Chapter 36
There was something Cain had overlooked.
Melony clearly remembered everything that had happened in the recent commotion. Even so, she felt no embarrassment.
She only realized that she still hadn’t escaped the past.
And that made her angry.
“So? How do you wake up from a nightmare?”
Dark shadows lay beneath Melony’s eyes. Every time she slept, nightmares came to swallow her whole.
If this kept up, it would be a problem.
Lack of proper sleep left her dizzy, and like earlier, she might lose her judgment and attack recklessly.
“Well then. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“If you saw me like that, you should’ve shot me once more to snap me out of it.”
“I’ll pass on that.”
Cain shrugged, then frowned. He’d been shot twice in the right shoulder, after all.
Watching him, Glenn stepped in to mediate.
“Melony, you should at least take the bullets out of his shoulder. He only did that to stop you.”
Cain’s mouth worked just fine, but his body moved sluggishly. Compared to his usual speed, the silver bullets’ power was clearly significant.
This was undeniably her fault. She’d lashed out unnecessarily, driven mad by a nightmare.
“……”
Without a word, Melony pressed down on Cain’s left shoulder.
“Ah.”
Cain let out a short groan. Melony pushed him down into a sitting position and sat facing him.
“Mel, you’ve gotten merciful?”
“……”
“You even listen to other people now. Think you’ll listen to me too?”
Cain’s hand rose naturally and began stroking Melony’s hair.
While removing the bullet, Melony gripped his right shoulder tightly and applied pressure.
“Ugh.”
“If you want your shoulder broken, keep running that mouth.”
“Ah, no. Yeah, this is more like you, Mel.”
“Move your hand. Unless you want it cut off.”
“Yes, yes.”
Grinning slyly, Cain raised both hands in surrender. Melony glared at him, sighed, and pulled out the bullet.
Blood flowed, and she immediately stopped it with her power.
“Hey, vampire. Doesn’t holy power hurt?”
“Not really. Well, maybe it just feels a bit unpleasant.”
“Are all bishops like this?”
“No chance.”
After finishing the treatment, Melony stood and sat on the bed.
“Now talk. I cleaned up my mess, didn’t I?”
Instead of standing, Cain leaned against the wall and spoke.
“It’s simple. Before the nightmare swallows you, you kill it yourself.”
“What?”
It sounded simple—and impossibly difficult.
“So how do I kill a nightmare?”
“Literally. When you’re having the nightmare, kill it. Remove the cause yourself.”
“So you’re saying…”
His cryptic words were starting to irritate her.
Just as Melony frowned, she suddenly relaxed, as if realizing something.
Kill the nightmare while dreaming.
What haunted Melony was the black mass that had killed her parents. The dream repeated endlessly: that thing killing her parents who tried to protect her.
In other words, she just had to kill it.
But how, inside a dream?
In that endlessly repeating dream, she was nothing but a young girl.
A ten-year-old who possessed the greatest holy power in history, yet didn’t know how to use it.
So every time, she ran and ran, only to face her parents’ deaths head-on.
“Mel.”
A voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
“Here.”
“What is it?”
Kinaz, tossed into a corner of the bed, landed in Melony’s arms.
She smiled faintly at the crimson eyes looking at her with concern.
With her fingertips, she gently stroked the snake’s head.
“Take Kinaz with you when you have the nightmare.”
“Kinaz? How am I supposed to take Kinaz into my dream?”
“Just keep it stuck to your body when you sleep.”
At that, Melony nodded as if she understood.
She wanted to carve out the nightmare immediately. She was about to go to sleep, but then she glanced between the two pairs of eyes watching her.
“Senior, go to another room.”
“Huh? Can’t I stay?”
“Get out. Now.”
“Ugh. Fine.”
Even as Glenn went to the next room, he kept glancing back regretfully. Melony felt his gaze but didn’t look back.
“Melony.”
Just before the door closed, Glenn stuck his head out.
“If anything happens, be sure to call me.”
“I will.”
She endured it, knowing it was all out of concern for her—even if she disliked excessive interference.
Once she was alone with Cain, her gaze turned to him.
“What?”
Cain stood up, glanced at his injured shoulder, and sat down on a chair.
He sat backward, resting his arms on the backrest.
“I even went out of my way to find a way for you to wake up from nightmares.”
“Is Bella dead?”
“I killed her.”
“Why?”
“She lied to me.”
Melony herself wanted Bella dead. She’d deceived her and tried to kill her by trapping her in nightmares.
If not for Cain, Melony would’ve lost her sanity before long.
Cain had simply done what she should’ve done.
“Why did you do it?”
“I told you. She lied to me. Said it was an antidote, but it was actually poison that caused nightmares.”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Mel, what do you really want to say?”
It felt strange, as if Cain had killed Bella out of anger over Melony’s life being threatened—even if he claimed it was about being lied to.
Cain had hated and despised Melony for forcing a restraint collar on him. He’d tried countless times to tear her throat out.
Yet he killed Bella, who tried to kill Melony. He even brought back a way to end her nightmares.
Whether it really works is another matter…
But if even that method was real—
“Why do you want to keep me alive?”
“Me? Keeping you alive?”
“……”
“There’s only one reason.”
Cain stood and caressed Melony’s pale neck. She didn’t swat his chilling touch away.
She wanted to see just how far that insolent hand would go.
“I’m going to kill you with my own hands.”
“Ah. If that’s the reason…”
Melony realized she’d been thinking strangely. She laughed lightly and lay back on the bed.
For a moment, she’d thought he might have another motive. You couldn’t trust a vampire.
“Try anything funny while I’m asleep.”
“If it looks like it won’t end quickly, I’ll wake you.”
“Do whatever.”
Wondering where to put Kinaz, Melony set it down on her stomach. It felt quite heavy.
As soon as she lay down, the sleep she’d been holding back began to wash over her.
“Mel, don’t die easily. Not before I kill you.”
“I’ll think about it.”
She looked up at Cain, who had pulled a chair over and sat near the bed.
That vampire was someone who could strangle her at any moment if he reached out.
Yet he did nothing, restrained by the collar around his neck. If that collar ever came off—
You’d better be prepared.
Melony closed her eyes.
She’d deal with the future when it arrived.
“Then, sweet nightmares.”
At the devilish whisper, Melony gave no response.
Most nightmares began in the dark forest.
She had disobeyed her parents’ warnings and entered the forest—where she encountered that thing.
How tiresome.
As always, in the dream she was a ten-year-old girl. Her mind was twenty-one.
But something was different this time.
Someone nudged her foot.
At first, she was so startled she froze, unable to speak.
Looking down, she saw a familiar creature on the ground.
“Kinaz?”
Though her voice was that of a child, what she saw was the blue snake she knew in reality. The snake nodded vigorously, as if to say it was indeed itself.
‘Take Kinaz with you when you have the nightmare.’
Cain’s voice echoed in her mind.
At the same time, she realized something.
Recently, whenever she had nightmares, she hadn’t been aware she was dreaming at all. She’d simply become young Melony again and run madly.
But now—this was the first time she recognized it as a dream.
“Kinaz, did you have that kind of power?”
Kinaz tilted its head, as if it didn’t know.
Smiling softly, Melony picked Kinaz up with both hands. Even in her adult body, it had some weight. In her ten-year-old body, it was no joke.
“You’re heavy.”
Kinaz drooped its head, looking sulky.
“Want to climb up to my neck?”
Kinaz eagerly slithered up her body and settled comfortably around her neck, like a scarf.
The sensation was heavier, but not enough to stop her from moving.
Gently stroking the snake’s body, Melony looked around her surroundings.
