The Villainess Princess Wants To Live In A Gingerbread House ​

Asha lined up the letter and put her hand on her waist.

“Number 257, 258… 260. I can’t find 259, no matter how hard I look. There’s no 263. There’s 262 and 264.”

Ever since he was a little boy, Karnov had always written the letter number in his letters, and this time was no different, but this time there were a few missing.

<I guess Karnov forgot about them.>

“What if I lost them?”

<No way? You put them in your pocket as soon as you got them. You’ll meet Karnov a little later, so why don’t you ask then?>

The pale yellow chick rolled her black, bean-grain eyes, watching Asha’s troubled face.

It was the first time Phoebe had ever seen Asha cry. She hadn’t cried when she was left alone in the palace, but to see Asha struggling to keep from crying and then bursting into tears uncontrollably was a shock to Phoebe.

She was so surprised that she couldn’t say anything, only folded and unfolded her wings. Asha had finally fallen asleep and woke up with puffy bags under her eyes, and Phoebe was still trying to hide her fidgeting.

“I suppose?”

Phoebe barely stuck to Asha’s shoulder as she waved her wings. Asha organized the letters and tucked them away.

Today Karnov had been standing outside her door since early in the morning – and would have been waiting until now if Phoebe hadn’t alerted her – to inform her that he would have to leave for a short time during the day.

Upon hearing this, Asha wrote another letter to the capital.

‘I can’t believe Karnov’s parents are suddenly coming. I thought they left forever after handing over their title.’

<Do you hate them?>

“I don’t like them.”

Asha affirmed, Phoebe tilted her head.

<You didn’t seem to dislike their little tantrums so much before.>

“I’m strong, so I can handle whatever they say.”

<…>

Phoebe would normally tease her about what made the peach strong, but she managed to close her beak. It was because if she teased the girl who cried yesterday and she cried again, she thought she couldn’t handle it. Asha noticed Phoebe’s heart and flicked the chick’s eyebrows.

“Yesterday freaked me out… it’s just a little thing.”

<I, I didn’t say anything!>

“Anyway, don’t say anything like that to Karnov.”

<He’s much stronger than you. Body and mind.>

Asha shook her head as if she were telling her not to talk nonsense.

“Of course, I know Karnov may seem that way, but his heart is tender. You saw it yesterday, he’s physically tender too. We can’t just leave him alone.”

“Who are you talking about right now?”

“Because I’m crying, Karnov looks like he doesn’t know what to do. It’s all because he has a soft heart.”

<It’s normal to be unable to cope just by thinking about what’s going to happen in the future because he made you cry.>

“He’s not going to get in trouble for me crying a little bit. I’m going to send this letter to the capital, and then I’m going to make some food for the cat.”

Asha went outside with two letters she had just written, before Phoebe said anything. Outside, Ivan was waiting for her.

“Ivan, did you sleep well?”

Ivan looked at Asha’s complexion as soon as he made eye contact with her, bowing silently and looking at her face. Knowing the reason for the gaze, Asha tried to avoid it.

“D, don’t look at me, it’s embarrassing.”

“…”

“As I said yesterday, I was a little surprised that Karnov was injured. I was just surprised.”

Asha threw her hands up in embarrassment. Her eyes were still bright.

“…Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

Asha smiled hard, pulling only the tip of her hair. Her face seemed to get hot.

“Oh… Karnov said he was a bit busy this morning, so let’s make it ourselves. We’ll feed the cat.”

Asha made a batch of food for the tricolor cat, trying to ignore Ivan’s stare, and stared at the large beast in the cage, a little smaller than yesterday.

‘That Karnov.’

Part of her wanted to open the cage and go in there and have a fight with that beast, and she really didn’t care if she got scratched or hurt…

‘If only I hadn’t cried yesterday!’

Asha pressed down on her eyes. Yesterday’s injury to Karnov made her cry so much that she could not fight back and forth with the beast as much as she wanted.

“…Your Highness?”

“Oh… I have to give it something to eat. Uh-huh.”

Asha suddenly came to her senses at the call of Ivan, who was standing next to her. For some reason, she was looking at the beast with her eyes rolling as if he was looking at her.

‘I can’t even punch that thing.’

Ivan poured out the meat that had been grilled into the cage. The beast hurried to eat until he was full, but after he finished eating, he examined Asha’s face again. He stared at her, his eyes rolling back in his head.

Phoebe, who alternated between glancing at Asha and in the direction of Asha’s gaze, spoke in a determined voice.

<I… Do you want me to hit it?>

“Phoebe? Then all your wings and feathers will fall out.”

<No matter how strong that beast is, I’m the only one who can do it, okay? Trust me!>

With a squeak, Phoebe took flight. Before Asha could stop it, the little chick began its onslaught.

<Roar, rooooar!>

“Peep, peep, peep, peep!”

<Kaaaaaah!>

And surprisingly, the winner of this competition was Phoebe. Without a single feather missing from her wings, Phoebe plucked a handful of the tricolor cat’s crown fur and flew off. The beast flopped to the ground, stroking his head with his front paws.

Asha looked back and forth between Phoebe and the beast, and finally laughed.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The duke’s people had been in a frenzy of excitement since the princess’s arrival from the capital. The northern estates rarely had guests. Even when they did, they were rarely welcome.

Since it was such a place, it was natural that everyone’s attention was focused on the princess, who the duke personally picked up from the train station and fixed up the ducal’s most beautiful room for.

“It’s fascinating. How can a bird not fly away?”

“How can her hair be so soft?”

“Have you tried the snacks the princess brought?”

“They are so delicious. I’m surprised they sell such sweets in the capital. But she just shared such expensive sweets with us…”

“It’s made by the princess herself.”

“…?”

The butler, who had been showing the princess through the gardens of the ducal residence on behalf of Karnov, who had an urgent matter to attend to, glanced back at the princess behind his back. He glanced at the servants who were hiding in various parts of the manor to watch her.

The princess raised a yellow canary on her shoulder – which looked like a chick no matter how much he looked at it, but she wouldn’t be carrying a chick – listening attentively to a butler’s explanation. She chuckled occasionally and spoke to the knight whom she had brought with her.

“By the way, her knight looks very strange.”

“Right?”

“It’s kind of like Noctis…”

“Yekki, this guy. Be quiet. Don’t make a scene.”

“By the way, the master is so busy even though we have guests.”

“Didn’t you hear?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The… the elders are coming up.”

“What? Really?”

“But even so, Her Highness the Princess is also here, so they’ll pass quietly, right?”

Upstairs in the ducal residence, the servants washing the windows glanced down and chattered in hushed tones, then turned to the princess, who was grinning broadly as she cradled a flower the gardener had picked in her arms.

“He’s quite graceful.”

“But why did she come all the way here? Does she know anyone?”

Other servants shook their heads, too.

“According to the higher ups, she came to comfort him because this happened to the estate this time. The chef and the butler seem to know something, but they didn’t tell me.”

As longtime servants of a venerable family, they had learned the wisdom of not prying into secrets someone is trying to keep. The servants were silent for a moment, then began to chatter again.

“I wish she wouldn’t leave. I don’t think I’ve seen him laugh like that in ten years.”

The maid was the one who kept the duchess’s dresses and beautiful clothes that no one wore.

“I thought I’d get rid of them after a few years, but now I’ve found someone who will wear them.”

“Did you see they reopened the Aurora Room this time? It was such a waste not to use it.”

“But she can’t really not go, can she?”

“Well, it’s not like there isn’t a way…”

“What way?”

One of the servants smoothed and rounded the tufts of cloth that had been wiping the windows, then took one in each hand and held them together. It looked as if two people were standing side by side.

He then lightly touched the ends of the cloth that formed the shape of a human head.

“…!”

“…!”

“…!”

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The size of the beast became smaller by the day. It decreased significantly with each meal, and after two days, he had shrunk from the size of two lions to the size of half a lion.

<It’s not long now.>

<Thank you, peach, for your hard work.>

Phoebe flew up at Kairos’s words.

<She’s lost a lot of weight while feeding the cat! Hurry up and get something delicious for her!>

<Ha, but the peach’s homemade stuff tastes the best, so what should I do…>

Ever since he tasted the meat stew that Asha had made on the second evening, the duke’s chef had been racking his brains morning and night.

Asha, who had gently calmed the spirits’ tantrums, turned to Karnov, who stood beside her.

“You see, Karnov, shall we plant Prasti here in the garden after it’s done? I’ve left it a place.”

“When did you find that?”

Asha laughed bashfully.

“When the butler introduced me to the garden here. He said I could plant anything I wanted to plant.”

“Really?”

Karnov covered his mouth slightly. Asha tilted her head at Karnov, who seemed suddenly to be in a good mood, then turned to the beast again.

Now that he could be described as a “somewhat oversized cat,” the beast was just waving his tail, lying face down.

“But what if he gets completely tiny and throws up all over Prasti, can we set him free?”

And with those words, the beast jumped to his feet. As soon as Karnov hid Asha behind his back, the beast began to cry piteously.

<Meoooow…>

“Why, why is he doing that, all of a sudden?”

<Because you said you were going to throw him away after feeding him like that.>

“What? No, I’m not throwing him away. I’m freei…”

<You mean throwing him away freely.>

“But I can’t raise him.”

The beast cried more mournfully when Asha said so with a pout.

<Meow, meooow…>

Asha shook her head.

“I, I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him?”

Karnov turned around, a little surprised. Asha stared at him with a look of disbelief, mixed with a little bit of resentment.

“Of course I don’t. Because of him.”

Because of him, the one who got hurt…

Her final words trailed off softly, almost like a small whimper. Karnov remained silent for a moment, then broke his expression and cleared his throat.

“Then Asha, do you dislike even the ones I raise?”

“Why? Why does Karnov have a pet?”

“It’s just… It’s not right to throw him away as Phoebe said.”

“I… I’ll find someone to raise him. Oh, right. Uncle Valery can raise him. That would work. They’re both grumpy. I’ll ask him.”

“And if he says no?”

“Then…”

Karnov laughed a little at the sight of Asha fidgeting and the beast purring incessantly. In the end, everyone in the room couldn’t come to a consensus, so they decided to wait until after the cat threw up Prasti and left the warehouse.

Karnov’s aide Constantin, who was waiting outside, approached quickly. He looked a little nervous.

“Constantin?”

“Your Grace, it is said that the two of them have arrived at the station.”

There were only two people who Karnov’s aide would call “the two”. Karnov unknowingly hardened his expression and glanced at Asha standing next to him. Asha looked as usual.

“Shall we go greet them?”

“The butler has gone to do so.”

Asha, who had been half-listening to the conversation, shrugged her shoulders.

“Guests are coming. I suppose I should prepare some snacks.”