Somewhat infuriating.

The OG MC had an extraordinarily powerful spirit companion, so much so that she should have immediately been in line for the throne of the Emperor. However, she was a normal, very young child, who went from abject poverty with doting, indulgent parents, to a luxurious palace filled with scheming strangers who all want to use her. Forbidden from seeing her parents again, given every material she could ever ask for, and neglected by her grandfather, the Emperor, who stuck her there, and her AH cousin who wants to... more>> keep his Crown Prince position, it is any wonder OG her wound up a mess? Then they punished her for turning into what they created.

I like the premise of someone who is ridiculously overpowered deciding they'd rather not, and just have a simple life baking instead. But this is not that.

I also like a character who hides their potential to ensure their enemies underestimate them, unexpectedly emerging from behind and win in the end. But this is also not that.

Instead, new MC is so abjectly terrified that every single person in the palace is an enemy who will kill her (since they killed the OG for not being nice enough. Literally, she wasn't girly and cute, so they killed her), that instead of embracing her powers and potential, she dumbs herself down. She basically castrates herself and play acts at being so sweet and simple and so "poor widdle me, I just wike cookies" as she signs away her birthright to simper and be thought of as cute. She's like a silly little lap dog they think is cute and too s*upid not to pee itself, and she's got one trick to keep her from being so dumb they chuck her out (which I could get on board with), which instead manages to turn her into a bird trapped in a gilded cage. Whenever she waits around forever to beg someone to take her little offering of cookies or whatnot, I just want to smack her. She's just getting herself more and more trapped, while hobbling herself from ever being anything more than their favorite pet and emotional opiate.

OG FL may have gotten killed, but she at least tried. <<less

Whilst I haven't read very far, Skite's review paints a very different picture from what this novel is.

It's not some fantastic tightly woven conspiracy novel but it's exactly what it says it is. A cute child-growth type rofan.

In the first place, the MC doesn't want the throne. She has various prejudices influenced by her past life and knowledge of the world she's in to make her afraid of the palace and imperial power. All she wants is to get her parents out of poverty and open a bakery. She's not... more>> even trying to act cute, this is a typical rofan so ofc the child MC is portrayed as adorable and endearing it's literally the genre.

Why would she embrace her powers and potential? She doesn't really have the smarts or ambition for that. To her all she cares about is baking. It's not fair to judge a novel based on a premise that it doesn't present. MC thinks all of life's problems can be if not solved but made better by confectioneries. She knows she's not going to be let out and her spirit animal tells her baking will strengthen her connection so that's what she does.

I'm not saying this novel is fantastic and it's faults like more on the clichés a rofan has such as MC accidentally doing things which would highlight her as not as special and then going omg I messed up help.

If you want a brainless rofan then go ahead but if you wanted some political scheming there are plenty of novels which do advertise themselves as that but don't judge an apple pie for not being a chocolate cake <<less

Holy crap what is that review. XD I can't believe I decided not to read this for so long because of that, that's so off the mark from anything relevant it's incredible. I was convinced for so long before I actually read the book and realized there's something fishy about it. Bro you just reviewed the Care Bears and said "I'm so mad that the care bears didn't solve all their problems with mu*der!"

This is NOT an action novel of any kind or even remotely a billion lightyears related. The... more>> words "overpowered" and "killing" and "fighting" are so far removed from what this story is about it's not even a joke. The cover is a girl in an apron and the title says "she want's to live in a gingerbread house" what on earth did you expect?

This is a *cooking* book, for girls. The protagonist is a princess that bakes magic cookies and makes all the sad angry people of the world smile because her cookies are made with the magic of love. It's features include detailed descriptions of desserts and their ingredients and defeating evil by healing broken hearts... with the magic cookies.

There is zero political intrigue, the palace is not filled with scheming backstabbing plots for the throne - nobody's dead, except that one guy that died of sadness because his dad didn't love him enough. This ain't game of thrones. It's a family where everyone has hurt feelings and said hurt feelings can all be solved with copious application of sugar, sprinkles, and friendship! The most heinous plot in the entire book is that someone once said her cake tasted bad on purpose, even though it was actually yummy!

I'm not making that up. That's literally a plot point. Like. One of the main ones. They lied about her cake tasting bad. That's the main antagonist.

What overpowered spirit, dude. She has no powers! Her "extraordinarily powerful" spirit is a tiny yellow baby chicken that toddles around and goes peep peep! It's the great spirit of feelings! She named her baby bird Phoebe and Phoebe the baby bird lives in button. If her princess dress doesn't have any buttons, Phoebe hangs out in her pocket and acts cute. Her supposed amazing combat abilities from this fantastic spirit king she's contracted... are that she can see people's feelings as fluffy light particles, can express herself with magic sincerity so no one will ever misunderstand her heartfelt feelings, and that anything she bakes with enough sugar is guaranteed to make someone cry from deliciousness.

Dude. Her spirit is yellow and fluffy and goes "peep peep". Just wanted to reiterate that. The most frequent interaction between the villainess and her fantastic overpowered amazing spirit beast - she flicks Pheobe with her finger and Pheobe stumbles and falls down adorably.

Btw. the guy who killed the original villainess. His spirit king is the god of death. It's a skeleton with a scythe - just straight up the Grim Reaper. And he just got back from a war, where he casually massacred entire armies by looking at them and willing them to all turn into little puffs of bloody dust with his mind. He would even give them a half hour head start to run away out of pity. Idk what you expect a malnourished ten year old girl and Phoebe the baby chicken of Feelings with cooking powers to do against that... but if you find yourself transmigrated into this book, knock yourself out! Rush right towards your death flags, piss of that guy, the guy with the 100% accuracy infinite range ignores all resistances AOE instant death ability! it'll be fun!

The original villainess didn't "try" - she threw a fit and acted entitled until the world's protagonists got annoyed enough to squish her like a bug. They kept her alive out of sheer politeness and respect for the fact that mu*der is illegal and usually frowned upon in most societies. They felt bad for her. And Phoebe, the great and powerful chicken! Her sole contribution was that she's friends with the death god so he made it painless when he killed her instantly. One second, there's the villainess, next second, oop, there's some red mist on the ground there...

Srsly dude how did you think that fight would go down. What's she gonna do, throw frosting at him? Fling sprinkles in his eyes? Smack him with a plushie? There's just no way. Sorry but the Care Bears Cook vs DEATH HIMSELF is not a matchup the Care Bears ever win. Unless it's by befriending Death and singing kumbaya. Which is exactly what this book is about. She befriends Death. With cake. And a magic bird that makes everyone talk about their feelings and cry. And strawberry tarts. <<less

I'd categorize this novel as "stressfree entertainment."

To be clear, there IS structure to the novel--the author clearly sets a goal for the MC: feed people her handmade snacks in order to heal the hurt in their souls/hearts. (Sort of.)

The premise is cute, simple, and to the point. The MC doesn't encounter any huge roadblocks on her journey--hence the "stressfree entertainment."

What else should you expect?

• some political intrigue. However, be aware that the MC has made it clear that she doesn't want to be political figure.
• slow plot. The author clearly has a goal and is very slowly getting there... Very slowly. Like I've apparently reached the timeskip part of the book and things that I thought would have been done by then have NOT been done.
• not a lot of realism. I think this one is obvious. Pastry making is not easy.
• romance. The author clearly knows who the ML is. Frankly, I could do without a romance, but the author sets them up well enough that I can't be completely disappointed.
• cute banter. I wouldn't say it's amazing, but it's entertaining enough

Some downsides?

• little meaningful relationships with women. There ARE women among the cast, but the MC's primary relationships are with the men in her life: Karnov, the grandfathers, the crown prince.
• Spoiler

  romanticization of poverty. Unfortunately. According to the author, the MC's parents lived in poverty but were happy! However, poor ol' MC never had the "choice" but to participate in poverty alongside her parents because they took that "choice" from her! Not to mention, the MC's parents made the choice of leaving the monarchy and a life of luxury for a righteous life of poverty. Who knew this would close so many doors or options for the MC's future? Who could've known? Not these well-educated but now living in poverty parents. I can suspend a lot of disbelief, especially if it's done well, but not for this.

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As for the translation, well, I'm not Korean nor do I speak it. I'm reading Moonlight Novel's version. I think it's okay. I wouldn't be surprised if it was (heavily?) edited MTL. Moonlight Novel's website doesn't seem compatible with Firefox as I get text errors so I had to switch to Vivaldi while reading. I didn't realize this until like 80+ chapters in, unfortunately.