The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

, really.
Karnov, didn’t you explain?”

Asha leaned over and retorted in a whisper.
Karnov picked up the cake with a fork and pushed it into her mouth.

“I would never encroach on Your Highness’s rights.”

“Mmph! Karnov!”

Asha glared at Karnov, pushing the cake she made aside.
Then, she turned her attention back to Sophia.

“Sophia, to be precise, it’s not my shop.
It’s a shop where they sell cakes made from my recipes.
I’m looking for someone to make those cakes… Understand?”

“Ah…”

“So um, I hoped we could make a cake together! This job might not suit Sophia, so check it out.
Do you have time?”

“Time is fine.
But I…”

“Then let’s make it!”

“Well, Your Highness.”

Sophia seemed embarrassed.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, then she nodded her head as if she had made up her mind.

Wearing an apron alongside Sophia, Asha was the first to head to the sink.

“Then you have to wash your hands first.”

Asha’s eyes turned to Sophia’s hand in gloves.
Sophia hesitated for a moment, then slowly took off the glove on her right hand.
There was a hand made of wood.
It was a prosthetic hand that looked like a doll’s hand that was elaborated by cutting joints at each joint.

“Here’s the soap.”

Asha foamed enough and held it out to Sophia.
Sophia hesitated for a moment, then held the soap with her hand, not her prosthetic hand, lathered both hands, and washed it away.

Then she held out a towel to Sophia, asked her to wipe her hands, and pulled out her thin gloves.

“These gloves?”

“Gloves coated with a mixture of the sap of the Tannin tree and sulfur.
You must wear this when you cook in the store.”

When cooking for yourself or sharing with others, you could do it with bare hands, but it was not possible when making products for sale.
So, after hearing about the patisserie from Baroness Saratov, she started using these Tannin gloves.

They were made by soaking cotton gloves in a mixture of sap from the Tannin tree and sulfur, providing both water resistance and flexibility.
They could be washed and reused.

Sophia looked at the glove and put it on her hand.

“Today, we’ll be making cookies with butter.
They’ll be shaped like cartwheels.”

Asha handed Sophia a bowl filled with softened butter left at room temperature.
Inside the bowl was a whisk made of twigs, which Asha found repulsive.

“First, use this to soften the butter.
Like this, gently shaking it.
Don’t shake too vigorously.”

Sophia easily copied what Asha said.
When a considerable amount of butter was lightly melted, Asha picked up some fine and powdery flour.

“This is flour.
Now mix it in, just enough for it to blend.
Like this.
Then comes the egg.
You need to crack it and separate the egg white and yolk.
We’ll only use the egg white.”

Asha calmly explained as she fetched a basket of eggs.
Sophia successfully cracked the egg with her left hand, but she ended up breaking the yolk completely and couldn’t separate the egg white and yolk.

“Ahaha.
I’m not good at breaking eggs either.
You can’t do it too hard.
Just a little bit.
Let’s try again?”

“Oh… it’s okay…”

“Yes, there are a lot of eggs, and the broken ones can be used to make other cakes.”

Asha took a step back and pushed the broken egg aside, then brought another bowl.
While Sophia did crack three more egg yolks, she managed to separate the egg whites and yolks smoothly afterward.

The separated egg whites were then mixed rapidly with the butter, which had been softened to a creamy texture, before adding the sifted flour and gently stirring it together, like folding with a spoon, into a pastry bag.

Sophia had shown some clumsiness in controlling her strength in other areas, but when it came to mixing the butter and flour, she was very skilled.
She even helped with the parts that Asha couldn’t properly mix due to her lack of muscle strength.

“I will… I will exercise too.”

“Isn’t this a lack of exercise, but a lack of growth?”

Asha glanced at Karnov, who was standing far next to her and looked at him, when he said something, and turned her eyes again.

“Hey, now we have to weave this into a round shape.
Like a wheel.”

After rubbing butter on the oven pan and spraying flour on it to make the cake not stick, Asha grabbed the piping bag with both hands with a careful expression.
The piping bag was also made by coating a cloth with Tannin sap in the same way as Sophia’s gloves.

“This… like this… like this… like that…”

Contrary to how soft the butter cookie dough looked, it was quite stiff to squeeze through the narrow gaps, and it was even more difficult for a ten-year-old.
Asha clasped her hand, unfolded her, looked down at her slightly clumsy dough pie, then turned to Sophia.

“Hmm, like this…with a feeling.”

“I’ll… give it a try.”

Sophia said so and held the piping bag in both hands, her expression showing careful consideration.

Swoosh!

At that moment, from the end of the pastry bag, the dough burst out almost explosively onto the pan.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Ha… it’s a bit strong, Sophia.
Could you do it a little gentler, per… perhaps?”

Asha hastily gathered the dough that burst out and put it back into the pastry bag while looking at Sophia.

“…If it’s not too bothersome.”

“Of course not! Now, let’s try it again.”

After a couple more attempts, with dough bursting out of the pastry bag, Sophia was able to draw perfectly uniform circles as if she were a machine.
After baking the cookies they made together, Sophia signed the contract that Asha presented to her.

“I can’t believe there was a talent like Sophia hiding.”

“I found her, Your Highness.”

“Yes, yes, Lord Karnov.
Have a cookie.”

As Asha pushed the baked cookie into Karnov’s mouth, she felt Sophia’s gaze and made an awkward expression.

“S, Sophia, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Oh… no.
I am excited and nervous to be working again… Thank you very much for the opportunity.”

“No! Thank you for saying that you’ll work for me.
Baroness Saratov will love it, too.”

Asha smiled and held Sophia’s hand, saying thank you once again.
Sophia looked down for a long time at her hands held by Asha.