Chapter 18

Oscar stared intently at me, who was nervous, and then shrugged.

"Well, maybe it's because you didn't eat enough and grew up that way."

"……"

Oscar Manuel.

A character I couldn't understand even after memorizing the original work.

That's why I couldn't quite grasp his intentions when he said such things.

Was it just a casual remark, or did he really know my 'secret'?

"Ah, I'll eat more from now on."

"Right, eat more. You need to grow tall and strong to work with me."

"But I'm not going to the magic tower, right?"

"Working at the magic tower would be convenient for you too."

3 - 5 = -2

I wrote the answer to the problem Oscar gave me and said it as if I was doing him a favor.

"Well, I'll think about it."

Oscar chuckled.

* * *

"Are you really seven years old?"

"You're so small for your age?"

"That seven-year-old is really small. She must be a fool."

After Oscar left.

I had a headache and thought about the character 'me' that I had been putting off.

The holy knights, aunts, grandfather, twins, servants, and Oscar...

There were already a truckload of people who had their doubts about my growth rate as soon as I arrived in the capital.

When I thought I was just an extra, I assumed I just developed more slowly than others.

But.

'Turns out, there was a reason I grew slowly.'

As the protagonist's child, it's a given that I'm not ordinary.

No, what is ordinary anyway?

Probably nothing could be as shocking as my true identity.

The daughter of the protagonist, Enoch Rubinstein.

A tragic supporting character who was kidnapped by the royal family and later died.

More precisely, everyone thought she was dead.

It was only revealed in the final chapter of the novel that she was still alive...

An incredible plot twist, right?

"Genius princess, it's time to sleep, right?"

"Stop calling me a genius, Dad..."

"Ahahaha! Why?"

Dad came into bed and hugged me tightly.

"My daughter was the best today. Did you see how Grandpa's mouth dropped? He always tells me to act with dignity, but today he was the one who got excited."

Dad chuckled and chattered for a while before yawning widely.

"If you're sleepy, go to sleep quickly."

"What? Princesses don't get sleepy?"

"Princesses have a lot to think about."

"You must not be sleepy. Do you want me to read you a story?"

Dad took a fairy tale book from the bookshelf behind the bed.

"Okay, let's see. Today's story is... The Princess in the Tower!"

"Wow, it sounds interesting."

I sighed dryly.

Since I had recalled my past life, the bedtime story sessions had become boring...

"Wait, our Lilius in the tower? Let's see what happened."

Dad loved reading to me, so I endured it.

"Once upon a time, there was a kind king and a princess. The king loved and cherished his daughter very much."

"Hehe. Like Dad and me."

"Exactly."

Dad hugged me tighter and turned the page.

"One day, when the princess turned seven, the evil king of a neighboring country kidnapped her."

"..."

"The kind king spent every day in tears after losing his princess. He offered treasures and became a vassal to the evil king, but the evil king still didn't return the princess."

"..."

"Wow, how can a father and daughter be separated like that? He's really evil, isn't he?"

"Yeah, that's true."

But the content seemed a bit familiar...

"One day, the grieving kind king met a boy. The boy was very strong. So the kind king adopted him, hoping he could become a good older brother to the princess when they met again."

"...? Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing. It's interesting. Keep reading."

"Right? It's exciting, isn't it? Then, one day, the evil king announced that the princess had died of illness. ...Huh? Suddenly the princess died? Why is the story like this?"

Dad frowned and flipped the book around.

I quickly hit Dad's arm.

"J-Just keep reading, Dad. The evil king might have lied. Maybe she's not really dead?"

"Right? The title is 'The Princess,' so she can't be really dead, can she?"

Dad turned the page.

"The angry kind king decided to take revenge on the evil king with the prince."

"..."

"The kind king and the prince defeated all the bad people in the evil country and finally captured the evil king, pointing a sword at him."

Even as Dad acted out the sword scene, I couldn't focus.

The kind king was Enoch Rubinstein.

The adopted prince was Cheshire.

The evil king was the emperor.

And the princess was me.

'...Who wrote this fairy tale? Is the author a fortune-teller?'

It was shockingly similar to the original work, "Dos's Rebellion."

Enoch Rubinstein, who became a puppet of the emperor to get his kidnapped daughter back.

The emperor, who knew the daughter's 'true identity' and pretended she was dead, keeping her imprisoned and exploiting her power.

Enoch Rubinstein, who only knew his daughter was dead and sought revenge...

"The kind king said, 'I will avenge my daughter!' The evil king replied, 'Do you think it will be that easy?'"

"Wait, I feel like the princess will appear next."

"Then, the princess, who was thought to be dead, came down from the tower. The kind king was surprised. ...Right? The princess was alive! My daughter is a genius!"

Dad chuckled and added.

"But the princess had been brainwashed by the evil king while in the tower. She couldn't recognize her father and started killing good people indiscriminately...? Wait. Why is the story going off track? What power does the princess have?"

"Dad, Dad, Dad! Don't stop, keep reading! The princess must have been hiding her power!"

"Right, I get it. The shocked kind king heard the evil king shout, 'The princess is actually a very powerful witch that I kept hidden! Now she's just my puppet!' ...Lilius? Have you read this before?"

"U-Uh, it's just a... typical story."

"Is this typical?"

Dad's eyes narrowed.

"Um, yeah... Let's keep reading. The kind king wanted to restore the princess but couldn't find a way."

"The adopted prince will probably try to kill the princess now."

"The prince said to the weeping kind king, 'Father, if we don't kill the princess now, more people will die.' Then the prince drew his sword and aimed it at the princess's neck..."

Dad stopped reading, flipped to the end, and muttered.

"Is this a children's fairy tale?"

"Why? How does it end?"

"It's not a good ending. I don't think we need to read more."

"Does the princess die in the end?"

"Um... The prince kills her..."

Dad frowned and crumpled the book into the bookshelf.

"I'll read to you only after I check it first. The content was too harmful. I'm sorry, princess."

"Still, it's a happy ending..."

"What? How is it a happy ending?"

"If the princess hadn't been kidnapped, the kind king wouldn't have sought revenge on the evil king, right? In the end, the kind king destroyed the evil country, so everyone would have been happy."

"Do you really think so? The princess is dead, though."

"Well, there was no choice. Even though she was manipulated by the evil king, the princess did kill a lot of people."

"Still, it's not a happy ending because the princess died."

"It is a happy ending."

"No, it's not. Listen."

Dad sat up, indignant.

"The protagonist was the kind king, right?"

"Right."

"The protagonist's cherished daughter died, right?"

"Right."

"Then, even if everyone else is happy, the protagonist isn't, right?"

"...Right?"

"If the protagonist isn't happy, it's not a happy ending, Lilius."

"..."

"How can a father be happy after losing his beloved daughter? So it's not a happy ending."

Seeing Dad's firm expression, I suddenly thought of the original work's ending.

The original work was definitely a happy ending.

After Cheshire killed Enoch Rubinstein's daughter,

The story ended with the peaceful new empire being born.

'Then, what happened to Dad after the original work ended?'

Was the protagonist happy in the peaceful country built on his daughter's grave?

"Dad."

"Yeah."

"If... Dad was the kind king and I was the princess... How would Dad live after I die?"

"How would I live?"

Dad lay down again and hugged me.

"I couldn't live."

"Huh?"

"Maybe the kind king felt the same way. He didn't die immediately when he thought the princess was dead because he had to take revenge."

"..."

"Maybe he planned to die after taking revenge."

"W-What? What if Dad dies too!"

"Try having a child someday. You'll understand how I feel."

Without realizing how my heart sank, Dad kissed my forehead affectionately.

"I'll go right after the princess. I can't live without her."