The cake, piled high with honey and cream, glistened under the light.
There were only three people at the long dining table, yet the feast lacked nothing.
“Happy birthday, Bell.”
“Happy birthday, sister.”
“Thank you, everyone!”
The two angels of House Delapion gazed at the food on the table with bright, sparkling eyes.
“Looks like Lady Magi went all out for your birthday.”
“Dad, are you coming home late again today?”
“No. I’ve already informed the knights. We’ll have dinner together.”
“Really?”
The chubby boy’s cheeks lit up with excitement.
It was an incredibly heartwarming scene.
“Dad, my birthday present!”
“Oh dear, Bell. You should blow out the candles first, right?”
“Oh, right!”
The birthday girl, Abel Delapion, leaned close to the cake, about to bury her nose in the cream, puffed out her cheeks with air.
‘What should I ask for? A new dress? Or a little donkey?’
Her cheeks, having just turned ten, were puffed full of hope and anticipation.
The air she had gathered blew out the candles—and in that moment—
“Dad, you know, for my birthday present—”
She remembered the secret of the world.
“…I need to go to the royal palace.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
Her father, who had been removing the candles from the cake, paused stiffly and asked back.
Golden roasts, snowy white cream, colorful jams.
‘This is a scene destined to shatter someday.’
Having completed her mental development just thirty seconds ago, Abel slowly took in the picturesque moment before her.
“Dad, I have to go to the palace.”
“But Bell, you’re still… just ten years old.”
“Exactly! Coincidentally, I’m ten now! So I can go to the palace!”
“No.”
“Ugh, why!”
“When I say no, it means no.”
It was a strict voice, enough to make any other child burst into tears, but she couldn’t give in so easily.
Not when her family’s future was at stake!
To change the future, she needed to meet that guy, and to do that, the royal palace was the only way.
“I’m allowed to go to the palace now that I’m ten!”
The official age for entering the palace was ten.
Now that her past life and the original novel had come flooding back like a bolt of lightning, she wasn’t about to back down quietly.
“Ah, Dad! Me too! I’m going!”
Even if she had to cling to his leg all the way there!
“Sana, stay here and play nicely with your sister.”
“Yes, Father. Come on, sister. Let’s get up and play with dolls or something.”
“Let go, Sana. This is all for our family!”
“Want to dig holes instead of play dolls?”
“Well, that’s… better than dolls—no, there’s a deeper meaning behind this! Dad! Ah! Take me with you! Or just step over me if you must!”
Abel, with surprising stamina, clung to her father’s leg all the way to the front door.
Truly an exceptional strength. Baron Dane Delapion, barely hiding his faint pride, opened his mouth sternly.
“Tsk. Abel Delapion. Your brother is watching, and you’re acting like a child…”
“Ugh, Bell is still a kid. Aaaah, go with me! Dad! Father! Please! If you don’t take me, you can’t go either!”
“I won’t get paid if I don’t report to the palace.”
At those words, Abel instantly let go and stood up, bowing deeply.
“Please fulfill your duty as head of the family today, Father.”
“…Right.”
Waving to his children, Baron Delapion left the mansion, utterly drained.
A request to go to the royal palace for a birthday present? Did she read a fairy tale or something?
It was an unexpected demand, but surely just a child’s whim that wouldn’t last.
Dane calmly assumed his daughter’s persistence wouldn’t hold out long.
Unfortunately, Abel’s willpower was not the kind to fizzle out so easily.
“Darn it, I didn’t expect my cuteness to fail.”
Sitting on the mansion’s front steps, Abel was already plotting her next move.
The beloved firstborn of House Delapion, Abel, now had not one, but two secrets.
First, she knew the true nature of the world.
Second, she remembered the fate of the Delapion family.
<But this is a contract marriage, Your Highness!>
The plot of this seemingly ordinary romance fantasy novel centered on a duke’s daughter who, after returning to the past, enters a contract marriage with the crown prince to escape her previous gullible life.
The reason this novel stuck in her mind among countless others she had read as a web novel reader?
Because the male lead was blonde.
Until then, she believed in the trope that whenever a black-haired and blonde-haired character appeared, the black-haired one always won.
But in this novel, the blonde was the male lead, and the black-haired one wasn’t even a secondary love interest—just a villain!
“Right, that hidden villain.”
The heroine and hero, true to their roles, endured many trials. The worst of them all was the hero’s half-brother—the first prince.
“I don’t remember exactly what he did…”
But one thing she remembered with certainty:
There was a scene where the first prince wiped out all noble supporters of the royal faction to sabotage the hero’s base of power.
“Damn.”
Just a short paragraph of narration.
And with that, House Delapion was neatly erased.
“Not happening.”
Regardless of reincarnation or whatever, Abel Delapion liked this life.
And the thought of someone as adorable as her dying young? That was a massive national tragedy.
“Phew…”
“You really want to go to the palace that badly?”
Her younger brother, Sanaanet, who had been reading beside her, narrowed his gray eyes at his sister.
“Of course!”
“Why?”
A look of curiosity appeared on his mature-for-his-age face.
Abel ruffled his short hair and spoke with a dramatic pout.
“Hey, little brother. Do you know where you have to go to catch a dragon?”
“There aren’t many known dragon habitats. Usually they nest on icy peaks or inside volcanoes. A few centuries ago, one was sighted in nearby waters too…”
“…You’re really smart, Sana.”
It was an unexpectedly technical answer.
But the dragon’s location didn’t really matter.
“To catch a dragon, you go to where the dragon is.”
“…Right.”
“So, Sana. If I want to catch the villain, where should I go?”
“…Huh?”
To where the villain is, of course.
His sister’s cryptic logic made the boy blink in confusion.
“So in short, you do have a good reason to go to the palace, right?”
“You really are the genius of our house.”
Pleased by the praise, Sana’s cheeks rose with pride.
“To go to the palace, I need Dad’s permission.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“Any good ideas? You’re way smarter than I am.”
Encouraged by her flattery, Sana whispered close to her ear.
His chattering lips and smiling eyes were impossibly cute.
“Hope the kids are behaving at home.”
Tucked under the returning father’s arm was a colorful gift box.
Inside were new clothes and toys tailored to his daughter’s size.
“Why on earth was she so fixated on the palace?”
He figured if he brought back enough presents, she’d forget all about it.
He had no doubt about it as he urged his horse forward.
“She’s not still upset, is she?”
Though she had a fiery side—something she got from her mother—she was still a sweet and well-behaved child.
After tying his horse in the stable, Dane walked toward the house to see his beloved kids.
“—Here, like this…”
“A bit more—there…”
Surprisingly, their voices were nearby.
“They must be playing in the garden again.”
The two often waited for their father in the garden, usually with the bold eldest dragging along the quiet younger one.
Hearing their bickering warmed his tired heart.
He readjusted the large gift box under his arm and quickened his pace.
“Bell! Sana! I’m ho—”
“Father, welcome home safely.”
His daughter greeted him with a beaming angelic smile, showing no sign of earlier mischief.
She looked so much like her mother—so full of life.
Thinking of the woman who was now gone brought a shine of moisture to Dane’s gray eyes.
“This tree… it was Mom’s favorite, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. She loved how it was covered in peaches every summer…”
Now ten years old, the child gently caressed the tree just like her mother once had.
But something about the gesture felt… off to Dane.
“…Bell?”
“Hmm?”
“What’s that in your hand?”
Because of the object held in her pudgy little fingers.
“Dad, choose.”
A bright, sharp axe gleamed in the air.
“Will you let me go to the palace—or shall I erase all your memories of Mom along with this tree?”
