<Chapter 2>
“Ah, Dad?”
“Oh, my princess, did you sleep we… Wait.”
The ultra-handsome man, who had whipped his head around at Lilian’s voice, was grinning widely before his tone dropped coldly.
“Who dared to stamp a royal seal on my daughter’s forehead?”
“Umm, I fell while sleeping.”
“Oh dear. Did you go thud? That must have hurt. That’s why I said to sleep with Dad. Come here, let me check.”
When Lilian said she’d done it herself, the man’s expression softened immediately, and he tried to lift her up with both hands from where she sat on the floor.
But when she instinctively dodged it, his hands froze in mid-air.
Silence flowed between the two.
Soon, the man’s face crumpled as if the world had collapsed.
“Li, Lili?”
Lili.
Her childhood nickname.
Of course, her father, Duke Caesar Ersioni, called her things like my lady, treasure, princess, and so on, so it was just one of many pet names.
Seeing the man who resembled her father looking so shocked, Lilian felt inexplicably sorry.
‘I shouldn’t get immersed in the illusion.’
The abyss sorcerer’s illusion magic lures people into complacency before leading them to death.
Lilian pondered for a moment…
‘If anything, I can just knock him out by hitting the back of his neck!’
She decided to coolly move on.
She flung herself into the arms of Caesar, who had completely despondent and slumped to the floor, forgetting all decorum.
“Lili…?”
It felt good to be in her father’s embrace after so long.
‘But why am I so small?’
This was exactly the perspective of a five-year-old toddler.
“You don’t hate Dad, right? Hm? Did Dad do something wrong?”
“No, Dad didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t hate you.”
“Hawooo… Why is my daughter so cute… Mwah mwah! So so cute.”
“Eek, Dad’s beard. The beard is prickly!”
Her kiss-crazy father rubbed his unshaven chin against her cheek while showering her with kisses, making Lilian scream.
She squirmed, trying to escape from Caesar’s hold,
‘Why, why won’t it work?!’
The grip that she could normally shake off like gum felt like a giant’s strength.
Could it be that the Abyss Dragon’s power had grown even stronger in the meantime?
She broke out in a cold sweat.
“My lady, why are you sweating like this? Did you have a bad dream?”
A bad dream…?
“Did you see a mean monster in your dream?”
It could all come out, since it’s not real.
She lifted her own hand.
A hand just a bit bigger than a maple leaf.
Such a small hand looked like it could barely grip a sword hilt.
Clench clench.
In disbelief, she repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fist.
Then Caesar, looking like he was dying from cuteness, grabbed Lilian’s tiny fist and pretended to nibble on it with an “om nom.”
“Did our Lili have a scary dream~?”
A sight that would stun anyone who knew the usual Duke Ersioni.
Lilian stared blankly at her father, who was making a fool of himself with a face that could blow chilly winds.
It had been a whopping eight years.
Since she’d last seen her father.
In the winter when she was seventeen, just a month before her coming-of-age ceremony, the ‘Abyss’ that led the world to destruction erupted.
Dimensional rifts opened everywhere, abyss monsters poured out from the cracks, and even ordinary people tainted by the darkness of the rifts turned into monsters called ‘abyss ghouls’—a hellish scene.
That was the Abyss.
After that, the world crumbled at a rapid pace, and Lilian never saw her family again.
‘Is it really a dream?’
All those events—were they really all just a dream?
“…….”
Caesar blinked at the sight of Lilian clenching her adorable little fists tightly.
Today, his precious daughter seemed off somehow.
‘She must have had a truly horrific nightmare.’
He grew serious and carefully grasped Lilian’s shoulders.
“Lili, don’t worry. Dad will always be by your side….”
“You monster.”
“?”
Caesar was taken aback by his daughter, who had hung her head low, now glaring at him with triangular eyes.
Of course, not because it was scary.
Lilian was only five now, and no matter how fierce an expression a well-fed, well-rested five-year-old made, it only highlighted her chubby cheeks.
She looked just like.
‘A pissed-off wildcat?’
…Or something.
Her signature antennae (flyaway hairs) sticking up sharply made it even more so.
“Bad monster! Stop imitating my dad!”
“What? Lili? Lili! W-wait!”
“Hiyaaah!”
Whether he adored her or not, Lilian, convinced the being before her was an abyss monster, raised her nails instead of a sword and charged.
Crash, bang!
The father-daughter’s cozy morning was colored by the sound of breaking furniture.
“Are you alright, Master?”
“Ah, Sevir. Thanks.”
The butler, Sevir, approached Caesar, who was slumped weakly on the sofa, and handed him a handkerchief.
Tugged hair, long nail scratches on his cheek, even cute little teeth marks on the back of his hand.
Yet, instead of looking ugly, he appeared like a handsome man with a story—unfair, really.
“Grrrr.”
When he turned to the culprit with melancholic eyes, Lilian, buried under the blanket, glared at him fiercely.
Really fiercely.
“…It seems like Lili’s hit puberty.”
As he spoke in a drained voice, Sevir smiled faintly.
“There comes a phase where the ego strengthens once in a while. How about recalling the third young master?”
“Hm.”
Jeril, huh. He was definitely more of a troublemaker than Lilian.
“But can it change this suddenly?”
“Or perhaps she’s confused.”
“Confused?”
“You mentioned her sleep was restless last night. It might be hard for her to grasp reality right away. She’s still young, after all.”
At Sevir’s calm advice, Caesar slowly regained his composure.
“That makes sense.”
Caesar was a father raising three sons and one daughter.
Meaning he’d experienced every bizarre thing under the sun.
In the end, deciding to give her some time, Caesar stood up with a face overflowing with reluctance.
It was then that his appearance seemed so much like her real father that Lilian’s eyes wavered.
“Lady Lilian.”
She perked up her ears at the kindly old butler’s voice.
“What would you like for breakfast? Crispy scones with strawberry jam?”
“…Not strawberry.”
“Then how about blueberry jam? We just got a fresh batch this morning.”
“Yeah.”
Lilian answered Sevir’s words without thinking, then snapped back with a start.
‘I fell for it!’
She’d always been weak to this old butler.
Could the abyss sorcerer have noticed and taken on Sevir’s face?
No, that must be it.
So she vowed not to fall for this trickery anymore.
“Shall I make three fried eggs?”
“No, three!”
She couldn’t resist fried eggs.
‘This isn’t right.’
A moment later.
Crunch! Lilian’s eyes went blank at the layers of pastry crumbling in her mouth.
The rich butter aroma and sweet blueberry jam.
Slurp.
The tangy scent of the 100% orange juice elegantly poured by the butler stimulated her sense of smell.
Lost in the symphony of flavors bursting in her mouth, stars gradually sparkled in her violet eyes.
‘Delicious!’
Overwhelmed by food that actually tasted like food after nearly eight years, Lilian forgot her vigilance and stuffed her cheeks until they puffed out.
“You’ll choke. You need to eat slowly.”
Sizzle sizzle. The delicious sound of oil popping rang out.
Soon, the butler placed a plate in front of Lilian with three golden, appetizing fried eggs and two strips of bacon.
It was Lilian’s favorite fried egg set.
As her eyes sparkled, Sevir cut the bacon and eggs into bite-sized pieces for her.
“Hap!”
Showing off the skill of shoving two things into her mouth at once, Lilian mumbled.
“Mmm. This is yummy. Want some, Sevir?”
“I’ve already eaten breakfast, so I’m fine. More juice?”
“Yeah!”
In the end, she finished her meal only after her belly was round and full.
It was a truly perfect breakfast.
Having become a splendid little piggy, Lilian patted her full tummy in satisfaction before pausing.
‘Huh.’
Come to think of it, could an illusion replicate such a variety of tastes?
She’d heard that while other senses could be fooled, taste couldn’t.
“Princess….”
While she was deep in thought, a desperate voice came from behind the door.
“Are you still upset?”
It was Caesar, who had dropped everything and rushed over at the butler’s word that breakfast was done.
A sharp-featured handsome man who looked a billion light-years away from being childlike to anyone.
Yet, he resembled her father, who had been the kindest in the world to Lilian.
‘If he really is Dad….’
She opened her mouth solemnly.
“Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“What wand does Moonlight Witch Rose use when transforming?”
After a brief pause and a deep breath, Caesar answered calmly.
“The Floramoon Ruby Wand, of course.”
“What name does Rose use when infiltrating Cookie Garden?”
“Luna.”
“What does Rose shout every time she transforms!”
Caesar grinned confidently.
“In the name of the villains, I’ll reform you.”
Overjoyed, Lilian toddled over and flung herself into Caesar’s arms.
“Dad!”
“Lili!”
Around this age, Lilian was obsessed with the puppet show featuring the character ‘Rose,’ reciting every line without missing a single comma.
The abyss couldn’t possibly know those lines that even she didn’t remember perfectly!
So he was indeed Lilian’s father.
Lilian nodded vigorously and stamped ‘Pass!’ on her father.
‘Hm? But if Dad is really Dad… how is this possible?’
Lilian tilted her head—
‘I don’t know! I’ll think about it later.’
True to her physical-oriented nature that hated headaches, she postponed it.
Right now, the father before her eyes after eight years was more important.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Yeah!”
“Dad was shocked. I thought my princess wouldn’t play with Dad anymore.”
“Hing. Sorry. I thought a monster transformed into Dad.”
The father and daughter shared a tender reunion once more.
Lilian excitedly dashed around the ducal mansion, marveling at it after so long.
As a result.
“She’s fallen asleep.”
“After running around the whole house like that, she’d be tired.”
On the hall sofa, Lilian was soundly asleep, hugging a toy sword as big as herself tightly.
Caesar refused Sevir’s offer to do it and personally scooped up the sleeping Lilian into his arms.
“Isn’t this Jeril’s sword?”
“Yes, it’s Young Master Jeril’s toy sword.”
“Didn’t we buy her a new Rose doll recently? That Starlight Kingdom special limited edition Rose. Where’d she put that?”
“She might be tired of it.”
“I can’t keep up with kids’ trends these days. They change too fast.”
Caesar headed straight to Lilian’s room.
He carefully laid Lilian down on the bed.
He tried to pry the toy sword from the child’s grip, but she held it so tightly that he worried he’d wake her and had to give up.
Sitting by the sleeping child’s side, Caesar quietly watched Lilian for a while.
Just that melted away some of the worries accumulated throughout the day.
“What kind of dream did you have, really.”
It was a question he couldn’t bring himself to ask.
He feared that dredging it up might trap the child in the shadow of the dream again.
Caesar gently brushed Lilian’s hair aside and lowered his head.
He lightly kissed the child’s forehead and whispered.
“Don’t have any more nightmares, Lili.”
