Why am I the Princess?

While I was engrossed in a documentary, Dad placed his hand on my round belly and started a conversation.

“Should we get a cat?”
“No, it’s too much trouble.”

At my firm response, Dad chuckled softly and nodded.

“Yeah…”
“It’d probably be more trouble for you than me~”

In the dimly lit room, the documentary was highlighting the strength of cats.
Dad, seemingly lost in thought, watched me as I stared blankly at the TV.

“Should we head to bed now?”
“Mm… Let me watch for another hour.”

Dad touched my cheek, then smiled playfully.

“Thirty minutes.”
“Forty-five.”
“How about 37 minutes and 30 seconds?”
“Forty minutes and 45 seconds.”

Perhaps conceding, Dad, with his chin propped on his hand, looked at me lounging in front of the TV and said:

“Alright, 40 minutes and 45 seconds more, then straight to bed~”
“Okay.”

He set an alarm on his phone.

“You know, I even nap at daycare?”
“That’s because sleeping a lot helps you grow taller.”
“What’s the big deal if a girl is short?”

Dad didn’t let that go.

“Don’t you know tall girls look cool?”
“If I grow taller than you, I doubt it’ll look cool.”

Imagining me taller than him, Dad nodded thoughtfully and murmured:

“Yeah… you might be right.”

The next day, I leaned against Dad as he got me ready to head out. His phone buzzed, and I glanced at the screen before saying, “Grandma.”

Dad walked over, checked his phone, and answered the call.
“Hello?”

Since I started going to daycare, Dad seemed to chat with Grandma more often. Unlike his usual demeanor, he smiled and nodded repeatedly during their conversation.

“Yes, yes. We’ll visit next week. Okay.”

After hanging up, Dad lifted me into the car seat, buckled me in securely, started the engine, and began driving me to daycare.

I let out a dramatic sigh. “Ugh… so boring.”
“Haven’t you made any friends yet, Siyoon?”
“Friends? No way. They’re all too little.”
“…Then why don’t you look after the little ones, Siyoon?”
“Babies are annoying. Sometimes… ugh… they wet their pants.”
“Uh… well… that’s kind of normal, isn’t it?”

On parents’ meeting day, Dad had been bombarded with questions from other moms.
How do you raise Siyoon to be so independent?
The memory of Dad, usually avoiding attention, suddenly flustered by all the questions about me, still makes me chuckle.

“Should I buy you a phone?”

I nodded enthusiastically at this rare, enticing suggestion.
“Yes!”

Dad grinned at my reaction.
“But you can only use it for four hours a day.”
“…What about emergencies?”
“I’ll set it up so calls always work.”

With that, Dad turned the car around, called the daycare to inform them of the delay, and drove to a store to buy the phone.

“Wow… they’ve got features like that now?” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing~”

At the store, Dad bought a tablet nearly as big as me and a phone thicker than his forearm.

“This one’s for me, and this one’s for Siyoon~”
“Okay.”

Since I could only use the phone for four hours a day, I didn’t even bother turning it on and just slid it into my pocket. Dad chuckled as he watched me.

“Shall we head to daycare now?”
“Okay.”

The store staff handed me some snacks as we left. I accepted them with a bored expression.
“Brushing my teeth is annoying, but thanks, I’ll eat well.”
“That’s all we can ask for!”

Back in the car, I climbed into the car seat with Dad’s help, and we drove to daycare.

At daycare, I sat quietly at a table, drawing, when a commotion caught my attention. A small kid, wearing the same annoyed expression as me, was drawing stares from overwhelmed teachers.
The kid seemed used to the attention but eventually noticed me watching. Their outfit was so extravagant it bordered on ridiculous—ironically, it was the same outfit Dad had once tried to get me to wear.

I’d refused back then, declaring I’d rather go out naked, and Dad had finally surrendered.
Now, this little kid kept stealing glances at me before twirling the lace on their outfit and cautiously approaching.

“Hi! I’m Dayeon!”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you.”
“You’re so pretty~”
“Thanks.”
“Your outfit is super cute.”
“Thanks.”

As I focused on my drawing, Dayeon leaned over and snickered.
“Ahahaha, your drawing is so ugly!”
“…? That’s you.”

Her face immediately froze, her expression shifting to deadpan.
“…That’s not me.”

Dayeon pouted and glared at me while, across the room, two large kids were fighting over a massive toy—a 12-in-1 transforming robot.
As they tugged and shouted, the robot slipped from their grip and flew through the air—straight toward Dayeon.

I casually reached out, caught one of the robot’s legs mid-air, twisted its trajectory, and slammed it into a nearby drawer, breaking it into pieces.

Crash!

“Can’t these kids behave for once?”

The shattered remnants of the robot clattered to the floor, leaving only one of its legs in my hand. The other kids froze at my exasperated tone, and the once-chaotic Sunflower Class fell silent.

Except for Dayeon, whose wide eyes sparkled as she stared at me in awe.

“…?”

A house so grand it could easily be called a mansion. Inside, a little girl named Dayeon was playing with her dolls when an elegant woman approached her.

“Dayeon~ What do you want to do today?”
“I want to go to daycare.”

Her daughter’s unexpected response made the woman’s eyes sparkle with delight.

“Oh my, does our Dayeon want to go to daycare?”
“Yes~”
“Shall we get you ready?”
“Yes!”

Dayeon’s mother, dressed head to toe in luxury brands, maintained her graceful demeanor as she pulled out her phone.

“Driver? Please prepare for an outing.”
“Dayeon, what should we dress you in today?”
“Something pretty!”
“Not just your favorite?”
“Nope!”
“Our Dayeon looks pretty in anything~”

Dayeon shook her head with determination.

“Something Mom picks!”
“Oh my~”

Whatever had come over her daughter, Dayeon’s mom felt a surge of pride and smiled warmly.

“And I want a phone too!”
“A phone? Does one of your friends have a phone?”
“Yep.”

Smiling, Dayeon’s mom dressed her daughter and then called Hanbit Daycare.

“Siyoon, you should say goodbye to your teacher.”

Thinking I was the epitome of cool, I lazily waved at the young teacher.

“How are you supposed to greet adults properly?” Dad prompted.

With a sigh, I bowed formally.

“Your humble servant shall now take her leave.”
“Oh, goodness…”

Dad let out a laugh-laced sigh and scooped me up, placing me in the car.

“Did you have fun today?”
“Hah… This kid named Dayeon wouldn’t leave me alone…”
“Hmm?”
“She keeps following me around, saying she likes me…”

I thought about Dayeon, the little kid who had latched onto me. After I destroyed the boys’ toy robot, she had started mimicking everything I did.
A brilliant idea came to me, and I turned to Dad.

“Dad, buy me a book.”
“A book? What kind?”
“A novel. In English.”

Dad glanced at me briefly before returning his focus to the road.
“Why the sudden interest? Should we go to a bookstore?”
“Yep.”

At the bookstore, I pointed at a book displayed prominently in the front.

“Think you can read that?”

Sitting in Dad’s arms, I opened the book and began translating it aloud for him.

“…Okay. I’ll take this one.”

Dad held me in one arm and paid for the book with the other.

“Oh my, your daughter is so adorab… Oh!”

The cashier, who had been cooing over me, suddenly gasped when she looked at Dad. Embarrassed, he pulled his hat lower over his face.

“Thank you…”
“Please come again…”

Meanwhile, at Hanbit Daycare, a teacher grew visibly tense as she answered a call.

“Yes, hello, this is Dayeon’s mother.”

Dayeon’s mom was asking about phones. Hanbit Daycare, located in Ichon-dong, had a strict no-phone policy implemented by the parents.

“…Excuse me? Ah… Are you perhaps referring to Siyoon?”

The young teacher, clearly flustered, glanced at the daycare director. The director mouthed, What’s going on?
The teacher mouthed back, Phones.

The director gestured for the call to be transferred.

“Ma’am, just a moment, please.”
“Hello~ This is the director of Hanbit Daycare.”

After a lengthy phone call, the daycare director hung up and began tidying up the office. Time passed, and soon Dayeon and her mother arrived at the daycare, accompanied by two men who appeared to be bodyguards.

“Welcome~ Please come in, ma’am,” the director greeted warmly.

One of the younger teachers crouched to meet Dayeon at eye level with a cheerful smile.
“Hi, Dayeon! How have you been?”
“Good!”
“Shall we go draw some pictures together?”
“Yes!”

As Dayeon followed the teacher into the classroom, the director and Dayeon’s mother remained in the entrance hall.

Lee Dayeon: the youngest daughter of Lee Jinseok, the young CEO of Hansung, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate. It was only a matter of time before Lee Jinseok ascended to the chairman’s seat, a role he had been groomed for. His wife, Kim Sunhwa, now sat across from the director in the daycare’s office.

“Do you think phones could negatively impact children’s behavior or safety?” Kim Sunhwa asked with genuine concern.
“Well…” the director began, but Kim Sunhwa interrupted, her expression full of motherly worry.

“Dayeon mentioned that one of her friends has a phone, and now she wants one too…”

Listening intently, the director opened her laptop and showed Kim Sunhwa a video. On the screen was Siyoon, surrounded by a makeshift barricade, peacefully napping.

“…Is that Siyoon?”

The director nodded and, switching to live CCTV footage, spoke cautiously.
“Siyoon… is quite different from the other children.”

The footage showed Siyoon quietly reading a book—entirely in English—while Dayeon sat beside her, watching in fascination. In the video, Siyoon casually wiped Dayeon’s mouth with a tissue, smiling as she said something.

Kim Sunhwa couldn’t imagine Siyoon saying anything inappropriate and nodded in admiration.
“She seems incredibly bright, doesn’t she?”

“As an educator, I try not to focus too much on labeling children as ‘bright,’ but yes… Siyoon has already mastered everything we teach here. We were even considering starting her on elementary-level education.”

Kim Sunhwa’s eyes sparkled with interest as she listened.

“But… her father is against it.”

Siyoon’s father had rejected the kind of “gifted education” most parents could only dream of providing.

“…..”
“He said unless Siyoon herself wants it, he’d prefer she learn at the same pace as the other children.”

“And the phone?” Kim Sunhwa asked.

“As you saw in the earlier video, Siyoon doesn’t seem interested in anything the other children find exciting.”

“Ah… so that’s why she was sleeping.”

“Yes. Siyoon’s father, feeling sorry for her lack of engagement, allowed her to use a phone, but only under strict conditions.”

Kim Sunhwa nodded, her expression a mix of understanding and admiration. Siyoon used her phone discreetly, never in front of the other children, fully aware that phones were prohibited at daycare. Dayeon, observing this behavior, had been trying to emulate her.

“Would it be possible to speak with Siyoon directly?”

The director nodded thoughtfully.
“I’ll need to get her father’s permission first.”

Kim Sunhwa smiled, fully expecting this level of protocol.

“Of course, I’ll handle it personally.”