“Are you okay now?”
“…Yes.”
I smiled faintly and blew my nose with a tissue.
“Hehe.”
“Do you want to sit next to Daddy?”
“No. I want to sit like before.”
When I shyly said that, Dad picked me up and placed me on his lap.
Being in his arms always felt nice—warm and reassuring.
Looking at his stats, he seemed weaker than me, but he had a title, and the presence he showed recently was truly impressive.
If I ever became king, I wanted to be a king like my dad.
Maybe my dad would go down in history as a wise and great ruler.
The daughter of a legendary king—just thinking about it made me happy.
My dad, the greatest ruler of all time!
A smile naturally spread across my face.
“Our Minho is helping Daddy a lot, huh?”
“Huh?”
I was grinning from ear to ear when Dad suddenly said something I didn’t understand.
“Keep smiling like that.”
“…Okay!”
I couldn’t stop smiling.
If Dad hadn’t been there, the lingering fear from my nightmare would have lasted much longer.
It hadn’t been that long since I woke up, but the nightmare had already faded from my mind.
I couldn’t even remember what it was about—just that it was a bad dream.
Well, there was no reason to dwell on it and feel sad again, so I turned around and hugged Dad tightly.
“Wow~ Minho is such a good child!”
“Hehe!”
“I’ll finish work quickly, so let’s have dinner together today.”
“Okay!”
My tail wagged excitedly.
After helping Dad, I headed to the library with a sense of accomplishment.
The reason?
I wanted to learn about our kingdom’s history.
Normally, I wouldn’t have cared about something like that.
But…
“…Because after seeing Dad, I want to become a king!”
I wanted to be a king.
In a monarchy, the evaluations of past rulers are always recorded in history.
Wouldn’t our kingdom have something like royal chronicles?
That thought led me to the library.
“…I have to be quiet!”
The servants were studying and chatting, so I tiptoed around the library carefully.
“…L-Look, it’s the princess..!”
“…This is my first time seeing her up close!”
I heard whispers of surprise as I passed by.
‘I hope I’m not distracting them from their studies. I feel kind of bad.’
Every time I noticed their stares, I bowed my head slightly to apologize and focused on gathering history books.
Bow.
“Kyaaah!”
“You there! Out!”
“…Oh.”
For some reason, someone screamed and I got kicked out of the library.
Was my greeting really that scary?
‘…Maybe it’s better if I don’t bow my head in greeting.’
Come to think of it, it must be quite terrifying for a mere servant to see a princess of the kingdom bowing and apologizing.
Put myself in their shoes.
‘I need to have more of a ruler’s mindset…!!’
Clenching my fists, I walked with confidence.
With that determination, I strode through the library, gathering various history books.
“…Looks like there aren’t any royal chronicles of our past kings.”
Well, of course.
Those are meant to be left for future generations, not something just anyone can casually browse.
Thinking about it, those kinds of records wouldn’t be in a library in the first place.
“For now, I should just read what I can.”
I found a seat by the window where the sunlight streamed in and opened a book.
The title was The Founding of the Unified Kingdom and Its Legitimacy.
There was one reason I chose this book.
The time period of Hero Fantasy, the game I used to play, and the present seemed to be separated by a significant gap.
Since this year is Unified Year 3000, that means at least 3,000 years have passed.
In other words…
“…I have a 3,000-year gap in my knowledge of this world.”
I still remembered Hero Fantasy inside and out.
I knew what creatures lived in which regions and which races held power in which territories.
But now, I knew nothing.
The empire’s territory wasn’t even that vast originally.
The kingdoms and republics? I had never heard of them before.
Even the creature called Wuha—completely unfamiliar.
I’d have to update my knowledge if I wanted to be a proper ruler.
‘Now that I think about it, Ramir said he was entering the academy, right?’
Should I go too?
If I told Mom and Dad I wanted to go, they might let me.
With that in mind, I hurried off to find books about the academy.
“Alright! Got them!”
And so, I opened my books and started studying.
Back in my past life, even as a student, I hadn’t studied much, so it took me a while to get my brain into gear.
Back then, I had someone studying beside me… Thinking about it now made me feel a little melancholic.
“…Ughhh, I have no idea what this means…”
I groaned, gripping my head as I studied.
[The king waves a cheering stick to support you.]
[The GM watches you fondly before coughing up blood.]
Even the gods were cheering me on, so I had to do my best.
“…Wow, Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather were amazing people!”
One thing was clear—my great-grandmother and great-grandfather were truly incredible figures.
And the state of dragons right before the unification was described in quite raw detail.
“…So, they all merged together.”
The period just before unification was commonly called the Era of Chaos.
During that time…
The Glacia, Volcano, Wind, and Mineral dragons kept waging war, and the newly born dragons ended up founding their own nations.
The older, now smaller in number, dragons eventually joined the newly established dragon factions, leading to the unification of their species.
The Lake Dragons, who were believed to have gone extinct after losing to the Glacia dragons, were later confirmed to still exist when Grandmother Anuket appeared at the founding ceremony of the Unified Kingdom—grabbing Grandmother Lavender by the hair.
That’s how the Lake Dragons were reintegrated, completing the foundation of the Unified Kingdom.
“…Pffft.”
At the bottom of the page, there was a photo of Grandmother Flare standing awkwardly between Grandmother Lavender and Grandmother Anuket, who were in the middle of a fight, completely at a loss about what to do.
“I shouldn’t be laughing…”
‘…Pfft.’
But I couldn’t help it—the image was just too funny.
“…Ah, Your Highness.”
“…She’s laughing?”
“…How adorable.”
As I chuckled, I heard murmurs around me.
“Gasp!”
I was so startled that I quickly covered my mouth with my small hands.
‘I need to be quiet!’
Laughing in a library—how careless of me.
If that person who used to study with me were here, they would’ve smacked me on the back.
‘I wonder if Gaeul is doing well.’
I hope they’ve moved on and are living a good life without thinking about me.
Maybe they’ve met someone new and are happy.
The way things ended was such a mess that they probably didn’t even attend my funeral.
‘…Should I ask Yuri unnie when I go back?’
Muttering to myself, I turned my gaze back to the book.
“…But wow, Grandma Flare was really beautiful.”
She looked stunning.
Elegant and intelligent—like true nobility.
And then, I came across something quite shocking.
“…Queen Flare Laskaris, the founder of the kingdom, has been missing since Unified Year 323…”
“Her spouse, Karl Laskaris, was found deceased, and his remains were only discovered in Unified Year 1821.”
“…Even though the great Queen Flare Laskaris went missing, her glorious achievements will shine eternally, never to be forgotten.”
‘…May the peace and glory of unification continue forever.’
That was the final sentence of the historical account on the founding of the kingdom.
Something about it left me feeling unsettled.
“…Should I stop here for today?”
I struggled to carry the heavy books back to their shelves all at once.
Seeing me struggling, the librarian hurried over in a panic.
“Your Highness, may I assist you?”
“Ah, yes, please!”
With a bright smile, the librarian carried the books and placed them back on the shelves.
I felt bad for making her do extra work, but when I apologized, she just smiled even more warmly and worked even harder.
Before I knew it, only two books remained.
I held the last two books tightly against my chest.
“…I-I’d like to borrow these.”
One was the continuation of the history book I had just read—The History of the Unified Kingdom.
The other was titled Our Lost Language: The Dragon Tongue.
Since I could use the dragon language, I wanted to learn more about it, but I figured the elder dragons were too busy to teach me.
Still, I hadn’t even read a single sentence yet.
I wanted to go through a bit before bedtime, so I decided to borrow both books.
“You’re working really hard.”
“Yes! I want to be an amazing king like my dad! No—better yet, I want to become a great dragon!”
“You wish to be like His Majesty?”
“Yes!”
When I nodded, the librarian chuckled and handed me the books.
“His Majesty is an extraordinary ruler—it won’t be easy.”
“…I know…! But I still want to try!”
I clenched my fists, determination burning in my eyes.
For some reason, the librarian suddenly burst into laughter.
“S-Sorry…! I’m so sorry…!”
She had to bow and apologize to the people around us for disturbing the quiet.
Feeling partly responsible, I also lowered my head in apology—
‘Wait! If I lower my head, won’t that cause problems?’
Realizing this, I quickly stopped myself halfway, ending up in a weird, awkward posture.
Oh well, it didn’t really matter.
Giggling, I hugged the thick books close to my chest and walked out of the library.
Of course, I didn’t forget to thank the librarian on my way out.
Studying for the first time in a long while was more enjoyable than I had expected.
Hmm