Seeing how happy he looked made me feel good as well.
“I am glad the effect was good. I came to see how much influence I would have on your dreams today. Now that I have confirmed your dream state is fine, I will head back.”
Thinking about all the physical contact we had today, even if he developed some resistance to my ability, it was obvious that his dreams tonight would be safe.
Feeling more at ease, I tried to stand up, but Rastan tightened his grip on my wrist.
As a result, I ended up sitting back down just as I was about to lift my hips.
“Where do you think you are going? You should stay by my side all night. We do not know how this dream might change once you are gone.”
“That will not happen, will it? We had a lot of contact today too.”
“Even if the dream stays like this, I do not want you to go anywhere. Being with you is the best dream I could have. Please stay with me.”
Hearing such an earnest, almost clingy plea from such a large man made me feel strange.
Unlike in the real world, here in the world of dreams, I was the stronger one, the one with the power to protect him from the enemy called nightmares.
Realizing that anew, I knew that in this dream, where I was almost godlike and could do anything, I could easily shake off the hand holding my wrist.
Or, like logging out of a game, I could wake up from this dream immediately and leave.
‘…But I don’t want to.’
I looked into Rastan’s eyes, which seemed a little anxious, then gently stroked his hair.
“Alright. I will not go anywhere. I will stay here with you tonight.”
At that, Rastan looked as though he had just received the most moving confession of love in the world.
“Thank you. Truly.”
Seeing that overflowing gaze made me feel a little embarrassed, so I deliberately looked away and feigned nonchalance.
“If you are grateful, then treat me well.”
Rastan slowly pressed his lips to my palm again.
This time, the kiss was tender, as if he were handling something precious. It wasn’t my palm but my heart that started to itch.
“I will. I truly will treat you well, so please allow me to stay by your side for a long time to come.”
“Our contract is for one year, isn’t it? I thought you intended to find a way to resolve the curse within that time.”
“Of course I do intend to. But… you never know what might happen.”
That night, beneath the shade of a large tree on a grassy field where a cool, sweetly scented breeze drifted by, we shared a leisurely dream, rolling about together in peace.
The next morning, it was only natural that Rastan’s face was practically glowing.
***
After sharing breakfast together, Rastan left for the Krone estate for a short while.
In order to become engaged, he needed to obtain my father’s consent.
Among nobles, engagements, marriages, and even broken engagements could only be registered with the Central Temple if accompanied by written consent fron the Heads of the two Houses involdved.
Even though I knew it was an unnecessary worry, I couldn’t help but ask before he departed.
“My father is someone who wants to sell me to whoever offers him the most money. So if you say you will give a certain amount, he might claim someone else offered more and try to bargain.”
Even at that, Rastan nodded calmly, just as expected, his expression unchanging.
“I see. I will speak with him properly, so do not worry and wait.”
Seeing him look completely unconcerned even after what I said, the question naturally came to mind: ‘Is it because he can manipulate the other party’s thoughts?’
“You…”
As I opened my mouth, Rastan lightly lifted his gaze and focused on my lips.
Seeing that serious expression, I couldn’t bring myself to continue.
‘Right. He said he’d answer anything after we get engaged anyway.’
Deciding to trust him and put that question aside for now, I lifted the corners of my mouth and smiled softly. In response, his face brightened reflexively.
“…I believe you will handle it well.”
Rastan’s smile deepened dazzlingly.
“I will live up to your expectations. I will be back shortly.”
With that farewell, he left the estate alone, riding off without a single attendant.
And he returned just a couple of hours later. That meant that, excluding travel time, he had clearly spent not even half an hour in the Krone mansion.
The time was so short that even I, who had fully expected him to succeed, momentarily wondered if things hadn’t gone smoothly.
I ran over to him as he dismounted, skipping any greeting and asking urgently.
“How did it go?”
Instead of answering, Rastan pulled the consent form from his coat with a smile.
“Wow….!”
“You said you believed I would do well, so why are you so surprised? That is disappointing.”
Rastan deliberately lowered his brows, trying to put on a hurt expression, but perhaps because it wasn’t a look he was used to making, he simply looked sad instead.
Seeing that, a quiet chuckle escaped me on its own.
He asked with his eyes why I was laughing.
“Hehe, I was just thinking that maybe there are things you cannot do either.”
His face filled with confusion.
“What would that be?”
I felt a bit exasperated at how surprised he looked at the idea that there might be something he couldn’t do, but at the same time, I understood.
After all, the man I knew was an absurdly overpowered character who was good at everything.
Since it seemed like this was the first time he had ever heard such a thing, I figured it was fine to let his curiosity linger a little.
“There is. Now, let us go inside and show me the consent form.”
Unable to hide the laughter that kept slipping out, I grabbed his wrist and tugged him along.
Perhaps because it was the first time someone had taken him by the wrist like that, Rastan looked slightly dazed but followed along obediently as he looked at me.
After showing me the consent form clearly bearing my father’s signature and putting it away, Rastan shut himself up in his office for the entire afternoon.
‘It looks like he’s busy with work again today.’
Raven was holed up in the office with him as well, to the point that I didn’t see even a glimpse of him.
‘Did something happen?’
My curiosity was answered before dinner.
Rastan summoned me to his office and handed me a thick bundle of papers.
I took it and looked at the cover.
“A contract? Ah…!”
It was none other than our engagement contract.
But then….
“Why is this so thick?”
It seemed the two of them had been busy all afternoon drafting all this content.
“It is nothing special. We simply added a bit of content to the standard format most commonly used for contracts in the Empire.”
“It looks like a lot, but most of it is common-sense material.”
“As for the parts that specifically concern our engagement, you only need to look at the sections marked with bookmarks there.”
For some reason, the explanation was long, unlike him.
Rastan spoke as if it were nothing, but the total volume of the contract was considerable, and there were quite a few bookmarks inserted as well.
I knew from having lived in modern Korea that when entering into a contract, one was supposed to read the entire thing thoroughly and check every single word if anything seemed even slightly off.
But contracts were always burdensome and tedious, no matter where you were.
‘Haa…. when am I ever going to finish reading this?’
Still, I widened my eyes and read through the first two or three pages without skipping a single line. But then…
Just as Rastan had said, it was all content that would be obvious to anyone with common sense, simply spelled out meticulously because it was a contract.
‘Something that could be summed up with a single phrase like ‘the principle of good faith’ is stretched out over five whole pages….’
After yawning for the fifth time, I made a small decision.
‘This won’t do. I’ll skim selectively…’
I boldly jumped ahead from where I was reading and opened the first page with a bookmark.
‘Hmm. Our names and the contract period are specified.’
Moving on to the second bookmark, the content was just as predictable.
‘So this means I’ll be living here, in Blake estate, during that time.’
It was all information I already knew, things that had already been fully discussed and agreed upon between the two of us.
‘Still, I should at least read the bookmarked sections.’
However, after flipping through the pages and yawning about fifty times, I eventually changed my mind.
‘The rest will probably be just as predictable. It’s not like Rastan, the embodiment of honesty and trust, would sneak in something strange. Surely not.’
Once I decided to trust him, everything moved swiftly.
I immediately flipped to the very last page and boldly scrawled my signature next to Rastan’s.
Since each of us had to keep a copy of the contract, I signed in the same place on the identical document placed in front of me as well.
Watching all of this seriously, Rastan’s face brightened.
At that moment, something a little strange happened on the paper.
