The Villainous Princess Wants to Live in a Gingerbread House

t on their shoulders.

‘No, no.
Asha, stay calm.
There’s no way that’s gonna happen.
It won’t.
It won’t.
It won’t!’

Asha denied it with all her might.

The following was what she had remembered from her past memories.

An ordinary girl with the power of vitality and stability, meets and falls in love with Alexei, an unstable but powerful Crown Prince of fire.

Naturally, there are a countless number of obstacles standing between the two of them, but they overcome them together, the strongest of which was the Crown Prince’s cousin, Anastasia.

Anastasia, who is allowed to stay in the palace due to a rare spirit she signed with at the spirit ceremony, comes back to bother Alexei and the female lead in every turn.

In addition to the right to succeed the throne, she also had a brilliant spirit in her hands, so there was nothing for her to be afraid of.

But it wasn’t stronger than Alexei, and in the end, Anastasia, the Imperial granddaughter, met a miserable end as a result of her own actions.

‘But I’m not that Anastasia, am I? We’re two different people.
So that’s why there’s no way it will end like that.
Also, there’s a possibility that it’s not the story I know.’

At that time, the sound of a cane hitting the floor rang out in the hall and broke Asha’s train of thought.
At the same time, two people entered the hall.

“His Majesty Mikhail, and the Crown Prince Alexei!”

It was the sound of the attendant’s shout that resonated through the hall.

As soon as she saw them, Asha turned her head away and swallowed her tears.

‘I was right…!’

It was the appearance of the Emperor and the Crown Prince.

Despite his wrinkled face and thick beard, the Emperor was such a large and solid figure, he seemed to shroud the entire hall in his shadow.

Standing by him was a boy who looked around fifteen years old, who was looking down at the children in the middle of the hall, grinning with a mature smile that didn’t seem to match his age at all.

The boy’s blonde hair was as beautiful as the particles of a star and his blue eyes were like the clearest shard of glacial ice.

As soon as Asha saw them, she immediately knew that that was her grandfather, Emperor Mikhail, and her cousin Alexei, the Crown Prince.

Looking at the two of them, Asha thought that the original work she had seen might have been a movie, not a novel.
The reason being that the scene before her gave her a sense of deja vu, as if she had seen a video of it before.

“I knew it! I was right, I was right, what I read was right! But wow, why did she even think about fighting Alexei? He gives me the chills just by standing still.’

Are the people who have smiles on their faces, really smiling? Alexei, his eyes don’t soften at all.

‘No, that’s not right.
That could happen.
Imagine having carrot porridge and potato soup for ten years straight, then hearing that you’re an imperial grandchild for the first time.’

And if you were allowed to stay in the palace, that young kid might suddenly dream ambitiously…

“No, no, no, that isn’t important right now, rather, what should I do from now on…’

At that moment, the emperor shouted.

“Begin the spirit ceremony!”

[ / / / ]

 

Looking from above, everything adjacent to the south had melted down with the ash and rain and blended into the horizon.

And just above the horizon line, was the fresh snow that had just fallen the day before.

At that line’s boundary, a man sitting astride on a horse, stood on the border between a boy and a young man and looked down.

Black hair fluttered in the north’s cold wind.
Just above the pitch black hair, a bluish colour made an appearance.
The purple eyes below seemed to reflect the icy light of the snow field.

At this place, the war which had interrupted the eternal winter, and silenced the sound of the wind, was now over.

And the man who was riding a horse, who had just come to this snowfield, was the one who had ended this war with his own two hands.

Karno Neustadter, the one who had gone off to war at the age of fourteen and finished it all at fifteen years old.

“Deputy Commander, we’ve finished preparing everything for our return.”

A knight came up with a horse and said softly.
The knight who was ten years older than Karno, was excessively courteous.

Karno glanced beside him and the knight held his breath.
His whole body even started trembling when Karno reached his hand out.

Karno laughed and grabbed the reins with that hand.

He had signed a contract with a spirit dressed in pitch black., and ever since then, people had always looked at him with such horror in their eyes, since everything he touched would become ash.

“Let’s go back.”

“Yes!”

The knight who had been frozen stiff, followed Karno from behind.
Karno did not look back.

[ / / / ]

“…Dimitri has been blessed by the Spirit of Candles!”

For something that was said to be a blessing, the reaction toward it was too lacklustre.
Asha pressed her lips together, feeling sorry for herself.

As she thought, the Emperor’s expression while looking down at the imperial grandchildren has always been as cold as ice.

The Spirit of Candles, the Spirit of Glass, the Spirit of Flowers, and the Spirit of Rain had all made an appearance, but there was never any real happiness on her cousins’ faces.

“The Imperial Grandchild, Her Highness Anastasia.”

It was finally her turn.

Asha opened the door, looking around.
The floor was full of streams that all flowed into the hall, and as she stepped in, she felt a chill rise when her feet got wet.

“Ugh.”

The water was so cold that she could almost feel her goosebumps rise.
Asha closed the door first, then knelt down slowly in the pool.