The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 93

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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 Villain Princess Wants to Live in a Pastry Shop
Chapter 93

Asha waited in silence while Ibven finished his sorbet.
“……You seem to be enjoying it.”
“Does it taste good?”
“If Your Highness gives it to me…….”
“So you’re saying anything I give you is good?”
The implication was that this should not be the case, yet Ibven looked back at her with eyes that suggested it was obvious. Asha let out a long sigh.
“Among the things I give you, there might be something that doesn’t suit your taste. That’s what you should say—that you don’t like it.”
“…….”
Asha had never seen Ibven express his opinions so clearly before. His current expression unmistakably conveyed: such a thing could never happen.
“That…… well, you’ll understand it in time.”

‘Really?’

‘…….’
Pibi, who had just carelessly uttered something excruciatingly embarrassing, was now savoring a quiet satisfaction all on his own.

Asha gave a short, awkward cough.
“Well, Knight Training—is that really what you want to do? Do you enjoy it? Just to be sure, why don’t we try other things too? Something else might be more fun. For instance, making pastries, perhaps.”
Asha knew her example was far too narrow, but nothing else came to mind. And this time too, Ibven clearly refused.
“This is what I prefer most.”
“Learning Swordsmanship?”
“Yes.”
“……Why?”
“Because…….”
Ibven continued speaking naturally, then suddenly bit his lip. Asha tilted her head in confusion, but no further words came.
“Because what?”
“…….”
Asha gazed at Ibven quietly and began to guess at several reasons.
‘Does he like moving his body? Does he like being able to protect himself? Or is it because he wants to become a knight?’
There were several possibilities that came to mind, but desires only carry weight when spoken from the person’s own lips. Asha suddenly clasped both of Ibven’s hands firmly.
“Why do you like this?”
It wasn’t an interrogation—he could take his time answering. Asha said this while meeting Ibven’s eyes. Understanding why someone likes something helps you discover what else they might like. Knowing what you like reveals what you dislike. When preferences accumulate—what you love and what you hate—that becomes the fabric of your life.
“Someday…….”
“Yes, someday?”
“Later.”
“Later? When you’re grown?”
“I want to be of help to Your Highness. I want to…… protect you. If it’s possible…….”
Asha’s mouth fell open. Ibven kept his head bowed. Asha parted and closed her lips several times, then closed her eyes and laughed.
“So Ibven wants to become someone who protects another person—that’s truly admirable. I’m sure you’ll manage it. Even if the person you protect weren’t me, whoever…….”
“I want to protect you, Your Highness.”
Ibven spoke a little urgently. Asha’s eyes widened in surprise, then she smiled brightly again.
“Not long ago, I mentioned that I’d need a knight to escort me when I visited the Marquess’s estate, but you ran away then.”
“Ah, it’s just…… my skills aren’t sufficient yet.”
“So when will you become a perfect knight?”
“That…… I’m not entirely sure myself.”
As Ibven’s expression grew somewhat dispirited, Asha quickly laughed and told him, “By eighteen, you’ll be able to do it.” Ibven nodded again with renewed determination. On that day, he would become Asha’s knight without fail.

* * *

“…….”
“…….”
After Asha finished the sorbet delivery ceremony at the Knight Order, an elderly knight stepped forward to escort her on the way back. It was Tariei Nelin.
Asha walked through the Imperial Palace’s corridors in awkward silence with her grandfather, whom she had barely exchanged words with before. Lis quietly withdrew for Asha’s sake, which only made Asha more frustrated.
“The heat… it’s quite fierce, isn’t it.”
Tariei Nelin walked beside her, sweat dripping steadily down his face as he spoke. Asha glanced up at her grandfather and nodded.
“It is. Very hot indeed—summer does that. Everyone must be suffering in this heat.”
……
Tariei Nelin twisted his lips, searching for a response. Asha nearly laughed aloud but managed to hold it back. Asha had said everyone was suffering, but he couldn’t very well answer something like “No, no suffering at all.” Not gracefully.
As the head of the Knight Order, he couldn’t diminish his knights’ hardships. Yet he couldn’t blurt out either, “Yes, they’re suffering tremendously!” That would be boasting of one’s troubles to someone offering concern—hardly becoming of a man.
“That… that sorbet you made was delicious. Very delicious indeed…”
“Was it? What made it taste good?”
“Well, it was… very… tangy and… cool and… cold…”
Tariei Nelin wanted to prove his compliment was sincere, but his meager vocabulary—born of lifelong indifference to food and drink—held him back. He clenched his fists, fidgeting helplessly.
A cool breeze drifted through the Imperial Palace’s corridors, gently alleviating the stifling heat. Asha slowed her pace as if pushed along by that wind, and Tariei Nelin, still searching for words to answer her, stopped as well. Asha brushed back her hair, which rustled softly in the breeze, and looked at him.
“…Grandfather.”
…!
Tariei Nelin’s jaw dropped as he stared at her.
“Why haven’t you come to see me all this time?”
“That, that is! That is! It wasn’t that I didn’t want to come! I truly, after your mother left like that, I had no way of knowing where you both were or how you were living… so…”
“Not then. After you returned to your post. Why haven’t you come looking for me?”
Tariei Nelin’s lips trembled rapidly, as if searching for some reply, but nothing came. The wind blew again. Only then did he speak, his voice strained and murky.
“…I was afraid… you might hate me…”
Asha stared at Tariei Nelin for a long moment, then pushed out her lower lip.
“So if I said I hated you, you’d just say ‘I understand’ and leave it at that?”
“No, no! No! No, I wouldn’t!”
Tariei Nelin waved his hands frantically. The old knight, flustered and desperate for words, opened and closed his fists repeatedly. Asha continued to stare at him with an obstinate expression.
“And if you came to the Imperial Palace to see me, you didn’t need to go all the way to becoming the Knight Order’s commander.”
“That is… but still, one should hold a respectable position… and now, after so long, I couldn’t bear to show myself to you as an idle old man living off his savings, could I…”
Tariei Nelin muttered almost incoherently. Asha stamped her foot.
“Then what will people think? ‘Oh my, so he’s retired and now wants to benefit from his granddaughter’s fortune,’ that’s what they’ll say, isn’t it.”
“Who would dare harbor such uncouth thoughts? If anyone did, I would have them—no, I would teach them a proper lesson.”
Tariei Nelin quickly corrected his harsh words. Asha folded her arms and looked up at her grandfather, then sighed. At that sigh, Tariei Nelin immediately grew anxious, his hands clenching and unclenching rapidly. Asha pressed further.
“So when are you going to reconcile with Mother? Or won’t you?”
“I… I want to. I want to reconcile so badly, but Irina…”
“That’s an excuse.”
“It’s not like that…”
“Then it’s just an excuse.”
“No, truly, it’s not. Reconciliation isn’t something I can just do on my own…”
“Then you have to make an effort toward reconciliation, don’t you?”
“That’s… true…”
“What effort have you made?”
“Effort isn’t something only one person does—it takes both sides…”
Asha’s expression hardened with disappointment as she looked at Tariei Nelin. He jumped in alarm, flailing his hands.
“No, no. I, I…”
“They told me that since you’re older than Mother, you thought you understood the world better, so when Mother wouldn’t listen, you got angry.”
“That’s… true enough, but…”
“Then you understand reconciliation better than Mother too, don’t you.”
Asha stared at Tariei Nelin flatly.
“If Mother won’t make the effort, then you should go first, shouldn’t you? Have you? I came to Jedo and came to the Imperial Palace as commander, yet you never once came looking for me on your own.”
Tariei Nelin had nothing to say. He simply sat with the shame of his granddaughter’s rebuke.
“You could have found Mother and Father if you’d wanted to.”
Asha spoke with wounded indignation. Had Tariei Nelin truly been indifferent to his daughter and granddaughter, Asha might even have treated him with the clean distance she’d show a stranger.
But he grieved for a daughter he never met and a granddaughter whose birth he didn’t know of, and yet he did nothing. He simply stood just out of reach, waiting for the other to extend their hand first.
“Mother can be angry too. If Mother gets angry, you fight and then reconcile.”
“It’s not quite that simple…”
“I know it’s not simple. But someone has to speak first, don’t they? If that’s the case, then shouldn’t the one who grew angry first be the one to reach out?”
“But… how would I even…”
Though she wondered if she’d have to spell out every detail, the desperate look in the old knight’s eyes softened her heart.
“Start with a letter.”
“But what if she doesn’t reply…”
“Then Mother’s still furious! But you won’t even have the chance of a reply if you don’t send it!”
Tariei Nelin shrank under Asha’s words, his large frame slumped with the look of a depressed man. But Asha didn’t yield.
“A letter! Tomorrow! If tomorrow won’t work…”
“Well, I’ve written quite a few letters, so I’ll select some of them to send first.”
“Ah, then don’t bother choosing — just send all of them.”
“All of them…… sir?”
“To reconcile, you have to make a good impression. To make a good impression, you have to try hard. And to try hard? You need to show every bit of your effort without hiding anything!”
“Ah, I understand.”
Tariei Nelin nodded quickly. Asha watched the dark, humid current that seemed to be seeping down from his shoulders and let out a long sigh.
She understood the fear that things might break beyond repair. She understood too the paralysis that came from being too afraid to do anything at all.
‘He kept writing letters he could never send.’
Asha gazed quietly at Tariei Nelin, whose head hung low, then gently tugged at his sleeve.
“My legs hurt.”
“What? I’ll call a healer right away——!”
“No! No, that’s not it.”
Asha quickly grabbed Tariei Nelin before he could rush off in panic.

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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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