When he opened his eyes—
Theo was lying in bed.
Was he still dreaming? Or was this reality?
Maybe because he’d just woken up, his mind felt a little foggy.
But what made him realize this truly was reality was the small animal curled up and sleeping beside his bed.
A little creature with brown fur and several stripes.
“Kongkong, huh.”
It was the flying squirrel with the sa scar over its right eye as him. Stroking its soft fur gently, Theo finally felt the weight of reality settle over him. It was warm.
As he rustled about, Kongkong stirred and opened its eyes with a sleepy blink.
━Kongkong!
“Yeah, hey. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Why do you look so skinny? The imps should’ve been feeding you properly.”
Kongkong had always been a chubby little thing—its round tail and puffed fur made it look like a brown ball when it curled up.
But now it seed noticeably thinner. Its body was lean, almost like a wild animal that hadn’t been fed properly. It made Theo worry—was it sick?
That concern didn’t last long, though. A sudden rush of other flying squirrels—five females—ca swarming around Kongkong, chirping and squabbling all over him.
“Must be exhausting, being so popular with the ladies.”
Clack, creak.
At that mont, the door opened. Kongkong and his group of female squirrels scurried through the open gap in a blur.
“Ah—! Kongkong!”
A startled voice followed from behind.
The door opened fully, revealing familiar orange hair. A swaying diamond-shaped tail.
It was Marmar.
“Comrade! You’re awake! If you hadn’t woken up, I was just about to do it for you!”
“Yeah, I’m up. What day is it today? How long have I been asleep?”
“Today is Tree Day, obviously.”
“Tree Day, huh.”
“Yup! Did you have a long dream or sothing? Sotis I get confused about the date too after a dream. One ti, I dread I washed my hair and got confused about whether I had to wash it again when I woke up!”
Marmar giggled—hehehe—then set the tray she was holding on Theo’s bed. The warm pumpkin soup gave off a sweet aroma that stirred his appetite.
“This’ll wake you right up! I made it with pumpkins the imps and I picked from the field yesterday.”
“Slls great.”
Theo took a spoonful and thought as he ate.
So it was Tree Day.
The day Aira and Elga had bathed in the hot spring had been Water Day. So only one night had passed. It wasn’t like a full week had gone by.
Then what had happened to Mirna, Elga, and Aira?
Whether things had gone according to plan or not—he couldn’t confirm it right now. Actually, what even was their plan?
So much had happened that his mories were scrambled. Fortunately, his trait 《Calm Mind》 kicked in, helping him organize and recall the chain of events.
Their goal had been to defeat the Ars Nova embedded deep inside Aira’s heart—to place a sort of shackle on her sky-high abilities.
Then, once weakened, Theo would defeat her in the public duel. That was the plan.
In the end, the Ars Nova inside Aira had been defeated.
Had it really been defeated?
Theo listened inwardly. And soon, he heard the faint cry of the little paper spider dwelling within his heart.
━Hiiiioooong...!
He didn’t quite understand what it was saying, but he got the feeling it was urging him to eat more pumpkin soup.
So he took Marmar’s lovingly made soup and dug in.
Filling his stomach with sothing warm helped him feel fully awake—his body revitalized, his mind clearing.
So he really had woken from the dream.
He walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and opened it wide. The bright yet slightly crisp weather—between sumr and fall—brushed against his face.
“Alright then, Theo, I’m gonna go hand out soup to the other imps too!”
Marmar cheerfully called from behind. Theo thought it would’ve been nice to talk with her a bit more, but she was stepping back. He saw why—a figure stood at the room’s entrance.
Marmar had noticed and made space.
As she stepped out, they entered.
“Sir Theo. Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
“Any headaches?”
Mirna and Narmi had co to see him, apparently after noticing he’d woken. Or maybe they had co to wake him themselves.
“I’m alright.”
“That’s good to hear.”
The twin sisters had gotten up at dawn to retrieve the magic circles and cover up what had happened.
They were the ones who carried Theo and Elga to their rooms, apparently.
Imagining them lifting his body from front and back and placing him in bed made him smile.
“Hm. You two worked hard. Was there anything I could’ve helped with?”
“There wasn’t. For now, it seems things went well according to plan. But we won’t know for sure until Queen Aira wakes up.”
“I see.”
Aira was still sleeping in her room.
The dicine made by Mirna, Narmi, and Lady Kalira was apparently quite strong and specialized. Since Aira had consud a large dose, it would take ti for her to wake.
Theo worried—what if sothing went wrong and she never woke up?
But Narmi reassured him firmly, “That’s not going to happen!”
The dicine was ant to make her sleep deeply, not for a long ti. At the latest, she’d wake before lunchti.
“Sir Theo, are you really okay? Do you rember everything that happened? Sotis... parts of your mory can get completely wiped. Dreams do that. Things get fuzzy when you wake.”
“Hm.”
At Mirna’s question, Theo thought back to the events inside the dream.
eting Elga. Convincing her. Going with her to see Aira. eting the blonde Nymph...
He rembered it all.
That’s why, all of a sudden, he started worrying about Elga.
“Where’s Lady Elga? Has she woken up?”
“She has, I think. But she hasn’t left her room yet. I’m sure she’s processing things. Even if it was just a dream... after going through all that...”
***
“Lady Elga, are you in there?”
Knock knock.
Theo knocked on the door of Elga’s assigned room at the city hall lodging. From the other side, he heard rustling, the soft sound of soone approaching the door.
Click. Creeeak.
Finally, the lock clicked open, and Elga’s blue eyes peeked out from the narrow gap.
“What is it.”
“It’s not ‘what is it’—I ca to check on you. Lady Mirna and Lady Narmi said they ca earlier, but you didn’t open the door for them.”
“There’s nothing to check. No one knows my condition better than I do. I’m fine.”
But Elga’s voice sounded just a little downcast. Like soone who had woken from a disturbing dream and was still caught in its aftermath. It was Theo’s own taphor—but it fit perfectly.
“Is it because of the dream last night?”
“......”
“Co on, please open the door. The Lady Drayco sisters said there are cases where the effects of deep dreams can interfere with daily life. We need to check now, just in case.”
“Hmph.”
With a long sigh, the door finally slid open.
Now that he could see properly, Elga had the blanket completely wrapped over herself like a ghost. Only her face was visible—reminiscent of a hijab worn in so Arab nations.
Of course, Elga wasn’t wearing the blanket for any political or religious reason. Theo had a vague idea of what she was thinking, but he feigned ignorance and asked,
“Why are you like this?”
“Dunno.”
“You look like an egg. Eggs evolve thick shells to protect what’s inside. I’m guessing you want to do the sa?”
“......”
Elga didn’t answer, only gave a slightly sullen expression. Clearly, the matter of the golden-haired nymph from the dream still weighed heavily on her.
That’s why she wanted to protect her belly.
Of course, wrapping herself in a blanket wouldn’t do anything. Elga surely knew that. But even so—perhaps this was the only way she could keep herself together.
Theo said,
“Lady Elga, I won’t tell you to forget it just because it was a dream. Because even dreams and illusions can beco real to soone.”
Rustle.
He slipped his hand into the blanket and gently took hers. As soon as he did, the blanket draped over her slid to the floor.
Just by holding that hand, he could feel so much.
Anxiety. Sadness. But thankfully, the life force within her felt vibrant and full.
It seed she was doing alright.
Elga spoke.
“...Didn’t look much like , I think.”
“She looked just like you to .”
Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Even her temper was the sa—so much so that Theo could’ve sworn it was a replica of Elga. She would’ve definitely turned out that way. But Elga shook her head.
“But... it was a nymph. I thought it’d be a quarter-nymph. But it was just... a nymph. I don’t know how that happened.”
“That’s...”
Now that she ntioned it—
Theo was half-fairy, and Elga was a pure-blood human. Their child should’ve had only a trace amount of fairy blood—a quarter-nymph at most. But the child in the dream had been a full nymph.
What was going on?
Was it because it was just a dream? The thought confused him. Did the nymphs have so unknown secret about their birth that he didn’t know?
Then Elga said,
“I think I gave her the wrong na. Since she’s a nymph, maybe ‘Leonoi’ suits her better. You know how nymphs always have that ‘-noi’ at the end of their nas.”
“Well... that’s sothing we can think about later.”
Theo perford the test Mirna had taught him.
Basic questions—did she rember her na and birthday? What was her last mory # Nоvеlight # before they entered the dream? Just a light protocol.
Elga seed visibly shaken at first, but as the questions continued and ti passed, her mood visibly improved.
That’s how dreams worked.
When you first wake up, they feel vivid like reality. But the more ti passes, the more they fade. Eventually, you can’t even rember them clearly.
If soone asked Theo to recall a dream from a week ago, he probably wouldn’t rember a thing. Today’s events would be the sa.
A dream...
Theo suddenly recalled his conversation with Bael.
━Could it be you still haven’t woken up from the dream? It’s ti to rise from that long sleep. Put your feet down and feel for yourself which world you live in.
That’s what Bael had said.
And now, thinking back...
There were parts he couldn’t quite rember. Things like the face he had when he was still nad Lee Seong-eum, or mories from that ti.
More and more, those parts were fading away, like holes being poked through his recollection.
He didn’t want to think it—but after everything he’d been through, a hypothesis had begun forming.
He’d always believed this world was no more than an illusion, but...
What if, actually—
It was the other version of him that—
“Now that I think about it.”
Slide.
At that mont, Elga placed her hand over her stomach and spoke.
“Now that I think about it... she really looked like she’d be a disobedient little brat. I don’t want to raise my daughter like that. If she does sothing wrong, I’ll punish her harshly and fix those habits.”
Hearing her say that was kind of hilarious.
Theo stifled a laugh. Elga quickly added, like an excuse,
“Why, if she’s the firstborn, she could beco a real queen, couldn’t she? Imagine soone like that becoming queen and running the country however she wanted.”
...That would be a problem.
Co to think of it, what would happen to the succession if Theo ever beca king?
He was planning on having around thirty children.
There’d probably be endless fights over inheritance and succession. If he just picked Elga’s daughter as heir based on her birth order, the others would definitely rebel.
He’d have to discuss this at so point.
The House of Lioness was a large family—maybe they had ways of dealing with these things. He might be able to ask their head, Reinhardt, for advice.
While thinking this, soone knocked on the door of the room they were in. It was Lady Mirna.
━Queen Aira has awakened.
Aira?
The sense of calm Theo had felt just a mont ago vanished into tension.
An anxious feeling spilled inside him like overturned ink—spreading wide and dark.
But soon, he felt the little paper spider curled inside him nibbling away at that anxiety.
“......”
Thanks to that, he could muster his courage.
“I’ll go check on her. You two stay here and rest. No matter what happens, this is sothing I need to do now.”
He approached Aira’s room and knocked on the door. When there was no response, he knocked again.
A quiet voice called from inside, “Co in.”
Creeeak.
He opened the door. A cool breeze rushed in, brushing against his face.
He saw an open window, sheer curtains fluttering—and then, he saw her.
Aira, sitting on the bed with her back resting against the wall.
How should he begin?
Should he start with a greeting?
“Did you sleep well?”
Reviews
All reviews (0)