🔊 TTS Settings
CHAPTER 03
Recanon didn’t look like he believed a single word I said.
Even though I tried to imply that he shouldn’t attack me without proof, I had no way to prove my innocence either.
Still, come on—this isn’t a video game anymore. Isn’t it a bit unfair for me to be on the losing end like this? It’s my dream, so I’m the protagonist here! Might as well try to turn this around.
Somehow, everything would go the way I wanted. For now, I just needed to do something.
It was basic, but I figured the best strategy was to appeal emotionally.
From what I remembered, Recanon was the type of character who would do anything to comfort Roelin if she looked the slightest bit pitiful. So maybe this would work on him.
I lowered my gaze and tried to well up some tears. The teary look was key. Staring at the ornate carpet, I focused on mustering just the right amount of mist in my eyes.
“Listen… I know it’s hard to believe, but I really didn’t know anything.”
Recanon’s gaze softened slightly. But I couldn’t tell whether the tactic was working or not.
“Waaah!”
Roelin’s cries, which we’d both forgotten for a moment, suddenly grew louder again. Recanon turned his head, his eyes a little less hostile now.
“Then how do you know about this room—a room that not even nobles know exists?”
I just wanted to see cute little Roelin…
“Hwaaah! (Stop fighting and look at me, you jerks!)”
Roelin wailed, demanding our attention.
Wait—how is a baby talking?
I clearly heard her voice layered into her cry. Is that just how dreams work?
With an uneasy feeling, I turned to look where Roelin was. She was crying like a typical baby.
Although now that I think about it, when I was playing this game just a few days ago, I did complain about how I could understand everything Roelin wanted just by her crying.
“Shouldn’t we calm down and tend to the crying princess first?”
I walked past the agitated Recanon toward the cradle. As I picked up baby Roelin, Recanon shoved me hard enough that I nearly lost balance.
“Oof—are you insane?! I’m holding a baby right now!”
Thank god I didn’t drop her. Even in a dream, I had no desire to experience the guilt of dropping a baby.
“Forget that! Just answer my question!”
“Wow. You really have zero sense of decency, don’t you?”
“Don’t change the subject! How did you know there were no nannies or guards in this room?”
Crack.
Recanon, kicking around like a lunatic, ended up breaking one of the legs on Roelin’s precious cradle.
Even Dr. Oh, master of child psychology, wouldn’t be able to fix this mess.
“Waaah! Waaah! (Someone get me my bottle, already! I’m starving to death here!)”
Startled by Roelin’s frantic sobbing, I hesitated. Recanon was shaking too hard to approach.
“You! What did you do to my sister while I wasn’t looking?!”
“I should be asking you that. You’re the one who broke the perfectly good cradle.”
The fact that his temper almost hurt Roelin made my stomach churn.
Dream or not, I couldn’t bear to see baby Roelin in danger.
“Aha, I see now. You were going to use Roelin to blackmail me, weren’t you?”
He was so hopelessly off-base I couldn’t even argue back.
“Waaah! (This airheaded girl—how could she possibly hurt me? Just get me my bottle already!)”
Hearing Roelin’s true thoughts hit me like a blow. Airheaded smile? Ouch.
“Okay, let’s call a truce for now. The baby’s clearly starving.”
My voice, slightly deflated, made Recanon frown.
“And what would you know? Roelin’s the kind of baby who cries even when she has her bottle.”
“Waaah! (That’s not true!)”
She says otherwise, though?
“Well, you never know.”
“What do you mean ‘you never know’? Besides, how can I trust anything you give her?”
“Then why don’t you find it and feed her?”
My snippy tone got under his skin again, and Roelin suddenly wailed louder.
“Hwaaah! (The bottle is under the cradle! How do you expect to find it? Get the nanny, you morons!)”
Recanon, who had just opened his mouth to argue again, seemed to realize her crying was different this time. He suddenly began frantically searching for the bottle.
“Once I give her the bottle, I’m going to get to the bottom of your crimes!”
“Well, I have plenty to say too, once she’s fed…”
While rummaging through the drawers, Recanon turned and looked at me.
“What?”
“I know this’ll sound strange, but… ahem.”
His glare was full of suspicion. Even though it was my dream, gaining his trust felt completely impossible.
If I told him I could suddenly understand Roelin’s thoughts, he’d probably think I was insane. What should I do?
“What kind of trick are you trying to pull now? Why are you trying to distract me from finding the bottle?”
“I was just thinking… maybe it’s under the cradle? It might not be, but that’s usually where bottles are kept…”
I wasn’t even sure if that was true, but I wanted to help him find it faster.
Recanon blinked at me with wide eyes, then, surprisingly, nodded.
“Waaah! Aaah! (Yes! Finally, someone who understands me!)”
“If it’s not there, you’re dead meat…”
As he bent down to look under the cradle, I worried for a second—what if the bottle wasn’t there? But soon enough, Recanon held up a warm baby bottle and gave it a shake.
“Well, what do you know. It’s actually here. I guess… thanks.”
Huh. He can say “thanks” but not “sorry”?
“There’s actually a bunch of bottles down here.”
I let out a sigh of relief. Just when I thought the crisis was over, a new one began.
When Recanon tried to feed Roelin, she started crying again.
“Hwaaah! (This bottle is so uncomfortable to drink from!)”
“She looks kind of uncomfortable.”
“Then come help me, will you?”
I snorted seeing Recanon blush.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t trust me?”
“Ahem. Help now, and I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t get executed.”
He doesn’t even realize he’s in my dream, and now he’s offering to save me from execution?
Recanon must’ve noticed my stiff expression and added quickly,
“Don’t you know His Majesty forbade anyone but royals from entering this room?”
“Did he…?”
Recanon’s anxious eyes revealed how genuinely worried he was about Roelin.
His bright red face and frantic blue eyes made it obvious—he was desperate.
“He said anyone who breaks that rule is to be executed. If you’re discovered, you’ll be sentenced to death.”
I decided to take advantage of his panic a little.
I had wanted to hold Roelin from the start, but that didn’t mean I was going to forgive Recanon for how rude he’d been so far.
“Well then, I guess I should leave before anyone finds out.”
As I turned to go, Recanon looked at me in horror.
“I—I can stop the execution!”
I tilted my head at his self-important declaration.
“So?”
I stared at him, expressionless. He mumbled with a defeated look.
“Help me.”
“That’s not how you ask for help.”
“…Please. My lady.”
That was all he could manage? Kind of disappointing. But Roelin had been crying about her hunger for a while now—I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
My sweet Roelin’s sobs tugged at my heart.
“Ahem.”
I scooted next to Recanon and gently took Roelin in my arms. She smelled like a baby—soft and warm.
‘Ugh, she’s too cute. Even dreams have that baby smell?’
Her teary blue eyes were more beautiful than any ocean I’d ever seen.
‘Who needs a beach vacation when you’re Roelin? Just look in the mirror.’
I gently offered her the bottle, and just like that, she stopped crying. After a moment of content drinking, she pulled away and looked up at me.
“Aah! Waaa! (This is so good! I thought it would taste bad, but it’s amazing!)”
Hearing that voice felt like I was eavesdropping. I quickly avoided her curious gaze, and she went back to drinking.
Gulp, gulp.
Watching Roelin drink so eagerly made me feel weirdly emotional. I’d only joked before, but it turned out I really could understand her just from her cries.
‘Looks like she can barely support her neck.’
She was still a very small baby, barely able to lift her own head.
In the game, all you had to do was press buttons based on the guide. But here? No such thing.
“Glad she likes the milk.”
As I mumbled to myself, Roelin pulled the bottle out of her mouth with a tiny pop and blinked at me.
“Bya? (Were you talking to me?)”
Satisfaction is best savored from a distance.
Even in a dream, responding too eagerly ruins the flavor. So I quickly pretended I hadn’t heard her.
“Alright, alright. Drink up, sweetheart.”
I pushed the bottle back into her mouth, and Roelin coughed a little.
“You! What are you trying to pull?!”
Whoa! Scared me!
Recanon suddenly jumped up and shouted, making my heart pound.
