed to radiate heat…”
And despite it being winter, the warm air made her sweat slightly. Asha stirred slowly and groaned as she opened the window.
A power so immense that merely contracting with it warmed the entire Imperial Palace. The epithet of Fire Dragon seemed almost insufficient for Pafnir’s strength—the Fire Spirit King’s true might.
The driving force that had allowed Aleksei to be named the next emperor, surpassing uncles of his generation and even his parents. And surely all the boys and girls who had participated in the Spirit Rite not long ago had wished for power like this.
“Hmm, Pafnir. The new contractor seems to be a good match. Look at him struggling to contain his power like that, all excited.”
From the bird embroidery on Asha’s nightwear, a small bird took shape before popping out entirely.
“Can’t you at least try to be calm?”
“How can I help it when the young, foolish thing acts so willfully? Until he’s grown, I must let him do as he wishes.”
“How old is Pafnir, anyway?”
“Why should I know such a thing?”
Asha finally let out a deep sigh. In just one day, she’d learned that having a proper conversation with this Spirit was impossible.
‘But there’s a bright side!’
Asha smiled and opened the lower drawer of the side table. Inside was a Dark Chocolate Brownie wrapped in translucent paper.
After her audience with the Emperor yesterday, Asha had rushed back to the kitchen to tell Pavel the news, but Pavel was nowhere to be found—still desperately searching for the Cake, it seemed. She’d left him a note, but then noticed leftover batter sitting alone on the kitchen counter.
She’d baked it into a firm chocolate cake like a brownie and brought it with her.
“Yaaawn.”
A single bite flooded her tongue with a rich, dense chocolate flavor entirely different from mousse, filling her with bliss.
“All right then. What’s your name, anyway?”
“My name? I am the great Spirit of Sensation.”
“No, not that. By that logic, I’m just a human, but I still have the name Asha. He’s called Pafnir.”
Asha gestured with her eyes toward the warm space in the air. The bird chirped and roughly stuffed the brownie into its beak.
“I have no name. I need none.”
Cocky little thing, chirping away like that. Asha grumbled, resting her chin on the windowsill and nibbling the brownie. The sun had just risen, painting the sky in shades of pink and blue.
“Fine then. Your name is Pibi.”
“But I just said I need no name!”
“Even chicks have names—surely an exalted great Spirit doesn’t mean to go without one.”
“Then give it a more dignified name!”
“It is dignified. Pib-i.”
“That’s the name of a ceramic figurine you stuff into a pie to keep it from burning!”
“What? You figured that out?”
“How could I not know what you’re thinking?”
The quarrel between Asha and the bird resumed, their bickering stretching on. Asha glared at the creature, breathing hard.
“We need to establish some rules between us.”
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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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