The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

Alexei’s short words to Pavel and hurriedly followed Alexei.

“…?”

“What’s wrong? Did they say anything weird? If the oven is broken, will he pay for it?”

“Oh, no! No! No, it wasn’t, that kind of thing! What about the oven? Are you really okay?”

Asha tilted her head for a second, then turned her gaze to the oven.
The oven, which had been blazing until a little while ago even when the temperature was lowered, was now moderately warm.

“Really… It was really because of Fafnir…”

“What a waste.
I’m going to die.”

The cookies, which took a lot of work, burned down, and she felt sorry for them.

“But Pavel.”

“What?”

“Did you really play spirits with a wooden sword when you were little?”

“Cough, cough! N,no! No, that’s because Your Highness!”

“Me?”

“I was really surprised that something big was going to happen, so I was just trying to sort things out somehow! Even if you make a joke, if you make a joke like that, it’s really big…”

Having said that, Pavel’s expression hardened more and more.
With an expression belatedly recalling a shocking fact that he had forgotten for a moment.

“Even if it’s a joke, it’s a big deal…”

“He told you what Alyosha said, right? What did Alyosha say?”

“They told us to keep it a secret between the three of us…”

Pavel, who had said so far, whispered, leaning down with a serious expression.

“Can you really talk to them?”

“Yes.
My spirit is still saying something.”

“What did they say?”

“You have stupid doubts.”

“Isn’t that just your opinion?”

“The spirit now says that Pavel was beaten by his sister?”

“What? What do you mean…”

“Phoebe.
That’s what my spirit says.”

“It’s not my younger sister, but my older sister! No, uh, how could you even know that…”

Pavel’s pupils trembled with astonishment.
And shortly afterwards Pavel accepted cleanly.

“I will keep a secret about your abilities.”

So Pavel, who had recited several words of oath quickly, sprang up from his seat.

“Well, there’s still one more batch left.
Let’s bake it properly! Uh, and this I, I will dispose of.”

“Yes? Y,yes…”

Asha nodded her head and calmly finished her remaining cookies.
She stuffed the apple inside, covered it with cookie dough, double-checked her temperature, and put it in the oven.

And after fifteen minutes, the yellowish-colored, savory-smelling cookies showed off their appearance.
Asha and Pavel looked at each other like children who had first built a sand castle and smiled brightly.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

Cyril subtly smiled with a knowing expression as he listened to Asha’s words that her ankle was almost healed.
He got down on one knee and asked if she would forgive his rudeness, and because she couldn’t see a way to win, Asha finally had to nod her head in agreement.

“Miss Lise was very worried.”

Cyril, who easily hugged Asha, who packed apple jam cookies in her arms, said in a voice filled with sorrow.
The two seemed to have a connection with each other, as they were in a position to support each other right next to one another.
Asha looked very sorry.

“Now… I’ll be good.”

“Oh! No, I’m not questioning you.
How dare I.
However… His Highness the Crown Prince was also concerned.”

“I was really surprised that Alyosha came to the kitchen.”

“He heard that you injured your ankle, so when he heard that you went to the kitchen, the Crown Prince immediately rushed over.”

“…He did?”

“But how did you hurt your ankle?”

Cyril asked quietly.
Asha only clapped her lips, but she glossed over the words and fixed the cookies in her arms.
She grabbed Karnov’s sleeve, but it was because her pride was hurt, she couldn’t say that he shook her off.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

The first batch of cookies in the oven burned, and the number of cookies left was really close.
One Pavel, one Asha, one Alexei, one Lise, and one Ivan.
And then the two extra ones.

‘Shall we give the two remaining ones to His Majesty and Karnov one at a time? His Majesty seemed to have something he didn’t like, and Karnov… he’s been working too much.’

This time, Asha wrapped the cookie for Lise with a ribbon and tied it.
She took a handful of ribbons from the kitchen, which looked better on the outside.

“How on earth did you manage to escape? Seriously!”

Lise, who greeted Asha, who returned in Cyril’s arms, questioned her with eighty percent worries about her ankle and twenty percent doubts about Asha’s mysterious way to escape the room.
Seeing her face as stern as it was, she didn’t think she would let it go today, so Asha decided to change the subject right away.

“That’s… First, this is Lise’s gift!”

Asha extended to Lise a package of snacks, tied with the only soft pink ribbon among the wrapped ones.
Anyone could see that it was the most special one.