TOWL 01

Chapter 1

Blue hydrangeas were in full bloom across the garden.
Golden sunlight poured down over them.
A long table was filled with sweet desserts.

Surrounded by such beautiful, sugary things, it might have seemed like a pleasant gathering at first glance.
Of course, it was anything but.

“When exactly do you plan to learn table manners?”

“The Empress truly has a generous heart. She always takes care of even a child like this.”

In order to flatter the Empress, the imperial consorts belittled me.
And as if in agreement, I shrank my shoulders and lowered my head.
That was the reaction Laila had always shown.

“It must be so suffocating, staying only in the detached palace. Consorts, please take good care of Laila as well.”

The Empress’s elegant voice pierced my ears.
The consorts reacted excessively—some clasped their hands and covered their mouths as if in admiration, others nodded vigorously.

They’re really having fun.

I pretended not to hear them and fiddled with the glass of milk.

They probably poisoned this again.

Whenever I drank milk given by the Empress, I always suffered severe stomach cramps. Today would probably be no different.

“Laila, is it not to your taste?”

As if sensing my hesitation, the Empress spoke again.
She looked at me with a faintly disappointed expression, and everyone’s attention turned toward me.

Damn it.

Swallowing my curse, I quickly shook my head.

“Ah—no, Your Majesty the Empress.”

I had no choice but to gulp down the milk.
The fishy taste made my stomach churn, and my face naturally frowned.

The Empress looked slightly satisfied, then resumed her conversation with the consorts.

Do they even realize this is child abuse? It would be nice if they had kinder hearts to match those pretty faces.

Thwack.

While I was thinking that, a piece of cake flew straight into my face.
It was the doing of the 3rd Prince, who was 15 years old this year.

The violent force of a minor almost made me swear out loud.

“Sorry, where did that go?”

The Empress’s gasp and the nobles’ laughter rang out, irritating my already thin patience.

Should I just quit all of this?

Barely suppressing my anger, I carefully picked up a napkin from the table.

I dabbed at my eyes and wiped away the cream, then looked at the Empress and spoke.

“Um… Your Majesty the Empress, if it’s alright, may I be excused first?”

“Very well. Go on then.”

Fortunately, the Empress allowed me to leave.

If I were truly the 14-year-old girl “Laila de Beliana,” I would have been hurt.

But as I walked out of the garden, I thought:

Today, I should try breaking into Vault No. 15.

* * *

That day was my half-brother’s residency graduation ceremony.

The family had all gone out to dinner, and as usual, I intended to eat alone at home.
This year I had also passed medical school transfer exams, so I had hoped I might finally be included—but that, as expected, was just my illusion.

Still, something was different that day. There was a prepared dinner and nutritional supplements left for me on the table. That alone made me feel acknowledged.

I happily ate dinner and even took a pill, but as soon as I stood up, an intense stomach pain hit me. I collapsed and lost consciousness.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in bed, drenched in cold sweat.
Beside me stood a blonde girl with emerald eyes.

“Laila?”

The girl looked down at me and cried.

Laila?

That was when I realized. That familiar-looking girl was Helene.

I had become her half-sister, Laila.

* * *

I stepped out onto the terrace and looked up at the night sky.

So in six years, three dragons will be flying across that sky?

A world where dragons fly.

Absurd—but I was now living in such a world.

This was the world of a novel I had read before.

A romance fantasy novel where three dragons pursue Empress Helene of the Beliana Empire.

Even though I read it a long time ago, I still clearly remember it because it caused one of the biggest reader dropouts and refund riots in history.

Despite its simple title, “Dragon and the Empress,” it had quite a complex political storyline.

Looking down slightly, I could see the main palace.

A grand structure made up of dozens of castles. It truly reflected the thousand-year history of the Beliana Empire.

But I was not in the main palace—I was living alone in a detached palace.

I didn’t know exactly why Laila was isolated, but perhaps it was because she was the daughter of a commoner.
Or maybe because she had no magic.

Ah, in this world, not only do dragons fly in the sky, but people also use magic.

Dragons and magic… seriously, what a headache.

The imperial family of Beliana is said to be descended from elves, so all of them possess magical power.

However, there are differences: some like the 3rd Prince—who threw cake at my face—can barely light a candle, while others like the protagonist Helene can summon rain across an entire continent.

Laila was an odd existence in the palace. She had no magic and didn’t even possess the imperial traits of radiant blonde hair and green eyes.

And yet, this girl was an essential character in the story.

Laila was the trigger that led Helene to decide on a life of celibacy.

Helene’s father was like a Pokémon trainer spamming “Seed Bomb.”
A man of overwhelming fertility.

He had 22 sons and 18 daughters—40 children in total.

He also had 13 consorts.

Naturally, palace intrigue was intense.

So intense, in fact, that the novel began with the scene of Laila’s funeral, where consorts openly insulted both Laila and her mother.

It went something like this:

Everyone looked oddly relieved.

After the 7th Consort died, they had been worried Laila might seek revenge, so her death felt like finally relieving years of constipation.

“Her mother died trying to poison someone, and the daughter died from poisoning too.”

“This is why status matters. Someone like that shouldn’t have been brought into the palace.”

“Now that we mention it, doesn’t it feel strange? Laila didn’t resemble His Majesty at all. Not the purple eyes, not the white hair… and no magic either.”

“Exactly. That must be why the Emperor never paid attention to her.”

The consorts couldn’t hide their expressions, openly smiling.
Only the Empress looked sorrowful as she placed a chrysanthemum on the small girl’s body.

But—

“Why is she still alive?”

That was the strange part. Laila hadn’t died.

And proof of that was me, calmly thinking all of this while sitting by the window.

When I first woke up, Helene was looking down at me. Maybe she saved Laila?

I observed her for six months, but reached no conclusion.

The only thing I learned was that Helene and Laila were complete opposites.

If Helene was an extrovert, Laila was an introvert.
If Helene was the idol of the world, Laila was a shut-in.

Even servants treated Helene like a divine being, while they treated Laila as if she didn’t exist.

There was no reason for their paths to cross—so why was Helene in Laila’s room that day?

Ding—

“Ack! That startled me!”

The bell rang, making my hand slip from my chin. It was already 10 o’clock?

Every hour, the palace shrine bell rang three times.

Ding—

At the second ring, the maid waiting in the hallway began moving.

After confirming the footsteps had faded completely, I closed my eyes and focused.

There was something else strange besides Laila being alive.

In the original story, Laila had no magic—but in this body, she clearly did.

Just like Helene, I could move anywhere I wanted, create things, and heal others.

Given how people were shocked every time Helene used magic, Laila’s power was likely on the same level.

She could probably toy with the 3rd Prince with a finger—but why did she hide it?

I didn’t know the answer yet, so I continued living quietly like the original Laila.

Except for one case.

When I went to see my favorite character in this novel—the white dragon “Pian.”

* * *

Blink. Blink.

No matter how many times I blinked, I couldn’t see anything.

Only irregular breathing echoed in the pitch-black darkness.

Whoosh—

I lit all the candles with magic, and the room instantly brightened.

A boy curled up on the damp floor of a basement torture chamber came into view.

It was Pian.

I approached slowly and placed my hand carefully so as not to startle him.

Blood seeped through his torn clothes, staining my hand red.

As I imagined him being healed, the bleeding stopped and his wounds disappeared.

I exhaled in relief, then noticed the cold air creeping up from the floor.

“Pian, let’s get you a blanket.”

I split the air and created a pillow and a thick blanket.

I gently lifted his head onto the pillow, but he still didn’t speak.

Well, Pian was always like that—mostly nodding or shaking his head even in the original story.

At first I was a little disappointed, but now I was used to it.

No—it was actually comforting.

Time spent with Pian, making sure he didn’t tremble in the darkness, was the most peaceful time I had in this world.

Pian was one of the few familiar presences in this unfamiliar world.

Looking at him made me remember this was still inside a novel. And that realization made my fear of this world fade.

Knowing everything about the future was strangely reassuring.

In the original story, Pian had trauma from darkness. Living six years in such a hellish place would make anyone like that.

Six years later, he would be buried in rubble from an accident, and Helene would arrive like a ray of light to save him.

A savior, his first love—like the sun itself.

Pian would fall hopelessly in love with her.

Unlike the other dragons who fought for Helene, Pian only wanted her happiness. He was satisfied just by watching her.

A handsome, loyal puppy-like dragon.

He was so overwhelmingly popular it didn’t even feel like a reverse harem setting.

But then the Black Dragon and Blue Dragon appeared and started a war.

Pian fought until the very end to protect Helene—but died from their unfair joint attack.

When the supposedly main male lead died halfway through the story, readers were shocked, and a massive refund wave followed.

Silver hair, blue eyes, noble heir, tragic past, the empire’s greatest beauty—

He was textbook main lead material. And yet suddenly he was a side character?

If I had known he would die, I wouldn’t have started reading it at all. My money…

Later reviews said the story continued with the Black and Blue Dragons obsessing over Helene, but I didn’t care.

The boy whose future he did not yet know breathed quietly as his chest rose and fell.

A childhood spent in the basement, a future spent in war and death—what a miserable life.

I gently stroked Pian’s back.

“Just wait a little longer. I’ll get you out of here soon.”

I would make sure this boy wouldn’t become a sacrifice to that twisted storyline.