Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 223 : Soft as Snow 1

"~Elsa?"

Yvonne softly called out her name, taking the opportunity to quietly reach out from behind and embrace her.

However, after being hugged, Elsa didn't turn around with a smile as usual. Instead, she remained standing with her back to Yvonne, staring blankly out the window.

Since returning, her mood seemed off, which made Yvonne somewhat nervous.

She tried hard to think if she had done anything wrong at the court banquet.

But she didn't recall acting overly intimate with anyone... If anything, it was Elsa who had been surrounded by layers of enthusiastic fans, unable to break free. Thanks to those people, they had barely spoken during the feast.

"You've been staring motionlessly at the snow outside for nearly half an hour. Is there something bothering you?"

She finally couldn't help but ask, but Elsa just shook her head gently.

"It's nothing, I just think it's a shame... the snowmen."

Snowmen?

Yvonne followed Elsa's gaze and finally saw three small mounds of melted snow in the courtyard.

"Ah... You mean the ones we built with Bebe before?"

Yvonne finally remembered. During the last snowfall, they had built three snowmen in the yard and had a snowball fight with little Rako who came to play. It was a perfect ending to winter, wasn't it?

"We had so much fun then."

"It's such a pity that Evie's snowman melted like this..."

She sighed, seemingly genuinely troubled by this.

So this was why she was so unhappy...

Yvonne wasn't sure if she was being childish or overly serious.

Yvonne kissed the snow-white neck hidden beneath her hair.

Her hair had grown a bit longer. When hugging her from behind, Yvonne could bury her face in the soft wisps of hair falling to her neck.

"...Snow melts when spring comes, that's unavoidable, isn't it? Besides... The real me is right here, do you need to be sad over a snowman?"

As she said this, she deliberately put on a slightly angry expression.

"Pff, Evie... Are you actually jealous of a snowman?"

The person in her arms finally giggled.

"Yes, I'm jealous!"

Seeing her smile return at last, Yvonne finally let out a sigh of relief internally.

Just seeing her happy made Yvonne smile along.

She wrapped her arms around Elsa's slender waist, holding her body tightly.

Before, Yvonne hadn't realized she was someone who liked physical contact so much. Whenever she had the chance, she wanted to be close to her like this. Especially during the cold season.

Though even if the weather turned hot and they both became sweaty, they'd probably still shamelessly stick together like this, wouldn't they?

"Speaking of which... It seems Lady Shirushi has given you another task?"

Only she could address the princess so casually by name, a privilege of being a 'friend'.

Both geniuses, Elsa and Shirushi actually had many similarities. However, similar people seem to either repel each other strongly or attract each other firmly – two extremes. Fortunately, their relationship now was not as incompatible as before.

"To be precise, it's not a task for me, but for the guild and the Gourmet Alliance."

"Yes, to prepare 'innovative food' for the festival..."

At this, Yvonne sighed.

This was quite a challenge.

Spring had just begun, so there weren't many fresh vegetables... The cost couldn't be too high, and it needed to be distributed equally and in large quantities to the common people attending the Spring Festival...

Yvonne even suspected Shirushi was deliberately making things difficult for her.

"In Evie's hometown, what do people usually eat at this time of year?"

Elsa tried to broaden Yvonne's perspective.

"Spring Festival foods... There are so many."

However, many ingredients weren't available here... They couldn't be replicated well. The heavy, spicy style might not suit the local palate either. So it couldn't serve as a complete reference.

Yvonne thought for a long time, scribbling on paper, but was still at a loss.

"It is quite difficult... But I'll help think of ideas too!"

"Mm, I'm fortunate to have you here."

Her fingers quietly entwined with Yvonne's, but her eyes still unconsciously glanced toward the window she had been staring at earlier.

"If only snow could be made into food. Soft and fluffy, it would be nice."

Snow...

Food like snow...

Hearing this, Yvonne felt as if she'd been struck by lightning, suddenly inspired.

"I've got it!!"

"...What have you got?"

Elsa was startled.

"Cotton candy!! We can make cotton candy!! Elsa!!"

"...Cotton candy?"

A festival snack that's like snow—soft, fluffy, and can be mass-produced!

Yvonne quickly set about preparing.

With only a few days left before the festival officially began, there were small folk craftsmen at the ducal residence who had been persuaded by Yuna to come to the capital as representatives to promote their racial craftsmanship.

Not just mining, the small folk were renowned for their dexterity.

Yvonne briefly explained her concept, and these skilled craftsmen immediately produced a plausible clockwork machine.

A cotton candy machine isn't a highly complex or technical device, so it could be made even in this world.

The machine itself was shaped like a large bowl. At its center was a high-temperature heating chamber, which could be replaced with heat-generating fire stones.

Heat was injected, turning the sugar into syrup. Small holes were opened in the middle of the heating chamber. This way, when the sugar rotated at high speed in the heating chamber, the centrifugal force could spray the melted sugar syrup through these small holes to the surrounding bowl, forming fine, white threads.

At this point, using a thin, sharpened wooden stick to gently twirl these sugar threads in the middle would create an increasingly large, white 'snowball'.

The trial was successful. Yvonne handed the first cotton candy to Elsa.

"Want to try?"

But Elsa lacked confidence.

"...It's bigger than my head, can I really finish it?"

"Hehe, you'll know once you try."

"—!!"

Although it looked very fluffy, it actually melted in her mouth. Apart from the slight sweetness upon tasting, there was no sense of burden at all.

"...It really is like snow!"

Soft and light like snow... easily melting.

This large, fluffy mass was actually more like a cloud floating in the sky than snow.

But whichever it resembled, both had very good symbolic meanings.

It really had a spring feeling...

"How is it? Do you think it'll work?"

"It works, but... isn't sugar expensive?"

Elsa was somewhat worried, considering the cost was an issue that had to be factored in for mass production.

"Then guess how much sugar was used to make this cotton candy?"

"Uh... For one this big, probably a small bottle?"

Watching Elsa gesture the amount with her hands, Yvonne shook her head and smiled without speaking.

She smiled and held up two fingers.

"—Just two small spoonfuls."