The Villainess Princess Wants To Live In A Gingerbread House ​

‘The chef? Who is that…’

Asha, who thought about it, realized like a thunderbolt and met her palms with a clap.

“Oh! Pavel’s sibling?”

“Gasp. How did you…? No, how do you know him?”

“Pavel is Alyosha’s chef. And we’re quite close. I knew because you two look alike.”

The deputy commander’s expression was strangely distorted.

“We look… alike? I’ve never heard that before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That bastard, ah no, he…I mean, he resembles our mother and I resemble our father. We look completely…different.”

Asha burst into laughter when she saw a woman in her mid-thirties make a face as if she was being served only the side dishes she disliked at the dinner table. At that time, Tarjei, who had been pushed back, cleared his throat.

“S, so. Who would you take?”

Asha looked back at the arranged knights with an awkward expression. Even though Asha couldn’t gauge their abilities just by looking, she had a different standard.

First of all, Tarjei Nellin was definitely not an option.

“Then… this person and that person.”

Asha’s fingertips pointed once far away and once at the deputy commander. The knight standing far away showed slight annoyance on his face, as he didn’t care much about this situation. And the deputy commander, despite her disgust at being compared to her older brother, felt even more fondness towards Asha.

The deputy commander blinked her eyes with a somewhat surprised face, and immediately beckoned the knight pointed out by Asha with a smile.

“It’s an honor to serve as your servant. I’m Anne Marka, Deputy Commander, and this is Bethelnic Terevo. Knight Terevo, please introduce yourself.”

“I am Knight Bethelnic Terevo. I will serve you, Your Highness.”

The knight came forward with a sluggish expression, not bothering to hide his reluctance, and knelt down with a thud, bowing his head. It was clear to anyone that he wasn’t too enthusiastic about it. As Bethelnic stood up with Asha’s hand on his forehead, Tarjei, who was watching from the side, blurted out.

“Hmm. Come to think of it, two is a little small, and there should be three knights…”

“Oh, no. I’m not going anywhere far. I’m just going to see Marchioness Tataricha, so it’ll be fine.”

Asha waved her hand, rejecting the idea, causing a deep shadow to cast over Tarjei’s face.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

“Haa.”

Tarjei laid down on a hammock in the commandery. Next to him, Ivan stood silently with his coat.

“Shit.”

“…”

“Darn it.”

“…”

“Damn it…”

“…”

“Isn’t it time for you to ask, ‘What’s wrong with you, Commander?’ Huh?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I’d rather die than suffer.”*

[*TN: A proverb meaning it’s better to gain satisfactory results by doing something for yourself even if it takes much more effort than having others do it and making less effort only to have poor results.]

Then Tarjei made groaning sounds before finally getting up and sitting on the hammock.

“Did you really have to go and get my coat exactly at the moment the princess comes?”

“I apologize.”

“No, it’s just you…”

Tarjei, who was about to say something, sighed deeply.

That was because it was embarrassing to say, ‘Are you so ashamed to show your skills to your mistress, while easily dealing with peers and brushing aside those a few years older?’

“Shit. Your Highness was looking for you.”

“I heard.”

“When I told her I sent you to do my laundry, do you know how she looked at me? Huh?”

“I’ll explain it to her.”

“Damn, you’re so reliable.”

– And Ivan? Is he learning well here?

For the first time, Tarjei recalled the light-colored eyes of his granddaughter, whom he had seen up close for the first time. And then, other things followed. The smooth, peach-colored hair like peach skin, the rosy cheeks, and the mature yet childish voice.

The voice that called him Commander Nellin. There was a sense of depression on Tarjei’s face again. Nothing went his way in the first conversation with his granddaughter, and it was soon completely ruined when Ivan came to the subject.

– Right now… He went on an errand for a while.

– What kind of errand?

– That…

The disappointment and worry faintly etched on his granddaughter’s face, the slight doubt as if suspecting Ivan’s suffering, felt like sharp peaks. And he was the guilty man burdened with the fate that pierced through those peaks.

“Are you still tormenting Ivan, Commander?”

“Tormenting? Do I look like I’m tormenting him? We’re just having a conversation!”

“Why are you so upset?”

“Upset? Do I look fine? Huh? I thought you’d at least say something. You must be very happy? Going on a trip together.”

“Oh, why are you like this? Besides, you can’t just leave, Commander.”

Tarjei’s expression seemed to say that he wanted to die because of that. He had taken on the vacant position of the knight commander because he couldn’t afford to be unemployed when he saw his granddaughter. But now, it was becoming such a hindrance!

“Her Highness seems to be very intelligent and kind-hearted. Otherwise, how could she show such consideration for a mean-spirited grandfather like you?”

“She’s a true saint of truth and objectivity, a saint indeed.”

“Even so, when it’s known that the knight commander himself carried out the duties of an escort, it would only attract attention. Especially when the knight commander is even the grandfather of the princess. Wouldn’t they think her intentions were evil?”

“That’s not true at all, so why should it matter!”

“She must have been worried that it would be a blemish to the honor of her maternal grandfather.”

“It’s not that…”

Tarjei was about to burst out, wanting to exclaim, ‘It must be because she hates her grandfather!’ but he couldn’t spit out the words and only distorted his lips.

“… Damn it.”

“But, it seems like she has a great eye for talent. How did she choose Bethelnic right away?”

The deputy commander tilted her chin, saying so. Bethelnic was not interested in the affairs that swirled inside the palace. His interest was only to become the best with swordplay, and he was a person with unrivaled skills among his colleagues.

However, few people outside the knights knew his skills because he did not reveal it himself and had no connections to praise him unlike others.

“Hmph. Whose granddaughter is she anyway?”

“If you were going to act like this, why did you kick out your daughter in the first place?”

“I didn’t kick her out!”

Tarjei shouted back with a face full of frustration and injustice.

He did get angry when his daughter said she was going to get married. Tarjei thought anyone would have reacted the same way. There were many knights in the empire. Among them, it was Tarjei who was at the peak, and his daughter was the knight he raised the most with great care.

Not because she was his own daughter, but because she was the most talented out of the young people. She was even the youngest to be named deputy commander.

But right before the personnel change, out of nowhere, she decided to get married? Just hearing that alone was enough to drive him crazy, and to top it off, the person she was marrying was none other than the prince of the empire!

Tarjei was first concerned that his daughter had developed a sense of humor in a strange way. He would have gladly accepted if she had said she wanted to become the wife of a general. But to become the princess consort.

It wasn’t just a matter of loyalty and personal connections. It meant that her brilliant talent would be wasted. It was so regrettable and saddening that he couldn’t help but get angry. But what could he do when that’s what his daughter wanted?

“I just…”

He was a little angry, but he thought they could make up again at any time. He was impatient to believe that his daughter would come to relieve his anger.

But in a blink of an eye, everything went wrong. Suddenly the first prince died, and there was a rumor that Prince Yuriev, who had been nominated as the next crown prince, had spoken ill to the emperor, and that Prince Yuriev and his escort knight, Irina Nellin – his only daughter, who had corrupted Yuriev’s heart – vanished from the court, leaving the capital behind.

The vacant deputy commander position went to Anne Marka, who was the second-most talented after Irina. And Tarjei Nellin retired after giving up his job as a knight commander.

Ten years later, when he heard that Prince Yuriev’s daughter came to the Imperial Palace for a spirit ceremony. Tarjei had no choice but to return to the palace. He remembered his granddaughter’s glistening eyes. She seemed to resemble his daughter while also being different, but he was certain that she looked incredibly lovely.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

Karnov was on horseback, leading the family’s entourage, waiting for his grandmother outside the walls surrounding the capital.

“Oh! She’s coming.”

The attendant next to him spoke in a low voice. Karnov recognized the rough but sturdy carriage, the men leading it, along with the person standing at the front of the procession. A dignified elderly lady, maintaining an upright posture as if looking down upon the world, rode confidently ahead of the carriage.

“Grandmother.”

Karnov rode his horse closer. It was the first time in months that she had seen grandchildren, but there was no unusual warmth in their greetings.

“You must be free. Seeing as you came all the way out to greet this old woman.”

“Just a little.”

“Wow, look at you speaking. Where’s your father and mother?”

“They’re getting their things ready. They have to return to their territory now.”

The old lady, Yekaterina Neustadter, brushed her weathered cheek, long exposed to the cold wind of the north, with the back of her hand and smirked.

“Huh. They’re protesting to me that they don’t want to go back to their territory.”

To the old general who had single-handedly guarded the northern territory of Sedvoyer, the behavior of her son and his wife was not satisfactory at all.

They did not have the courage, the ability, or the will to love the northern land, so Yekaterina regarded her child as a mere stepping stone. A stepping stone to buy time for her grandson Karnov to grow up. In that regard, she also had a connection with the emperor.

“Is there anything noteworthy happening in the capital?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

Yekaterina drove her horse into the capital, squinting her eyes while looking at Karnov’s profile. Karnov, who was riding with a relaxed posture, briefly glanced sideways.

“Why do you ask?”

Yekaterina was quick to notice the change in her grandson.

If Yekaterina considered herself the eternal perennial snow of the northern lands, then she had always thought of her grandson as the perpetual north wind that would forever maintain that snow. But now, as she looked at him, she felt a warm spring breeze mingling with that north wind.

“…I suppose it wouldn’t have been fun to mingle with those insufferable nobles. Is it bearable for you?”

“Well… it’s not like there are only boring people.”

“Just looking at them would make you burst into tears.”

Karnov smiled, so Yekaterina was even more surprised and struggled to contain her emotions.

“More than that, His Majesty asked after grandmother a few times.”

“That damn old man still isn’t dead.”

Yekaterina said something ruthless, but Karnov said nothing. Only the attendants turned pale.

“I’m tired from leading my old body from the north to here, I should pay my respects to His Majesty tomorrow.”

“Yes, I will accompany you.”

As Karnov spoke readily, Yekaterina was about to nod in agreement, but before she could answer, she noticed a gentle light in her grandson’s face.

She didn’t ask her grandson if he had made a new friend. They had plenty of time in the capital. Yekaterina rode slowly, thinking that she would slowly recognize the change in Karnov sooner or later.