IWBAACTWITOS Chapter 11

I Received a Marriage Proposal from the Sub Male Lead

When I returned home, I was punished with what they called "time for self-reflection," which meant I had to sit in a chair staring at the wall for quite a while.

Actually, sitting still for a long time is only torturous for little kids—it wasn't particularly painful for me.

However, wandering through vivid memories and occasionally snapping back to reality made my head hurt terribly.

'Was there some problem during the revolving lantern process?'

They say that when humans die, the brain releases adrenaline to escape extreme pain and recalls forgotten memories from the past.

I closed my eyes while looking at my brother's face streaked with tears, and like a flashback, I saw the revolving lantern—then when I opened my eyes again, I was baby Thalia.

The revolving lantern process—which I had temporarily forgotten while adapting to this young body and the intense pain—came flooding back in its entirety through the smallest of triggers.

'Brother, I died, didn't I?'

My mother's son in my memories couldn't possibly answer. For some reason, that guy had come out to meet me on his way to buy ramen, and he went flying magnificently through the sky right before my eyes.

I even remembered the bag of ramen my brother was holding as it fell to the ground. If not for that incident, we would have cooked and eaten that ramen together while listening to Mom's nagging about what we were eating again at night.

'I never jaywalked once after becoming an adult.'

I always followed traffic laws well, thinking that breaking signals would only result in losses for me, but it was useless even if I alone followed them well.

Whether the car malfunctioned, or it was drunk driving or drowsy driving, I hoped that bastard who hit me would be completely ruined.

I knew it couldn't compensate for my ended life or for my family who lost me, but I had no choice but to hope for at least that much.

Now I vaguely understood why I was born in this place, but that was a different matter from my life.

"Tilly."

I already knew someone had entered through the open door and was watching me. Julian, who had been standing behind me for quite a while, called my name.

"...Papa."

As expected, I was a weak person, so while I couldn't acknowledge him as papa, I could at least call him that.

"The punishment is over now. Come here."

When Julian gestured, I got up from the chair and approached him. Julian stroked my head and asked if I had reflected enough.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"...Actually, if you told me to hit him again, I probably could."

Julian burst into laughter at my answer. Finding something so amusing, Julian laughed for quite a while before hugging me. Being held in Julian's arms seemed to ease my terrible headache a little. However, since I still didn't feel good, I asked him grumpily why he was laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Tilly takes after Papa."

"Papa, did you hit His Highness the Prince?"

"No, no. I've hit someone who was His Highness the Prince before, but I've never hit the current His Highness the Prince."

"By any chance, is it Papa's only friend who's now called His Imperial Majesty?"

When Julian nodded, I chuckled. Certainly, according to the setting, the only target Julian ever used violence against in his life was Philius.

"Does Tilly like Ash?"

"I already said I liked him before."

"Because he's cute?"

"No, I just like him because he's Ash."

Julian smiled softly at my answer.

"You've made a good friend."

"Ash says he wants to marry me."

"Absolutely not. How dare anyone with my daughter."

"Then who do I marry?"

"Papa."

"But Papa married Mama."

"Then Tilly can marry Mama too. Marry Papa and marry Mama too."

"...Never mind. I'd rather not marry at all."

"Right, don't marry and live with Mama, Papa, and Royna forever."

In any case, what Julian wanted was for the family to live happily together. Knowing nothing, Julian asked me with a smile.

"Whose daughter is our Tilly?"

"...Well, whose daughter am I?"

"Whose daughter indeed—Mama and Papa's daughter."

"Are you happy that I'm Mama and Papa's daughter?"

"Of course, I'm so very happy that Thalia is Mama and Papa's daughter."

I buried my face in Julian's shoulder and closed my eyes.

"I want to sleep with Mama and Papa today."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What's gotten into our Tilly to act so spoiled?"

"So, you don't like it?"

"No, I love it."

Since my face was buried in his arms, I couldn't see his expression, but it was obvious. His mouth was definitely stretched from ear to ear.

'Just for one day.'

Just for one night, I wanted to forget that this place was a novel I wrote and think of Roxana and Julian as my mama and papa. It was unfair to both him and my real father that I was thinking of my dad while in the arms of someone who loved me purely, but right now I couldn't endure without doing so.

A small foot that had kicked off the blanket landed right on Roxana's waist. Julian, who had been reading documents, lowered Thalia's foot. After covering her with the blanket and trying to read his book again, he suddenly felt a gaze and turned his head. Roxana, whom he thought was sleeping, was staring at Julian intently.

"You weren't sleeping?"

"I was sleeping but woke up."

Roxana, who apparently had no intention of going back to sleep, sat up. Roxana pressed her stiff eyelids firmly and then became interested in the documents Julian was reading.

"Is that a list of the prince's attendants?"

"Yes, he'll arrive in the capital in a few days, so there are many things to prepare. The knight order decided to go out to meet him, right?"

"Right, tomorrow... no, it's today now. I'll leave tomorrow morning leading thirty knights and a hundred soldiers."

It was already decided that Roxana would personally go out to meet them. However, the number of soldiers Roxana was leading was almost enough to call an army.

"Soldiers aside, do we really need thirty knights?"

"It's been too quiet, and I have a bad feeling. I'm thinking of moving with only highly mobile knights in case of emergencies."

"..."

Julian, like Roxana, was suspicious about the fact that nothing had happened on the prince's journey to the empire. Once they crossed the border, the empire would be responsible for the prince's safety, so they had been on high alert, but nothing had happened during the nearly month-long period it took to reach the capital.

'I understand, but isn't that still too excessive?'

"If nothing happens, that's good."

"Well, thinking of the old days, I can't really say that nothing happening is good, can I? Even if nothing happens, it would at least serve as a show of force telling the empire not to try anything foolish."

"..."

Having nothing to say to Roxana's point, Julian could only smile bitterly. Roxana, as if she had brought up something unnecessary, placed her hand on Julian's.

"You promised not to cry until everything is finished."

"...I did."

Currently, they were quietly keeping their mouths shut in submission to imperial power, but the forces that once held and shook the empire's real power still remained. Even if the imperial family and ducal house lost their power in the future, establishing laws and foundations to prevent the empire from rotting was still a long, long way off.

'Honestly, I don't really know what "unwavering degree" means.'

Still, there was a promise made, and for the children's sake, he had to work hard without crying. Julian looked down at Thalia to steel his resolve. She was smacking her little lips, apparently eating something delicious in her dreams. Both Julian and Roxana smiled simultaneously at her innocent appearance.

"When I see her like this, she's still a baby, but yesterday I was really surprised. I wondered if she was always such a kind child, telling His Highness the Prince things so he wouldn't get hurt."

"Does Roxana want Tilly to grow up to be a kind child?"

"...I don't really want to divide her into a good child or bad child. I just hope she'll have what's necessary to know what happiness and love are."

And Thalia knew very well what that was. Not only that, she was a child who willingly shared with others even without being taught. While Roxana was looking at Thalia with proud eyes, Julian suddenly cleared his throat deliberately.

"Roxana."

"Yes?"

"I've made a decision about today."

"What?"

"From now on, I'm going to bury every bastard who proposes to our goddess."

Realizing that Julian's words were sincere, Roxana clicked her tongue and said:

"This is why you always get scolded by Tilly."

Today, the sun rose without fail again. I lay between the sleeping Roxana and Julian, blinking slowly.

'I woke up too early.'

It was because I had gone to sleep early yesterday due to my terrible headache. I tried to pull the blanket back over myself and go back to sleep, but my mind only became clearer.

I alternately looked at Roxana and Julian lying on either side of me. Being sandwiched between these two people who would surely smile at me when they opened their eyes felt like swallowing bubbling foam.

It wasn't the first or second time I'd felt this strange feeling, but each time I felt rejection and acted unnecessarily petulant.

However, now I no longer wanted to be petulant, and feeling sorry about waking the two sleeping people, I quietly slipped out of bed.

Leaving the bedroom, I headed to the baby room not far away. Since it was dawn with the sun just rising, the maid who cared for the baby at night seemed to be sleeping in the adjacent room.

Surprisingly, Royna was awake without crying, looking at the mobile. A smile spread across Royna's face when she spotted me.

"Ma, mama."

"..."

"Maaa?"

When I just looked down at her, Royna seemed to turn over and then sat up abruptly.

"Oh."

Just two months ago, she could barely turn over, but now she seemed to be sitting up by herself.

Since I had hardly looked in on her for two months because of Ash, Royna had grown up considerably before I knew it. Sometimes I wondered why she grew so slowly, yet she seemed to grow incredibly fast.

'Already half a year?'

It had already been half a year since Royna was born, and I had been avoiding Royna. Since she was a baby with a limited range of movement anyway, there was nothing to avoid—I just had to not enter the baby room.

Occasionally, when the nanny or Julian brought me to this room for the reason that I should bond with my sister, I really didn't even glance at her.

"Eah! Mama!"

"No mama."

"Mama?"

Even when I said there was no mama, Royna continued to reach out her hand as if demanding something. When I handed her a toy from above the crib, Royna shook the toy happily.

"Royna, who did I come to this place to help?"

I could ask because Royna was a baby who knew nothing. At my question, Royna seemed to try to tilt her head but lost her balance and flopped down.

Sucking on the toy in her hand, her clear eyes looked directly at me.

"Are you happy that I'm your sister?"

"Mama!"

I couldn't tell exactly what this baby was thinking, but I could tell she liked me.

I eventually had no choice but to smile along with Royna. There was no rejection like before. This peacefulness felt not too bad.

In a book I read in my previous life, it said that humans go through five stages when accepting their death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Right now, I seemed to be around the bargaining or acceptance stage. I was tired of pretending not to know, crying, and throwing tantrums.

So I thought it might be okay to compromise now. As long as there was something I had to do in this place, and as long as I could never return, I had to compromise and live as Thalia.

"Good morning, Royna."

"Daaa!"