Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The hero hadn’t gained strength yet. Bella looked at Kiel, who was fast asleep.

She patted him on the shoulder and saw him occasionally flinch as if he had a bad dream.

In the book, Kiel had lived as a peddler until he went to the palace.

Although he endured several challenges at a young age, the divine power he had gained by chance protected him.

‘For the novel to continue according to plan, I’ll have to leave you somewhere tomorrow.’

Bella caressed Kiel’s hair while she read the novel they were in.

Kiel, the illegitimate son of the emperor, wandered around until he 15 and entered the palace. At 18, he left the palace to gather the sacred objects to gain mana.

The novel began when Kiel turned 18—right when he met Rosanna.

He met her while collecting a sacred object and was struck with curiosity.

As the night wore on, Bella fell deeper into the novel.

The more she read, the more her face grew darker.

When she read the last page, Bella sighed loudly and buried her face into her hands.

‘I’m screwed.’

She peeked at Kiel and his pendant through the cracks between her fingers.

The pendant, a relic, had divine power.

Before Kiel became the crown prince, the divine power had shown itself many times.

In some scenes, the divine power was able to protect the young, wandering Kiel.

Bella read the scenes she had bookmarked once again.

[“My uncle sold me to some sorcerer, and there, I met an angel who almost died in an experiment.” Kiel showed the pendant around his neck. “Since then, whenever there is danger, a force comes to help me.”]

Uncle. Mage. Experiment.

“So the guy I killed earlier was the sorcerer.” Bella gulped as she touched the pendant.

‘I touched it.’

If Bella, who came from the demon world, could touch the pendant, it surely did not contain any divine power.

“Haha…”

So, it didn’t contain that damn divine power because Bella had killed the sorcerer conducting the experiment and brought Kiel here.

Bella laughed dejectedly.

She wanted to destroy the novel.

Unfortunately for Kiel, the ‘hero’ of his childhood had just stopped him from gaining strength.

She was like a villain.

Bella stayed up all night.

But something relieved Bella’s troubled mind. It was like the dawn’s light shedding light over the darkness.

It was the ‘Customer Center’ button.

It popped up after Bella read the whole novel.

She entered the customer center to find two sections: ‘1:1 Questions’ and ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

Without hesitation, Bella pressed on ‘1:1 Questions’.

[The cell phone will turn off after completing 1:1 inquiries, so please do it only in an emergency.]

Bella hesitated before pressing the ‘Back’ button.

‘Yes, other people must be wondering about the same things I am.’

[Frequently Asked Questions]

With trembling hands, Bella scrolled down.

[Q: If I change the plot, can it still continue as normal?]

There was… someone like Bella.

[A: Writers may change the plot while writing, or there may be some holes in the plot, so it’s okay to change the plot as long as there is no major disruption.]

There were no problems if it was a small change.

‘But what if it’s a big change?’

“Hahaha…”

Bella could only laugh in her misery.

There was a knock, and the door creaked open.

It was Zhanbar.

“I’m done washing.”

“What?”

“I washed in water.”

“You’ve been washing up all this time.”

Bella frowned as Zhanbar nodded.

He’d been taking a bath all night.

“You didn’t use soap, did you?”

It must be the reason the stench still lingered.

“What’s that?”

“…”

“By the way, it seems I haven’t understood what the princess said, so I’ve come to eat the kid.”

Bella was too annoyed to give him a reply.

“You’re trying to eat him as well, aren’t you?”

“Get out.”

The demons seemed to have a knack for annoying Bella just by talking to her.

She couldn’t imagine living with them for thousands of years.

Bella opened her eyes and continued to look for herself in the novel.

Was there any way she could get the novel back on track?

If this continued, Kiel may die without even getting started. He’d never make it to the original story.

All because the pendant didn’t become sacred.

“Is there a reset button or something?”

Fortunately, there seemed to be a similar question in the FAQ.

[Q: What if I messed up an important part of the plot? Can I restart?]

“This. This is it.”

[A: Yes. Just in case, you can turn back time once. You can think about adjusting the time and go back 10 years.]

If Bella had tried to solve the problem calmly when she had first come here, this would not have happened.

Bella was scolded in her previous life because she never read the instructions.

Suddenly, Bella came across a simple question.

[Q. What’s the standard for completing the original version?]

***

Kiel was confused.

‘Maybe she’s called ‘Princess’ because she has a lot of money.’

Sleeping at the inn was a luxury for him, and he even got the best room.

While Kiel lived in the imperial palace, he had gotten to eat good food, but she had shown him something he’d never eaten before.

‘How do you eat tender meat?’

While Kiel was contemplating, Bella personally put the food into his mouth.

“You don’t know how to use a fork?”

He had learned to use a fork after he’d grown up.

‘Wait, how do I use a fork?’

While Kiel was panicking, Bella gently held his hand and taught him how to use a fork. When he did a good job, she gently stroked his hair.

‘Is this a dream?’

She was unbelievably kind.

‘She’s so much more mature than I was when me when I was her age.”

Later on, she asked for his name and a question.

“What’s that?”

Bella looked pretty smart, so Kiel decided it was better to be honest with her.

“Is it your mother’s possession?”

When she brought up his uncle selling him to the sorcerer, Kiel was shocked.

How did she know?

What kind of person was she? Kiel recalled the time when the pendant was sacred.

‘I met an angel at that time.’

Bella let Kiel rest on her lap and stroked his head.

‘Have I died and come to heaven?’

Kiel quickly fell asleep.

When Kiel woke up, he overheard her say, “Hah… Should I abandon you?”

And when he slowly opened his eyes, Bella was looking down at him with her eyes closed and a bright smile on her face.

“Hi, Kiel.”

It wasn’t a dream.

***

Morning came.

Bella wanted leisurely for Kiel to get up, and as the sun caressed Kiel’s eyelashes, his eyelids trembled.

‘I can take care of him until the novel begins and send him to the palace.’

Kiel slowly opened his eyes and Bella leisurely smiled down at him.

“Hi, Kiel.”

There was a knock at Bella’s door, and Zhanbar popped in.

“Princess, I did what you asked. I soaped.”

Sure enough, he didn’t smell as bad.

When Bella asked him to come in, Zhanbar grinned.

‘Why does his smile look so evil?’

Bella introduced herself to Kiel. She was determined to not alter the original plot.

“Kiel, I’m the princess of the Animal Kingdom, Bellatrix.”

She couldn’t call herself a demon because he had to come to the demon world and kill Bella eventually.

Zhanbar’s smile faded when he heard her self-introduction.

“You saw yesterday, didn’t you? This is the leopard Zhanbar.”

“I’m not a leo—”

“He’s a leopard.” Bella mercilessly interrupted Zhanbar.

Suddenly, smoke came from Bella, and she turned into a black cat with red eyes.

“Princess, why would you—”

Bella turned into a cat before Zhanbar could protest. She turned back into a human after circling around a few times.

“You see? We’re from the Animal Kingdom.”

“A cat. If you’re a cat, you’re under me,” Zhanbar said with an unpleasant grin.

Bella looked puzzled.

‘What are you saying?’

“The leopard is from the cat family, so I’m the standard.”

Zhanbar rolled his eyes.

“I’ll cancel yesterday’s offer to be my servant. You’re going to start—”

Before Bella could finish her sentence, tears welled in Kiel’s eyes.

“W-Why are you crying?”

Tears fell from his eyes.