The Villainess Princess Wants To Live In A Gingerbread House ​

Even when she heard that he was injured, Asha was only going to say that she was worried. Did he feel sick? Was he any better now? Was he okay…

That’s all she was going to say. Karnov probably didn’t tell her because he was worried about her. If she got upset or worried after finding out there was an accident, he wouldn’t tell her any more.

So she shouldn’t be angry at him for not telling her, she should tell him that, and smile because she smiled at him…

“Asha, why are you crying? What happened? Who… Why?”

Karnov didn’t know what to do.

Asha didn’t really want to cry. She would give all the buttons she had saved up if someone would make it stop. She really didn’t want to say this.

“You’re hurt… I heard you were hurt…”

“…Oh…”

Karnov’s hand stopped. Asha wiped away her tears and tried to calm her expression.

“I was going to ask if it hurt a lot… If it’s okay now… I was going to ask that…”

“Asha! I’m fine, I swear, just a little… A little scratch, that’s all, that’s why I didn’t tell you, I’m sorry, it was nothing, really.”

I heard your bleeding didn’t stop.

She couldn’t bear to say it, but instead, tears rolled down her eyes.

No matter how hard Asha tried to make her usual expression, it didn’t go her way. Her furrowed brow was unable to lift, and her forced smile was soaked with tears.

“I guess Karnov didn’t tell me because you didn’t want me to worry too much…”

Because Karnov is sweet…

“So I was going to ask him to tell me everything because it’s okay, but why do I keep getting tears in my eyes… I shouldn’t…”

Asha tried to stop the tears somehow, stomping her feet and rubbing her hands over her face to no avail. Karnov bent down and struggled to make eye contact with Asha.

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything from now on. Asha, I was wrong.”

“I’m not saying Karnov did something wrong, like that… I’m sorry, I keep crying… I didn’t mean to…”

Asha apologized over and over again, but her words were choppy and filled with moisture. Karnov knelt on the floor on one knee and looked up at Asha’s face, then wrapped his hands around hers as she tried to wipe away her tears.

Asha’s tears didn’t stop and fell off the tip of her chin because she didn’t have a hand to wipe them off.

“Asha, don’t cry. I won’t get hurt again. If I do get hurt, I’ll tell you right away. I’ll tell you about anything else.”

Asha nodded her head with her lips firmly closed, making a brave and energetic face. But tears just fell from the movement and made a stain on the floor. Asha tried to shake off the tears by closing and opening her eyes.

“I’ll do anything you ask me to do from now on, I won’t hide anything, I’ll tell you everything. I promise. I mean…”

So you don’t have to force a smile. I’m sorry, I was wrong. Don’t cry, no, it’s okay to cry…

Karnov’s words were incoherent and urgent as if they had fallen somewhere. Asha bowed her head. Tears fell straight from Asha’s eyes to the floor.

“Don’t get hurt now…”

“I won’t get hurt.”

“Tell me right away if you’re hurt.”

“I’ll tell you right away.”

“I didn’t know it hurt so much that you couldn’t even write a letter. I…”

“I did write you a letter, I swear, I just couldn’t send it because the post office building collapsed.”

Karnov said so, then jumped up and pulled out what was in the bottom compartment of the desk drawer in the office.

A few were in envelopes, but most were small cards folded in half. A series of numbers were written on the outside of the envelopes and the backs of the cards.

Asha stared at the stack of letters with wide eyes. The last of the tears fell from her eyes.

“Why… why didn’t you give it to me before now?”

“When the Postal Service started functioning properly, I had already accumulated this many letters… I didn’t want to give them all at once, so I just let them pile up.”

“Where are you hurt, I need to see.”

Asha, who had gathered up the letters and stuffed them into both pockets of her dress, urged Karnov, who pursed his lips for a moment before effectively deflecting.

“…Shall we eat sandwiches first?”

Asha briefly pouted her cheeks and nodded. It was because she thought feeding Karnov something was more important than relieving her worries.

Karnov offered Asha the tea that came with it. Asha gulped down the long-cold tea like it was bottled water and made a show of waiting for Karnov to finish his sandwich. Finally, Karnov pursed his lips in defeat and turned away.

“What about sandwiches?”

“It would be better to show the wound first and then eat comfortably.”

“Did my expression look weird again?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

With a sigh, Karnov slowly unbuttoned his shirt. It occurred to him that Asha, who had barely stopped crying a while ago, might cry again, and it was only a moment ago that he said he would do whatever she wanted.

He left his shirt halfway up his arms, showing his back, but Asha, standing behind him, was silent. For the first time in his life, Karnov thought, he was nervous.

After a while, he heard the sound of droplets dripping on the floor again. Karnov hastily collected his shirt and looked back.

“Asha, I’m fine, really…”

“Wait, wait, Karnov, let me… let me look again…”

“You just needed to see it once. It’s okay. It’s all better.”

“How is that all better, you’re still…”

Karnov reached for Asha, couldn’t help but clench his fist, then slowly lowered it again and smiled.

He watched as the girl’s lips opened and closed, tears falling down her cheeks, unable to speak…

“It didn’t hurt at all.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“If I lied, you’d know. It really doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Not now, but the first time…”

“It was the same then, too.”

It was a lie, but on the other hand, Karnov didn’t really seem to recall the pain of that time.

“I wish you would say I did a good job, that I did well.”

“It’s not impressive at all. It’s not even cool…”

The girl tried to stop the tears, keeping her eyes closed, but her voice still trembled with moisture.

Karnov thought that the girl’s tears had left his lungs full of them and that some flower that was hard to describe seemed to be blooming in its cracks.

She was so worried that she could shed tears like this.

Yet trying not to cry, fearing he might worry.

“I really won’t do that anymore. I promise you. The wounds are really healing.”

“What if scars remain…”

“Isn’t that cooler?”

Karnov repeated her, first saying it wasn’t cool, then correcting himself to say it was cool. She burst into tears again. Karnov tried to comfort Asha, who tried to tell him that it was okay not to do so, but it also didn’t go his way.

“I’ll come back later when I’m calm, too.”

“No!”

“It doesn’t matter if Karnov says no.”

Asha said bitterly, her eyes filling with tears. Then she thrust a plate of sandwiches in front of Karnov.

“You have to eat everything.”

“It’s the command of the princess, of course.”

“You can’t leave any.”

“I’ll eat all the crumbs.”

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

Karnov smiled as he looked at the restless Kairos. Kairos was quiet until he took Asha, who had shed tears, to her room.

“That’s why I tried to keep it a secret.”

<I didn’t think she’d cry… What’s the worst that could happen? She can’t make jam?>

Even when Kairos was told not to talk about everything that happened to capture the beast, Kairos, who was worried that Karnov’s hard work would not be acknowledged, strongly protested. He stroked a hand slowly across his chest and settled down by the window to stare out.

“I’ll have to nurse her diligently, then. I’ll probably get in trouble with Alexei.”

In addition, the way Asha’s knight, Ivan, looked at him was unusual. Anyone would, when the woman who’d promised to bring sandwiches came back with tears in the corners of her eyes.

<And to Phoebe…>

Kairos said with a twitch of his wings. Karnov recalled the girl’s valiant chick.

The chick was quite surprised to see Asha cry; normally she would have flapped her ears at Kairos or him, but instead she’d just flapped and folded her wings until Asha went into her room.

But maybe tomorrow she’d be pecking at him like an enemy who’d stolen the strawberries from a strawberry cake. Kairos, who had been staring at Karnov, settled down on the window sill next to him.

<Your emotions are interesting.>

“Do you feel something?”

<Not as much as Phoebe feels, but I can sense your mood. To some extent.>

“How is it?”

<Normally, you don’t even flinch when you hear something…>

Even if it was about his parents, who had disowned him, even if it was about capturing a beast he’d never seen, even if it was about being wounded by its claws and writhing in pain, his emotions were as calm as shadows at the bottom of the deep.

“I see.”

<But…>

Kairos looked at him, slowly tilting his head.

<Now you keep feeling so happy and sad. It’s like a strong wind and starlight pouring down on a summer night. I thought there would be only joy in reuniting with that peach…>

“I thought so too.”

It was a little strange to hear someone else describe his feelings, but Karnov took it in stride.

“I thought it would just be good.”

In retrospect, this was the first time he had been so far apart from Asha. He thought it would be just good to see her after a long time. He also expected that the girl would be worried.

<Is it hurting your heart?>

“I guess so.”

<Do you regret it?>

“That too.”

He shouldn’t have hidden it. He should have told her. He shouldn’t have wanted her to worry. He should have been a little more careful. He shouldn’t have hurt himself…

<Don’t people hate the things that make them regret, the things that break their hearts?>

Kairos rolled his eyes and looked up at his contractor. Karnov was bitterly remorseful and heartbroken as he watched the girl shed tears, but there was no desire to separate from Asha anywhere in his mind.

Karnov gently rubbed the top of the black chick.

<You don’t seem to mind.>

“A day is made of day and night.”

<Are these feelings your night?>

Karnov closed his eyes slowly. The almost healing wound felt a little hot.

Only when day and night are together can it be a complete ‘day’. And Karnov could never hate the night, which had given him his first full day. His regret was the moonlight and his pain became the starlight, embroidering the Milky Way in the black bay sky.

How can he not like it.

Some regrets and pains make your heart grow deeper and darker. Some nights make your morning even brighter.

And some nights, he didn’t mind the darkness.

“Yes, they are all my nights.”