IPACE 07

Chapter 7

I Got Reincarnated as an Extra in a Parenting Story

I understood that this was the world of The Contracted Spirit King.

But I couldn’t just dismiss it as a novel.

If the Carter couple or Holly died tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to bear the grief. It wasn’t like I was watching it on my phone.

As always, this place felt completely real to me.

Extremely realistically, the young lady was simply someone I served.

We had no special bond beyond having lived on the same planet, in the same country, in a past life.

Unless she ordered it, I didn’t need to step in to help her.

I knew that.

“In most cases, the young lady is the protagonist anyway.”

My mouth moved on its own. It felt cruel to have someone who died young while preparing for a civil service exam in their past life live this life fretting over when they might die.

“The protagonist wouldn’t die.”

It should be comforting enough. She wouldn’t die, so there’s no need to worry. It would be rough… very rough, but survivable.

“Huh?! I’m the protag?”

Her reaction, however, was strange.

“N-No way! Th-this world is supposed to have Serphin as the protagonist!”

The young lady groaned, covering her mouth with her small hands.

To believe that after going through a parenting story and villainess reincarnation mashup…

Well, if she realized it, it would be meta-fiction. Not knowing she’s the protagonist somehow suited her.

“I-I’m just a fictional character?”

I hadn’t even thought about that!

“‘The young lady is the protagonist! Protagonists can’t die! (wink)’ somehow got interpreted as ‘Hahaha, you silly fictional character! (Boom boom!)’?”

Her little fists, like fluffy cotton balls, grabbed at my luscious blond hair.

“Uwaaah…!”

Oh no! Did I ruin the young lady’s sense of self?

“I’m not a fictional character!”

I tried to correct it: “The young lady is admirable in every way! A living, breathing being in reality! She is an actual person!”

“Th-the protagonist… lived… such a miserable life! Everything about my pathetic life was pre-written? A manufactured tragic narrative?”

How far is this going?

“D-damn it…!”

The young lady’s fist flew, loudly cursing in her past-life language.

No one taught her swearing here, apparently. I guess it was erased before she could even say it out loud.

“Graaah!”

I saw a certain sign from the roaring young lady.

Could it be!? Is she facing an unbearable “truth” and trying to “change”?

Before the young lady could go, “Hehe, I was a fictional character. Then I’ll destroy this fictional world!” I jumped in.

“It’s not that you’re a fictional character, it’s that your perspective feels like the protagonist’s! Everyone’s the protagonist of their own life…”

“I-I won’t be the protagonist!”

Thankfully, the young lady didn’t summon a black flame dragon or a second personality. She buried her face in her tiny palm.

“Scraping by on state funds… wanting to live like a worn-out cog that can’t be replaced… all the dreams of my pitiful life…”

Hearing her specific wish made me choke up. I, too, just wanted to barely earn my own living. Suddenly, the young lady, who I assumed was born a natural protagonist, felt so relatable.

“Being the youngest daughter of the Northern Black-Haired Duke, or the only grand duke family in the empire, and lazing around could be a fine life.”

Fine? She was born with a red-diamond spoon life.

For ordinary people like us, being the protagonist would only yield “Help! Save me!” But with a red-diamond life, it was worth trying.

“What if you play around and get executed?”

The protagonist wouldn’t die, but caution was necessary.

“You just have to not do bad things.”

More accurately:

“As long as you don’t touch Serphin…”

Just like a villainess reincarnated protagonist would. Stories like <Why are you obsessed when I’m leaving?> or <The Fake Princess Will Disappear>—that’s the kind of romantic fantasy it would become.

No, this is a parenting story. Then it would be <The Baby Princess Wants to Survive!>

“You say it’s okay to play around, yet you’re the villain!”

The young lady’s sniffling blew away my intrusive thoughts.

She seemed gripped by the anxiety that she might die someday, whether she was the protagonist or not.

I wasn’t completely sure either. In a non-reincarnation story, the protagonist wouldn’t die, but…

Delia had become Edel.

The original anime, which hadn’t appeared in the source material, was now caught up in the parenting story.

There were no detailed texts of the future or choices appearing at story branches.

Being reincarnated into a romantic fantasy world where the Black-Haired Northern Duke is your dad felt like the only realistic part.

No, wait. There’s still more!

Deus ex Machina! A god itself!

“Young lady! Have you talked to the god yet?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“…Reincarnation buffs?”

“Well, my mental age didn’t get younger…?”

“…Anything else?”

“Nothing special, I guess…”

Reincarnation god, seriously…

Even if it was me, shouldn’t the protagonist get at least one overpowered ability?

Serphin’s spirit magic or whatever—it could’ve been shared with our young lady!

“What should the youngest daughter of a grand duke do to avoid being treated as a villain?”

I had no more means. Desperately, I asked, and the young lady answered smoothly.

“Does it matter? Just live like a good kid, suck up, and eventually get married.”

Her sharp words, like the northern spring sunlight, left me dizzy.

If anyone heard, it’d be bad! The sword master would have super-sensitive ears!

While scanning around, the young lady muttered gloomily:

“The only escape is marriage.”

She buried her face in her arm before I could stop her.

“I need a break!”

No! If she cried here, it would be the end!

I half-rolled across the table to wrap my arms around her shoulders.

“Y-Young lady! Calm down! It’s okay, it’s okay!”

“I-I’m okay!”

Such a stubborn little thing! How did she hold it in until now?

I held her tightly to muffle the sounds and soothed her desperately.

“Listen! The important thing is that you survive, isn’t it?”

That’s the course you have to take for <The Baby Princess Wants to Survive!>

The protagonist version of my life plan!

“You don’t have to stick around forever. You were born the youngest daughter of a grand duke, but even if your… master is a bit scary! Even if he seems inhuman! Just handle things well, secure your share, and then run away!”

“Run…?”

The young lady trapped in my arms looked up with teary eyes.

“How…?”

Waaah. Her face twisted. No!

“How do I run away from here…?”

“You don’t have to cut all ties!”

I know! You can’t escape the Trisen guys!

I broke the grief and calmly emphasized:

“Some secluded villa, abroad! Places where nobles play and live! There are lots, right? That’s where we go independently!”

She closed her mouth into a line as if trying not to cry.

I looked into her heavy green eyes and comforted her like a real child.

“The first goal is to make the house… figuratively, your servants. Make the Trisen men obey you. Then, at the right time, take an enormous amount of money.”

“Take…?”

“Leave.”

“Leave…?”

“To reclaim your life!”

“My life…?”

“Yes, a life where you can play around without being a villain!”

“Play around…”

“A life where you don’t have to marry if you don’t want to!”

“I hate marriage…”

It felt like hypnosis. Finally, I brainwashed the real young lady.

“You can do it, young lady.”

“I-I can do it…”

“So then, the protagonist of your life is you.”

“Protagonist… huh…”

“No!”

Where did that surge of emotion even come from!?

Her large green eyes were moist again.

Her small nose and plump cheeks wiggled.

Her round, bright red lips were lined with wrinkles.

Watching her candy-like fingers move, I didn’t care anymore.

Of course she would be upset if she might die.

When I patted her back silently, she sniffled.

“Th-thank you, Annie…”

“No need to thank me.”

“Annie, you…”

The young lady, awkwardly moving her lips, asked in somewhat stiff but accurate Korean:

• What’s your Korean name?

The answer came naturally.

• …Go Joo-eun.

After more than 20 years, a language I had literally used my whole life doesn’t fade easily.

Over time, I would forget more words and phrases, but not yet.

• Joo-eun, I’m Park Mi-ri.

Even stammering like reading a Korean textbook, I hadn’t forgotten our language.

• Nice to meet you, Joo-eun.

The young lady smiled with tears in her eyes.

Not an illusion—it was truly dazzling.

Northern spring sunlight…

It was funny how I panicked at her crying, and yet tears welled up. Forgetting how to cry… waaah.

“‘Psycho’? What does that mean?”

Narcis pronounced “psycho” perfectly, despite not being a vessel or reincarnated person.

I, standing quietly as before, bowed my head politely.

It had been several days since I held a “survival and Trisen escape meeting” disguised as tea time with the young lady.

Before the original story began, there was no grand plan, so it became a “sugar boost and venting time.”

Being able to share our true thoughts in a vast castle—or rather, a vast world—made us desperate. I understood the obsessive male lead’s mindset.

The young lady fully agreed that Aeon was “crazy” and Leoni was a “pervert.”

But she was puzzled when Narcis said “psycho.”