The following web novel series is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Daughter of the Emperor

Volume 1

Chapter 1

Hello, I’m Baby

I came into consciousness not long after I was born.

Yes, it may sound a bit strange, but it really was day one, shortly after my birth. Until then, everything was sunken below the surface as if deep in a dream.

My last memory, which was so hazy I barely managed to hold onto it, was that of a strange man stabbing me in the stomach with a sharp knife. I died without having been able to properly resist the merciless hands of a man I had never seen before.

Ugh! I’m pissed! Did I really have to die by being murdered?

“Nngyaa.”

I opened my mouth in frustration, but what came out weren’t words at all. All I wanted to say was, “So annoying,” but all I could feel were my gums bumping against one another. I frowned.

What is this strange sound?

But the question only lasted for a moment. Only then did I foolishly remember. Oh. Right. I’m a damn baby. It was a somewhat miserable feeling. Reincarnation immediately after death? Really?

“Oh! When did our little princess wake up?”

You’re asking me? Since when have you been here?

I let out a yawn as I felt a pair of arms picking me up. To be honest, my vision was absolute trash, so I couldn’t really tell if it was day or night. However, it had been improving at a rapid pace ever since I came into consciousness these past few days.

But seriously, when did I wake up? I don’t even know.

I guess this was what being a baby was supposed to be like. I was sleepy even after having slept all day. And very sleepy at that. How was it I did not feel refreshed after all this sleep? I had to sleep constantly and deeply to feel satisfied.

Ah, I’m sleepy again.

But seeing as I was a baby, I could sleep all day and no one said a thing, so that was nice. Since we’re on the topic, should I sleep again?

After I closed my eyes (which I’d barely managed to open in the first place), a pleasant aroma drifted past my nose.

Ugh. I can’t believe the smell of this is fragrant to me. I’m doomed. I really am a baby through and through.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that it was exactly what I thought it was: nomnoms.

The resistance to knowing where the breast milk came from only lasted for a brief moment. I couldn’t help my body’s reaction. I’m hungry. Initially, I couldn’t even open my eyes, so I had feasted without hesitation. But now I could! Still, the circumstances were the same.

I mean, what else can I do but eat? At least it’s delicious.

I soon became very busy sucking on what was in my mouth and filling my stomach. I don’t know how I ended up reincarnating, but experiencing the life of a baby with a sound mind is quite the interesting experi—not! What in the world is this?!

“No need to rush. Yes, that’s right.”

I was puzzled by the affectionate words filling my ears. Language was supposed to be learned as a child grew older, but somehow, at just a few days old, the human language was automatically interpreted in my head in a way I could understand.

Does that mean it’s Korean? But it can’t be.

“Our princess.”

After I finished feasting, a woman stroked my back as she held me. She’s trying to make me burp. I wanted to hurry up and burp for her, but I didn’t even have control of my own neck, so there really wasn’t anything I could do. It was my body, but I couldn’t do what I wanted with it.

“Princess…”

Ugh, seriously! Why do you keep calling me?!

The voice was so weak and pitiful that if someone else had heard it, they would have thought I was dying. Listening to it made me feel like I was some terminally ill patient.

Yes, I’m here and I’m not dying, Nanny.

The nanny laughed at my movements. At least I was able to recognize that she was laughing.

Side note, being called “princess” had made me think that my name might be “Princess” or that I might be the precious, beloved child of some ordinary family. I’d never have guessed that I was literally a princess…

Uh, can one call this a plot twist?

Well, in that sense, the bigger plot twist was hiding in a different place. If I had to be reborn as a princess, I would have hoped to be born into a happy royal family. However…

“Your Majesty!”

Huh? I thought he said he was going to be here in two days. He’s early.

Startled, I gripped Nanny’s collar. Nanny was startled herself. She turned pale and froze in place. The burp that was about to come out crawled back down my throat. That scared me!

“Y-Your Majesty!!”

So, I’d been reincarnated. I didn’t know the name of the body I’d been reincarnated into, but I knew I’d been born with an incredible status.

But there was one problem. It just so happened that my biological father was the crazy bloodthirsty tyrant Emperor Caitel.

Caitel Agrigent…

That slick, handsome man who’d burst into the room just now.

“May you reach Evangelium.”

The nanny immediately bent at the knees with me in her arms. But the man’s scarlet eyes didn’t even give the nanny so much as a glance.

So this is the guy. The main character of the story I’ve been hearing about tirelessly for the past week.

It was my first time seeing him, but strangely, it didn’t feel like the first time. Was it because I had been hearing about him so much?

The air suddenly became cold and tense. I did my best to straighten my back, although it made no noticeable difference.

We’d merely met eyes, but my body began to tremble. It was hard to believe that someone was giving a look like that to their own child. That ferocious gaze made me want to cry, but I held back.

A crazy guy like that would kill me for crying.

His scarlet eyes were red like blood. His silvery-red hair, as if it had been dyed by the sunset, fell over his face like snow, and his dizzyingly handsome face had the kind of beauty that belonged to a celestial being.

Yes. It’s him.

Surely this wasn’t the right feeling to have when meeting your father for the first time after being born, but I couldn’t help but stare at him full of discontent.

So, this terrifyingly handsome and slick man was none other than the Emperor of the Agrigent Empire and my father. A tyrant better known as “The Crazed Emperor” who, since ascending the throne five years ago, had already seized ten different kingdoms to build his massive empire.

Oh, dear God.

The silence was heavy. He stared at me with cold eyes completely devoid of emotion. The look was an arrogant one. My throat felt like it was getting dry at the sight of him looking at me like that.

Is this what it means to be intimidated?

“So this baby is mine?”

For a moment, the corners of his lips twitched and his long eyelashes fanned out to cover his eyes. Only then did the air that had been weighing down on me lighten a little.

Such godly beauty doesn’t suit the insanity that roars within.

I puffed out my cheeks unwittingly. It was immediately noticeable, given how plump my cheeks were. He laughed in amusement.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!!!”

I heard the voice of another man join the voice of the flustered nanny. But I didn’t get a chance to see the face of the other man before the bastard’s large hand grabbed my neck. That’s right. My neck!

My breaths were short.

I stared into the eyes of the man who gripped my neck in his hand. It was true that the gaze looking down at me was more threatening than the look I sent back up at him, but it wasn’t so scary that I wanted to die.

It’s just… just… I can’t believe this bastard is my father.

My new life has just started and it’s already ninety percent shit!

I sighed and shed lamentful tears on the inside. The sound of my breathing was especially quiet because I was a child. I could hear myself. And it seemed like he could hear me too. There was a strange light gleaming in the emperor’s eyes. He seemed intrigued that I wasn’t showing much of a reaction despite him gripping my neck.

Well, I myself am intrigued if I’m being honest.

I heard a desperate voice from behind him. “Your Majesty…” It sounded so desperate that even I felt bad. I mean, that would be the normal response after all.

But how is it I’m so calm in the face of death? Is it because I’ve already died once? But that’s preposterous!

Maybe I already gave up on this life as soon as I was born. The rumors were horrible after all. He is a mass murderer who has slaughtered every woman he’s slept with. Would a madman like him really keep his own child alive?

Fine. Just kill me already. Those eyes aren’t the eyes of a father. Ahh, this is sad. I’ve gone through the trouble of dying and reincarnating, and this is the kind of father I get? I must have been a terrible traitor who betrayed my country in my past life. If not, why would this happen to me?!

After strangling me for a while, Caitel spoke. “Ariadna.”

Then he removed his cold hand. When I shook my head left and right at the sudden emptiness I felt, he chuckled.

“That will be her name.”

This was the first meeting between the crazy emperor and his only daughter.

***

A baby’s life is monotonous. Eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep.

Yup. That’s really all there is. Regardless of whether my father had come to see me or not, I had to stay true to my routine, so I was immediately put in the cradle. The gentle aroma of the soft blanket tickled my nose.

After patting my back to help release the burp that had gone down earlier, my nanny now stood smiling over me. She looked relieved.

“You did marvelously, Princess. Had you cried, you would have been slain. A job well done, Your Highness.”

She was right, but I couldn’t help but feel hurt. What kind of nanny says that to a baby? It all felt so unfair and wrong, and yet I couldn’t say a word. I was a baby! I didn’t even have teeth! Waaah!

“Now, time to sleep.”

I hate you! So much! I really do!

I looked askance at my nanny, Lady Serira, who was barely twenty-three years of age, and then I closed my eyes.

Fine. I’ll sleep.

I was twenty-five when I died, so no matter how hard I tried to convince myself into thinking that Serira was my nanny, I could only see her as someone younger than me.

I’m ruined.

First of all, the fact that my own father was a massive failure clearly pointed to the fact that my life was already half ruined. I had heard that Caitel had gone to sweep the southern kingdom of Izarta, but seeing as he was already back, he must have taken care of that a while ago.

I wasn’t familiar with the stench of blood as I was a mere baby, but the nanny said that she had gotten a whiff of it from the emperor earlier.

“Are you having trouble falling asleep? Shall I sing you a lullaby, Princess?”

Sure, why not? Give it a shot.

I nodded as I closed my sleepy eyes. It was a tiny gesture, but Serira was so pleased she smiled. She was so pretty when she did that. I had heard that she left her own child under the care of her parents to come work in the palace. It seemed there was a brave girl beneath that delicate face.

“Sleep well, my baby… In the front yard and on the back hill…”

My eyes slowly closed at the familiar lullaby. It sounded like something that had been sung to me when I was a baby in my previous life. I’m not sure if I’m that sleepy, but sure, I’ll give it a shot. With that thought, I also got sad.

Oh, God. I really am a baby, aren’t I?

I feel like I’m being swallowed by slumber.

The thoughts and memories flooded into my mind and became intertwined with one another.

There were certain things I had heard tirelessly all week, such as that I was “as good as dead,” that the emperor wouldn’t let me live, and stuff like that.

To be more specific, they talked about how previous women had died this way or that, and how it would happen this time.

On top of that, there was also the story of how my mother had already died, and of how while she was giving birth to me, the jerk who is my father had raised an army and gone off to attack the southern kingdoms.

Seeing as how I was being called “princess,” I’d thought that I might be the daughter of an empress, but of course, my father was a singular, unique bastard. In his twenty-six years of life, he had never had an empress or consort.

However, the reason I was being called a “princess” was because I was his only child.

“His Majesty is leaving the princess alone for once. He even gave her a name.”

“Shh. You mustn’t say things like that.”

Ah, she’s here again. I furrowed my brow at the annoying voice I heard in my sleep. Elene, my personal maid, was a big chatterbox, and as such, the source of all information. Ugh, so noisy. I always woke up to the sound of that voice.

“You’ve woken up the princess.”

“Oh, she’s deep asleep!”

You wish! I’m awake because of you now! I wanted to say something to her but immediately remembered that I was a baby. Gaaah, this is truly upsetting.

“Elene!”

“Oh, all right. I’ll be quiet.”

Only after Elene’s voice died down at the nanny’s reprimanding did I finally feel at ease.

Feeling more relaxed, I went back to sleep. Unable to hold her tongue for very long, Elene began to whisper all sorts of gossip soon after. I let her words enter one ear and spill out the other as I thought back on the stories I had heard until now.