The Villainess Princess Wants To Live In A Gingerbread House ​

Asha thought she was glad she’d left Evan to follow her in.

She couldn’t show him this mess.

‘I just wanted to check out what kind of person this great elder was!’

The small birds fluttered around as if they were eagles, while the great elder, a gaunt and elderly Noctis Elf, stared vacantly at them. Lilmari, who had come in with them, was so flustered that he could only open and close his mouth.

“P,Phoebe! Kairos! Stop! Not now!”

Asha caught Phoebe and Karnov caught Kairos. The squeaks didn’t die down, but the flap of the wings that sounded like a storm finally began to subside. Asha swallowed nervously and glanced sideways. Karnov also cast a sidelong glance at her.

“Your pet birds… are rather noisy.”

<Who’s making a fuss about what’s noisy!>

Raenka lowered her eyes as if she were tired at the sound of the bird chirping. Asha hesitated, biting her lip, and then pulled Karnov behind her.

“Asha?”

Karnov called over Asha’s shoulder. The old elf, who had never seen her (Asha) before in Uve Whison, looked exhausted from what appeared to be a long period of illness and seemed merely tired on the surface. But to Asha, she appeared differently. She could sense the dark, sticky aura swirling behind her.

Grief, despair, hatred, envy, she’d seen people feel these emotions before, but never in such a large, enormous mass. It was so thick and murky that it obscured the Noctis Elf’s face. Asha did not want Karnov to have to face this.

“Is this person really Evan’s…”

There were some similarities between Evan and her, such as fine almond-shaped eyes and gray hair. But the piercing gaze that her tired, old body couldn’t hide didn’t resemble Evan in the slightest.

“You’ve grown up beautiful, Princess Anastasia, like a fairy tale princess. Not quite what I expected.”

“Hmm, Lady Raenka? How… How do you know Princess Anastasia?”

Lilmari, who accompanied her, asked with a little embarrassment. It was because Raenka’s tone sounded as if she knew Asha’s childhood. Raenka smiled dimly.

“Why wouldn’t I know, she’s the reason I’m lying here today.”

“What? This child wasn’t born at that time…”

Asha was only nineteen, so Lilmari’s questions were obvious. But Raenka raised her hand and stopped Lilmari from speaking.

“I don’t think this is the time to talk to you, so please leave us alone for a moment.”

Lilmari faltered, but after receiving Raenka’s glare, he eventually withdrew. The moment the door closed so quietly.

“Huh?”

<An enchantment! To use Prasti’s power like this…>

Asha glanced behind her. A cold wind surged from the closed door, whipping through the room. At the same time, Karnov’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Asha swallowed nervously, her senses heightened more than ever. She swiftly realized that, for whatever reason or method, they couldn’t leave the room immediately. She also recognized that she had underestimated her opponent to some extent.

‘No wonder – she’s been asleep for nineteen years and just woke up!’

Who knew that a person who looked like that in reality would act with such fervor?

Phoebe also glared at Raenka with her feathers inflated. It seemed that the pavlova Asha had brought would go uneaten after all.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

“You grew up like this when you’re only twenty years old?”

Evan was a little embarrassed to see the Noctis Elves talking to him in a friendly way, but Tarjei, standing against a wooden pillar in the place where he could see the chamber of the great elder, only chuckled and did not help Evan.

“This is how humans grow up.”

A Noctis Elf shook his head with a frown on his brow.

“You’re not just a human being.”

The Noctis Elves accepted that Evan was a mixed race between an elf and a human being, but did not try to find out whose child he was.

“It must have hurt to be this big at this age.”

“A little…”

Noctis Elves whipped their heads to see it as Evan slightly rubbed his elbow.

“Yes, it hurts when you speed up your growth.”

“I didn’t rush it.”

“Just thinking about wanting to grow faster makes it happen. Didn’t you ever think about it?”

Evan hesitated, unable to deny it. He’d be lying if he said there weren’t days when he wished he could be at Asha’s side, protecting her the way Karnov protected her. Meanwhile, the other Elves came forward.

“That’s right. Have you taken any pain relievers? Is there something that works well?”

“Growing pains are something everyone goes through, so you should just endure it…”

“Enduring pain is the most foolish thing to do, you fool!”

Evan just rolled his eyes. After all, he was an imperial knight, but the Elves were relentless. But he didn’t feel like arguing with them. While he was silent, the Elves chattered among themselves.

“Lilmari was very sick, too.”

“He said he couldn’t help it because of the war.”

“That’s right, he had to rush off to fight while being too young… Ah.”

The elves quickly shut up. There was an awkward silence for a moment, like children locking eyes after an argument.

“Mmm. You have nice clothes.”

Evan’s words were so clearly intended to change the subject that the Elves quickly burst into laughter.

“Right? The embroidery is done by hand.”

“Even the empire does embroidery by hand.”

After being quiet again for a while at Evan’s reply, everyone burst out laughing.

“Yeah, that’s right. What, in the empire, do rabbits gather all night to do embroidery? Of course, it’s all done by human hands.”

“Rabbits doing embroidery is probably more likely on your side.”

“But in the empire, the variety of sweets is really diverse and incredibly delicious. I’ve never eaten anything like that before.”

“That’s… only because they were made by Her Highness.”

Evan answered honestly. At that the Elves looked at each other again and burst into laughter.

“She seems to be good at cooking.”

“Yes, I’d like to have some more next time.”

“Will she not come again after she leaves this time?”

“Still, I’d like to have her at least visit once more…”

“But humans grow up faster and… you know…”

“Oh, really. Don’t talk about that.”

“But it’s true…”

“Facts aren’t what’s important.”

Evan sighed as he watched the Elves bicker, beginning to understand why Asha sometimes sighed while watching her friends.

“Well, you could come.”

“Ah~ Is… Is that so?”

“Yes, but… would it be okay if we did?”

“Her Highness will always welcome you.”

“N, no. Can we… um… go out there? Lord Lilmari went due to the peace treaty, but…”

It was the moment when the Elves all tilted their heads in curiosity, their excitement building. Suddenly, Evan turned his head.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“What happened?”

As the elves were puzzled by Evan’s sudden action, a thunderous sound that seemed to split the heavens and shake the world erupted. The source of the sound was clearly the great elder’s room where Asha was.

Without hesitation, Evan dashed toward the noise.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

Phoebe flapped her wings like she was struggling for food. At the same time, Phoebe answered the question of how Raenka, who had been lying down for nineteen years, recognized Asha.

<It was her. The one who planted Prasti in you and brought the fake you!>

Asha’s jaw dropped at the sudden bombshell, and she glanced back and forth between Phoebe and Raenka.

‘No, why is that coming out here, that it was Evan’s great-grandmother who did that to me! Is she the one who spread the other Prasti?’

<Yes!>

‘Why… the substitute.’

Raenka tilted her head slowly.

“Is it the duke that doesn’t know anything? I think the princess knows…”

“What… Why the hell did you change ‘me’?”

Even though Asha knew that Karnov here didn’t know, she asked back. She hadn’t meant to discuss this with Raenka.

She just thought it would be nice if she could find Evan’s blood, and then she could see what happened to Prasti. Raenka tilted her head.

“If you know that much, I’m guessing that little chick is the Great Spirit after all?”

“I’m asking why! What is it that you… what is it that you hate so much?”

Why did you do such a thing to a being who had not even been born yet, to a spirit who had not yet descended into the human realm?

Why did you go so far as to plant Prasti and change the soul, making it impossible to communicate with the Great Spirit?

“I thought I had concealed my intentions, but judging by your perceptEvaness, it seems you indeed contracted with the Great Spirit of Senses. What exactly did the Prasti I planted do?”

What is the source of this seething, molten hatred that seems to ooze and cling like lava? At that moment, Asha recalled why she was standing here.

To tell the Noctis Elf who had lost their child that your bloodline still lives on. Because until now, they have known nothing…

“Could it be… because of your child?”

Raenka’s eyes changed at that moment. From eyes that had previously seemed as cold and lifeless as glass, thorns sprang up faster than light, and the air crackled like lightning.

“…Do you know about that?”

“Your child…”

As Asha chewed her lips, Raenka looked down at her hands as if she were absorbed in something.

“Does the princess love anyone?”

Asha was momentarily speechless before Karnov yanked her up and sent her behind his back, causing Raenka to clap and smile at the sight.

“You must be loved, then I must ask the duke, have you ever thought of having the child of someone you love?”

Karnov glared at Raenka.

“That’s a long introduction.”

“Well, the duke might want to, but he can’t decide, because that’s a decision for the person you love, not you.”

Raenka stared at Asha and Karnov, her eyes as wide as if she were looking at a freshly budded sprout. Asha felt her throat cut by the precariousness of her emotions like a shard of broken glass. Tender affection and tearing hatred were swirling together, hurting each other.

“So I decided I wanted to have his child. I’m going to have it.”

Her partner was a humble human being. Sometimes he would occasionally recount a meaningless argument he’d had with a friend or try to get her to sing his favorite song.

As long as she had a child who looked like him, with his silly smile, she would have all the happiness in the world. Once the thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t get rid of it.

“That’s why you ate Prasti? To have a baby?”

“Isn’t it funny? A piece of the evil that broke the world makes impossible births possible.”

Tending to Prasti has been the job of the great elder for generations. As the next great elder, she had easy access to Prasti.

She believed that if she could get it to bridge the gap between humans and Noctis Elves, she could make a child with him. She was not wrong. She felt only happiness and joy while holding the belly with the child that was coming. She was not afraid of anything.

Until she fainted in labor and woke up to be told her child was dead.

So this was Prasti. That’s what Prasti was, Raenka thought. This terrible grief and despair seemed like feelings that could not come from anyone other than Prasti, the shards of sin.

“You don’t know how it feels when a child dies. I don’t want anyone in the world to know this hell of a feeling, but I also want everyone to have about ten children and all those ten children to die. And I’m horrified by my own thoughts.”

Asha could barely stand, choking on her misery, grief, regret, and resentment.