Chapter 51
Every time I fell asleep, I had a dream that always rewound into the past—but today’s dream was strange.
For some reason, Ian was gone, and I was furious at Blake.
Blake’s pale face couldn’t even hide the hurt.
The best he could do was to barely turn away from me and leave in a hurry.
…Even that made me feel disgusted.
“No, this is strange. Why am I… hating Blake…?”
Just as I tried to pull myself together, darkness fell around me again.
A nameless sense of terror rose, but facing Ian as he burst through the door and approached slightly eased my unease.
Still, my body trembled.
“Ariel! I checked the back door! We can escape that way.”
“Ah… Ian… it’s you…! I’m so scared… it’s horrible… the Crown Prince…”
“What’s wrong, Ariel? Did he do something to you?”
“The… Crown Prince… confessed he loved me… and told me his real name!”
In the dream, I hated Blake.
All because he had the audacity to say he loved me.
It was absurd.
There was no way I could feel such hatred for Blake over something like that.
Ian looked startled at my words, but soon he agreed with my anger.
Then he grabbed my wrist, saying that we had to get out of the palace first, leading me along.
We ran until we were out of breath.
My heart pounded violently, and a nausea-like anxiety weighed on me.
The dream-mix of reality and imagination ran wild in my mind.
“No, if we go like this… Ian and I will die. We’ll be torn apart by the wolves…”
In the dream world where ruin loomed large, the moon symbolized madness.
The full moon rose, magic surged, and wolves took control…
If we kept running, we’d soon face them.
Then, we’d embrace each other and meet the death that was predetermined…
“N-no… I don’t want this…”
“Ariel?”
“No… this isn’t right…”
As I ran frantically, I suddenly stopped.
For the first time, dream-Ariel felt something was wrong.
The predetermined story—it could be rejected.
Predetermined story? What predetermined story?
Right. This wasn’t just a dream…
“Ariel.”
“…Ian.”
“This is a nightmare. Once you wake up, none of it will have happened.”
“….”
My chest felt like it was being ripped apart.
No, that’s a lie! This didn’t just not happen!
Chaos returned immediately.
No… even this isn’t right… Ian never said that…
“Painful memories like this don’t need to be remembered. Even if you don’t love me in this nightmare, it’s fine. Because it was always supposed to happen that way.”
“….”
“You didn’t choose to hate me on your own. So it’s fine. Once you wake from this nightmare, you can love however you want.”
I couldn’t understand what Ian meant.
He sounded slightly self-deprecating.
“I’m fine, I can wait. After all, your husband is meant to be me alone. I kind of like that.”
“Who… are you?”
My vision blurred.
Only when I spoke the words did I realize.
The person who had run with me wasn’t Ian.
But before I could even identify who it was, my eyes shot open.
I had woken from the dream.
“Ah… sniff… why… why am I crying…?”
Until now, waking from nightmares usually left me with only cold sweat.
But now, a sudden rush of emotion made tears fall uncontrollably.
Am I… sad?
Why do I feel sad?
I hurriedly wiped away the tears.
“Ariel.”
In the dark night, I had woken alone in my bed. Yet, a familiar voice sounded nearby.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
A shadow rose from the edge of the bed and slowly approached.
Gently, the person wiped the tears from my eyes.
“…Your Highness?”
The dim moonlight by the window revealed his face.
It was, unmistakably, Blake.
Blake gazed at me with an ambiguous smile, then asked softly:
“How do you feel now? Still scared?”
“…No.”
I was certainly scared and sad, but facing Blake after waking brought a strange sense of relief.
My runaway emotions slowly settled.
Still, he appeared almost unreal before my eyes.
Blake spoke in a low, gentle tone, soothing me.
“See, Ariel.”
“….”
“Once you wake from the dream, it’s all as if it never happened.”
Hearing that, my eyes slowly, gently closed again.
The intense emotions, now nullified by Blake’s words, allowed drowsiness to return.
I didn’t notice that he had said exactly what the person in my dream had said.
Not that the warm hand fixing my hair and putting me back to sleep reminded me of it.
It just felt… warm.
And so, I drifted off again.
“Your Highness, are you awake? The weather is wonderful today! I think the Crown Prince will return by this afternoon.”
“It’s good to hear you’re well. If you start preparing now, you can welcome the Crown Prince properly!”
“…Lily? Scarlet?”
“I’m here too, Your Highness! Today is the day the Crown Prince returns. Our holiday ended, so we all came together.”
Bella giggled.
Half-awake, rubbing my eyes, I couldn’t make sense of what they were saying.
Huh?
Wasn’t Blake here last night?
I thought he had quietly come to my room after his expedition, comforting me when I woke from a nightmare…
But maybe not?
Could it be that even Blake was a part of my dream?
Reality and dreams had been so mixed lately that I wasn’t sure.
The maids approached cautiously, noticing my serious expression.
“Your Highness, are you alright? Did you have a nightmare again today?”
“Again? Even when Bella arrived? Scarlet and Lily too?”
“Yes? Even me! Your Highness, does that mean you had nightmares every day this week?”
“….”
I nodded, unable to speak in the pitying gazes of the maids.
Worried voices overwhelmed me:
“If it keeps happening, we should send a priest to the temple. The Crown Prince will worry a lot if he finds out…”
I quickly reassured them and carefully asked the question I’d been holding back.
“By chance… did the Crown Prince return last night?”
“What? The Crown Prince hasn’t returned from the expedition yet.”
“Maybe… I dreamt of him because I missed him while having a nightmare?”
Normally, the maids would brush off such talk as romance novels, but this made me doubt myself.
Could it be?
Had I been relying on Blake that much…?
After all, just before sleeping, I had repeated to myself that after today, Blake would come.
Just having someone beside me while sleeping would reduce the fear.
But Lily’s next words snapped me fully awake.
“Huh? Now that you mention it, I think I briefly saw the Crown Prince too…”
“Ahaha, Lily, why so scary!”
“In the morning, while preparing to wake Your Highness, I saw the Crown Prince leaving Your Highness’ room.”
Everyone held their breath and looked at her.
Lily tried to speak calmly.
“But when I heard the news he hadn’t returned yet, I thought I must have imagined it… Hearing Your Highness now, maybe I wasn’t mistaken…”
Her face, pale as always, seemed to share the same realization I had.
Of course, thinking back, there were many strange details.
The way he seemed to wait for me to wake from my nightmare, the words he spoke as if he knew everything, and above all, the warm touch.
Blake, resurrected incompletely after death, couldn’t possibly be warm.
The one who comforted me after my nightmare last night wasn’t Blake, nor a dream, nor a hallucination.
It was a man who looked exactly like Blake.
It was Vi.
