The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

Asha and Alexei were seated in a box seat on the second floor of the opera theater, surrounded by curtains that shielded their surroundings.
As Asha sank into the sofa, she whispered to Alexei.

“It seems like the chorus sings better than the female lead.”

“The one with the brown hair in the center?”

“According to Alyosha, right? She’s the best, isn’t she?”

Alexei nodded his head.
Asha brought the opera glasses up to her eyes.

The faces of the main actors were enlarged and formed on the opera glass lens, and as Asha tilted the direction, the faces of the chorus came in.

‘I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere.’

However, the chorus appeared briefly and quickly disappeared off the stage.

“The harpist must be sleepy.”

“Is he not playing well?”

“He keeps making small mistakes, it seems.”

Asha whispered to Alexei, feeling slightly surprised that she could notice such a thing.

However, while she could sense the harpist making mistakes amidst the multitude of instruments, she couldn’t recall where she had seen the brown-haired singer from the chorus.
Asha couldn’t shake off the feeling of familiarity even until the opera came to an end and the curtain call began.

‘Something feels familiar, but I can’t quite place it.’

Asha glanced down at one of the buttons on her clothing to see a vivid bird pattern etched into it.

‘What is it, Phoebe? Are you still sleeping?’

‘The songs are nice to listen to.’

That would be better.>

‘What song am I supposed to sing?’

Phoebe raised her voice as if she believed in the genius of a firstborn child, just like an unwavering parent.
Asha almost burst out laughing, but she held it in and brought the opera glasses close to her eyes again.
The chorus was at the edge of the stage, and their heavy makeup made it difficult to recognize even their facial features.

At that moment Phoebe said.

“That woman?”

Finally, Asha was able to recognize the face of the woman who sang the best among the chorus.

━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━

Located slightly off the center of the city, on the banks of the Vichegda River, the old opera theater was a place steeped in history and tradition.

That statement may paint the theater in a positive light, but to be honest, it wasn’t particularly sophisticated.
As a result, recently, only about half of the second-floor seats, reserved for the nobility, were occupied.
However, today, every seat was sold out.

“I’m really glad we came together…”

“I always came alone and quietly watched before leaving.”

Today, as the nobles who bought the second-floor seats took their places, the first thing they did was hold opera glasses to their eyes and glance at the audience in other sections.
Specifically, they focused on the central seats of the second floor.

There, sitting on the sofa, was a little girl who looked around ten years old, though her age was doubtful, and a boy, with a difficult-to-guess expression despite being fifteen.
The two of them were none other than Prince Alexei, the crown prince of the empire, and Princess Anastasia, who had not been expelled from the palace ever since the emperor personally left her there not long ago.

“I heard that Her Highness Anastasia was on a short trip to the city a while ago.”

“I heard that Karnov Neustadter escorted her.”

“What? Is that true?”

The chaos that suddenly broke out in the theater was all because the noble audience on the second floor had gathered there from the beginning to admire Princess Anastasia.

“When I heard about it, I was so surprised.
His Majesty must value her so much to have the next Duke of Sedvoyer as an escort knight.”

“By the way, it seems that the young princess doesn’t know anything.
Was she not afraid of Karnov Neustadter?”

“Haha, well, she’s young.
It’s natural not to know yet.”

As the curtain went up and the stage began, the singers moved gracefully and continued singing, but the murmurs of the nobles did not cease.

“But where did she go when she came to town a few days ago?”

“Who was it… Baroness Saratov said she opened a new shop, and she went to see it.”

“Baroness Saratov? You mean the merchant?”

Disdainful expressions appeared on the faces of the other nobles.

“I don’t know if I should admit her to be a noble.
I can’t believe the princess went to see her shop.”

“Isn’t the princess from the countryside? She must be curious about anything.
And the store has recently become sensationally popular.
Have you tried it?”

“Oh… Is it some kind of chocolate cake or something like that? The color was so weird that I didn’t want to.”

“I heard that the Marchioness of Tataricha praised it after eating it.”

“You mean Marchioness Tataricha? She’s known to be strict when it comes to desserts.
What was the name again? She heavily criticized the shop set up by either the current head chef or one of his apprentices at the palace.”

“That’s what I’m saying.
That’s why I was curious too.
I’ve already made plans to try it out tomorrow.”

“Oh, well, I’m a bit wary of the marchioness.
They say she killed her husband.
I find her quite scary.”

“Isn’t that just a rumor? I heard he died from a fall on the stairs.”

“Well, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”