The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 94

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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 Imperial Princess Wants to Live in a Pastry Shop
94

“Your… Your Majesty.”
“It was only a slight sprain before, but it’s suddenly started hurting. If you could just carry me to my room, that’s all I need.”
Asha held out both hands as she spoke. Taria hesitated for a moment, flustered and caught off guard, then carefully gathered her into his arms with an expression that seemed on the verge of tears.
“Off to the room we go!”
At Asha’s playful remark, Taria hastily blinked back the tears welling in his eyes and began walking, shaking his head side to side.

* * *

Oleg, the marquis who had come to the Imperial Palace for an audience with the Emperor, made an effort to conceal his somewhat bewildered expression.
“So you’re saying you’d like me to provide support so that peasants can migrate to Linium Yusita and begin farming?”
“Ah… yes, yes. Precisely so. And for those with experience in textile cultivation and distribution to migrate northward, I’m afraid we would need…”
As Marquis Oleg strove to achieve his aims in the audience with the Emperor, his expression remained one of confusion.
‘How did the Imperial Heir Anastasia end up in His Majesty’s lap like that…’
He glanced sidelong at the chief steward in hopes of finding some answer, but the steward himself wore an expression of half-resignation.
“Ah… since the textiles of Linium Yusita will become those of the Empire henceforth, surely it’s important to verify their quality beforehand and… elevate it further, is it not?”
The Emperor considered the words carefully, then suddenly furrowed his brow. Marquis Oleg’s heart sank, but the Emperor was not looking at him—he was looking down at the Imperial Heir in his arms.
Indeed, a young girl had been nestled in the Emperor’s lap all this while. It was the Imperial Heir Anastasia, her expression curiously sullen.
“Are these few moments truly so tedious that you cannot sit still for even an instant?”
“Grandfather’s legs are uncomfortable.”
“Ah, is that so? Your maternal grandfather never complained about it.”
“…….”
‘Grandfather? Maternal grandfather?’
The familiar terms, which he could never have imagined hearing within these palace walls, threw him into even greater confusion. The girl pouted her lip in visible displeasure.
“The marquis was discussing the matter of personnel support for Linium Yusita, wasn’t he?”
The Emperor furrowed his brow but, as the girl suggested, turned his attention back to the marquis’s petition.
“There is merit to what the marquis says. It is right that we support the migration. I shall provide a certain sum as initial settlement funds, and grant a two-year tax exemption for the remainder.”
The Emperor spoke thus, then took the quill with which the girl had been doodling, added his notes to the document, and affixed his signature. The girl lifted her head and gave the Emperor a sidelong glance. The Emperor returned the pen to her hand and spoke to the marquis.
“Marquis Oleg, Linium Yusita is a land of great significance. I trust you will tend it well.”
“I shall… endeavor to do so, Your Majesty.”
“And how fares your daughter? Has her condition improved at all?”
“Ah…! Yes, thanks to Your Majesty’s gracious concern…. Once those who are to migrate have gathered their belongings, I am thinking of traveling north with them, together with my daughter.”
“To Linium Yusita?”
“Yes. I thought the northern air might be better for her recovery than the city air, and my daughter herself expressed a wish to see it…”
“I see. Recuperating in a place with fewer people might indeed prove beneficial.”
Marquis Oleg nodded and, after making his bow, withdrew from the Emperor’s study. The last scene he witnessed was the girl tugging at the Emperor’s collar, pleading to be let down.

* * *

“It’s embarrassing.”
“You had no qualms about clinging to Taria all the way to your room, yet this is embarrassing?”
The Emperor spoke with a look of displeasure, but he nonetheless readily opened his arms to let Asha jump down. She gave a sharp exhale—”Phew!”—and leaped away.
“That was different; nobody was watching back then. But today, I’ve seen over ten people from morning until now. They all stare at me with their eyes wide like this in shock.”
“No one was watching then? Nonsense. Enough people saw it that word reached my ears.”
Asha stared at the Emperor as he spoke with furrowed brow.
‘Where exactly did things start going wrong?’
Until now, she had been so anxious lest any action of hers suggest interest in the throne, causing her to fall from the Emperor’s favor or damage her relationship with Alexei. She had been careful in her dealings with her maternal grandfather for the same reason.
But she had decided to mend family relations by meeting with Taria precisely because she had come to understand that some measure of trust had finally been built between herself and Alexei and the Emperor. She had come to realize that even if she met with Taria, the Emperor would trust that it was merely a granddaughter seeing her maternal grandfather….
‘Except he trusts me far too much.’
Who could have imagined that her paternal grandfather would become absolutely furious at the sight of her being carried through the corridor in her maternal grandfather’s arms! Thanks to that, Asha had spent the entire morning in the Emperor’s study doing nothing but doodling with a pen, deliberately ignoring the shocked expressions of those who came seeking him….
“And my maternal grandfather—Taria only held me for about ten minutes, but Your Majesty has been doing this all day. If you think about it that way, this is terribly unfair.”
“…….”
“I’m really leaving now.”
“……Hmph. Do as you please.”
Asha wanted to cry out, but she held herself back at the thought of the kitchen the Emperor had gifted her.
“I’m going to find a birthday present for Grandfather right now!”
“……Why do you have to do it? You don’t need to do anything. Just…….”
“Because I want to. I wasn’t going to say anything, but Grandfather sulked until I had no choice but to tell him, so I can’t sneak around asking questions about it. That wouldn’t be right.”
“Ah, I understand.”
“Promise me!”
“Promise…… I will.”
“If you sneak around, I’ll truly hate you.”
“Good heavens! I said I understand.”
“Your Majesty, just by looking at your face I can tell if you’re lying or not. Really.”
“……I understand. That should settle it, shouldn’t it?”
It seemed the Emperor had indeed been planning to find out on the sly. When Asha warned him that he’d be caught if he lied, the Emperor finally looked like he was truly listening. Asha made her warning once more for good measure and slipped out of the Imperial study.

“Sigh.”
“His Majesty cares for Your Highness very deeply.”
Lis’s lips had remained turned up in a smile since earlier. Asha cast a sidelong glance at her.
“You didn’t see the faces of the people who came into the study, Lis.”
“What sort of expressions were they, Your Highness?”
“Like they were staring at a three-headed dog.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
Lis tilted her head at the oddly specific comparison. Asha let out a long sigh.
“Not frightening exactly right now, but something that might become frightening in the future, something…… incomprehensible and uncanny. The sort of expression you wear when seeing something like that?”
……
“I wish Alexei could have stayed with us.”
Until that morning, Alexei had been attending to duties alongside the Emperor—and alongside Asha, who sat in the Emperor’s lap—but in the afternoon he had left his post to prepare for the Emperor’s Birthday Celebration, which was drawing ever closer. Asha set aside her lament over what had already passed and hurried toward her kitchen as she asked a question.
“Where are Muela and our painter by now?”
“They said they would arrive on time, and there’s been no word otherwise, so they should have entered the Imperial Palace by now.”
Asha nodded at Lis’s words. Today was the day Muela Ailau was supposed to arrive with both the portrait of Asha and the Emperor finished.
To coordinate with this day, Asha had also summoned the painter who was working with Baron Sarato. When Muela had left the Imperial Palace after completing the portrait sketch last time, she had expressed a desire to meet the painter who worked with Baron Sarato.
By the time Asha and Lis arrived at the kitchen and had begun heating water for tea, there came a knock at the door from outside. When Asha rushed out, two people were waiting for her side by side. One was Muela Ailau, whom she already knew well, and the other was an unfamiliar girl with red hair.
Fifteen or sixteen years old, perhaps? She wore humble but neat clothing. The red-haired girl stood rigidly, as if tense. In contrast, the relaxed Muela smiled broadly and greeted Asha.
“Your Highness the Imperial Heir! By the way, Your Highness, is this perhaps the painter you mentioned last time? The one who painted the shop sign?”
“Uh…… Yes, yes…….”
Whoever it was, she should have been a completely unfamiliar face. Yet the moment they met, a memory struck Asha’s mind with crystalline clarity.
The humble dress and tense expression she saw now, followed by the image that came to her next—a silk dress and a radiant face. And then after that came the white wedding dress standing beside Alexei…….
“M…… My name is Mariya. I’m contracted with Baron Sarato and currently…… working on package design for the Pibi Garu…….”
“M…… Mariya!”
When Asha cried out the name almost like a shriek, everyone in the room turned to look at her.
“Your Highness? Are you…… are you all right?”
Asha composed her startled expression as best she could and looked up at the red-haired girl. Those stunningly beautiful burning-red locks paired with humble clothing looked almost like theatrical costume. And the name Mariya on top of it all!
‘She’s…… she’s the female lead!’
Now that she was beginning to grasp what was happening to her, it was no longer possible to speak of the “original” or the “protagonist”—but there was no other way to express this. The very girl who was linked to Alexei!
‘How is she here?’
Had she originally been a painter? Asha’s lips trembled for a moment before she finally gathered herself. Mariya wore an expression of considerable confusion and anxiety at Asha’s vehement reaction, and Muela also seemed somewhat startled. Asha managed to compose herself.
“Ah…… No, it’s nothing at all. It’s just…… your name is so beautiful I was startled.”
“My…… name?”
“Yes. It means ‘one who is loved,’ doesn’t it? Such a beautiful name.”
Asha said no more and hurriedly ushered both of them inside. Lis watched Asha and Mariya in turn with a worried expression. She had never seen Asha look so flustered before.
“So…… yes. Mariya, you painted the pastry shop sign as well? I thought it was absolutely lovely. That’s why I wanted to have the same person work on this portrait project too.”
“I…… I’m truly honored that you appreciate my humble work…… it’s a great honor.”
Mariya seemed to want to say more, but the words wouldn’t come. Her lips moved soundlessly as she repeatedly clenched and unclenched the fabric of her skirt in her hands. Asha examined her carefully for a moment, then turned her eyes toward Muela.
“Did you two meet before? Have you been introduced? This is Muela—rather, Muela Ailau. She’s a painter too, so…….”

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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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