Chapter 11
“No way… Possession is supposed to happen inside the original story, so what do you mean by ‘live practice’?”
Just as Seol was about to argue, she suddenly fell into a deep sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was Asiel—with none of Seol’s memories remaining.
[Babel wanted to see you.]
Babel…
That little demon brat who never stopped nagging her whenever she cleaned the enormous Demon King’s castle.
It was honestly surprising to hear that someone as arrogant as him actually wanted to see her.
What? Did he… actually get attached to me?
If he misses me that much, maybe I could visit him just once—
[He grew a little this time.]
“…Ah.”
[He said he wants to show you what he’s made of.]
Never mind.
Absolutely not.
She was never meeting him.
Pushing thoughts of Babel aside, Asiel buried her fingers in her hair as she recalled everything that had happened.
To be honest…
She truly loved the Windsorberry County.
A father kinder than anyone else in the world.
A mother who cherished her endlessly.
And older brothers who could be a little annoying sometimes, but showered her with more love than she deserved.
If she’d realized from childhood that she had transmigrated into another world…
She probably would’ve suspected the Demon King was messing with her.
The family was just that perfect.
And that wasn’t all.
Asiel even had something Yoon Seol had never possessed in her previous life—
A genuine best friend.
Allen Chaim.
The boy who sighed every time he looked at her, yet always took better care of her than anyone else.
…Wait.
Is Allen the male lead?
The thought sent goosebumps racing down her back.
Actually…
If she ever ran out of things to do in the future, she’d secretly planned to marry Allen.
After all, the Marquis Chaim family had recently discovered a mine, and their wealth was skyrocketing.
She’d only been planning it by herself…
But then she thought it was only fair that Allen knew—it was his future too.
So she’d casually brought it up.
And ended up making him cry.
After that…
She’d set her sights on Allen’s younger brother, Rogers, who was two years younger.
The only problem was…
Rogers seemed utterly terrified every time he saw her.
No way.
Neither of those two could possibly be the male lead.
Right.
What male lead?
This was a childcare novel.
She needed to stay focused on her genre.
As she continued retracing her—no, her embarrassing history—
Asiel grabbed handfuls of her hair.
Why…?
Why did I do that…?
Even if I was little…
“…Could it be…”
Her now thoroughly disheveled hair stuck out in every direction as she muttered blankly,
“When I was little… all that stuff about being the Demon King’s subordinate…”
[Ah, yes. You declared war quite well, didn’t you?]
GAAAAAH!
Upon hearing the Demon King’s answer, Asiel wanted to scream again.
But if she did…
Her entire family downstairs would come rushing up.
So she could only scream internally.
Just earlier, Gale had nearly burst into tears, insisting Asiel was clearly under too much stress.
If Allen heard that…
He’d probably reconsider his loyalty to Gale entirely.
In any case…
Even though Asiel herself couldn’t remember it,
The story that everyone still talked about…
Clearly began as one of the Demon King’s attempts to entertain himself.
She always pretended otherwise.
But every time Count Windsorberry brought up that story…
She’d wanted to die of embarrassment.
“You’re seriously… not even human.”
[Correct. I am, after all, the Demon King.]
The reply only made him even more insufferable.
This couldn’t be happening.
[Watching you from afar was entertaining enough.]
[But now that we can actually talk… you’re even more amusing.]
He’d mentioned “Constellation novels” before.
At this point…
He genuinely seemed convinced he was some kind of god.
Wait…
Could it be because of this guy… that I never received a divine blessing?
The thought sent another chill down her spine.
Those impossible-to-remember gods…
They’d definitely noticed the unmistakable trace of the Demon King engraved on her.
Well…
He had openly admitted he wanted to interfere with someone else’s created world because he couldn’t create one himself.
There was no way the gods would willingly grant blessings to one of his subordinates.
[Now, now.]
[I’m granting blessings too, you know.]
Apparently…
The blasted Demon King could even read her thoughts.
This was exactly why people warned you to read contracts carefully before signing them.
[If you truly want a god’s blessing…]
[Then I’ll gladly become a god.]
And this…
This was exactly why getting your teenage edgelord phase out of your system at the proper age was considered a blessing.
[Hmm… what kind of god should I be?]
“The view from behind looked pretty amazing earlier.”
[Hmm?]
“So maybe… the God of Backs…”
[Asiel Windsorberry.]
Only then did she realize she’d spoken without thinking.
The Demon King’s icy voice instantly made her regret it.
It wasn’t really her fault.
As the beloved youngest daughter—and the true ruler—of the Windsorberry household,
She’d grown up saying whatever came to mind.
[You just called me an idiot to my face.]
“Back’s god” and “idiot” sounded nearly identical in Korean.
She hadn’t technically…
Well…
She hadn’t intended to insult him so directly.
[I’m offended.]
[This is supposed to be a childcare story.]
[Since when do toddlers throw around insults like that?]
“I wasn’t trying to—”
[From now on…]
[Every swear word you say will automatically become ‘boing.’]
“…”
“Oh, for boing’s sake…”
The instant the word really changed into boing…
Asiel clenched her teeth.
It sounded ridiculously adorable.
Boing.
[Now then.]
[Aren’t you curious about the mission I’m assigning you?]
Not even a little.
Just then—
“Asiel!”
Her mother’s voice came from beyond the bedroom door.
“Yes, Mom?”
Asiel answered as naturally as possible while still tugging at her messy hair.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
Yes.
Something is very wrong.
A weird boing over here is talking about becoming a god and giving me missions.
“Then it’s about time you came downstairs.”
“Today’s the day you’ve been looking forward to for so long.”
“It’s your first day at the Academy.”
“…”
“If you’re really feeling as exhausted as Gale says…”
“You don’t have to go.”
“We can all stay home today.”
Even through the closed door…
Her mother’s overwhelming affection wrapped warmly around her.
She’d always taken that love for granted.
But hearing it now…
Made her nose sting.
[Tell her you’re going.]
The Demon King mercilessly interrupted the moment.
“No, I’m going!”
“I’ll be right down!”
Asiel obediently answered exactly as he’d instructed.
Then her bright green eyes blinked in confusion.
…Wait.
Today’s… the Academy entrance day?
Wasn’t that yesterday?
Come to think of it…
The maid, Mary, had said this morning that it was her first Academy day.
Quentin had apparently left at five in the morning because he couldn’t stand how noisy Gale was.
All of that…
Had happened yesterday.
She’d happily gone off to the Academy…
Met countless people…
I finally thought I’d get to meet Rite Rahar…
At that thought—
She clamped both hands over her mouth.
Yesterday’s memories flooded back.
They were so vivid.
So suffocating.
There was no way they had been a dream.
[They weren’t.]
If it wasn’t a dream…
[I turned back time.]
Which meant…
Asiel had already experienced two of the classic regression tropes:
Reincarnation…
And now regression.
[Asiel Windsorberry.]
[The mission entrusted to you is…]
For the first time…
The Demon King hesitated.
A knot formed in Asiel’s stomach.
Just how impossible is this mission…?
She still couldn’t comprehend the idea of turning back time.
What exactly did he want to change?
Could it be…
Saving Rite Rahar?
Her tiny maple-leaf-like hands clenched into fists.
How am I supposed to stop a murder…?
I’m only eight years old.
No…
It can’t be that.
She swallowed hard.
[Ah…]
The Demon King let out something like a sigh.
[This would look much cooler if I could display it through a status window instead of saying it aloud.]
The tension instantly drained from Asiel’s body.
Please stop fooling around and just tell me already.
[Turns out implementing that is harder than I expected…]
[Maybe I need to sign a slave contract with a developer.]
Perhaps he’d simply been lonely after not seeing her for so long.
Or…
Maybe he was just enjoying teasing her.
[Anyway…]
[Your mission is…]
He’d dragged it out this much…
Maybe it wasn’t actually anything that serious.
Just moments ago she’d feared it might really be—
“Save Rite’s life!”
Surely not.
Surely—
[Your mission is… Save Rite Rahar’s life!]
“…”
Asiel collapsed backward onto her bed.
What the heck?!
Give me back my childcare genre!
