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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Princess in the Tower
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Oscar studied my tense expression, then shrugged.
“Well, I suppose that’s what happens when you’re underfed.”
“……”
Oscar Manuel.
He was a character whose true intentions were impossible to decipher, no matter how many times I’d read the original story.
That’s why I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning behind his words.
Was it just an offhand comment, or did he really know my ‘secret’...?
“Well, I’ll just have to eat more from now on.”
“That’s right, eat up. You need to eat plenty and grow big and strong so you can work with me.”
“I’m not going to the Magic Tower, though.”
“You’ll find it’s easier for you to work at the Magic Tower.”
3 - 5 = -2
I said, as if doing him a great favor, while writing down the answer to the problem he’d given me.
“Well, I’ll think about it.”
Oscar chuckled.
* * *
“Are you really seven years old?”
“You’re quite small for your age, miss.”
“She’s seven, but she’s so small. Idiot.”
After Oscar left.
My head aching, I finally turned my thoughts to the character of ‘me’—a subject I’d been avoiding.
The Paladin uncles, my aunt, my grandfather, the twins, the servants, and now Oscar...
A whole truckload of people had questioned my growth rate since the moment I arrived in the capital.
To be honest, back when I thought I was just an extra, I’d simply assumed my development was slower than others and left it at that.
However.
‘As it turns out, there was a reason I was growing so slowly.’
It goes without saying for the protagonist’s child, but I am not ordinary.
Ordinary? I’m anything but.
My true identity was probably the most shocking secret of all.
The daughter of the protagonist, Enoch Rubinstein.
A tragic supporting character who was kidnapped by the imperial family and later revealed to have died.
To be precise, ‘the one everyone thought was dead.’
Whose survival was only revealed in the final chapter of the novel...
A massive plot twist, you could say.
“My genius princess, isn’t it time for bed?”
“Stop calling me a genius, Dad…”
“Ahahaha! Why?”
Dad got into bed and hugged me tightly.
“My daughter was the best today. Did you see Grandpa? He was grinning from ear to ear. He’s always telling me to act with more dignity, but today he was more excited than anyone.”
Dad chuckled, chattering away for a while before letting out a long yawn.
“If you’re sleepy, go to sleep.”
“What’s this? Is the princess not sleepy?”
“The princess has some things to think about.”
“You don’t seem sleepy. Should I read you a book?”
Dad pulled a storybook from the bookshelf behind the headboard.
“Alright, let’s see. Today’s story is… The Princess in the Tower!”
“Wow, that sounds fun.”
I said with dry enthusiasm.
After remembering my past life, story time at night had become boring, but…
“What, our Lilis is trapped in a tower? Let’s see what happened.”
Dad loved reading to me so much that I just endured it patiently.
“Once upon a time, there was a good king and a princess. The king cherished and loved his daughter, the princess, very much.”
“Hehe. That’s you and me, Dad.”
“It is.”
Dad hugged me tighter in his arms and turned another page of the book.
“Then one day, in the year the princess turned seven, the evil king of a neighboring country kidnapped her.”
“……”
“The good king, who had lost his princess, spent his days in tears. The good king offered treasures to the evil king and became his subordinate… but still, the evil king did not return the princess.”
“……”
“Wow, how could he separate a father and daughter like that? He’s really evil, right?”
“Uh-huh, he is.”
But this story feels a bit familiar…?
“The good king, lost in sorrow, met a boy one day. The boy was very strong. So the good king adopted the boy as his son, so that he could be a good older brother to the princess when they met again.”
“…? Wait a minute.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s interesting. Keep reading.”
“Right? This is exciting, isn’t it? Then one day, the evil king informed him that the princess had fallen ill and died. …Huh? The princess suddenly died? What’s with this story?”
Dad frowned and flipped the book over and over.
I quickly hit Dad’s forearm.
“K-keep reading, Dad. The evil king could be lying. She’s probably not really dead.”
“You’re probably right. The title is about the princess, after all. There’s no way she’s actually dead.”
Dad turned the page.
“The enraged good king decided to take revenge on the evil king with the prince.”
“……”
“The good king and the prince defeated all the evil people in the evil country and finally captured the evil king, pointing a sword at him.”
I couldn’t concentrate, even as Dad got into it, mimicking the use of a sword.
The good king is Enoch Rubinstein.
The adopted son, the prince, is Chessier.
The evil king is the Emperor.
And the princess is me.
‘…Who’s the author of this children’s book? Are they an author or a shaman?’
It was shockingly similar to the original work, *The Dos Rebellion*.
Enoch Rubinstein becoming the Emperor’s puppet to get his kidnapped daughter back.
The Emperor, who learns the daughter’s ‘identity’, fakes her death, and exploits her power while keeping her imprisoned for life.
Enoch Rubinstein, believing his daughter is dead, goes to seek revenge, but…
“The good king said, ‘I will avenge my daughter!’ Then the evil king replied, ‘Do you think it will be that easy!’”
“Why, I have a feeling the princess will show up next.”
“Just then, the princess, who was thought to be dead, came down from the tower. The good king was shocked. …Uh-oh, you’re 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 trapped in the tower. She couldn’t even recognize her own father and started killing good people indiscriminately… Huh? Wait. Why is this story going off the rails? What kind of power does the princess have?”
“Dad, Dad, Dad! Don’t stop, keep reading! The princess must have been hiding her power!”
“Uh, okay. The evil king shouted at the shocked good king, ‘Actually, the princess is a very powerful witch, so I kept her hidden! Now she’s a puppet who only listens to me!’ …Lilis? Have you read this before?”
“I-it’s just… a predictable story.”
“This is predictable?”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“Um, right… Let’s keep reading. The good king wanted to get the princess back, but there was no way.”
“I think the adopted son, the prince, is going to try to kill the princess now.”
“The prince said to the weeping good king, ‘Father, if we don’t kill the princess now, more people will die.’ And the prince drew his sword and… the princess’s neck…”
Dad stopped reading, flipped through the rest of the pages by himself, then snapped the book shut and muttered.
“This is a children’s book?”
“Why? What happens?”
“It’s not a very good ending. I don’t think we need to read any more.”
“The princess dies in the end, right?”
“Yeah… The prince kills her…”
Frowning, Dad shoved the book back onto the bookshelf.
“From now on, I’ll read them first before reading them to you. That was too harmful. I’m sorry, princess.”
“It’s still a happy ending, though…”
“What? How is that a happy ending?”
“If the princess hadn’t been kidnapped, the good king wouldn’t have tried to get revenge on the evil king, right? In the end, the good king wiped out the evil kingdom, so everyone must have become happy.”
“You really think so? But the princess died.”
“It couldn’t be helped. She was being controlled by the evil king, but she still killed a lot of people.”
“Ha, but the princess died, so it’s not a happy ending.”
“It is a happy ending.”
“I’m telling you, it’s not. Listen.”
Dad, annoyed, sat up from where he had been leaning.
“The protagonist was the good king, right?”
“Right.”
“And the protagonist’s cherished daughter died?”
“Right.”
“Then even if everyone else became happy, the protagonist wouldn’t be, right?”
“…I guess so?”
“If the protagonist isn’t happy, it’s not a happy ending, Lilis.”
“……”
“How can a father who lost his beloved daughter be happy? So this is not a happy ending.”
Seeing Dad’s firm expression, I suddenly recalled the ending of the original novel.
The original story was definitely a happy ending.
After Chessier killed Enoch Rubinstein’s daughter.
It concluded with the narration that a peaceful new empire had finally been born.
‘Then what happened to Dad after the original story ended?’
In the peaceful country built upon his daughter’s grave, was the protagonist happy?
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
“What if… what if you were the good king and I was the princess… how would you live after I died?”
“What do you mean, how would I live?”
Dad flopped back down and pulled me into a hug.
“I wouldn’t be able to live.”
“Huh?”
“The good king probably felt the same way. The only reason he didn’t follow the princess in death right away was because he had to get revenge. He was barely holding on.”
“……”
“He might have been planning to follow her in death after his revenge was over anyway.”
“W-what’s that? What would happen if you died too, Dad!”
“You’ll understand when you have a child of your own one day.”
Unaware of his daughter’s sinking heart, Dad affectionately kissed my forehead.
“I’d miss my princess too much, so I’d follow you right away. Dad can’t live without his princess.”
