n

n

nEventually, the carriage entered the Imperial Palace gate.

nFrom the window of the carriage, which was starting to get noisy, I stopped thinking and gently pulled the curtains from the window.

nThen I saw a street that looked lively but somehow untidy.

n“Is it because the fact that the Empress died had been known?”

nI looked outside with a troubled mind and then put the curtain hem in my hand.

n

n

nThe more I look at it, the more disturbing it gets.

nThe sound of my father’s voice that I just heard was enough to turn my attention away from such thoughts.

n“First we’ll go to the mansion in the capital. The funeral will be held tomorrow, so take a good rest today.”

n“Yes…”

nErita nodded in response to that.

nShould I say that it’s fortunate that we’ll not go straight to the Imperial Palace right away?

nThe Queen’s funeral was scheduled to take place tomorrow at the Imperial Palace.

n‘I was told that the superintendent would do it himself.’

nBecause she was the Queen and the mother of the prince, she was equipped with a fox.

nOut of all the people I’ve met so far, the only two people I met so far from the original story are my father and my brother.

nThat’s true, because most of the original events were conducted in the capital.

nAlthough it was nine years before the story began, I felt strange at the thought of entering the place where the novel was set.

nThen I thought of the second prince, Callion. It was a natural order to think of him as he was the Queen’s son.

n‘I’ll be able to see Callion tomorrow.’

nThe male protagonist, now 11 years old, is Callion Ruin Elber.

nIt could have been exciting enough at other times, but I couldn’t be happy now as the situation was.

n‘…Phew. I’m so confused. Things became complicated.’

nUnlike my dizzying thoughts, the carriage, which ran steadily, quickly arrived at its destination.

nAccording to Fern, they were rooted in the provinces rather than the capital-based nobles.

nNobles who have residences also have a separate mansion to use when entering the capital.

nUnless their position was very low or there was no connection with the capital, entering the capital’s the goal of the local nobles.

nMy father also said he had a suitable mansion in the capital.

n“Master, we have arrived.”

nJust then, Terban’s voice announcing the arrival was heard.

nMy dad was the first one to get out of the carriage, and he grabbed my hand, as I got out of the carriage.

nAnd when I saw the surroundings, my eyes widened.

nHe only said he owns a suitable mansion.

nBy the time of being the Grand Prince, does he originally have several of these great mansions?

nWith such questions in my head standing in front of the mansion, I quickly became exhausted.

n“Erita, let’s go inside.”

nI grabbed my brother’s hand and followed our father’s steps.

nThe interior of the house was neatly decorated.

nHe said we weren’t going to stay long, but would stay for more than a week anyway.

n“See you later!”

n“Okay. See you in the evening.”

n“See you…”

nMy father and brother waved at me even though they couldn’t hide their disappointment because they were busy.

nThere was quite a bit of time left until the evening, so I decided to go to the room where I was going to stay.

nAnd I also need to organize my thoughts.

n“Mary, can you guide me to my room?”

n“Of course!”

nArriving in the room following Mary’s guidance instead of the busy Terban, I told her that I wanted to be alone for a while and then closed the door.

nWhen I looked around the unfamiliar room, there was nothing much different from the Grand Duke’s room.

nPen and paper were also prepared on the desk, perhaps for immediate use. Now, let’s organize our thoughts.

nI sat down at my desk, grabbed a pen, and first started writing down the characters.

nIt’ll be difficult if I get caught, so I wrote in Korean. After that, big events were listed in chronological order.

nIn fact, the original 【Lovely Ayla】 wasn’t a very painful story.

nJust as the goal was to draw a beloved heroine, it was a healing story centered on Ayla.

nAyla, the female lead, was a baron girl from a certain province.

nA cute and innocent young girl who grew up with love and affection from her loving parents.

nPerhaps that’s why the original work did not describe in detail the power struggle corresponding to the conflict part.

n“Honestly, the confrontation with the first prince was like putting the two together to make them fall in love.”

nAslan, who appears in the middle and late part of the story, has run into a fight with the male lead.

nAnd Aaron who committed suicide not long after.

nA villain drawn for consumption for the main characters in a world where everything exists for Ayla.

nThat was the role of my family.

nWhen I think about it now, it was a very sloppy and simple novel.

n“Did I come to like a novel that wasn’t even my taste?”

nThe reason was that I stopped by the bookstore to buy a workbook by collecting part-time expenses.

nBefore going to the workbook corner, I was fascinated by the cover I accidentally found at the place where I collected discount books and bought them.

nBuying a reference book was an impulsive act, unlike me, who bought it only after thinking a few times.

nBut I didn’t think it was strange at all at that time. I just felt like I had to buy it.

nPutting the pen on the paper and resting my head on my arm.

nThe only corner I believed in was the original. When I saw that there was only one insurance, I felt like it was a rotten rope.

n‘What a world…‘

n“It’s probably the Empress who killed the Queen, right?”

nIn this situation, the Empress was the only one who would kill the queen, the mother of the second prince.

nThe feud between the Empress and the Queen was famous.

nBecause the original concubine’s existence was not tolerated. It was a decision made by the Emperor arbitrarily.

nSo they couldn’t get along.

nThe Empress did not have a good relationship with the Emperor either.

n“… This is not what’s important right now.”

nAfter writing the Empress and the First Prince on paper, I pondered over and over again.

n‘How on earth did the first prince bring his father to his side?’

nAs for me, I couldn’t figure out how.

nHow can I know the ‘behind-the-scenes’ story, knowing only what appeared in the original story?

nI’ve been looking into the two over the past year, but there was a limit to being able to do it with my young body.

nMy plans were something that could only be realized after I grew up a little.

nRight now, there’s no other way than to grow up quietly. Time doesn’t go as fast as I want it to.

nMy worries continued even in the bed where I lay down to sleep after eating.

nI continued to mutter helplessly.

n“First of all, I should try to lay the groundwork…”

nEven if there wasn’t much I could do right now, I really couldn’t help but overthink.

nSo what I chose was to appeal hard through words.

nIn the meantime, I spoke to both of them like a habit.

n‘Father, my dream’s to live with you for a long, long time!’

n‘Brother, you must never get hurt!’

nStarting with…

n‘A birthday present? Well, I hope you and Daddy don’t get hurt and live happily ever after!’

n

nWhen they asked me what I would like to receive for my birthday, I answered that way.

nAt that time, the expressions of the two were very strange, but I thought I would be relieved if I had said something.

nIt’s not a big deal, but at least once in a while, I wonder if they’ll stop thinking about what I said.

nThat’s what I was aiming for.

nAnd the other one is unexpected.

n‘Magic.’

nOddly enough, I was quite gifted with magic.

nFern was so surprised, wouldn’t she at least become a high-level wizard?

nWhen I first met my father, he said something about magic, but I had no idea that it meant that I had a talent in magic.

nOf course, magic was going to be a great help to my plan. Especially in terms of power and money.

nIt would be nice if I could be strong enough to save my father and brother.

nI swung my hand outstretched over the blanket to create a small swarm of lights.

nNow that I have learned to deal with magic to some extent, there won’t be any problems, but half a year ago, I got injured in an accident.

nAt first, I tried to make a small flame, but I burned a corner of the dance hall.

nNext, I thought of a small drop of water, and then summoned a tsunami and caused a stir of water.

n“…I feel sorry, thinking about it again.”

nAccording to my father and Fern, there are so many natural mana.

nOf course, there was no way I hated the saying that I was talented.

nThe problem was that it took almost a month to control the amount of mana released due to too many potential mana.

nIt wasn’t enough to use both hands to list the accidents that had occurred in the meantime.

nThe things I broke would fill a warehouse.

nIt was when I was moving around in groups of light.

nKnock, knock~

n“Erita. Are you sleeping?”

nWith a neat knock, I heard my brother’s small whispering voice.

n“Oh, I’m not sleeping yet!”

n“Can I come in for a moment?”

n“Yes!”

nMy brother, who opened the door slightly, was wearing a light shirt.

n“I couldn’t sleep, so I was just lying down.”

nAs I was about to sit on the head of the bed, with my brother’s reluctance, I covered myself with a soft blanket and lay down again.

n“Lay down. I just stopped by to see your face for a while.”

n“Ugh. Are you finished with your busy work?”

nThe two were busy as soon as they arrived at the mansion, but they were also busy even after dinner.

n“Yeah. You were bored alone, weren’t you? I was going to finish it quickly, but it took longer than I thought.”

nDuring that time, I was busy rolling my head, and I told him it’s okay and smiled awkwardly.

n“But, brother…”

n“Hmm?”

nAaron’s gaze fell affectionately at my call.

n“…Umm, was there anything I should be careful about when I go to the Imperial Palace tomorrow?”

nI’ve already learned the etiquette, but just in case.

n“Hmm... What’s the part that you’re worried about?”

n“Something like other nobles talking to me…?”

n“Haha! You don’t have to worry about that.”

n“Huh? Why?”

n“Tomorrow’s a funeral. It’s not a banquet, so everyone’s going to leave soon. It’s against etiquette to socialize at a funeral unless you’ve known each other.”

nHaving said that, my brother smiled and raised the blanket again, which went down a little.

n“Then I’m glad… Hehe!!”

nWhile nodding on a soft pillow, a yawn that I couldn’t stand leaked out.

nListening to his gentle voice makes me feel like I want to go back to sleep.

n“It’s time to sleep.”

n“Whenever I hear your voice, I feel sleepy.”

nI laughed and murmured in the rush of sleep.

nThe still young body was particularly weak in the desire to sleep.

nI think Aaron was talking nonsense, but it was muffled in my ears, who had already surrendered to slumber.

n“Sweet dream, my pretty sis…”

nAt some point, the soft smiley face, which was seen between the half closed eyelids that were gradually blinking slowly, disappeared.

nThe complicated worries that made my head throb are now gone.

n‘If it were in Korea, he could be a voice actor…’

nWith a faint mind thinking about that, I surrendered completely.

n✿

nFinally, it was time to go to the Imperial Palace.

n“Lady, I’m ready.”

n“Thank you for today, Mary.”

nMary smiled shyly at my greeting.

nMary, who was quieter than expected, was weak at compliments. In particular, she was exceptionally embarrassed by the compliments I gave.

nMy figure in a dark dress was reflected in the mirror.

nWith minimal decoration, neat hair, half raised and half hanging down, was Mary’s work.

n“I’ll be back, Mary.”

n“Bye!”

n

n

n“See you later!”

nActually, just because I’m going doesn’t mean I’d do anything.

nThe original story hasn’t even started, and what’s happening in the Imperial Palace right now was just a funeral.

nBut at least I’ll be able to see the face of the person behind all of this.

nWith my fists closed and clenched, I boarded the carriage heading to the Imperial Palace.

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