Chapter 1
“…ba!”
Those chubby, soft cheeks that one couldn’t resist biting.
Those tiny, wriggling hands.
Those small, babbling lips.
Everyone surrounding the cradle gazed upon the small, lovely baby princess.
The baby princess babbled earnestly, receiving the expectant gazes of all.
“ba!
“Yes, Princess. You’re calling for His Majesty just like that! Now, say papa!”
“…bba!”
“Yes, that’s it! Come now, Princess. Try following along, say papa!”
The baby princess looked up at the cold-faced emperor with adoring eyes.
He was known as a tyrant, and though he appeared expressionless on the outside, the baby princess could tell.
He was secretly anticipating the word that would come out of her mouth.
The emperor clicked his tongue impatiently.
“Just when will you start speaking?”
“Your Majesty, please do not be angry and wait just a little longer. Now, Princess. Go on.”
Tsk, pretending to be bothersome.
The baby princess found this side of him quite tiresome.
It couldn’t be helped.
She supposed it was about time to say it.
The baby princess finally uttered the pronunciation she had been diligently practicing for days.
“babo.”(idiot)
“……”
The room was engulfed in silence.
Everyone doubted their own ears.
‘…What? Did she say idiot?’
‘Is that really what Her Highness just pronounced?’
‘Calling His Majesty idiot.’
‘And with such clear pronunciation at that.’
The emperor, in particular, was deeply shocked.
The emperor asked in disbelief.
“…What did the princess just say?”
“Idiot.”
“……”
The princess answered right away.
Lest the target of her words be mistaken, she even pointed her finger directly at the emperor and enunciated it clearly once more.
“Idiot!”
“…Me. Idiot.”
“Mhm!”
The princess cheerfully responded and nodded her head.
Her brightly smiling face was so adorable and sweet that one wanted to scoop her up and smother her with kisses.
However, even seeing that cute appearance, the maids, scribes, and even the emperor’s advisor all trembled in fear as they watched the emperor’s reaction.
In contrast, the baby princess was not at all daunted and instead sparkled her eyes triumphantly.
‘How’s that, you jerk.’
The empire’s only princess born simultaneously with the conclusion of the decade-long continental war, Elonia Ainar Ravanta.
At the same time, Elonia, who held the illustrious title of being the reincarnation of the continent’s war demon, felt this moment to be the most gratifying across all her lives.
“Idiot! Idiot!”
Elonia smiled brightly while repeatedly shouting the word idiot.
Seeing the emperor’s face, which had frozen in a dumb expression, distort artistically was a sight to savor.
Elonia directly met the emperor’s eyes and mocked him.
‘You should have behaved properly from the beginning, you brat.’
Even when she was reborn, Elonia had no intention of treating her father so harshly.
However, the reason why she ended up putting a curse word in her mouth on this historic day when she first called her father can be traced back to half a year ago, the day the continental war ended, to be explained.
* * *
“Do you truly have no regrets leaving things like this?”
“Regrets?”
At Emperor Ravanta’s question, the brown-haired princess scoffed.
No, upon closer look, her hair only appeared brown because it was drenched in blood; the princess actually had brilliant golden hair.
Who would have known.
No one expected that the war demon who grew up feeding on countless fears and hatred on the battlefield, further on the entire continent, to the extent that her hair turned that color, would show such a weak appearance.
“How could I possibly have regrets.”
As soon as she finished her words, the princess bit her lip hard, and soon her face became one of having given up on everything.
This time, it was the princess who asked the emperor.
“Then do you have no regrets?”
“How could I possibly have regrets.”
The emperor answered the same as the princess.
However, his expression remained unwavering.
He gripped his sword anew.
“It’s too late for regrets now. My family is waiting for me.”
At the emperor’s resolute answer that conveyed his firm will, the princess smiled.
Shunk!
Without warning, a sword pierced the princess’s heart.
Even though it must have been painful, the war demon princess did not let out a single scream.
Her form that seemed like it would remain upright forever was short-lived as she soon collapsed, coughing up blood.
It was the end now.
That emperor would now return home and live happily surrounded by his beloved wife and soon-to-be-born beloved child.
The princess thought.
She had always imagined it.
‘If someone like that emperor had been my father, I wouldn’t have had to die on the battlefield. …I could have been happy.’
Yes. She really would have been happy.
The emperor, confirming that the princess still had breath left, asked.
“Any last words? I’ll hear them out of respect for our five years together.”
Surprised at the emperor’s final mercy, the princess grabbed onto her fading consciousness with hazy eyes.
Her hesitation in opening and closing her mouth was momentary.
Lying on the cold dirt, the princess looked up at the emperor’s eyes and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“For the child…soon to be born… Please be…a good father…”
At the unexpected will, a fine crack appeared on the emperor’s cold face.
However, that too was brief as the emperor nodded.
“…I will.”
I promise, my worthy foe.
Hearing the emperor’s answer, the princess finally closed her eyes.
The emperor’s shoulders trembled.
The victorious emperor looked sorrowful while the defeated princess was smiling very peacefully.
The war demon who brought chaos to the continent was no more.
This was the last memory of Cheron Heilan before she became Princess Elonia Ainar Ravanta.
* * *
The unparalleled war demon of the continent.
The brutal butcher.
The heartless madwoman.
Cheron Heilan died embracing all sorts of notoriety.
Yes.
She definitely died.
But then why.
‘Why was I reborn!’
What’s more, with the memories of her past life still clearly etched in her mind.
If she had simply been reborn, she wouldn’t have been so flustered.
The problem was that she ended up being reborn as the daughter of the enemy emperor she had crossed swords with for five years!
Elonia was devastated.
‘Right. I did think about it before I died! I thought it would have been nice if Artius had been my father!’
However, that was merely a thought that it would be nice to be born as the daughter of someone “like” the emperor, not that she had ever prayed with a bowl of water to actually become his daughter.
Who would want to be born as the daughter of their enemy?
But no matter how much she denied it, reality did not change.
Artius Antair Ravanta, the emperor who brought an end to the continent’s war by killing Cheron Heilan, who had caused chaos on the continent by waging war for a decade, becoming the hero of the century.
And his only daughter was none other than the current Princess Cheron Heilan. No.
Princess Elonia Ainar Ravanta.
‘This can’t be…’
If there was a god, he couldn’t do this to her.
Was she such a devout believer that god would readily grant her prayers?
Absolutely not.
With how many fanatics there were in Heilan, why would god find it cute that Cheron, who cursed him every morning upon waking up, and grant such a wish?
If god’s intention was to give the unfaithful a taste of their own medicine, it was a great success.
‘Please, just leave me alone now, you bastard god…’
Being reborn could be a good opportunity for someone.
However, that didn’t apply to Elonia.
Would it be a good opportunity for someone who barely escaped their previous life through death because it was so miserable?
‘Not at all. This is living hell. I just barely died!’
Elonia had stood before the emperor that day, ready to abandon everything and die.
But having a person who barely managed to die be reborn was an act severely lacking in common decency.
Especially being reborn as the daughter of the worthy foe she had fought against for five years.
‘There were so many other wishes I could have had, but you just had to pick this one to grant? Damn you, god.’
Elonia wanted to scream at the sky.
However.
“Uwung.”
“Oh my. Did you hear that, Miss Fortrun? The princess just babbled!”
“Yes, I heard. Oh, how can she be so adorable…”
“Kyaa, so cute! Ujuju, our princess. She must be eager to start talking!”
…The only sound that came out was not a vulgar curse but a cute babble.
Elonia shuddered at the cute sound coming from her mouth and waved her arms and legs busily.
Every time she did that, the maids would surround her and make a fuss about how cute she was, so she couldn’t keep doing it for long.
Above all, she kept moving around and got so tired that all the strength drained from her body.
Elonia let out a deep sigh with her tiny baby body and swallowed her dry tears.
‘My ill-fated life…’
The day she met god face-to-face, she would never let him off easy.
Elonia clenched her chubby fist tightly and vowed.
But for some reason, her eyes kept fluttering closed.
She was so exhausted from just that little fuss that she was getting sleepy.
“Oh my, our princess. You were moving around so energetically, and now you seem to be getting sleepy.”
“Shall we turn on the mobile?”
“If Miss Fortrun sang a lullaby, she would fall asleep in no time. Right?”
“Oh please, don’t flatter me. Now, princess. It’s time to go to dreamland.”
The brown-haired maid with sky-blue eyes spoke to Elonia kindly, her cheeks flushing.
Judging from the conversation, she seemed to be the highest-ranking among them.
Fortrun, who had been so shy earlier, soon began rocking the cradle and singing a lullaby in a sweet voice.
Elonia inwardly protested in disbelief.
‘Don’t be ridiculous… As if I… As if I would fall asleep to this kind of song…’
But the baby’s body had far too little stamina, and Fortrun’s lullaby was far too pleasant to hear.
“Huaaahm.”
In the end, it was Elonia who lost.
Starting with a small yawn, her eyelids were already half-closed.
The maids surrounded the cradle, not knowing what to do, and patted each other’s arms.
Ah, her pride was wounded.
‘Give me back my body that could stay up for three nights fighting…’
Elonia despaired and resented the weak, instinct-driven baby’s body.
Of course, doing that didn’t change anything.
‘Fine, let’s sleep for a bit first. If I sleep for a bit, I’ll wake up from this dream!’
And so, the former princess who was renowned as the war demon couldn’t win against drowsiness and dozed off.
Please, when she opened her eyes and woke up again, let it all have never happened!
👀👀