BGDBP 23

Chapter 23

Hearing Pianie’s words, the three dolls suddenly felt a lump in their throats.

From the moment they’d become self-aware, they had always asked themselves the same question:

“Am I… truly alive?”

If they desired life so desperately, could they really call themselves living beings?

And their answer had always been, “No.” They remembered their deaths vividly, and they knew exactly how their current forms had been made.

Even so, they longed to hear someone say they were alive. So, they made a vow through countless nights: if a miracle ever allowed them to speak with another being, they would ask that question.

In time, the three dolls met their benefactor—Chris—and, through him, met each other. They were of different races, from entirely different lives before death, but their current fate was the same.

That’s why none of them could bring themselves to ask “Am I alive?”

Because that question would mean, “Are we truly living beings?”

Yet now, a small, shabby-looking doll—someone they’d thought was in the same situation as them—was confidently declaring that they were alive.

“Why does that… actually make me feel better?”

The rabbit doll sniffled, moved by the words.

Startled by the sound, Pianie snapped,

[Hey! You can’t even move your body—why are you sniffing? Gross.]

[I—it’s not gross! I was just sniffing, nothing’s actually running, okay?!]

[Even just hearing that sound is unpleasant. Could you not?]

Pianie’s sharp tone made the rabbit doll gape. The nerve—this from the one who caused all that morning chaos!

[Anyway, what am I supposed to call you three? Bear doll, rabbit doll, cat doll?]

[What a horrible thing to say. We each have proper names, you know.]

The bear doll spoke proudly.

[My name’s Hesil. I was a wizard before I died.]

[Cut out the “before I died” part!]

[Hmm, fine. Then just “Wizard Hesil.”]

At Pianie’s correction, Hesil nodded contentedly.

Then the rabbit doll spoke up.

[I’m Ope. As you can probably tell, I’m a fairy.]

[The fairies in books are supposed to be kind and sweet though…]

Pianie muttered under her breath. But she was close enough that Ope heard her perfectly.

[Hey! I’m not mean, okay?!]

[And lastly…]

Ignoring Ope’s protest, Pianie turned her eyes toward the black cat doll, who had been silent all along.

Suddenly, the black cat lowered its voice and let out a mighty roar:

[Gyaoooooo—!]

The real meaning behind that sound was:

“At last, I can introduce myself! I am the great Black Dragon, a being far beyond mere humans or fairies! But since you’ll only hear ‘Gyaooo,’ I’ll make it grand and majestic for you—Gyaooooo—!”

The Black Dragon thought it sounded properly powerful and majestic… but to everyone else, it was just a cat making a weird noise.

[…This one’s name is Meow.]

Startled, the Black Dragon protested,

[Gyaoo! Gyaoo—!]

[He says he likes it.]

Hesil replied confidently.

[Gyaoo…….]

The Black Dragon—no, Meow—was devastated.

“The mighty Black Dragon has to be called ‘Meow’ by this brat?! Nooo! Moooom!”

Completely unaware of Meow’s inner agony, Pianie grinned, pleased with herself.

[He really likes it! Maybe I should be a professional name-giver when I turn human again!]

The other two dolls laughed awkwardly.

[Uh, y-yeah… sure.]

[Anyway, so you’re saying you’re not the doll the Grand Duke lost?]

At Hesil’s doubtful tone, Pianie frowned.

[You still don’t believe me? Do you know how many times we’ve had this same conversation?! It’s past boring—it’s annoying!]

[It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just… the Grand Duke doesn’t make mistakes. Especially not about that doll.]

[He lost it ages ago. People can misremember things after that long, right?]

[The Grand Duke isn’t an ordinary man. When it came to that lost doll, his obsession was… terrifying.]

Pianie flinched.

[Then I guess the doll just happened to look like me!]

[Maybe. But don’t you think that’s an unbelievable coincidence?]

Chris had searched for that doll for eighteen years—turning the entire empire, no, the entire continent upside down. Yet he’d never found even a similar-looking doll. And now, Pianie had turned into one that looked exactly like it?

[W-wait. What if the dark sorcerer who turned me into this made me look like that doll?!]

[Dark sorcerers can’t turn people into dolls.]

[How can you be so sure?!]

Pianie shouted, and Hesil shrank a little.

[W-well, see… regular mages use mana, but dark sorcerers borrow power from evil gods. It looks like they can do many things, but each one’s power is limited—and always brings destruction in the end.]

But Pianie wasn’t dead. She was clearly alive and well.

[And even if that were possible, only the Grand Duke ever saw that doll. How would a dark sorcerer even know what it looked like—and then decide to make you look exactly the same?]

[So what, you’re saying I am that doll the Grand Duke lost?!]

Pianie snapped again, and Hesil broke into a sweat.

[N-no. I believe you.]

Hesil still couldn’t explain why Pianie had turned into that exact doll, but he trusted her words.

“I did call it an unbelievable coincidence, but hey—‘unbelievable’ doesn’t mean ‘impossible.’”

More than anything, Hesil wanted to focus on why Pianie had become a doll in the first place.

“Maybe this child…”

He began gently, seeing Pianie droop her head in exhaustion.

[Hey, you know… maybe you—]

[Zzzzz…]

A sudden snore cut him off. Hesil and the others froze.

[What the—?! Did she just fall asleep?! She was yelling a second ago!]

[G-gyaoo…]

No matter how much they fussed, Pianie didn’t stir. Using her body again for the first time in ages had utterly worn her out.

[Zzzzz…]

Roroa was a land where every region had its own strong identity.

If the east was like a peaceful fairy tale, the south was a pure paradise.

The weather was warm—hot, even—but not suffocating like the west.

White beaches, emerald-clear seas, soft local music that made you smile without realizing, and fresh, delicious cuisine.

“This must be heaven!”

The southern region, especially Ta-hae, was the most beloved resort in the Roroa Empire—and also hugely popular with foreign tourists.

Among those visitors was a girl named Cheche, a bespectacled young lady from another country—dragged along unwillingly on a family vacation.

“Hey. Are you seriously not leaving the room?”

Her brother called out to her, finding her still holed up in the hotel, reading comics.

“Come on, Cheche. The weather’s beautiful. Staying in that dark room all day isn’t healthy.”

“If you come out, I’ll buy you a new dress!”

Her parents added kindly.

But Cheche, often teased by her brother as a “child of darkness,” loved her room far too much.

“It’s not dark in here! It’s perfectly bright! And I don’t need a dress—why don’t you wear one, Dad?!”

“Ouch…”

Her father looked wounded.

“The outside’s even brighter, you know. Come see the ocean—it’s art. You wouldn’t have such bad eyesight if you’d stop reading manga all the time.”

“It’s not just manga! It’s a fanbook drawn by my god-tier artist! It shines so brightly it’s almost blinding!”

“A… glowing book?”

Her brother scratched his head.

“Do they make books with light bulbs now?”

Unable to handle such pure ignorance from a normie, Cheche nearly exploded.

“Forget it. Go have fun without me.”

“Cheche, it’s a family trip. Let’s eat seafood together, go shopping! If you don’t want a dress, maybe an incredible doll—you like those, right?”

“The dolls I buy aren’t the kind you can find in just any store.”

“Huh? Then where did you even get them…?”

Hearing them whisper outside the door, Cheche clenched her fists.

She just wanted to be left alone—but her family insisted on doing everything together.

“Ugh! Why’d we even have to come to Ta-hae?! We should’ve gone to the Capital! At least there they have ‘The Heaven’s Dew’ café…!”