The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

r heart, so she only believe that.
But a few days later, Asha found out that Ivan wasn’t the only problem.

Asha treated her ankle until Lise was satisfied.
Finally, her ankle injury was cured, and when she ran to the kitchen of the Taimir Palace to write a recipe note that she had hugged and slept with, the kitchen was simply buried in gray clouds.

“Pa, Pavel?”

“…Why do you look more nervous than I do?”

“Why is Pavel… Why are you so nervous?”

Pavel was sighing deeply.

“Aren’t the Noctis Elves coming this time?”

“Uh… they are.”

Asha chewed her lips.
There were more than one or two problems with the Noctis Elves.
Even Ivan was rumored to have elven blood, and Alexei, busy preparing to receive the elven delegation, offered to assign Karnov to assist her…

‘Karnov isn’t really coming, is he?’

Pavel sighed again while Asha had a moment of wild thoughts.

“I’m also in charge of desserts to entertain these envoys.”

“Didn’t you say that hospitality is held at the main palace? And you’re in charge of Alyosha in this palace?”

“It was originally like that, but the main chef is in charge of the main dish, and I’m in charge of dessert.
The head chef of the palace… spoke about it…”

“Huh? Isn’t that a success?”

But Pavel had a grim expression on him.
Asha noticed something was wrong.

“Do you know about Noctis Day?”

“Noctis Day?”

“The Noctis Elves… It’s like a founding myth, so to speak.
It is said that the first Noctis Elves rode cattle to the North.
That’s why worshipping that cow… They say there’s something similar to faith…”

“Hmm.
I’m starting to have a bad feeling?”

Usually, worship is not to eat.
As Asha swallowed a dry spit, Pavel also looked depressed.

“Normally, I eat everything.
Isn’t the northern region incredibly cold? It’s not like there’s a choice in what to eat.
However, I’ve heard there’s a festival where we don’t even mention anything related to cows in reverence to the ancestral deity…”

“No way, right?”

“Hahaha…”

“Could it be happening right now?”

“Sob…”

At last Pavel buried his face in both hands and sobbed.
As the middle-aged chef whimpered, Asha only pursed her lips.

“Really? Really? Oh… they don’t eat anything? Anything related to the cow? Milk… Milk, too?”

“Technically, dairy products… The sacred cow’s milk is said to be something that God must drink… Then, as it expanded, they don’t even touch cows at all during this festival.
Not just meat, but also broth, milk, butter, cream cheese, yogurt, anything… They don’t consume any of it…”

“…but Pavel is in charge of dessert?”

“…”

Pavel had seemed to be worrying for the past few days, but it seemed that this was the problem.
Is it possible to bake cookies without using dairy products? Asha, who had been looking back to that point, grabbed Pavel’s arm with a serious expression.

“Pavel, no matter how you look at it, isn’t this bullying?”

“…Ah, no.”

“You said you didn’t have a friend.
It’s not just that you don’t have it, but that the kids are determined to bully you?”

“I’m telling you, it’s not true.
And to describe them as children, they are all old enough to have children at home…”

“Do you want me to go and scold them?”

“Uh… How?”

“I’ll change the name tags for salt and sugar.”

“…!”

As far as she knows, the emperor eats food simply and leaves nothing behind, so the chef over there will wake up at night seeing an empty dish served with the wrong seasoning.
But her dreams are quickly shattered by Pavel who shook his head.

“Why? Don’t do it?”

“What kind of trouble are you going to get…”

Pavel banged his head.

“So I don’t know what to do.”

Preparing dessert without milk, butter, or cream…

“But those elves who come as delegations won’t eat dessert, so won’t they say they don’t need it?”

At Asha’s words, Pavel banged his forehead on the counter, raised his head, and wiped it with a dishcloth.

“Even if they don’t eat it, I have to prepare it.”

Pavel couldn’t help but cry.
He also repeatedly banged his head on the counter and wiped the hit area.

Asha, who had been watching him for a long time, knelt down next to him.

“……but that’s it.
In this situation, if you serve a nice dessert, can’t you flatten the noses* of the kitchen guys in the main palace?”

[*TN: Coming from the action of raising your nose high when looking down at something/someone so Asha means knocking them down a peg by flattening their noses.]

“…Yes?”

“Isn’t that right?”

“But I can’t use cooking to compete with others…”

“If you can’t use it for competing, then what?”

“You have to make it with the purpose of making people happy…”

“You’re not happy right now.
Am I right or wrong?”

“Y, yes, but…”

“Okay, then let’s make cookies in a way that makes you happy.”

“Uh… How?”