Episode 2
*Cough, cough!*
A weak cough echoed from not far away.
I blinked a few times, but everything was still dark.
*Ha… I definitely died just now.*
And yet I could hear someone coughing.
Did I end up in the afterlife… together with Emperor Habib?
Absolutely not. I’d rather disappear into dust.
— *Shffft.*
Curtains opened.
Beyond the window, the palace was faintly outlined in the dim predawn light.
*Hmm? It looks a bit like the Lruella Palace.*
Does the afterlife have a Lruella Palace too?
As I tilted my head, the coughing drew closer.
“Cough, cough! Your Highness, are you awake?”
Instinctively, I turned toward the voice—and let out a scream.
“U—uwaaa…!”
My own voice startled me even more.
The absurdly tiny baby voice made me slap both hands over my mouth.
“Oh dear, Your Highness…”
The coughing woman hurried over, lifting me into her arms and hugging me tightly.
She gently patted my back.
“Did you have a bad dream? But you mustn’t scream… It’s dangerous, Your Highness…”
I looked up at her in shock.
I knew that face—
a face I had missed so desperately.
*Gabriella.*
Besides my mother and the royal guard, she was my only companion in that secret childhood.
“Gabi…?”
I whispered cautiously. Gabriella laughed softly.
“Feeling better now? It’s time to return to the main palace. We must hurry before sunrise. Up we go!”
Gabriella had died years ago.
But this situation was far too familiar to be the afterlife.
A young princess waking in the detached residence and returning to the main palace before dawn.
*Anyone else would think this is insane—but for us, it was daily routine.*
Gabriella hugged me tightly and wrapped a large cloth around her body.
Then another one—layering it.
Which meant…
*…my body has gotten smaller.*
She wrapped me snugly enough to disappear inside her cloak.
“Cough—just hold on for a bit, all right? Our kind princess, we’re going to see your mother, so be patient.”
Even half-asleep, my body moved automatically through the familiar routine.
*Damn it.*
I prayed so desperately at the moment of death.
I didn’t curse my wicked twin sister—even as I died for her crimes.
All I asked was one thing.
But the gods must have ignored me.
Because here I am again…
Another royal twin.
*Damn it!*
—
**The Holy Kingdom of Lruella.**
The founding king received divine power from God, passing it to his daughter, and to her daughter, generation after generation.
The strength of the kings varied, but none were ever born without divine power.
*Divine power is the very symbol of the royal throne.*
Long ago, twin princesses were born.
Each had divine power. Equal strength.
There should have been only one heir—yet there were two.
They competed instead of cooperated.
Eventually, they waged war against each other, plunging the kingdom into ruin.
There’s even a terrifying legend that the first princess, gifted with water magic, drowned the capital and created the Ikhan Island.
Since then, the royal family despised twins.
Not just despised—they discarded the weaker one at birth.
Peace returned, and the throne continued being passed to a powerful only daughter.
For hundreds of years.
Until we were born.
My mother, Queen Oblin, bold enough to be recorded in history, hid us—her forbidden twins—for fifteen years.
Other than her guard and Gabriella the midwife, no one knew.
*Not even our father knew. For fifteen years.*
Back then, I couldn’t understand her nerve.
But when we turned fifteen, the truth came out.
Mother had received a secret divine oracle:
**She must save both twins. Raise both.**
So Gabriella lived in the detached residence and raised us alternately with Mother.
*A day as the midwife’s daughter, a day as the king’s daughter.*
*The twin princesses of Lruella.*
Let me be clear: that’s not a life I ever wanted to live again.
“We’re here, Your Highness.”
Gabriella whispered.
She set me on the bed—and immediately picked up another baby.
*R—Rosa…?*
Just yesterday I was alone in a cold prison cell, searching for her.
Now Rosa was a tiny baby again, sleeping soundly.
*I can’t believe I’m seeing that damned brat again.*
While I watched in shock, Gabriella wrapped Rosa in the cloth and disappeared quickly.
I closed my eyes, trying to accept this impossible reality.
*I’m a baby again.*
The hardships of our childhood flashed through my mind.
*Do I really have to do all that again…?*
I was calculating whether dying again might be easier when a whisper sounded near me.
“Your Highness, are you awake?”
*Beatrice…!*
Beatrice was the maid who adored me in childhood—
until one small mistake of mine got her expelled from the palace.
I opened my eyes wide and stretched my arms out toward her.
“Twish…!”
My voice wobbled with emotion. Beatrice smiled.
“Oh my, being hugged by Your Highness first thing in the morning—what a blessed day.”
Beatrice… I’m happy to see you too…
I teared up in her arms.
—
“*Sigh…*”
Sitting before the vanity, I stared into the mirror.
A tiny child stared back.
About the same size as Rosa had been earlier.
*…How am I supposed to live that long life again?*
While I stressed, Beatrice found it amusing.
“Oh my, did our baby princess just sigh? Where did you learn that?”
“Eee-hyuu…”
I sighed again. Beatrice chuckled and continued brushing.
When she began braiding my hair, I quickly shook my head and raised both fists to the sides of my head.
“Make bread hair. Like dis.”
Beatrice blinked, surprised.
“Bread buns? But you always hated that hairstyle.”
I nodded firmly.
“Yes. Bread hair.”
Beatrice’s lips curled into a smile.
“His Majesty will be thrilled.”
Yes.
The twin round buns—*‘bread hair’*—were Mother’s favorite.
*I hated when she pretended to bite my hair like it was bread…*
But there was only one lifeline in my life.
*Queen Oblin, my mother.*
She endured everything to keep us alive.
She never once favored Rosa, even though Rosa’s power was far stronger.
I am grateful—but this time, gratitude isn’t enough.
To change my fate, I need Mother to be on *my* side.
So…
*Bread hair first.*
Beatrice cleaned my face and hands, dressed me in a dazzling dress, and showed me hair accessories.
“I want dis one.”
I chose the antique ash-gray ribbon Mother liked best.
“My, no flashy neon today? His Majesty may faint from joy.”
As she tied the ribbons, I asked,
“Twish, how old me?”
I had to confirm.
Gabriella’s coughing worried me.
*Please don’t be five years old yet.*
Beatrice held up four fingers.
“You are four. In four months, you’ll be five. I wonder how wonderful Princess will be at five!”
Thank goodness.
I grinned.
“I gonna be aweshome. Twish gonna be shocked.”
Not a shred of truth, but Beatrice laughed anyway.
When she turned to fetch my cloak, I let my smile fade.
If I am to redo this life, I must prevent the tragedies.
There’s one thing that must be done.
*I must save Gabriella.*
When I turn five, she will die of tuberculosis.
And everything begins to fall apart.
*No. Not this time.*
The doctor once said—if only they had started treatment sooner, she could’ve survived.
*I’m still four.*
First step: save Gabriella.
Kicking Rosa out the window can be a hobby for later.
—
“Preposterous!”
Beatrice flinched mid-step.
Mother’s voice thundered from the audience chamber.
Queen Oblin is a good person.
At least—to me.
*But can someone who deceived everyone for fifteen years be called just “kind”? Even her husband?*
*Bang!*
A loud slam. Someone began to plead.
“I—I apologize, Your Majesty…! Please reconsider…”
“Until you bring a proper report, the royal guards will withdraw from the Troin border.”
“Your Majesty, I beg you—!”
That idiot Count Troin…
Why would he request audience *this early*?
Mother is in a terrible mood in the morning.
*She hasn’t seen me yet.*
I tapped Beatrice’s shoulder gently.
Snippet from the guards:
“Her Highness the Princess has arrived to pay respects!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Mother immediately brightened.
“Leave. Now.”
“But Your Majesty, the border—”
I slipped out of Beatrice’s arms and toddled toward Mother.
“Mama!”
Mother waved dismissively at the Count.
“Yes, yes, go, go. Leave now—immediately.”
Then she turned toward me.
Her smile bloomed like the sun.
“Ohhhh, my baby girl came to see me? Did you sleep well? Were you cold?”
