The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

with a smiling face from the beginning to the end.

“The Marquis of Shapiroqin… Is it because of Uncle Valery?”

“What? Who… Oh, no.”

“Yes, I suppose it’s not.
You didn’t even seem to remember until I asked you.”

Alexei’s words made Asha a little embarrassed.
In the meantime, Alexei closed his eyes and laughed, cupping his chin.

“My friend will also come, so it would be good to say hello this time.”

Asha slammed her head into the teacup with her tone of disapproval.
She wasn’t going because of the friend Alexei was talking about!

‘I’ll never go!’

The only person Alexei would call “friend” was Karnov Neustadter.
And Karnov Neustadter had his own solid philosophy of action.
Justice, since he grew up in the northern army and hardened harshly from a young age, was harder than steel because of the coldness of the North.

Karnov had lived to make Alexei Emperor by that definition…

‘You really want to eat me to the bone, right? I’m just making some money selling Phoebe powder.
Yeah, only until we find the girl with the power of that stability…’

Asha raised her head slightly and glanced at Alexei.
He was a boy who knew how to play pranks.

“But if it’s Alyosha’s friend, they probably don’t like me…”

It was time for Asha to stutter like that.
The Crown Prince’s visit was interrupted without notice with a sudden sound.
And Asha’s face was immediately white when she recognized the person.

‘Scary, how scary! How can you show up as soon as I talk about you?!’

The one who opened the door with both hands and entered was a boy about Alexei’s age, with black hair tinged with silver.
However, it was a person whose age could not be read from the vividly shining purple eyes.

It was Karnov, the person she met at the victory ceremony not too long ago.
There was not a surprising hint of emotion around him.

“Karnov, are you here?”

“Your Highness, I just heard an interesting story…”

The blue lining of Karno’s irrelevant uniform cloth fluttered over his shoulders.
Just by looking at him, he was like a cruel boy tyrant.

Karnov, who walked to the table with great strides, came near and noticed the presence of Asha hidden by the wall.

“…I didn’t have to bring it up.”

‘If you had turned those eyes of yours into a  mixer, you would have achieved ultra-fine particle innovation technology.’

Asha gulped down her dry saliva.
Karnov’s eyes immediately turned to Alexei in the next seat.

“What?”

‘What, what are you saying, Phoebe? Are you out of your mind?’

While Asha was having an absurd conversation with Phoebe, Alexei rose from his seat with a grin.

“Karnov, may I speak to you for a moment? Asha, I’m sorry, but wait a minute.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Asha made an effort to smile and nodded her head.

At first, Phoebe was impatient, saying, “Run right away and with that guy-!” but now he seemed to have regained his composure.
With an inexplicable sadness.

Asha gently stroked the sleeve button and sighed.
It was clear what the two would talk about.

‘This is how I will accomplish my dream of extending my life.’

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

As soon as the study door closed, Karnov looked back at Alexei.

“What is that? Princess Anastasia?”

“Yeah.
Isn’t she cute?”

“…”

Karnov shut up without affirmation or denial.
Alexei smiled and said the first thing he had to say.

“Karnov, good job in the northern war.”

Karnov’s brows were frowned upon by Alexei’s remarks as if he were changing the subject.

“You must have had no trouble at all.
I can see that your complexion has improved.”

Alexei drew a small smile at Karnov’s words.

“Is that so?”

“You’re going to brag about your wealth and fame to me now?”

Alexei shook his head at Karnov’s sarcasm.
The smile still lingered on his face, and this time Karnov folded his arms.

“This is not my friend, His Highness Alexei.
If the spirit is pretending to be Alexei, or if the fake one is in disguise, reveal your true identity.”

“Stop making fun of me, Karnov.”

“We’re back to square one.
What’s that?”

Alexei understood Karnov.

“Anastasia.
Uncle Yuri’s only daughter.
She signed a contract with the bird spirit at the spirit ceremony and remained in the palace.”

“A bird spirit? But His Majesty left her?”

“I still don’t know why.”

At Alexei’s words, Karnov squinted and scanned him up and down.

“…do you like her?”

“She’s my only cousin.”

Karnov looked at Alexei with a firm look on his face.

Karnov was already well aware that such an expression meant more to Alexei, who had consciously calmed down his agitation.

“She also thinks of you as her only cousin?”

“I think.
That she does.”

“Isn’t it possible that even if Princess Anastasia thought so, the people around her wouldn’t?”

Alexei’s face smiled at the words.

“So, I was going to ask you a favor.”

“…What?”

“To keep Asha from attracting strange flies.
To make use of your senses please.”