~LFTV 02~

Chapter 2

Daisy only realized she had been reincarnated into a book ten years after her rebirth.

It was thanks to the festival that erupted across the empire when Daisy turned ten—the story’s heroine, Princess Adriana, blessed by the gods, was at the center of it all.

“It felt familiar, so I asked my father… and well, turns out I’m living in the world of a romance novel.”

Unfortunately, having a special secret didn’t really help her daily life.

“How is knowing a story I barely even remember supposed to help me?”

Pouting, Daisy recalled the plot.

“It’s the story of Princess Adriana, blessed by the gods, and the love of Marquis Felice.”

A predictable story. Countless trials appear before the couple, but through the power of love, they overcome every hardship.

Even the villain was classic. He was a wicked wizard from the western forest.

He tries to win Princess Adriana’s heart but fails.

Angered by his unrequited feelings, the wizard commits all manner of evil, eventually kidnapping the princess.

“But in the end, everything is resolved thanks to Marquis Felice’s courage and Princess Adriana’s wisdom, right?”

And unfortunately, knowing someone else’s love story doesn’t help much in real life.

However, for the first time recently, Daisy found a use for her past-life memories.

“Exactly! The villainous wizard’s residence!”

The wicked wizard kidnaps Princess Adriana and imprisons her in his magical tower in the western forest.

“The tower’s location was mentioned frequently in the story.”

Even Daisy, with her poor memory, could recall it clearly.

“Lucky I didn’t forget.”

After three days of relentless effort, Daisy finally found the Grand Wizard’s tower.

It was a hard-earned result from searching deep into the western forest.

Standing before the tower, Daisy swallowed hard, suddenly feeling nervous.

“Was coming here the right thing to do?”

After all, the wizard living here was destined to become a villain.

Shaking her head quickly, Daisy reassured herself.

“I-it’ll be fine. He wasn’t bad from the start; he only turned cruel because Princess Adriana didn’t return his love, right?”

Of course, if he were inherently kind, getting rejected by a woman wouldn’t have made him turn evil…

“A-anyway, he might seem pathetic, but maybe he’s not that bad! He hasn’t been rejected yet!”

Good or bad, this was Daisy’s only card. She had to act.

Finally, Daisy took a deep breath and stood in front of the tower door, knocking.

• Knock knock.

“Is anyone there?”

• Knock knock knock.

“Are you home?”

• Knock, knock, bang, bang bang!

“Wizard?”

• Bang bang bang! Bang bang! Bang!

“Is anyone thereee?”

After what felt like endless knocking, Daisy sensed movement behind her.

“Who are you?”

Startled, Daisy jumped on the spot.

“Ah! Who are you?!”

“I asked first.”

“Eek!”

Spinning around, Daisy looked up in surprise at the person in front of her.

He was a handsome man with jet-black hair and obsidian-like eyes. His expression was languid, yet an odd intimidation radiated from him.

“In the novel, the wizard had black hair and black eyes… could it be…?”

His handsome appearance was unexpected, but everything else matched the description of the villainous wizard perfectly.

Swallowing nervously, Daisy placed her hand over her chest.

“I-I’m Daisy. Are… are you the Great Wizard of the Western Forest?”

The wizard seemed used to such situations and responded to his guest naturally.

“What do you want? What’s the payment? Speak quickly and leave. My time is more valuable than gold.”

…Though “natural response” was quite rude. Daisy didn’t mind.

“My body isn’t well for no reason. I came to see if you, the wizard, could help me.”

“An illness? I’m not a doctor, I’m a wizard.”

“The local wizard diagnosed me and said that to heal, I’d need the essence of the world.”

“And?”

Daisy clutched the wizard’s robe desperately.

“You, the Great Wizard of the Western Forest, have the world’s essence! If you could share some with me…”

The wizard answered plainly.

“I don’t have it.”

“…Excuse me?”

“There’s no such thing as the world’s essence. And I have no interest in it.”

“Why not?!”

Daisy pulled at her hair in frustration.

“Argh, even bad luck can’t explain this! Maybe it doesn’t exist yet because this is before the story’s timeline!”

But her shock was short-lived. Daisy bravely dropped to her knees before the wizard.

“I’ve heard that even dog poop can be useful as medicine if collected. So maybe the world’s essence could be collected ahead of time too?”

The wizard furrowed his brow.

“What? Dog poop or whatever… They say you don’t deal with crazy women.”

He shook Daisy off and disappeared into the tower.

Daisy pounded the wooden door with a thud! and shouted.

“You’ll see! I won’t give up! No way!”

Three days had already passed since Daisy started lying down and refusing to leave beside the wizard’s tower.

In the meantime, she learned quite a few things.

The villainous wizard’s name was Calias, and he had an unbelievably foul temper and a heart completely devoid of mercy.

“How can a person be so unmoved? Ugh… I wish I knew a weakness, it would’ve been easier. Well, what weaknesses does a final boss ever have?”

As she muttered desperately,

• KRAAANG!

Suddenly, a loud noise and an earth-shaking vibration occurred.

“Eek!”

Daisy jumped upright. Dust rose from the ground, obscuring her view.

Time passed. As the dust settled, everything grew quiet.

“What… what just happened?”

Looking around, she noticed smoke rising from the wizard’s tower.

“Gasp, did a fire break out?”

It would be disastrous if something happened to Calias.

“Ah! My life!”

Daisy ran quickly and pounded the door with unprecedented vigor.

“Calias! Calias! What’s happening? You’re not dead, are you? Even if you die, you have to cure my illness first!”

After pounding and shouting until her fists hurt, the door suddenly swung open. Daisy’s face lit up.

“You’re safe after all!”

It was now time for Calias to scold her like the past few days.

But…

“Huh? Wizard, where are you?”

Calias wasn’t in sight. Daisy searched around.

“Hmm… Did the door open by magic?”

Tilting her head, she heard a sound by her feet.

“…Here.”

“Huh? What’s that sound?”

“It’s me!”

It was a child’s voice.

“Oh my!”

Daisy bent down and saw a small child. She gasped.

The boy looked about four or five years old, with black hair and black eyes, extremely cute.

Daisy spoke gently to him.

“Who are you? Why are you here? Did you come to learn magic? By the way, where’s Calias?”

“That’s me!”

Hearing something strange, Daisy asked again.

“Huh? What did you just say?”

The child shouted.

“Calias, that’s me!”

The child—or rather, ‘Calias’—stomped his short legs and paced the room. He rubbed his chubby fingers against his chin as if deep in thought.

Daisy watched in awe.

“This kid is really the wizard Calias?”

Judging by the child’s foul temper and fierce gaze, it had to be him…

“What kind of magic made you so young… I mean, rejuvenated?”

“I don’t know! My magic went out of control during research.”

His slight lisp was almost… insanely cute—but that wasn’t the problem right now.

“So, Calias, you’re saying you can’t use magic?”