Chapter 5

He spoke as if he were singing.

I stared at him. Even though I couldn’t understand it very well, I knew one thing for sure.

That I was a very special person to him.

No, it wasn’t just him.

To the nanny who took care of me every day, and my mother who sang me a lullaby every night…

To my father, His Majesty the Emperor, and even to the attendants working in the palace…

I was special.

“Aisha, I will always protect you.” He smiled sweetly.

As he rocked my cradle, my resolve was shaken a little as well.

Spring had come.

A beautiful spring season, when new leaves sprang up and flowers bloomed under the sunlight.

* * *

Of course, that didn’t mean I was able to trust Ysis overnight. Even though he told me he was on my side, my heart remained tightly closed.

Each day passed quickly. Since I was still a baby, I slept most of the time. I would eat the baby food that my nanny fed me, blink a few times, and the sun would be down.

At night, I often had dreams about the past. My family members from my previous life appeared every time.

Originally, I was the legitimate daughter of Empress Edenverre. Because Edenverre legally allowed polygamy, the emperor took many wives.

Among his family, the ones who were recognized as legitimate members of the imperial palace were the empress, three consorts, and six princes and princesses, including me.

My mother, the empress, was indifferent to her children. She cared more about public affairs than her family. Perhaps that made her a good empress, but she wasn’t a good mother. She never held me, not even once.

Instead, I had Lakias, my only full-blooded sibling. He was cold to others, but was always kind to me.

The siblings in the imperial palace weren’t very close to each other, but as everyone got older and Lakias was designated as the successor, the relationships began to gradually improve. And things improved even more when Marianne came onto the scene.

With her at the center, the imperial palace began to brighten. I was very thankful to her, and everyone else probably felt the same.

But was that why? Was that why Lakias felt even more betrayed by me when he thought I tried to poison Marianne?

But he was wrong. Because I never tried to kill Marianne.

I resented him for not believing me. If only he had made an effort to hear my side of the story even once, I wouldn’t have been so sad.

“...Highness, princess.”

I slowly opened my eyes. The figure of the nanny caught my eye. She looked very worried.

Oh, I must have had that dream again. I clenched my jaw.

“I guess you had a bad dream.”

The nanny wiped my eyes with a gauze towel. Only then did I realize that I had been crying.

“Shh.”

I heard a kind voice. Soft hands wrapped around my small body.

“There will be no more nightmares.”

I was in the arms of someone who smelled warm and cozy. She whispered to me in a sweet voice,

“Your mother is here.”

I blinked. It was Empress Iris, my mother. She looked at me with her gentle violet eyes. I stared blankly for a moment before turning my head away. But the empress still held me in her arms.

Now that I thought about it, I remembered hearing that today was a special day. Did they say that my mother and father, the empress and the emperor, were going on an outing with me today?

Outings happened very rarely. Because I was still young, and I tended to avoid people, they didn’t take me out very often.

The empress had come early in the morning because we were going out on a rare outing.

“Alright, Aisha. You should get ready now, right?”

When the empress put me down, the nurse and the head maid rushed to my side. After feeding me breakfast, they helped me get ready.

They dressed me in a cute dress with lots of frills and put a pretty ribbon headband on my head. Of course, there were precious gems studded throughout the frills and headbands.

I just sat there indifferently while people made me look good.

“Your Highness!” the nanny exclaimed as she finished tying the last ribbon on my clothes. “Are you happy to go on an outing today?”

I turned my head, pretending like I didn’t care. I was in a baby’s body that couldn’t walk properly, so there would be nothing fun about it for me.

Even though I was sullen, the nanny smiled as if I was being adorable. “You don’t even whine while you’re getting dressed. I’m so proud of you.”

“You’re right. She’s always so quiet and compliant.”

“It is an honor for our family to be able to serve such a cute princess.”

People were always eager to praise me. Being praised for not whining was truly strange. Actually, they complimented me for all kinds of little things, things like “She never cries,” “She burps so well,” and “She’s good at turning her body over.”

No one had a faintest idea that I actually felt embarrassed and dumbfounded by the outpouring of praise.

“Your Highness, would you like to take a look?”

The nanny brought me a mirror. At those words, I perked up a little. This would be my first time looking in the mirror since being born into this body. My heart pounded a little.

What will I look like?

As I peeked in the mirror, I was momentarily startled.

This is me?

I looked even cuter than I thought. Maybe it was because I was a baby, but the child reflected in the clean mirror was dazzlingly cute.

Her bright silver hair shined as if it contained all the light of the world, and her blue eyes on her small face were as beautiful as jewels. Her rosy cheeks were so round, I wanted to poke them, and her cherry-colored lips were very plump.

It was as if I was looking at a wingless angel that had fallen from the sky.

But after looking in the mirror for a while, I soon frowned again. In the past, I’d had black hair and green eyes. Now, seeing my changed appearance, it finally hit me that I was in a different body.

“Your Highness, don’t you like the mirror?” The nanny looked at me worriedly.

Ah, only then I realized that I had been staring at the mirror too intently.

“Let’s go now.”

The nanny took the mirror away and placed it far from me.

I remained silent as the empress carefully embraced me in her arms, and the maids walked behind her. After being in my mother’s arms for a while as she walked, we briefly passed near the garden.

The spirits of light that always hovered near me seemed especially happy in the spring sunlight.

How pretty, I thought blankly.

Was it because of the trauma of being locked up in a dungeon in my previous life? Ever since I was reborn, I’d become particularly obsessed with light.

I stretched out my arms toward the light, but the empress hugged me tightly, telling me to be careful.

Marble pillars stood erect in the hallway. After passing a few pillars, we arrived at a large indoor garden.

“I’m coming in,” my mother said quietly. When the door opened, I felt the bright sunlight and warm air of the indoor garden.

I saw the figure of a man sitting in front of us. He spoke to me and the empress in a low tone.

“Aisha is growing by the day.”

As soon as he spoke, the courtiers gathered in the garden curtsied in unison.

“Greetings, Light of the Empire.”

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

Listening to the greetings, the man slowly stood up. His blue eyes shone intensely in the sunlight. His energy was like that of a predator at the top of the food chain.

I felt a little puzzled. I had heard a rumor that just looking into the emperor’s eyes made ordinary people tremble in fear, but I was fine even though I was a baby.

But the next moment, my eyes met his and I realized why. He was deliberately holding back his energy and trying to be less intimidating.

Of course, a normal baby would have cried the moment they locked eyes with him, no matter how careful he was being. In fact, he didn’t come to see me very often because he was worried that he might scare me.

So perhaps the reason we could meet face to face was not only because of his consideration, but also because there was a 14-year-old Alisa within me.

Of course, even if it was possible, I didn’t want to keep looking at his face. I quickly lowered my eyes. I didn’t want to get more attention from the emperor than was necessary.

But after staring at me for a while, he slowly approached me and then warmly stroked my hair.

“Look how much you’ve grown.” His voice was warm, as if he was overwhelmed with his love for me.

I suddenly looked into his eyes again before closing them.

He had dark blonde hair that looked like golden threads, and his eyes were as blue as the autumn sky. He was my father and the emperor of this empire, Tyrion de Elmire.

He was the emperor who had conquered the surrounding countries, grew the empire, and created a path of glory connecting his conquests to the capital. He was a world-famous military leader facilitating a brilliant reign—the ultimate war hero.

However, it was a secret known only to the people within the imperial palace that although he was usually forbidding, he was an entirely different person when dealing with the members of his family. Even now, his eyes were soft as he looked at me.

I heard that when I was born, he scattered gold coins for the people of the capital and offered blessings directly to God. Prisoners who committed minor crimes were pardoned and bread was given to the starving.

Regardless of social status, gender, or age, everyone celebrated my birth. Even the emperor himself walked around the empress’s palace with a huge smile all day.

It was a rumor, so I wasn’t sure if it really happened or not. But what was certain was that all day long, my name, “Aisha,” rang throughout the empire.

Everything was done for my sake.

For the beloved princess, Aisha de Elmire.

The empress chuckled and said to the emperor, “Would you like to hold her?”

He extended his arms towards me with a slightly hesitant expression on his face, then quickly withdrew them.

“I shouldn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s so small, I’m afraid she might break if I touch her.”

I was a little taken aback. I was small, but I wasn’t going to break like a piece of glass. And yet, I was so precious to him, he didn’t even dare to touch me.

“My beloved daughter.” Instead of holding me in his arms, he gently ruffled my hair. It felt like his soft voice enveloped me.

“She won’t break,” my mother laughed softly. “She’s already 10 months old.”

“Yes, you are right.”