People Aren't Meant to Be Fixed! (4 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 175

“Therefore, I shall tell you plainly without hiding anything.”

Hecate gave a light chuckle as she watched my reaction. Holding my hand—the one that hadn’t touched the hairpin—she finally revealed what the hairpin truly was.

“Mother kept it, intending to give it to the Late Emperor, but in the end, she never could.”

The Late Emperor? Me? If she’d given it to me in my previous life before I died, I might have worn it once or twice out of appreciation—but why bring it up now, the moment I’ve been reborn as your daughter?

“Why not?”

It was incomprehensible that a child as courageous, diligent, determined, and gifted as to become a Grand General someday couldn’t manage to hand over a mere hairpin to the Late Emperor. Puzzled, I tilted my head and asked for the reason. Hecate, looking slightly embarrassed, lowered her gaze briefly before lifting her head again with a playful smile.

“Back when the Late Emperor was still alive, Mother simply didn’t have the courage to give it to him.”

It was hard to believe that this timid side had existed in someone who usually ate heartily, fought Jeff fiercely, and charged boldly through every obstacle. Discovering something new about her, I suddenly wondered why her courage had failed her—was there a special reason for it?

Recalling a story Hecate had once casually shared in passing, I reminded her that the Late Emperor had given her mother many cherished memories and had greatly supported her in becoming who she was today.

At that, Hecate agreed, saying I was right and that the Late Emperor had indeed been a remarkable man. Then, after glancing once at his portrait hanging on the wall, she abruptly cupped both cheeks with her hands and made a comically exaggerated face.

“But he was incredibly scary!”

Hecate, who had just been listing every trait of the Late Emperor—beautiful, steadfast, resolute, stern, charismatic, prickly, sometimes cold—sounded like someone passionately in love, transforming every detail about the other into effusive praise.

“For someone who claims to have been scared, you sure look awfully cheerful.”

It was awkward enough just hearing her talk about me right in front of my face. Although I now lived again as the Crown Princess, since I had been the Late Emperor in my past life, hearing stories about “a different version of myself” was rather unsettling, no matter how casually I pretended otherwise.

“At my age back then, if I’m being remembered as terrifying… did I scold her too harshly?”

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