The Villainess Princess Wants To Live In A Gingerbread House ​

“Oh, I’m in trouble.”

Asha’s muttering made Karnov, who was whisking egg whites with a disembodied face, look up at her. He was not dressed in imperial garb, but in the comfortable robes and shirts of the elves. Asha, too, wore an apron, cinched at the waist with straps from a loose-fitting dress of finely woven fabric.

“Why?”

“Grandfather said he wouldn’t give me a birthday present if I didn’t come back by my birthday.”

“…He’s not going to give it to you.”

“He’s going to be so mad.”

“His Majesty…”

Karnov moistened his lips.

He wanted to say that the emperor of the empire couldn’t be sulky about that, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Still, it’s only a week before my birthday, so if we get back just in time…”

“To Evan, she’s the first grandmother he’s ever met… great-grandmother, so I can’t say, ‘You said hello, right? Let’s go now~!'”

Asha said urgently, counting on her fingers how many generations up she was. Based on Evan’s age, it was unlikely that he was the blacksmith’s biological son, but more likely his great-grandson.

It was three weeks ago that she heard that the great elder had been asleep for almost twenty years. As soon as she heard Lilmari’s words, she knew that it wasn’t a lie.

She thought she had found a clue after a long time, but the Queen of Darkness never awoke, and Lilmari knew what had happened, but not exactly why or how.

– When that matter became known, it was said that there was an unprecedented uproar.

It was already surprising that she, who had been appointed as the next great elder, was involved with a human man, but the fact that she had even had a child with him was a natural development. It wasn’t known that hybrids with humans were even possible.

– I… I heard that the hybrid child had died. It was a girl… and she wasn’t properly formed. When she finally came to her senses and learned of the fact, she was deeply heartbroken. But now I’m thinking that the child might have survived…

Even as words and facts twist and distort in various places, some things survive. Like the child of those two people.

– At first, she seemed like she was dead, but she soon regained her senses. Eventually, she became great elder…

Lilmari, who recalled the past, had a face alternating between astonishment and bitterness upon this belated realization.

– Then, at some point, she suddenly declared that she would start exploring beyond the boundaries of Uve Whison. She argued passionately about how long they would live within this narrow basin. With her inherent charisma and fervent advocacy, everyone followed her lead.

At that time, even the fact that she had fallen in love with a human man seemed like a kind of experience or career milestone. It was only after listening to her that everyone had the question, ‘Why should we live only in Uve Whison?’

– No one really knew why that turned into anger, but… as I said, she was always a force to be reckoned with.

DrEvan by impassioned cries and demagoguery, a war of blurred purpose began. Despite being outnumbered, the Noctis Elves fought with high morale. Her charisma would prove that the war would not end immediately after her sudden collapse and fall into sleep nineteen years ago.

‘I figured we couldn’t stay here since we didn’t know when the great elder would wake up…’

It was the black chick that gave them hope.

<There will be good news soon.>

When Kairos, who had been dozing off on Karnov’s shoulder, said this, everyone thought, ‘She’s about to wake up soon!’ So, couldn’t they stay a little longer?

And so, it had been three weeks.

While Tarjei had risen to prominence in playing games with the Noctis Elves, and Asha baked all kinds of milk-free snacks, everyone secretly wondered if Kairos’s prophecy was wrong or if that good news might be about something else.

Then, today, it was reported that the great elder had awakened. Having lain unconscious for nineteen years, it was impossible for even an elf to be completely healthy, so now all the elf healers had rushed to the scene.

And in the meantime, Asha baked pavlova to celebrate them.

“If she turns out to be a bad person, let’s eat all of this ourselves.”

Asha, who had carefully made a dome-shaped meringue and put it in the oven, said this with a determined expression. Karnov, who was looking at the oven with his arms crossed – almost like a furnace – smiled and nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

“You have your own worries too, huh?”

Tarjei, who kicked one ball hard and turned it over, approached Evan standing quietly under a wooden post. Evan’s, who had stepped outside for a moment while Asha baked meringues, expression darkened.

He had not shown such an expression even during the past three weeks of waiting for the great elder to awaken without any promise of when that would be.

On the contrary, Evan’s past three weeks in the unfamiliar forest seemed more cheerful. Asha played with Evan and Karnov here, away from the royal customs, and Evan, despite his confusion and surprise at experiences he had never had before, happily followed her.

“Commander…”

To Tarjei, who had disciplined and raised him as a knight for nearly a decade, Evan was both a grandson and a son. Of course, Asha was the biggest reason Tarjei had accompanied this trip, but the second was because he was told what the real purpose of this trip was.

“What’s bothering you? If the concern is that the person who might be your great-grandmother is just now waking up, then I can see how that would be a worry.”

Before entering Uve Whison, Asha grabbed Evan and explained why they were here. Evan had thought that it didn’t matter if it was a blood relative he didn’t even know, but it was as if Asha had read his thoughts and said.

– There may come a day when it will be necessary.

Evan wanted to say, ‘Have you noticed how our time flows differently?’ But the words didn’t come out, and Asha held his hand tightly.

– If those people turn out to be bad, you’ll return. But if they don’t, and if they welcome you, even if you don’t become family with them right away, you’ll still have great friends up north.

You didn’t have to come all this way just to find me a friend. Evan couldn’t say it.

“I hope that person dislikes me.”

“You’re saying strange things again.”

“If Her Highness intends to leave me here…”

“Again… You’re saying strange things.”

Tarjei hesitated to outright deny it. Upon reflection, it wasn’t entirely outlandish. Although there were elves who subtly shunned him upon learning that Evan was a hybrid of elf and human, there were more who treated him as one of their own. If Asha thought this was a better environment for Evan…

“Well, even so, you should just clearly say that you want to go with Her Highness… Asha.”

“If Her Highness doesn’t want to take me and is only taking me out of obligation…”

“You foolish child.”

Tarjei looked away at the elves who were now treating him like a solid oak tree, and suddenly struck Evan on the forehead. Evan, who was unexpectedly hit on the forehead, clutched his head with both hands.

“Commander?”

“Who gave you your name?”

“Her Highness…”

“Do you remember where that name came from? Well, you might not remember. It was almost ten years ago.”

“My name is…”

There’s no way he could forget, even after a thousand years. Evan muttered in a daze.

– Ah, do you like Evan? Is it to your liking?

– It was the name I’d give if my younger brother were born.

“Who would leave their younger brother just anywhere?”

“…Would you?”

“Maybe she’ll ask you to go back to the capital right away just by looking at your expression like this.”

Evan stared blankly at the floor and smiled faintly. It was three days later that the great elder, who woke up, was in a state where she could talk to someone.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The Great Elder Raenka, gazing down at the white confectionery she had never seen before, frowned upon hearing that it was made by a guest of Uve Whison.

Although she had been in a deep sleep since using great power and collapsing nineteen years ago, she had occasionally woken up during that time.

Each time, she handled important matters briefly, but this was the first news of another guest coming to this basin. And, to make matters more surprising, the guest was human. Raenka brushed her chest once. The feeling of frustration was as constant as if she had swallowed a large fruit without chewing it.

“A few years ago, Lord Lilmari made a peace agreement with the empire. Here comes the lovely Imperial Highness the Princess.”

“Princess?”

“She has lovely pink hair, and she’s good at making snacks. She made it milk-free for us to eat. The other guests who came with her are also quite interesting. One of them is the princess’s knight, and he seems just like us…”

Raenka, quietly observing the elf who spoke cheerfully, slowly nodded. The elf, realizing he might have been too talkative, stopped speaking.

One by one, with each awakening, she thought her people seemed to be drifting away. However, during her lengthy slumber, it seemed that the elves had entirely withdrawn from the war.

The war had changed nothing.

“Lady Raenka, those guests want to see you…”

Raenka clenched and opened her fist. Breathing felt like inhaling sand and dust, but Raenka nodded.

“It seems I’ve kept them waiting by lying here for so long. I’m eager to meet them.”

If it was the cute imperial princess with pink hair who was good at making pastries then she also was aware. After all, Raenka was the one responsible for her long slumber.

“…Oh, wait a minute.”

“What?”

“I’ve heard that in the empire, everyone makes a pact with a spirit when they turn ten. Do you know what spirit she has?”

“As far as I know… The imperial princess made a pact with a small bird spirit when she was very young.”

“…A small bird?”

“Is there a problem…?”

Raenka shook her head. Not long after the elf left the room tilting, a group of them entered.

It was a pink-haired girl who seemed to be less than twenty years old in human age and a young man with black hair who accompanied her as if to protect her.

The elves’ clothes were worn by humans, giving them a strange and unfamiliar beauty.

And as she gazed upon them, Raenka slowly closed and opened her eyes. She could feel that everything had failed, as naturally as night follows the sun.

<It’s her! It’s her! It’s her!>

<You ate Prasti, didn’t you!>

<Quickly! How!>

Two chicks near the girl chirped frantically.