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Level 1
Main Quest: Reincarnation (03)
“Gasp! The child woke up!”
“Oh my goodness! What wonderful news!”
“Ugh! My heart!”
‘What’s with them?’
I was barely awake and my vision was still blurry.
I could see that it wasn’t just Dad and (possibly) Uncle Woo-Myung in the room. Quite a few other people had gathered.
There was my dad and the uncle who looked like a mountain bandit, a middle-aged, gentle-looking nanny, two older sisters in their 20s, and so on.
When I saw the old man who looked like a mountain bandit standing right next to my dad, I was convinced.
‘He’s really Uncle Woo-Myung!’
Uncle Woo-Myung, who looked like a mountain bandit, was the only one who could smile foolishly like that!
Uncle Woo-Myung wasn’t my real uncle.
That was because neither my mother nor father had any siblings.
However, my father treated him like his own brother.
“I wish I had a cute daughter like Seo-na!”
Uncle Woo-Myung, who only had only four sons, would always say that as his bearded chin prickled mine.
Still, I persevered, because after rubbing my cheeks, my uncle always gave me plenty of pocket money.
Yes, I was a very greedy child.
So, when my uncle gave me portraits and asked me, “Do you like Dad or Uncle?” I would answer, “Uncle!” and hurt my delicate dad’s heart.
Of course, my uncle also looked a little different now compared to my previous life.
But my uncle’s aura that I could see was the same color as it was back then.
His aura was still a warm green color.
Being able to recognize my dad at first glance was also because of my ability to see the aura of others.
Of course, if it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have been sure that he was my father.
Anyways, good news hit me one after another.
‘Oh my God! My uncle is still alive?’
Uncle Woo-Myung was killed in the same battle as my dad.
But now, the two of them were right in front of me.
I was so moved that I stood blankly, looking at my dad and uncle.
Then my dad’s face hardened even more.
‘If it was as hard as marble earlier, does that mean his face is as hard as granite now?’
I shouted with my arms outstretched just in case,
“Baba?”
‘Ugh, my pronunciation.’
‘Should I do some training to develop my tongue muscles?’
‘If I don’t, it’ll be too embarrassing for me to live!’
But my father’s expression changed very slightly upon hearing my voice.
‘From granite to clay soil?’
The change in expression was surprisingly small, but the change in aura was quite large.
He swayed visibly as if he was somehow moved.
As if he couldn’t hold on any longer, my dad gently hugged me.
His warm and strong arms were just like the father I remembered.
It was then that I realized it.
This was now my reality.
My dad was alive.
He was alive and was holding me.
It was not a dream nor my imagination.
When I opened my eyes in this world, I was able to feel relief for the first time.
I was worried that this all might’ve been an illusion, but now I could be sure that it was not.
I could feel my father’s warmth clearly.
His warmth and aura that I missed… This was reality.
I was reincarnated.
I had to close my eyes tightly, as tears were about to come out of nowhere.
***
Uncle Woo-Myung said to my father,
“Your Majesty. You must go. Although they didn’t make it to the naming ceremony, an envoy from Hastia is waiting for you now.”
My dad’s face hardened.
I didn’t know why, but Dad’s aura was noticeably agitated.
“Yes. Let’s go right away.”
It was sad that my dad was about to leave, but I couldn’t do anything.
I was sure he was still a Korean to the bone and that his overworking habits must’ve been the same.
Staying together with him was enough! I wouldn’t ask for more.
So, I smiled as cutely as possible and saw my dad off.
“Papa! Haithing!” (Papa! Hwaiting*!)
TL/N: Good luck in Korean.
“…”
I thought my dad would smile and hug me as he did in our previous life.
But my father was silently staring blankly at me.
I was getting nervous from waiting for him to move.
But he didn’t move towards me.
He slowly turned around and left the room.
I was a little sad, but I was glad to encourage him anyway.
My dead father came back, and that was enough!
Anyways, the room was quiet after my father, uncle, and the servants who followed him rushed out.
Only me, the nanny, and the maids were left.
The nanny was holding me at the naming ceremony earlier, and it was the first time I saw these two maids.
I decided to improve myself step by step, starting from understanding the current situation.
‘I’ll open my mouth and make a sound.’
“Abuaa! Bubu!”
As expected, I couldn’t say a proper word.
So far, I had only succeeded in saying one word.
“Papa!”
Well, fortunately, that’s the most important thing.
In fact, I decided to ignore the fact that it wasn’t the right pronunciation*.
*TL/N: In Korean, she usually called him 아빠 (basically ‘abbah’ with an emphasized ‘b’ sound), which means father, but after reincarnation, she could only say, 압아 (more like ‘ab-ah’ with a weaker ‘b’ sound) which is the wrong pronunciation in Korean.
At least it made sense.
I clenched my fists and vowed,
‘This is great. Now that I have a second life from killing the Demon King, I’ll live well this time!’
***
I tried moving my arms and legs.
I couldn’t tell whether my hand was actually a hand, a bite-sized dumpling, or an egg potato.
I also tried to sit and stand up by leaning on the edge of the crib.
“Uh…”
There was a fairly large mirror hanging in the corner of the room, so I would move while checking my movements with the mirror.
“… Yosh!”
Each time I would groan, and then repeat the routine.
It was a bit embarrassing.
To me, it felt like I was working out with several hundred kilograms of weight.
The girl in the mirror kept groaning and scratching her butt.
‘What’s this!’
I would have to try using my magic powers while no one was around.
‘I should try using them as soon as possible, or else there’ll be a riot.’
I had seen many cases in my past life when I was at a very young age, where I was awakened and suffered a threat.
I also didn’t know who could be my guardian in this world.
It was best to be careful as I didn’t know the situation here.
I heard quite a few negative comments about me at the naming ceremony earlier.
‘I’ll have to try magic myself later.’
I would also have to check the system messages that I skipped over because I was too annoyed earlier.
‘I’m sure it said something about compensation and the mana circuit.’
‘However, me checking the system window might seem strange to others.’
The rumors that I was an idiot were nearly gone, but I did not intend to increase the negative rumors by doing strange things.
The only thing I could do in front of others was to check how much I could move.
Like what was happening right now.
“Huff—!”
While I was struggling, the maids said,
“Gasp! Our baby has stood up! I-it’s so cute!”
“Oh my! The princess kept sitting and getting up!”
They must’ve been worried because I had been so motionless until recently.
“Is this a dream?”
“Oh, look at the princess’ butt…!”
‘That sounds a bit strange, but I’ll ignore it.’
Anyway, thanks to the mirror, I was able to check my appearance.
My reflection looked almost identical to the one I saw in my family photo album as a child.
But a little… cuter?
Anyway, excluding my hair color and eye color, the appearances were almost the same.
My hair color resembled my father’s, it was a mysterious golden color with a reddish tint.
My eyes were blue-purplish, which were different from my father’s.
My father in this world had dark blue eyes.
‘They’re beautiful. I think it will resemble my father’s eye color more as I grow up.’
Anyways, how I looked was not my choice, so there was nothing I could do about it.
After seeing my father and my uncle, I think I understood now.
I wasn’t the only one who was reincarnated here.
Although not entirely identical in appearance, there were similarities between them in their previous life and now, and their auras were almost identical.
In my case, I had the same ability as in my previous life.
‘It seems like I’m the only one with memories of my past life.’
I suddenly realized something after putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
‘Mom, brother… Maybe I’ll be able to see all of my family!’
I had already met Dad again.
All that was left was my mother, who died three years before the Demon King was summoned.
And… my brother, who died protecting me.
When I thought of the possibility that my family could be reunited as a whole after 13 years, my heart was pounding.
So I screamed without realizing it, raising both of my arms.
“Angdadada!” (Reincarnation is awesome!)
As soon as I said that, my body fell.
Thump! The back of my head crashed into the corner of the crib.
The people began to fuss over me.
“Gasp! Princess!”
“Doctors, call the doctors! Hurry!”
“Tell His Majesty!”
***
“Ah! She looks great in that!”
“Among the gifts from Hastia, this is the best.”
“How can she be this cute…”
The maids were very excited and exclaimed.
Everyone’s eyes were twinkling while looking at the gifts.
They couldn’t even notice me sighing.
“Haa…”
The reason was simple.
‘What the hell is this!’
I was already 25 years old, so this felt burdensome.
It wasn’t because of the clothes full of lace and ribbons or the cute hat.
I gave up on that. I already wore one of those at the naming ceremony earlier anyway.
It was something more burdensome than that.
It was because I fell earlier.
Even though I wasn’t hurt, they called in doctors to examine me.
“The princess hit her head! It was loud! If the princess was hurt anywhere, be prepared!”
Only after they diagnosed that there was nothing wrong, the nanny and maids, who were in the midst of confusion, became quiet.
No, not exactly quiet, they were moving around.
They put a cute bee-shaped pillow on my back and saying that I shouldn’t fall again.
“Now you are safe, even if you fall!”
The round bee’s head was on my back, and the plump bee’s buttocks with black stripes were attached to my back.
It even had two wings!
‘Wearing something like this at my age? It’s embarrassing!’
“Nwo!” (No!)
‘…Please let me preserve my dignity!’