[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 179: Waking from a Dream
Inside Iris’s room, engulfed in darkness as the nightmare spread.
Iris looked up at with wide, round eyes.
She never expected to react this way here.
Which is why I pressed on even more.
"Iris, you are old enough to make your own choices. The Iris I know was never soone who clung blindly to family affection alone."
Iris Hysirion.
A character with an enigmatic charm in Fla Butterfly.
A shadow cast over her face, making it impossible to read her thoughts.
Yet, she always appeared stronger than Lucas, unwavering in her presence.
That was my impression of her back when I played the ga.
But now, the ga had beco reality.
And I had seen firsthand what Iris had gone through.
Clearly, she was being forced into the emperor’s throne by Duke Robliage.
She never truly wanted it, yet she had no choice but to bear the burden.
Even so, as the Third Princess, she gave her all to fulfill her duty.
She stood before others with pride and dignity,
even if, behind closed doors, she was tornted by nightmares.
That image was burned into my mory.
She was no longer just a mysterious final boss character to —
She was Iris Hysirion, a real person.
Iris yearned for familial love.
But she was not soone who would cling to it forever.
She was soone who could stand tall as a princess, more radiant than anyone else.
That was the Iris Hysirion I had co to know.
"A princess doesn’t have to be perfect at all tis—I know that too."
A princess is still human.
No matter how much the world praises and exalts her,
she is bound to stumble from ti to ti.
"But the Iris I know is not weak."
Iris, on the verge of being consud by her nightmare.
I gazed at the teardrops welling in her crimson eyes and spoke.
"I have committed an unforgivable sin against you. I stood by your side under the false na of your cousin, Hannon."
I grasped her shoulders firmly.
Holding onto her with all my strength, preventing her from falling into the nightmare.
"But let ask you, Iris— have I ever spoken to you only in lies?"
Her eyes, lost in the nightmare, t mine.
"Was everything I did for you truly aningless?"
I wanted to save her, truly.
I didn’t want her to be swallowed by the nightmare,
so I did everything in my power to stop it.
Why had she opened her heart to ?
I had always approached her with sincerity, despite her wary nature.
Hania had once told —
that because she knew my feelings for Iris were genuine,
she would not be the one to speak first.
Hania, who had always supported and protected Iris, had said so herself.
"Iris."
I called out to her once more,
eting her crimson gaze straight on.
My grip on her shoulders tightened.
"Family is not the only thing that can understand and support you."
There were people who had stayed by Iris’s side all this ti.
Among them were and Hania.
"Do the opinions of others matter more? Is the rigid concept of 'family' all there is to this world?"
I confronted her.
She had been so desperate for familial love that she failed to look beyond it.
"Are all the things you have seen and felt nothing but lies?"
Iris had always treated with sincerity.
What I had done to help her had never been in vain.
I had freed her from her nightmares,
allowed her to sleep peacefully,
and she had felt it more than anyone.
"Right now, in your eyes, I am Hannon Irey—the person you have known."
I poured my heart into my words.
Calling out to Iris, desperately pulling her from the nightmare.
"Do you truly believe I am made of nothing but lies?"
Her hand, clutching my collar, trembled.
"…No."
For the first ti, she denied it.
"The Hannon I know was sincere."
Tears stread down her crimson eyes.
"You truly wanted to save from my nightmares."
Sincerity reaches people.
And mine had always reached Iris.
That’s why—now—she acknowledged that my efforts were real.
Boom—
At that mont, the entire girls' dormitory trembled.
Iris’s nightmare had begun to spread, affecting the building.
Iris, coming back to her senses, froze.
If the nightmare took over the dormitory,
the students inside would be in danger.
She realized this.
More than that—she herself was in danger.
If she was completely swallowed by the nightmare,
she would never return.
Boom!
As expected, darkness blood from within her chest.
She was being consud.
Iris instinctively tried to push away.
She knew that if I stayed, I too would be caught in it.
But instead, I reached out and pulled her into my arms.
I had always been the one embraced by her before—
but now, I was the one holding her.
"Wait—!"
"Iris, the world is not held together only by family."
She tried to push away in a hurry.
But I held onto her even tighter.
Her nightmare began to spread to as well.
The freezing cold seeped into my body,
trying to consu both of us whole.
"But I am here. Hania is here. Your fellow academy students are here too."
I refused to let it happen.
After all the trials I had overco—
I would not let them be taken away.
The mark of the Fire Dragon on my skin started to heat up.
The remnants of the Ancient Dragon ignited, rging with the flas.
Golden, reptilian eyes glead.
Scales of fire erged on my face as my form began to change.
Flas roared, surging fiercely.
But still, the nightmare pressed forward relentlessly.
"No! Stop—get away from !"
Iris shouted in a pained voice.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
But if I had intended to run,
I would not have embraced her in the first place.
"I’m late in introducing myself, Iris."
The bandages covering my body unraveled.
Revealing the true .
The form I once tried so hard to conceal—
but now revealed in order to build a genuine connection with her.
"My na is Vikamon Niflheim."
White hair flowed freely.
My stature, now much larger than Iris,
allowed to shield her even more completely.
Iris’s eyes widened in shock as they t mine.
It was only natural—she hadn’t expected to see here.
At that mont, another fla ignited within .
This ti, it was a fire unlike any I had ever known.
Once, I had been corrupted by Ashfla under Demon Sovereign’s influence.
Now, it burned fiercely, not to consu, but to lt away nightmares.
The flas of the Fire Dragon were turning ashen.
As they did, the Ashfla surged forward, lting the nightmare away.
But the nightmare wasn’t going down without a fight.
It struggled against the Ashfla, desperately trying to snuff it out.
The more it resisted, the more fiercely the Ashfla blazed.
This was the fla I had inherited from Vulcan.
I had no intention of letting a nightmare planted by Demon Sovereign win.
Crack!
At that mont, Iris, too, began suppressing the nightmare.
She wouldn’t let it devour everything, either.
The nightmare thrashed violently.
It had co so far—it had even gained the chance to bloom within Iris.
It wasn’t about to surrender so easily.
"How can a person live just by dreaming?"
I spoke to the nightmare and stoked the Ashfla even hotter.
The raging flas bared their fangs and sank into the nightmare.
"Wake up."
Crunch!
Cracks spread across the entire nightmare.
Shatter!
At last, the nightmare shattered into countless fragnts.
Its scattered shards, caught in the glow of the Ashfla, looked almost dreamlike in their beauty.
Iris leaned her head against my chest.
For the first ti in a long while, her restless eyes began to close.
She could finally feel the warmth that had always lulled her to sleep.
"…Hannon."
She murmured the na she had spoken so many tis before.
"…It’s Hannon."
The one she had always regarded as her cousin—.
My warmth reached her in the most genuine way possible.
Before I knew it, Iris had fallen asleep.
And this ti, it wasn’t a nightmare haunting her—
It was a peaceful, restful slumber.
As she slept, reality returned.
The nightmare’s fragnts dissolved into dust and scattered away.
Bang!
Just then, the door burst open.
"Lady Iris!"
Standing there, breathless and frantic, was Hania.
Her face was drenched in sweat.
She must have been struggling desperately to open the door.
A commotion could be heard outside.
The dormitory had been shaken by Iris’s nightmare just monts ago.
Now, students were being evacuated under the guidance of the dormitory maids.
Hania’s eyes t mine.
She froze, recognizing —this version of .
Then, her gaze shifted to Iris, who was sleeping peacefully in my arms.
"…Hannon?"
When she spoke my na, I nodded.
A complicated look crossed her face before she silently shut the door.
If she left it open, people outside would see .
"What the hell happened?"
"Lady Iris found out who I am."
Hania swallowed hard.
And at that mont, she realized why Iris had been looking so troubled lately.
She had assud it was just nightmares.
But in reality, it was because her only family had been keeping a secret from her.
Hania sighed deeply as she looked at Iris’s sleeping face.
"Is Lady Iris all right now?"
"For now."
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say she was completely safe.
Once a nightmare takes root, it’s always waiting for a chance to return.
The only way to stop it for good was to eliminate the source.
‘Duke Robliage.’
I had to take him down.
Hania gazed at Iris’s peaceful face for a mont.
Then, she stepped forward, pulled a blanket over her, and sat down beside .
"I should apologize when she wakes up."
"Yeah. You think she’d forgive you if you did a deep bow?"
"I don’t know what a deep bow is, but Lady Iris is kind."
Hania smiled softly as she looked at Iris.
"I’m sure she’ll forgive us."
At the very least, Iris was blessed with good people around her.
"By the way, Hannon… is that your real appearance?"
"How does it feel to see your ex-boyfriend’s true face?"
"Annoying."
Ah.
So this was how exes were.
Hania let her peach-colored hair fall over her knees as she rested her face against them.
Then, she flashed a mischievous smile.
"Still… it’s better than before."
So, in the end, it was still Vikamon’s face.
"Should we get back together? It’d be like dating a brand-new guy."
"Screw off."
A sharp-tongued ex, indeed.
And so, with the two of us chuckling—
Iris slept more peacefully than ever before.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Reviews
All reviews (0)