Chapter 6

At the point where the side story began, the original Cecilia and the male leads probably hadn’t accompanied Yuria to the imperial palace.

That’s probably why comments like that appeared.

‘But what if I suddenly insert myself into it?’

What would happen if someone who was never supposed to be there followed Yuria and Harzen, completely changing the original story?

And if I went to the imperial palace…

‘Then there’s no reason for the other dads to quietly stay home, either.’

They’d probably rush straight to the imperial palace just to bring me back.

Of course, Mom and Daddy Harzen would never willingly take me there.

“Cece?”

Just then, Mom’s voice drifted into my ears.

“Did you understand what Mom said?”

I immediately came back to my senses and slowly nodded.

If I agreed too quickly, she’d only find it suspicious.

So for now, I needed to act a little sulky and pouty.

“Maybe…”

I’ve actually already decided to go with you, so I’m fine now!

“I’ll really be back after ten nights. Our Cece can count to ten now, right?”

“Of course!”

“Good girl, my princess.”

Mom gently stroked my head.

I obediently leaned into her touch.

Mom’s hands are so nice. So warm.

If I close my eyes like this, I might just drift off…

“Our Cece, then would you like to sleep with Mom tonight?”

“Gasp, no.”

I almost surrendered to that touch on pure instinct.

‘If I’m going to carry out my plan, I need to be alone.’

I quickly shook my head, pulling myself back from the urge to abandon everything.

I held onto my determination so tightly that my refusal came out firmer than intended.

“Eeh? You don’t want to?”

The moment I finished speaking, Mom asked in shock.

Pretending nothing was wrong, I hurriedly smoothed things over.

“Yeah. You promised you’d be back after ten nights. And Cece is seven now, so it’s okay if I sleep by myself.”

I’m fine, thank you, and you?

“My goodness, our Cece has already grown up this much…”

Daddy Kyle sniffled dramatically and muttered.

“What if one day she suddenly says she’s getting married and brings home some weird guy?”

“How old is she? Why are you already worrying about that?”

“Why not? Didn’t they say a girl in the village got a boyfriend a few days ago and brought some boy over?”

“…So that’s what that beastly yelling was about a few days ago.”

Huh? Why did the atmosphere suddenly become like this?

Seeing my dads’ expressions growing increasingly serious, I flashed them a bright smile.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Cece isn’t interested in things like that.”

When Mom’s life is on the line, do you think I’d care about playing house?

“That’s my girl. With such a ♩♬ amazing dad right here, there’s no way anyone else could catch our Cece’s ey—”

“As long as I have Mom.”

“R-Re… Wait, what about Dad?”

“Cece is sleepy. Going to bed.”

I promptly crawled into bed and pulled the blanket all the way up to my nose.

Through the small gap left in my view, I could see my dads standing there in stunned silence.

The people destined to destroy the world looked like their own world had just collapsed.

“Good night!”

After saying goodbye, I squeezed my eyes shut and pretended to fall asleep.

The night has grown deep.

Everyone, please return to your assigned places.

Only then can the mafia begin their activities.

* * *

“Gasp.”

Several hours later.

A sudden sense of foreboding jolted me awake.

‘Mom, I really fell asleep.’

You deceitful, cozy blanket!

I almost slept all the way until morning.

If that had happened, my plan would’ve failed, Mom would’ve died, our family would’ve fallen apart, and the world would’ve ended…

‘I just lost ten years off my life.’

I threw off the blanket and carefully climbed out of bed.

Judging by how dark it was outside, it was still the middle of the night.

‘Careful, careful.’

Afraid of making noise, I tiptoed quietly out of my room.

Since I hadn’t brought a lantern for fear of attracting attention, the hallway was as pitch-black as my future.

But I am Cece.

A child born with the DNA of heroes who defeated the demon king.

A little darkness like this is nothing!

‘I can’t risk missing a step. It’d be safer to sit down and go little by little.’

The moment I finished thinking that, I sat on the stairs and slowly scooted downward on my butt.

If you’re wondering why I was making my way to the basement with such difficulty…

‘I need to get to Daddy Kyle’s laboratory.’

Because there was an incredible item there that would make my plan possible.

One of the five heroes who defeated the demon king and a genius inventor unlike any other in the world.

The greatest inventor in the world and the greatest foul-mouth in the world!

That was Daddy Kyle!

Even in the main story, the protagonists escaped countless life-or-death situations thanks to his inventions.

Anyway, the invention I intended to steal was…

‘The invisibility cloak!’

The masterpiece of our foul-mouthed dad’s entire career.

It was such a masterpiece that even he admitted he had no idea how he’d managed to invent it!

Anyway, if I could get my hands on it, I’d be able to sneak into the imperial palace without getting caught.

Daddy Kyle’s invisibility cloak hid not only the wearer’s presence but even their unique magical signature.

It had ridiculously overpowered performance.

It could even expand and shrink to match the height of whoever wore it!

‘Dad is probably asleep in his room by now.’

Daddy Kyle was the type who fell asleep the moment midnight arrived.

And once he was asleep, he slept so deeply that someone could carry him away and he wouldn’t notice until morning.

Daddy Derek was the same.

‘Mom and Daddy Harzen are heavy sleepers too, so it should be fine.’

How much time passed after that?

After painstakingly making my way down the stairs without stopping.

I finally arrived in front of Daddy Kyle’s laboratory.

‘Goodness, that was exhausting!’

Scooting all the way from the second floor to the basement nearly set my butt on fire.

My pajamas didn’t get a hole rubbed into them, did they?

Awkwardly rubbing the area around my rear, I approached the door.

Normally, the moment anyone reached this door, countless inventions would activate and try to eliminate the intruder…

“…”

Yet even as I carefully crept forward, everything remained quiet.

Naturally.

Because I’m special!

I’m the one person Daddy Kyle personally gave permission to visit anytime I wanted!

‘Though I’ve never actually come down here before.’

Before recovering my memories from my previous life, the basement had always been a terrifying place to me.

It was dark, gloomy, and looked like something strange might crawl out at any moment.

Of course, I’m a mature child now, so none of that scares me anymore!

After taking a small deep breath, I carefully approached the door and turned the laboratory doorknob.

I worried it might creak loudly, but thankfully Daddy Kyle seemed to oil it regularly.

‘Good father, good father.’

Stepping inside, I slowly surveyed the laboratory.

‘Let’s see.’

Daddy had never shown me the invisibility cloak directly, but I already knew what it looked like.

It had been described once in the main story.

‘They said it looked like a rag nobody would wear unless they knew what it was.’

The laboratory was such a complete disaster that it practically resembled a junkyard, but that actually worked in my favor.

In a place this messy, nobody would notice if one thing went missing.

With that in mind, I should probably grab a few more inventions too.

The more thorough, the better.

“Found it.”

After rummaging through useful-looking items for quite some time, I spotted a cloak carelessly tossed into a corner.

‘So this is the invisibility cloak…’

It definitely deserved to be described as a rag.

Honestly, if you didn’t know what it was, you’d never touch it.

‘All right, now I’ll just swipe this and…’

The exact moment I grabbed the invisibility cloak with a sly grin.

Creeeak.

The faint sound of a door opening and closing echoed through the hallway outside the laboratory.