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"What are you so happy about, Lady Elizabeth? You seem quite content today. Not that I'm complaining," Gigantia asked warmly while gently washing my hair.
"Heh, should I tell you?" I replied with a playful smile. "But can you keep it a secret?"
"A secret?" Gigantia tilted her head in curiosity. "What do you mean? I cannot tell anyone else?"
"Nope," I said firmly. "Gigantia, do you have more allegiance to my parents or to me?"
"E-Eh?!" She was visibly shaken by the sudden question. "I… well…"
"Are you willing to keep a secret from them, one that you will not tell them no matter what?" I asked again.
"...!" Gigantia looked shocked. "Well… if the king or the queen asks directly, who am I to refuse them?"
"Hmph. Then I'm not telling you anything!" I declared, crossing my arms with a pout.
"W-Wha…?! Are you mad?!" Gigantia panicked, her mouth falling open in disbelief. "Please wait! I did not mean to offend you with my words…"
"I don't care. If I cannot trust you with a secret, then I cannot tell you," I sighed dramatically. "I guess… I guess there is really nobody I can trust."
"!!!"
Gigantia gasped when she saw the saddened expression on my face. She grew visibly agitated and quickly tried to reconcile with me.
"Please forgive me! I did not intend to sound untrustworthy," she muttered, her voice filled with regret. "If you want to keep a secret that badly, then… okay. I will keep it a secret, young lady."
"Really?!" I asked, brightening up immediately.
"Yes…" She nodded slowly. "I do not want you to feel like there is nobody you can trust. Your parents love you deeply, and you should trust them as well. They are only strict because they worry about you and want you to grow up without any problems."
"But that is so boring," I complained. "I will waste my entire childhood confined in here! What sort of memories will I even have when I grow up if I stay trapped in this castle forever? And it is not like this is some grand castle with an entire town inside. It is just a massive house. Not everyone who works here is even willing to become my friend or fun to talk to."
"I think a lot of people would feel hurt if they heard you say that, young lady," Gigantia sighed softly, gently petting my head. "But what is it that you wanted to tell me?"
"Only if you promise me with your soul that you will keep it a secret and that you will help me," I said, still keeping my arms crossed. "If not, then I cannot trust you with it."
"…Erm, just what is it?" she sighed, clearly conflicted. "I… damn it… I promise. I promise with my soul that I will not tell anybody you do not want me to tell. And regarding my allegiance, although I serve your parents and work in this castle, I was assigned to you since birth, young lady. Of course I will always prefer you over your parents. That is what Queen Mirai herself told me before placing you in my care."
"Really, Gigantia?" I felt deeply moved by her words.
Gigantia nodded with a warm, genuine smile. "Of course. Please do not think I would ever abandon you. Even while fighting monsters on the front lines, I was always thinking about returning to your side. You are like the little sister or daughter I never had. You also remind me so much of the children from the orphanage where I lived before coming here."
"Orphanage…" I muttered quietly.
That detail was definitely not something I had written in her vague backstory. It seemed this world had filled in many gaps on its own.
"But at the same time, I wish you would not speak about your parents as if they are tyrannical people," Gigantia continued with a sigh. "They do everything for you and your little brother."
"I know," I nodded. "I am just saying… it sometimes feels like they never had any childhood of their own and do not understand what I am going through."
Gigantia lowered her head, letting out another soft sigh. "Well, they technically did not have normal childhoods. King Louis, from what I learned from Head Maid Catrise, who has been his personal maid since he was young, led a very sad early life. His first few years were good, but the discrimination he faced because he could not awaken any draconic power robbed him of a proper childhood. Things grew even worse when your grandmother fell into a coma for nearly two decades. He was lonely, and your grandfather became too focused on finding a cure to spend time with him. This is ancient history now, but… your father's life was much harder than most people realize."
"Yeah, I know… I know that," I muttered, feeling a pang of guilt. "Sorry, I guess I did not remember… or did not fully consider all of that."
Back then in the game, I had only written sparse background notes. It was never something I lived through. It was just a fictional story in my head. Now everything felt real. This world had shaped my father's life with countless details I had never created, proving it existed far beyond anything I could have imagined.
Gigantia sighed and began drying my hair with gentle wind magic. "Your father endured a very painful early life. He was discriminated against by those he admired simply because he lacked a dragon form and their powers. His own father stopped speaking to him entirely while dedicating himself to his duties. He suffered from hallucinations and heard voices, which made him believe he was losing his mind. It was later discovered to be part of a curse placed by an enemy he eventually defeated. And the only person who understood him and loved him unconditionally, his mother, was not there for him during those difficult years."
"Dad…"
I sighed, my heart aching with regret for every time I had been mean or bratty toward him simply because he was overprotective and strict. Just imagining him as a small child, crying alone in the corner of his room with no one to rely on, broke my heart into pieces. Everyone either ignored him or hated him for being weak, while the world outside crumbled under the threat of the Dimensional Labyrinth.
I wished I could have been there for him. I wanted to tell him, "Hey, I am your daughter from the future. One day you will become the most amazing dragon king ever. So please… do not give up, okay?"
Grrr, why have they not invented time machines yet? We have the technology!
"Your mother was not any different," Gigantia continued gently. "She went through her own great share of suffering. But you have heard most of it, right? At an early age, a curse she was born with took her biological parents away from her. Afterward, she was transferred to the VPI because she was born as the most dangerous and unstable Sinner in the world. Her power was so strong that it constantly leaked from her body, capable of killing most ordinary people who were not strong enough to withstand it."
"Mom too…" I sighed heavily.
I had not specified any of those details in her backstory. This was all part of the living, breathing reality of this world. What I had created felt so basic now, as if it carried little weight. This universe had likely existed long before I ever started playing or imagining these characters.
Now that I thought about it, I had drawn a lot of dragons as a child in my previous life. I faintly remembered having dreams about these people. But why did those memories feel so clear now? Was it because I had evolved into a High Human?
"Your mother spent her entire childhood until she was around eighteen confined inside the VPI's underground headquarters," Gigantia explained. "She was classified as extremely dangerous and kept under constant surveillance and maximum-security containment. People feared her, and she grew up unable to socialize properly or make friends. Your grandfather and a few agents and scientists were all she had. They were the only ones who talked to her and raised her. I remember the queen once saying she had always wished for a female friend her own age when she was little. She is happy that you have Guinevere."
"Hm…" I let out a faint sigh.
Imagining my mother as a child, trapped behind glass walls, curious yet deeply sad, longing for simple affection, a hug, or even a gentle touch, filled me with unbearable anguish. She had played alone, read alone, and dreamed about the outside world she could never visit. She had probably practiced conversations in her mind countless times, hoping to one day make friends. The thought made me want to cry.
"This is why your parents are the way they are," Gigantia sighed. "In the end, they found each other. I heard their relationship was not great at the beginning. Your father did not like your mother at first, haha. Or so the stories say. But over time, Mirai won his heart, and he fell for her completely."
I sighed with a faint, warm smile. "I see… yeah, that is right."
"It is a beautiful, true story of perseverance and romance, isn't it? How two wounded, lonely souls found each other and healed one another's hearts… Kyaaaa! This is exactly why I have collected so many books based on their story! I have a huge collection!"
"B-Books?" I asked, perplexed.
Gigantia excitedly opened her inventory and showed me dozens of novels inspired by my parents' love story, which had apparently become a widespread phenomenon. There were many different versions, and my parents truly did not mind at all?
"M-My favorite is this forbidden one… hehe," she muttered shyly. "Ah, I do not know if I should show it to you— Ah!"
I snatched the book from her hands and read the title. The cover showed a figure with white hair and another with purple hair. Wait, that was not my mother.
"A Forbidden Love Story: The Dragon Prince's Necromancer Concubine? What?!"
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