🔊 TTS Settings
chapter 2
“Ah… Dad?”
“Oh, our princess slept well… wait a moment.”
The handsome young man, who had turned sharply at Lirian’s voice, grinned widely at first, then his expression suddenly turned cold.
“Who stamped the royal seal on our daughter’s forehead?”
“Uh… I dropped it while sleeping.”
“Oh dear. Did it hurt? That must have stung. That’s why I said we should sleep together. Come here, let me take care of it.”
When Lirian admitted that she had done it herself, the man immediately relaxed and tried to lift her off the floor with both hands.
But instinctively, she dodged, and his hands froze in midair.
A silence hung between them.
Soon, his face fell as if the world had collapsed.
“Li… Liria?”
Liria.
A childhood nickname of hers.
Of course, Caesar Ersioni, Lirian’s father, often called her “daughter,” “treasure,” “princess,” and countless other endearments, so it was just one among many.
Seeing the man who resembled her father so shocked, Lirian suddenly felt a little guilty.
‘I shouldn’t get carried away by the illusion.’
The Abyssal Sorcerer’s hallucinations could deceive people, luring them into a false sense of security before killing them.
Lirian thought for a moment…
‘Well, I can just knock him out if I need to!’
She decided to go with that plan.
She flopped into Caesar’s arms, who had completely lost composure and forgotten his dignity while sitting on the floor.
“Liria…?”
It felt good to be held by her father again after so long.
‘But why do I feel so small?’
This perspective matched that of a five-year-old child.
“Dad, you’re not upset, right? Huh? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, you didn’t. I’m not upset.”
“Haauu… why is my daughter so cute… mwah! So so cute.”
“Ah! Dad, your beard! It’s prickly!”
Her smoochy father rubbed his unshaven face against her cheek while giving her kisses, causing Lirian to scream.
She struggled, trying to escape from Caesar’s arms, but
‘Why… why can’t I get away?!’
The grip that would normally be easy to slip from felt like the strength of a giant.
Had the Abyssal Dragon’s power grown stronger in the meantime?
Sweat ran down her face.
“Our daughter, why are you sweating so much? Did you have a bad dream?”
A bad dream…?
“Did you see a nasty monster in it?”
The sensations were so vivid that Lirian suddenly became confused.
Could everything she had experienced really have been just a dream?
“Monsters appear in dreams too? Big black ugly monsters.”
“They’re not real. Anything can appear.”
She lifted her hand.
A hand slightly larger than a maple leaf.
Such small hands couldn’t even grip the handle of a sword.
Jam jam.
She clenched and opened her hand repeatedly, unable to believe it.
Caesar, finding her tiny fists unbearably cute, pretended to bite them playfully.
“Did our Liri have a scary dream?”
Anyone who knew Duke Ersioni would be dumbfounded at the sight.
Lirian stared blankly at her father, whose usually sharp features now looked absurdly playful.
It had been eight long years.
She hadn’t seen her father since the winter when she was seventeen, a month before her coming-of-age ceremony, when the Abyss erupted, bringing the world to the brink of destruction.
Dimensional rifts opened everywhere, Abyssal monsters poured out, and ordinary people were consumed by the darkness, becoming monsters called “Abyssal Maw.”
That was the Abyss.
Afterward, the world rapidly fell apart, and Lirian never saw her family again.
‘Was it really a dream?’
All of it—could it really have been just a dream?
“….”
Caesar blinked as he watched Lirian’s tiny fists clench.
Today, his precious daughter seemed strangely different.
‘She must have had a truly terrible nightmare.’
He gently held her shoulders, his expression serious.
“Liri, don’t worry. I’m always here with you…”
“You monster.”
“?”
Caesar was taken aback as his daughter, who had been bowing her head, opened her eyes into triangles.
Not because she looked scary—at five, a well-fed and well-rested child’s angry expression only emphasized her chubby cheeks.
It looked more like…
A feisty little wildcat.
Her signature antenna-like strands of hair only added to the effect.
“You bad monster! Stop pretending to be Dad!”
“What? Liri? Liri! Wait, wait!”
“Hyaaah!”
Ignoring Caesar’s attempts to charm her, Lirian, convinced the figure before her was an Abyssal monster, raised her claws and charged.
Bang! Crash!
The intimate morning between father and daughter became a symphony of broken objects.
“Are you alright, Master?”
“Ah, Sevir. Thank you.”
The butler, Sevir, approached Caesar, who sat exhausted on the sofa, offering him a handkerchief.
Ruffled hair, long scratches on his cheeks, even tiny bite marks on his hands.
Yet somehow, he didn’t look ugly—he looked like a tragic, handsome man.
“Arrrgh.”
When he glanced at the culprit with a mournful look, Lirian, hidden under a blanket, glared fiercely back.
Truly terrifying.
“…Seems Liri has reached puberty.”
He said this in a weak voice, and Sevir smiled.
“There are times when a strong sense of self emerges. Perhaps think of the Third Young Master.”
“Hmm.”
Jeril. Indeed, Jeril had been an even bigger troublemaker than Lirian.
“Still… can she really change this suddenly?”
“If not, she might just be confused.”
“Confused?”
“You said her sleep was restless last night. It’s difficult for her to immediately recognize reality. She is still very young.”
With Sevir’s calm advice, Caesar slowly regained his composure.
“Indeed.”
As a father of three sons and a daughter, Caesar had seen all sorts of bizarre happenings in the world.
Finally deciding to give her some time, Caesar got up with a face full of reluctant affection.
Seeing him look so much like her real father made Lirian’s eyes waver.
“Lirian.”
She perked up at the kindly voice of the elderly butler.
“What would you like for breakfast? Shall I serve crispy scones with strawberry jam?”
“…Not strawberry.”
“Then how about blueberry jam? We just received some this morning.”
“Okay.”
Lirian answered without thinking, then quickly realized her mistake.
‘Got me!’
She had always been weak to this old butler.
Surely the Abyssal Sorcerer noticed and took on Sevir’s face.
No doubt about it.
Determined not to be fooled again…
“Shall I make two fried eggs?”
“No, three!”
She couldn’t resist her favorite fried eggs.
‘This isn’t right.’
Moments later.
Crisp layers of pastry melted in her mouth. Lirian’s gaze went blank.
The rich butter aroma and sweet blueberry jam.
Drip drip.
The elegant butler poured fresh 100% orange juice, its scent tickling her nose.
Her violet eyes, dazed by the explosion of flavors, slowly sparkled with delight.
‘Delicious!’
Overjoyed at finally eating proper food after eight years, Lirian stuffed her cheeks full.
“Don’t eat too fast.”
Sizzle sizzle. The sound of frying food filled the kitchen.
Soon, the butler placed a plate before her with three golden fried eggs and two slices of bacon.
Lirian’s beloved fried egg set.
Seeing her eyes light up, Sevir cut the bacon and eggs into bite-sized pieces.
“Yum!”
She expertly stuffed two different things in her mouth at once and muttered,
“Mmm, so tasty! Sevir, do you want some?”
“I had breakfast, thank you. Shall I pour you more juice?”
“Yes!”
Finally, after her belly was full and round, she finished eating.
A perfect breakfast.
Lirian, now like a plump little piglet, patted her satisfied stomach, then paused.
‘Hmm… can you even taste this in a hallucination?’
Surely taste couldn’t be faked, even if everything else could.
“Princess…”
Lost in thought, she heard a desperate voice from behind the door.
“Still not feeling well?”
Caesar had rushed over as soon as he learned breakfast was done.
A handsome man with a sharp face that seemed light-years away from a child, yet identical to the father who had once been so kind to her.
‘If he’s really Dad…’
She spoke solemnly.
“Dad.”
“Hm?”
“When the Moonlight Witch Rose transforms, what wand does she use?”
Caesar paused, took a deep breath, and answered calmly.
“Of course, the Flora Moon Ruby Wand.”
“What name does Rose use when sneaking into the Cookie Garden?”
“Luna.”
“And what phrase does she shout every time she transforms?”
Caesar smiled confidently.
“In the name of the villain, I will reform you.”
Overjoyed, Lirian ran and flopped into Caesar’s arms.
“Dad!”
“Liri!”
At that age, Lirian was obsessed with a puppet show featuring the character Rose, memorizing every line perfectly.
The Abyss couldn’t possibly know all those lines!
So he truly was her father.
Lirian nodded enthusiastically, stamping him with an imaginary “Passed!” seal.
‘Huh? But if Dad’s really Dad… how is this possible?’
She tilted her head, then thought:
‘I don’t care! I’ll figure it out later.’
True to her practical nature, she postponed headaches for later.
Right now, the father she hadn’t seen for eight years was far more important.
“Feeling better now?”
“Yes!”
“Dad was worried. Thought our princess wouldn’t play with him anymore.”
“Sorry. I thought the monster had transformed into Dad.”
Father and daughter shared a tender reunion once more.
Lirian excitedly explored her father’s mansion after so long.
As a result…
“She’s asleep.”
“After running all over the house, it’s no wonder she’s tired.”
Lirian, hugging a toy sword the size of her body, slept soundly on the sofa in the hall.
Caesar declined Sevir’s offer to carry her, choosing to hold his daughter himself.
“Isn’t this Jeril’s sword?”
“Yes, Young Master Jeril’s toy sword.”
“Didn’t you recently get her a new Rose doll? The Starry Kingdom Special Limited Edition one. Where did that go?”
“Perhaps she’s bored of it.”
“Kids these days are too fast to keep up with. Too fast.”
Caesar carefully laid Lirian on her bed.
He tried to take the toy sword from her, but she held it so tightly he feared waking her, so he let it be.
Sitting beside her, he quietly watched over Lirian for a while.
Just doing that eased some of the day’s worries.
“What kind of dream did you have…”
He couldn’t bring himself to ask. Afraid she might be trapped again in the shadows of her dream.
Gently moving her hair aside, Caesar lowered his head.
He pressed a light kiss to her forehead and whispered,
“Don’t have nightmares anymore, Liri.”
