His dark pupil shook in the middle of his dark iris.
“Surely…”
“The person you’re thinking of right now is correct.”
I have been seeing you through my dreams for a long time. That’s why I missed you.
Some might dismiss this as nonsense upon hearing it. But…
“It might be hard to understand.”
If it were Sion.
“Still, I understand.”
He would accept it. Because he wants to.
The Sion that appeared in Laila’s dreams eventually came to like her. It’s a very sweet dream.
Laila suddenly felt it. She was standing at the last moment of the dream.
The way to wake up from a dream isn’t by telling the characters that this is a dream…
A fairy tale she read in her childhood came to mind.
A princess who was put under a witch’s curse and slept for a long time.
What was it that ultimately woke her from her slumber?
Laila looked at Sion’s beautiful face as he closed his eyes and slowly lowered his head.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The scene changed.
It did change, but…
“What the…?”
What is going on?
Laila stared blankly ahead.
Why was the seemingly dead Marquis Hildegarde doing something he shouldn’t be doing?
The marquis’s hand pushed the back of a thin child.
Laila held her breath the moment she saw Sion’s face.
Why…
“He’s not someone you need to worry about.”
It was still a dream. She understood that.
But why this kind of dream…
As Laila froze in place, the Marquis of Hildegarde, who had brought young Sion and displayed him like an exhibit on the first floor of the marquisate, commanded,
“Lock him in the basement.”
The moment she heard the cold voice, it felt like she was doused with cold water.
“Yes, mllord.”
The knight standing next to the marquis replied. Soon, the scene from Laila’s memory was reenacted.
A knight pulled the small child’s clothes with careless hands. The child stumbling and falling.
As Laila saw the knight reaching out to Sion again, she dashed out of her place in fear.
In her memory, Laila had reached out her hand to the fallen Sion at that moment. In return, she had received a harsh slap on the back of her hand.
However, this time Laila didn’t extend her hand to Sion. That had been a calculated action back then.
Now, Laila had no leisure for calculations.
Laila embraced the fallen Sion.
As she held his thin body, tears welled up in her eyes, and a sigh seemed to escape.
“Good grief!”
But the sigh actually came from someone else’s mouth.
Laila’s siblings, who had taken on the role of spectators, whispered among themselves.
“Laila, what are you doing right now?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Are you really not feeling well?”
Laila ignored her half-siblings, who were concerned about her mental and physical health.
What was important to Laila right now was not her reputation, nor even her life; it was simply Sion.
Laila observed Sion’s reaction as he clung to her and realized one thing.
‘He’s not pushing me away.’
Could it be that he doesn’t have the strength to do so?
Considering he had fallen after struggling to walk, that might be the case.
But the Sion from the past had pushed away her outstretched hand even in that state…
Is pushing away a single hand really so different from rejecting the body that’s embracing him? Well, maybe it could be.
“Laila Hildegarde.”
A cold voice fell upon the crown of Laila’s head.
It was the voice that had once made Laila tremble with fear or freeze in place.
“You need to explain your actions in a way that I can understand.”
But now, as soon as Laila heard the Marquis of Hildegarde’s warning, she smirked.
She thought that even a passing field mouse would be scarier.
“Unless you want to be locked up with that thing you’re holding as if it’s something precious.”
“I do want to be locked up with him.”
“What?”
Laila looked up at the Marquis of Hildegarde, who was less frightening than a field mouse.
“I want to be locked up with this child. Father.”
She felt the atmosphere freeze. Laila’s siblings had maintained silence, as if they hadn’t just been noisy moments ago.
Marquis Hildegarde also looked down at Laila without speaking, and for a while, the silence remained unbroken. Laila thought as she observed the marquis’s expression.
It’s a face I’ve seen before.
When was it? Right, it was when I had given up the desire to keep going back to being ten years old.
So, when I had forgotten my fears and confronted the villain.
At that time, Marquis Hildegarde had looked at his child with the same expression he wore now.
‘It’s decided. My fate is sealed.’
Marquis Hildegarde had pushed his ten-year-old daughter, who had boldly confronted him in defiance, toward death. Now, Laila wasn’t exactly being evil, but perhaps her calm defiance only fueled his anger further.
Marquis Hildegarde disliked children who did not fear him.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“…”
“Take them away.”
Two knights approached Sion and Laila. One knight roughly grabbed Laila’s arm, having fallen out of the marquis’s favor.
Laila wanted to hold onto Sion until the very end, but there was no way to overcome the knight’s strength.
After a brief struggle, Laila was pulled away from Sion.
Wait, why are you taking me first? You’re not going to lock us up separately, are you? No way.
Lock us up in the same prison…
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Laila’s wish was granted.
Sion was soon dragged into the prison where Laila had been thrown.
“Filthy things.”
The knight tossed Sion beside Laila and then brushed his hands off before leaving.
Filthy ‘things’… Laila swallowed a laugh. In the blink of an eye, she had gone from a young lady to something filthy.
She didn’t care. What mattered more than the knight’s words, which had become blurry in her mind, was Sion’s condition.
Laila turned to Sion and asked.
“Are you okay?”
She expected him to tell her to go away or respond with some equivalent insult. At this time, Sion had always treated Laila coldly.
Back then, Laila didn’t understand Sion, but she was different now.
No matter how Sion reacted, Laila was confident she wouldn’t be hurt or scared by it.
However, instead of cursing her to go away, Sion stared at Laila, who had spoken to him.
Laila realized something a moment later.
‘He doesn’t hate me.’
There was no trace of the familiar hatred or animosity in Sion’s gaze.
He seemed a bit wary of her, but…
That was all.
‘Why?’
As Laila pondered this, she soon realized.
Could it be that this moment is…
‘Before the regression?’
In other words, the time when Sion was first brought to the Marquis of Hildegarde.
Just as Laila recalled this significant moment, Sion opened his mouth, which had been shut until then.
“Who are you?”
“What?”
“I said, who are you?”
Is he asking for an introduction? Laila hesitated before responding.
“Laila. I am Laila.”
“Is that all?”
Is he asking for more than just my name? Laila started to say, ‘My age…’ but paused.
Sion’s expression.
The moment Laila saw it, she understood the meaning behind his earlier words.
Laila’s lips pressed together and parted repeatedly before she finally uttered in a faint voice.
“… Laila Hildegarde.”
Sion looked at Laila with a blank expression before turning his head away.
No, he didn’t just turn his head; he completely turned his back on Laila and lay down. Watching his thin back, Laila felt a sense of urgency and began to spill out words.
“I’m ten years old. My birthday was not long ago. My favorite food is…”
Laila chatted on for quite a while. However, there was no response from Sion.
