Chapter 1

Angel Food Cake, Like the Sunshine of a Spring Day

First, prepare two large mixing bowls.

If you want a successful result, one rule always applies: never be stingy with good ingredients.

“Oh, my goodness… such a waste…!”

Separate the whites from eight eggs and place only the egg whites into one bowl.

Using the eggshells makes the job much easier, so keep that in mind.

“Such precious sugar…!”

Next, pour in a generous amount of sugar without holding back.

Then beat the mixture vigorously with a whisk.

If you keep whisking with faith and diligence, before long the mixture will transform into a beautiful, fluffy meringue that is a delight just to look at.

“Your Highness… surely you aren’t planning to throw away all the yolks after this?”

Traditionally, angel food cake is made without butter and uses only egg whites, giving it a wonderfully light texture and a delicate flavor that never becomes tiresome.

But times were hard, so there was no choice but to use the yolks as well.

Into the bowl containing the yolks, Kitty sifted in flour, added water and a little melted butter, then whisked everything quickly until it turned the bright yellow of blooming daffodils.

Finally, she folded the snowy-white meringue into the batter with a spatula, poured it into a cake pan, placed it in the preheated oven, and waited about thirty minutes…

Ta-da!

A golden cake, glowing like the warm sunshine of an approaching spring day.

…Hmm. It would be even better with some jam or fresh fruit on the side.

The small hands of Katrina, the newly turned eight-year-old Second Imperial Princess, busily wandered around the kitchen.

“That was supposed to be saved for our children…!”

One of the servants whimpered behind her as though his heart were breaking, but the little girl paid him no mind.

She did feel sorry for the children who had been looking forward to those delicious strawberries all day. However, using ingredients allocated to the Second Princess’s Palace for personal purposes was undeniably embezzlement.

Removing the stems from the ripe, ruby-red strawberries that were in season, Kitty sliced them in half lengthwise and scattered them over the golden cake.

Ta-da!

Now it was really, truly finished.

All that remained was to enjoy the cake she had made.

As she searched for a bread knife and a plate, the head chef finally reached the end of his patience and stepped in front of her.

“Your Highness! Do you even understand what you’ve done? You used up an entire week’s worth of flour on this single cake! At this rate, everyone in the palace will be forced to survive on this one cake for the next week!”

Kitty looked at the stern-faced chef for a moment before correcting his misunderstanding.

“…I made this to eat by myself.”

To be honest, Kitty was the one who found the situation absurd.

They intended to pick apart the cake she had worked so hard to make for an entire week?

How could grown adults be so shameless?

If they wanted to eat cake, they should bake their own.

Until now, Kitty had never once complained, even though the servants of the Second Princess’s Palace regularly ate proper meals among themselves while failing to serve her one.

“I’ve had enough! I’m going to tell Head Maid Garnet everything! I’ll tell her exactly what Her Highness has done to us!”

While Kitty merely blinked in confusion at the shouting chef, one of the kitchen servants stormed out in outrage.

Ah, so that’s where the bread knife was.

Ignoring the commotion, Kitty finally found the knife and plate, then cut herself a warm slice of freshly baked cake.

Ideally, she would have liked to pick a few wildflowers outside, dry them, and brew a fragrant cup of tea to enjoy alongside it.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the luxury.

Today marked exactly fifteen days since she had entered the Second Princess’s Palace.

During all that time, all she had eaten was a few pieces of dried-out bread, several potatoes, and a bowl of soup secretly shared with her by a young maid out of pity.

When Kitty, who had lived an ordinary commoner’s life with her mother, first learned that she was actually an imperial princess, the adults who had fussed over her as the “Saintess of the Prophecy” treated her with the utmost care.

But after returning from the Grand Temple, their attitudes changed completely.

It turned out she possessed no divine power whatsoever.

She was nothing but a fraud.

Her already empty stomach growled loudly. Since the smell of the cake baking in the oven had filled the kitchen, resisting the temptation had become almost impossible.

After piling plenty of fresh strawberries onto her plate, Kitty speared a piece of fluffy cake with her fork and took a bite.

Delicious…

The addition of egg yolks and butter made the flavor richer than a traditional angel food cake, but the texture that melted softly in her mouth remained exactly the same.

It truly felt as though she had swallowed an angel’s feather, her entire body relaxing instantly.

“Oh, wonderful. Just wonderful. Go ahead and eat it all. Why don’t you finish off the tiny budget assigned to our palace while you’re at it? I suppose this is what happens when someone grows up without proper upbringing. You’re as vicious as they come.”

This time, Kitty stabbed both cake and strawberry together before taking a big bite.

The fresh fruit burst apart in her mouth, releasing a sweet-and-tart juice that naturally made her mouth water.

The chef continued muttering loud enough for everyone to hear, but Kitty simply stood there, carefully scraping every last crumb of cake from her plate.

Then she cut another large slice, placed it on a fresh plate, and held it out to Cindy, the youngest servant in the Second Princess’s Palace.

“You should have some too.”

Princess Katrina herself had baked the cake, and her good mood from the sweet strawberries and soft sponge made her generous enough to share it.

Cindy was the only servant who had ever shared her own food with Princess Katrina.

She more than deserved a slice.

Cindy’s large violet eyes, reminiscent of violet petals, darted around nervously before she quickly accepted the plate.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

She quietly slipped into an inconspicuous corner, took a bite of the princess’s cake…

…and her eyes grew wide.

Several servants glanced at her as though she were foolish, but none of them scolded the young maid.

Though each of them had their own reasons for being assigned to the Second Princess’s Palace, they still possessed the pride and confidence of people employed in the Imperial Palace.

In other words, there was no need for them to personally deal with the troublesome princess rampaging through the kitchen.

If they simply waited quietly, someone with the proper authority would come to discipline Princess Kitty.

Someone like Head Maid Garnet, who effectively ruled the Second Princess’s Palace…

Or Lady Sarah, the princess’s tutor and nanny.

“The Eternal Sun of Teros, the Supreme Light of All Creation—His Imperial Majesty the Emperor approaches!”

The booming announcement struck the room like a bolt from the blue.

The servants who had been standing around watching Princess Kitty instantly panicked.

Those blocking the kitchen entrance hurriedly stepped aside to clear a path, while the emperor’s attendants prostrated themselves before even entering, their foreheads nearly touching the floor.

Even Cindy, who had been happily nibbling cake in the corner, hastily set down her plate and threw herself flat to welcome the exalted emperor.

Thus, when the Emperor of the Teros Empire entered the kitchen, only one person remained standing and looking directly at him.

Princess Katrina.

Still chewing her cake.

The very cause of Kitty’s sudden separation from her mother and her life in this imperial palace.

A tyrant infamous throughout history—an emperor so obsessed with the prophesied Saintess that he neglected both the affairs of state and even his own sons, the imperial princes.

With an icy gaze, the emperor swept his eyes across the kitchen Katrina had turned upside down while baking her cake.

“Katrina Sophiana Orthosia.”

“What exactly is the meaning of this?”

She had been hungry.

So she baked a cake to eat.

“So this is all you’ve managed to learn from Lady Sarah after half a month.”

As expected, disgust and contempt slowly appeared in the emperor’s eyes as he looked over the young princess’s ridiculous appearance.

Her snow-white hair was messy from not being brushed properly.

A pair of oversized glasses covered nearly half her face, making her blank expression seem almost foolish.

Her sleeves were rolled up in a very unladylike manner, while yellow batter and white flour clung to her cheeks, elbows, and clothes.

She wasn’t even wearing shoes or socks anymore.

Instead, she stood there wiggling her bare toes like a street child.

Worst of all…

Katrina looked exactly like the late Empress Sophia, a woman celebrated throughout the empire for her grace and virtue.

To see Sophia’s face wearing such a dirty, dull expression…

The emperor’s anger flared every time he looked at Katrina.

“What possible use are you?”

he asked in a dark voice, as though chewing the words apart.

Despite the hostility, Katrina answered without hesitation.

“Cake.”

That was right.

Kitty was exceptionally good at baking cake.

Cake paired wonderfully with tea, coffee, milk, juice—almost any drink.

It filled your stomach.

Its sweetness could lift your spirits in an instant.

What could possibly be a more practical or immediate use than that?

But the tyrant Theodore had no intention of understanding the profound sincerity behind her answer.

Looking down coldly at the eight-year-old princess, he muttered,

“Worthless fool.”

Crash!

With a casual flick of his hand, he knocked away the plate she had offered.

The cake Kitty had worked so hard to bake, along with the strawberries, scattered mercilessly across the floor.

A shard of the shattered plate flew upward…

…and sliced a thin, bright red line across the little girl’s cheek.