Chapter 1
“Choose, Yeni.”
At the sudden remark, I paused mid-bite of pudding and looked up. My eyes met the boy who had been staring at me.
“Hm? Choose what?”
My words came out slightly muffled with my mouth full of pudding.
At that moment, I didn’t think much of what he was about to ask.
“Which one of us you’re going to marry.”
His serious tone—completely devoid of playfulness—almost made me spit out the pudding.
…Is he serious?
Today marked exactly seven years since I became a member of the Persian family.
Which meant that this brat had just asked a completely insane question to a seven-year-old me.
Unfortunately, the only one out of his mind wasn’t just the noble third prince of the beastfolk.
“Obviously me, right? Isn’t it, Yeni?”
Bright red hair, like a summer rose, swayed along with the movements of the now eight-year-old boy.
This was the same fourth prince who had once hissed and lunged at me like he wanted to kill me when we first met.
The same one who used to flatten his ears and growl whenever he saw me.
Now, he puffed out his chest and showed off baseless confidence in front of me.
‘Seriously.’
As I put down my spoon in disbelief, the second prince—who had been lazily basking in the sunlight beside me—reached out as if he had been waiting.
His long, smooth fingers gently brushed the corner of my mouth before pulling away.
“Yernian. Why do you always make such a mess when you eat?”
His tone was soft and gentle—
—but the content was downright dangerous.
Lowering his gaze, the second prince licked the pudding off his fingers.
A feeling closer to humiliation than embarrassment flushed my cheeks red.
‘Ah, I’m tired.’
My very first picnic with the royal family of the beastfolk—the direct line of the noble Persian family—was already draining my sanity from the start.
Meanwhile, the third prince, who had been silently waiting for my answer, urged me again.
“Yeni, hurry.”
Why was he acting like this when he usually only cared about constellations?
Gripping my fork tightly, I turned my head.
Then, with desperate eyes, I looked toward Licht—the head of the beastfolk and the patriarch of the Persian family—who had been silently observing the situation.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves and scattered across his silver hair.
Sensing my gaze, Licht lifted his eyes from the documents and looked at me with a serene face.
His lips, red like he had just bitten into fruit, slowly parted. His low voice brushed past my ears.
“So, who are you going to marry?”
Ah, seriously—what’s wrong with him too?
“Obviously me.”
“Yeni. Answer.”
“Should I feed you the rest of the pudding?”
The fourth, third, and second princes chimed in one after another, making a chaotic mess of noise.
I had a strong feeling that if I answered wrong, this peaceful picnic would turn into complete chaos.
Just imagining it made my head spin. I quietly tightened my grip on the spoon.
“I…”
As I opened my mouth, the beastfolk’s ears atop their heads all perked up at once.
‘How did I end up being treated like this by these ridiculous beastmen?’
Shutting my eyes as if to escape reality, I traced back a distant past that now felt far away.
I had to go back seven years—to the night of prophecy, the day I was born.
***
I was born as the princess of a fallen kingdom.
More precisely, on the night when the cursed twin moons rose. The moment I was born, the kingdom’s fate came to an end.
And I lost my human dignity, reduced in an instant to nothing more than an experimental subject in the hands of “them,” who had destroyed my life.
That should have been the end of my story…
“Baby.”
Cradled in my mother’s arms as she teetered on the brink of collapse, I cried instinctively—but couldn’t suppress my confusion.
‘What is going on?’
On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, my magic had run wild inside the laboratory, tearing my body to pieces.
So why… had I become a baby again?
“Yernian.”
My mother’s voice trembled, as if she already sensed the impending separation.
“You must survive. No matter what.”
My blurry vision darkened with shadows.
Her trembling fingers lightly touched my cheek before pulling away.
“Your Majesty! You must escape immediately! The assassins have already reached the birthing chamber—!”
“Evacuate the princess first, Head Maid.”
So that they can never find her.
My mother’s voice, now steady, carried firm resolve.
I watched her vague silhouette with a strange feeling.
But as a newborn, I couldn’t possibly see her face clearly.
The woman presumed to be the head maid carefully took me into her arms.
The chilling sound of a sword being drawn pierced my heightened hearing.
“Yernian el Merny.”
My mother called my name with the exact same voice from the day tragedy struck—without the slightest difference.
Distant screams drew closer.
“No matter what happens, you must never cry.”
With those desperate words, my already blurred vision was swallowed by complete darkness.
Inside what seemed like a secret passage, I tensed my entire body to keep myself from crying.
Eighteen years ago, I had lost my right to live as a human because I failed to obey those words.
I didn’t want to go back to that suffocating laboratory.
‘I’m sorry, Mother.’
There was no way a newborn me could prevent today’s tragedy.
A desperate urge to survive rose to my throat, barely suppressing my cries.
If there truly was a god, I prayed that this time I would be given a different path. That they would never find me.
As I bit my lip, I felt a formless energy stirring within me spread throughout my body.
Magic.
The very source of power those people desired—and the reason my life had turned into hell.
If I could, I would have cut it out of my body entirely.
But now, that same power was trying, however weakly, to protect me.
It had awakened far earlier than in my previous life.
‘I don’t want to go back.’
I didn’t want to be captured again and spend my life trapped in a lightless laboratory.
How much time passed in that death-like darkness?
I focused all my senses on the faint sounds reaching my ears.
There was nothing.
‘Did they give up?’
By now, I should have already been discovered and dragged away—just like before.
Forcing my heavy eyelids open—
Creak.
The sound of wood being torn apart echoed, followed by a strange presence.
‘But I haven’t even cried yet!’
No matter how much I screamed inwardly, reality didn’t change.
I was about to be taken again.
Resignation spread through me, and the magic surrounding my body dispersed.
Then, intense heat—something I hadn’t felt before—rushed in all at once.
‘Huh? Fire?’
In my previous life, they had only set the palace on fire after capturing me.
Before I could fully process the difference—
A large, rough hand suddenly lifted my silk-wrapped body into the air.
Flames licked at me from all sides.
The heat was so intense that I might have burned to death if I hadn’t been found.
“…Found you.”
The voice was low.
And unfamiliar.
The hand that held me—also unfamiliar.
Those born with magic never forget from birth, so I was certain.
I focused my blurry vision.
‘…What is that?’
On the man’s head were two triangular shapes I had never seen before.
Ears.
Something I had never once seen on humans before losing my sight in my previous life.
“Your Majesty! Human babies are not like beastfolk—if you handle her like that, something terrible could happen!”
“Then how should I handle her?”
“A newborn can’t support their head, so you must gently support the neck—ah! Just give her to me!”
Something was off.
Eighteen years ago, those people never spoke like this.
And “Your Majesty”?
They had never used titles—only numbers and code names.
‘They’re not them.’
The moment I realized that, the tension in my body melted away.
Another man took me, his hands far more careful.
‘Ah… I shouldn’t fall asleep.’
But my exhausted body and mind reached their limit.
And just like that, I lost consciousness in a stranger’s arms.
***
Licht el Persian.
The head of the beastfolk and patriarch of the Persian family stared down at the sleeping baby with a strange expression.
Something felt… off.
His aide and chief attendant, Mir, who carefully held the baby, seemed to feel the same.
“Your Majesty… Is this child really…?”
Mir couldn’t finish his sentence.
The existence of the prophecy—passed down only to the leaders—was something even he had only learned a few hours ago.
Licht turned away.
As he withdrew the magic supporting the collapsing chamber, flames surged upward, casting long shadows at their feet.
The acrid smell filled the air.
He looked down at his shadow—where small triangular ears were visible.
Behind him, the chamber collapsed into ashes.
“Mir.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Tell Ignis to come to my chambers at dawn tomorrow.”
As Licht turned, firelight flickered in his blue eyes.
He recalled the unknown assassins who had infiltrated the palace on the night of prophecy.
He had arrived late after dealing with them.
If the baby hadn’t awakened her magic to hide herself—
things could have ended very differently.
“Ignis?” Mir raised his brows in surprise. “The Second Prince?”
Licht nodded lazily.
“No one is more persistent than Ignis. He’ll find them.”
The traitor who dared oppose his family from within.
A cold smile curved his lips.
Mir shuddered and quickly looked away.
“And the baby—what shall we do? Perhaps move her to a separate palace for now—”
“No.”
Licht looked up at the twin red moons hanging over the burning palace.
That child… was the only hope that would one day save the beastfolk.
She must never be lost.
Opening a door leading to the beast realm, he gave a quiet command:
“…Prepare a room next to my bedroom.”
