The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House - Chapter 3

In the original novel, the Imperial Grandchild, Anastasia made a contract with the Bird Spirit. The reason she was able to remain in the imperial palace despite only possessing a Bird Spirit was because that Bird Spirit had a breathtakingly beautiful solid body.

“Mom, Dad, I miss you… Even if it’s the palace, it’s cold here… I want to go home… I want to eat cake…”

But now that I’m in the palace, I want to have a cup of hot cocoa. With grilled marshmallows. A fondant au chocolat would be nice too, with a sprinkle of white sugar, like snow on top.

Anything is fine, I just want this to end quickly so I can go back home. I’m going go to back home with sugar, butter, and a bag of flour to celebrate!

It happened when Asha had closed her eyes and her internal prayers were approaching their peak.

“Huh…?”

At the sound of something that seemed to be flying, Asha opened her eyes without realising it. There was a white powder fluttering around her. She tasted the white powder with an outstretched tongue.

“Sugar…”

As soon as Asha recognised the sweetness of sugar, the white powder in front of her started to spiral, and a bright light started to gather together in it.

At that moment, she heard something like the flapping of wings from the bundle of light, and contrary to the sugar which was pure white, a large winged bird with all kinds of beautiful colours suddenly appeared..

The bird circled around her once, and sat in front of her.

It was such a big bird that she still had to look up while she was on her knees.

Even though it had folded its wings, it still seemed to fill the entire room.

“Uh…”

The colourful bird tilted its head and looked down at her.

This was the main culprit behind that ‘Imperial Grandchild, Anastasia’s’ wild and ambitious dream.

At the same time, she came to her senses.

A spirit with a physical body was usually so small it could be held in a hand. And yet, here was a bird, big enough to fill the room.

I can’t believe this is happening.

I can’t believe this is also happening to me!

“N-No!”

If she went out with the bird looking like this, no matter how much she insisted, she would definitely be forced to stay in the palace.

Then, it was clear that she would be on the receiving end of Alexei’s checks, which would ultimately lead to her downfall.

But before Asha could say anything, there was a popping sound, which then quickly transformed into a yellow feathered bird, only around the size of a palm.

“Peep!”

“W-What?”

Asha, who had been running, stopped and just blinked. The bird looked around in embarrassment at its own appearance and tried to straighten itself when it made eye contact with Asha.

Although it was still the size of a kid’s fist.

However, Asha urgently shook her head when she saw its appearance.

“Y-You’re really cute already, but can you turn into something even smaller? Uh… Oh…! Okay, how about this! Turn into a brooch or something like that!”

Asha grabbed the cameo on a ribbon from her chest and shook it with both hands.

The chick tilted its head once, then disappeared from in front of her eyes.

“…!”

It was not long before the engraving of the person on the cameo changed into a very small but sophisticated and beautiful silhouette of a bird.

Asha just blinked in surprise, but soon decided to accept the transformation of the spirit.

First off, she had to go out now.

When Asha left the room shivering from the cold that had belatedly hit her, seeing that there wasn’t even a shadow of a spirit, everyone laughed at her, saying, “Of course it’s like that.”

“…Your Highness Anastasia, do you happen to know what kind of spirit you signed a contract with?”

Asha shook her head when she was asked by an approaching elder. She intended to pretend as if she didn’t know anything.

“Then, are you able to use your power?”

Asha shook her head at the question, too.

Baking snacks? Of course it’s good, but not in the palace, a place where you don’t know what will happen if you take a wrong step.

However…

“Then let me ask the Marquis of Serenetev for advice.”

“What?”

Asha opened her eyes wide.

Before she could grasp the situation, the words were already delivered quickly, and before long, someone swinging their arms had already come.

She heard people whispering names such as “His Highness Prince Maxim” and “His Highness Maxim”.

The territory and title received by Prince Maxim appeared to be Marquis Serenetev.

“Oh, the person who dad called Brother Maxim…”

Come to think of it, that was the case.

Her father, Yuriel, was a prince, so Maxim, whom he called a brother, was naturally also a prince.

“Oh, Father…”

Arriving in the middle of the Statten Palace, Maxim looked down at his frozen son and laughed at him.

“Dimitri, you signed a contract with the Rainwater Spirit? Does this mean our Empire won’t need to worry about droughts from now on?”

The man said so, laughed to himself, and then coughed when he noticed the servants and elders around him.

“So what, you want me to identify my little niece’s spirit?”

“…Yes, Sir Serenetev.”

Maxim, who is Yuriel’s brother, and her uncle, was the only member of the royal family who was not subject to the spirit ceremony thanks to the “Spirit of Discretion” he had signed on as a child.

It was for the moments like this, when the elders of the Imperial Palace could not identify what kind of spirit one had.

‘What… What should I do?’

I should’ve just said I had a little bird from the start!

Whilst Asha was flustered, Maxim stopped laughing and put his hand gently on the top of her head, closing his eyes.

As soon as the surrounding people started buzzing noisily and Asha’s face turned pale, Maxim put his hand down and laughed mischievously at her, as if he was looking at something cute.

“You have a cute bird spirit that goes quite well with our little princess.”

‘Huh?’

“P-Pardon?”

The final round of applause to celebrate her spirit was the smallest one so far.

Asha looked up at Maxim, trying to calm her heart that felt like it was going to collapse and her legs which had suddenly lost their strength.

“What’s going on here?’

A little bird spirit? Was it even impossible for Maxim, who possessed the Spirit of Discretion, to find out the spirit’s extent of power?

“If that’s not the case…’

However, she had successfully avoided the eyes of others.

Asha quietly breathed out a sigh of relief inside.

Suddenly, the Emperor, who was looking down from up above, strode down and began to talk to each child face-to-face.

‘What the hell is going on here again?’

The conversation with the Emperor was simple. What did your father and mother say, what are you going to do in the future? At first glance, these were private conversations.

Asha swallowed nervously with her dry throat. Although she knew there was such a scene, she didn’t know how to handle it at all.

The details of the villain’s backstory were very elaborate, and although she believed that she had read it accurately, even if she did, she still could not remember a damn thing from before.

‘If it was all written down, it wouldn’t be a novel, but a history book instead!’

Whilst the children were stuttering in order to answer the emperor’s questions, the Emperor finally stood next to Asha.

Asha clenched her collar tightly. After taking a long look at her without speaking, the Emperor frowned at her.

“Well, how old did you say you were again?”

“She’s ten years old.”

Before Asha could open her mouth, the old servant next to the Emperor replied for her.

“Ten? Then how is she this small and skinny? I would believe you even if you said you were six. Does Yuriel not care about his daughter? That’s probably the case, taking into account that bastard’s personality, .”

“Your Majesty, it’s not that…”

The old servant insisted, whispering to the Emperor with his back bent.

It would have been about how a penniless runaway from home would start a family.

The Emperor listened to his whispering servant and tilted his head. There was no expression on his face at seeing his granddaughter for the first time.

“Hmm, alright. What did your father say to you when he sent you off?”

“…To not get sick, stay healthy, and to come back soon.”

“Go back? Hmm…”

I could feel the gazes of my cousins who were standing next to me. Asha wiped her sweaty palms on her lapels nervously. The Emperor looked interested.

“Then, do you also want to go back?”

“Yes!”

Asha answered the question without hesitation.

I don’t have any interest in things like the throne! However, I’d actually like a little flour, sugar and butter, thanks!

The word ‘yes’ was bout to spill out of Asha’s mouth. “

The Emperor smiled as he crinkled the fine lines around his eyes.

“That’s right, that’s what I’m saying.”

Then the Emperor turned away without any additional words.

Asha thought that his attitude of leaving only after saying what he had to say was definitely one of the reasons why her dad would always swear at him.

That’s how the spirit ceremony ended. The children began to leave the palace, with no one pleased.

[ / / / ]

However, despite the end of the spirit ceremony, no one in the palace told them about what would happen to Asha in the future.

Asha was drenched in anxiety. She made it clear that she wanted to go back, and that even the spirit she had signed with was insignificant, so why…

“Lise, I’ve even finished the spirit ceremony now. When can I go home?”

At Asha’s question, her maid, Lise, looked at the bed with a puzzled look.

Lise was the one who had cared for her since she was first kidnapped to the palace.

At first, Asha was ignorant and tried to treat all the adults around her with respect and spoke formally, but it was closer to harassment than respect so she spoke comfortably in private with them.

“But Your Highness, if you stay here, you can eat as much delicious snacks as you want and wear a lot of pretty clothes.”