Knock knock!
“Are you still asleep, Your Majesty the Emperor?”
At the sound of Cain’s voice from outside the door, Zion opened his eyes. As he sat up and looked around, he saw that the sun was already high in the sky.
‘I overslept.’
It had been a while since he had slept this late. Yet, he didn’t feel refreshed or clear-headed.
“Come in.”
At Zion’s words, Cain appeared.
“What’s the matter, Your Majesty, sleeping until this hour?”
Cain unknowingly made a face as if he couldn’t believe it. Then he examined Zion’s face.
“Are you not feeling well somewhere?”
Zion didn’t answer, but put on his robe. Cain, accustomed to being ignored, looked at the paper with the schedule.
“As I mentioned yesterday, today there is a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Hail Empire regarding the demon subjugation.”
“I know.”
And he was already a bit late.
It was a strange thing. He had never had this happen before, except when he was so young he couldn’t remember. Why couldn’t he get up?
“Next time this happens, wake me up directly.”
The Prime Minister of the Hail Empire was an important national guest. Being late was a serious breach of etiquette.
“Don’t say that…! The head maid tried so hard to wake you up. When she came to me, her face was pale as if she thought Your Majesty the Emperor had collapsed.”
Zion’s eyes narrowed for a moment.
The first thing that usually came to mind when he woke up was Irina, but now a different scene was trying to occupy his mind.
As Zion quietly replayed his memories, he soon realized why he had overslept.
‘Come to think of it, I had a dream.’
And it was a very strange dream at that.
What he could sporadically remember from his severed memories was a giant…
‘Black dragon.’
A dragon covered in black scales soared into the sky and fell in agony.
Zion squinted his eyes and tried hard to recall the dream in more detail. He knew it wasn’t a pleasant dream, but he had a feeling that he didn’t want to miss something.
“Your Majesty! I will call the maids.”
But his effort to recall his memory was shattered by Cain’s voice.
Soon, the maids who rushed in busily scattered Zion’s attention.
The skilled maids quickly finished Zion, knowing that they were already late.
Zion, who had finished preparing to meet the guest, went outside and spoke to Cain.
“Let’s go.”
He intended to think more about the dream later. The first thing was to correct the twisted schedule.
Cain nodded and led him to the reception room. In the reception room, an elderly prime minister was already seated.
“I’m sorry for being late.”
Zion entered with an apology. But the prime minister of the Hail Empire rose from his seat and politely greeted him.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
When Zion sat down, the prime minister also sat down. After asking a ceremonial greeting, he soon moved on to the main topic.
“I heard that the demons are rampant in the Hail Empire.”
“Yes. That’s why we came to Croyden Empire for help.”
Worries were clearly visible in the prime minister’s eyes.
Despite the fact that the Hail Empire and the Croyden Empire were not on good terms, the reason for his visit was because of the demons.
“I heard you formed a subjugation team.”
Zion slowly nodded. His reaction time was a bit late.
“If it’s okay, I would like to meet them directly and ask for advice.”
“…Okay.”
While affirming, Zion had a slightly confused face. But the prime minister laughed as if he didn’t notice such Zion.
“Thank you. I will definitely repay the favor for the help this time.”
At the prime minister’s words of thanks, Zion responded in his usual manner.
“Don’t mention it. It’s right to help each other in times like this.”
At that, the prime minister admired.
“The people of the Croyden Empire are really envious. Having such a broad-minded and reliable emperor.”
Then he subtly asked.
“I heard rumors that you even brought down a dragon?”
Zion’s hand that was holding the teacup paused for a moment.
As the prime minister said, he had encountered a dragon with tremendous energy. But he didn’t bring it down. To be precise, he drove it away.
‘Black dragon…’
The dragon he had met was similar to the dragon in his dream yesterday.
Zion’s expression hardened.
“Your Majesty?”
At the prime minister’s puzzled voice, Zion came to his senses.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment.”
“Hehe, you can do that.”
The prime minister laughed nonchalantly. But Zion’s complexion was getting worse and worse.
In the end, he got up from his seat first.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave first. The subjugation team will gather at dinner time, so I’ll invite the prime minister then.”
“Oh dear. You don’t look well. I’ll see you again at dinner.”
At the prime minister’s words, Zion stormed out of his seat. As soon as he left, Zion leaned against the wall.
The strange thing was not just the memory.
His body felt completely empty. Zion raised his hand and condensed his magic.
But no matter how hard he tried, the magic did not respond.
‘…It’s gone.’
His magic was gone.
Zion felt strange about himself, who was not surprised or anxious more than he thought, and tried hard to recall his memory.
But no memory of when his power disappeared came to mind.
Zion, who was closing his eyes and forcing his memory, clenched his mouth at the sudden feeling of vomiting.
But soon, a dry heave sprang out.
For a while, Zion, who had been dry heaving as if his stomach was twisted, staggered and straightened his posture.
“Huff, huff.”
Zion wiped the corner of his mouth and stopped thinking.
In the end, I couldn’t think of anything, and my body was strongly rejecting it.
It was the same earlier. When the prime minister brought up the subjugation force, it took a moment for me to realize that I had formed a subjugation force.
Zion, feeling confused, tightly closed his eyes.
At that moment, Cain, who had left his seat, quickly ran over when he saw the pale Zion.
“Your Majesty!!”
Zion waved his hand at the approaching Cain.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. I’ve noticed since you overslept.”
Zion couldn’t deny it. There was definitely a connection between sleeping in and the current situation.
“Let’s go to the bedroom for now. It might be better to rest until dinner time.”
“I guess so.”
If he continued with the schedule as it was, he felt like he would make a mistake.
Cain was quite surprised at Zion’s easy agreement, but he didn’t show it and opened his mouth.
“Oh, if it’s okay with you, I’ll give you a brief report on the accident that happened yesterday while we’re on our way.”
“Accident?”
When Zion frowned and asked, Cain couldn’t hide his flustered emotions.
“The accident last night when a meteorite fell at the front gate. There was a fire and it was chaos, wasn’t it?”
Hearing the story, it seemed vaguely familiar.
But it was just yesterday, and the memory is not clear.
“Of course, thanks to the subjugation force, the fire was quickly extinguished and safely cleaned up.”
I was so surprised, thinking that a demon had invaded. The word ‘demon’ in Cain’s words rather stuck in my ears.
The scene from the dream came up again.
The scene was also at the main gate. Flames were rising, and people were in chaos.
Why were they so terrified?
Was it because of the dragon? No, there was another being. The being that emitted an evil aura fought fiercely with the dragon.
The dragon was rather protecting us.
‘How did that fight end?’
Zion threw the next question.
The dragon eventually fell, and instead, something white…
But in the end, he shook his head. It didn’t feel nauseous like before, but he couldn’t remember.
Walking in a bit of a daze, he arrived at the bedroom. Cain opened the door and spoke.
“Your Majesty, please rest well. I will come to pick you up for the strategy meeting with the subjugation force in the evening.”
Zion, who was left alone, walked around the room with a stifling heart.
He wanted to walk outside, but it was wise to stay in the bedroom in case he felt dizzy or fell down like before.
Suddenly, Zion, standing in front of the fireplace in the room, stared at the picture. It contained his childhood self.
A small child with a heavy face. Next to him was the prime minister in his youth.
The picture containing his figure was all there was.
One regret was that he had not drawn a single portrait of his mother.
As a result, he could not see his mother’s figure anywhere. The pictures from the empress’s time were all discarded when his mother’s death sentence was decided.
‘I should commission a portrait of Irina next time.’
He couldn’t help his late mother, but he definitely wanted to draw Irina’s figure.
Thinking of Irina, Zion’s expression softened a lot. He usually thought about her all day, but for some reason, he didn’t think about her much today.
Was it because of the strange dream?
Fortunately, thinking about her now seemed to calm his anxious and confused mind.
He wanted to see Irina right now.
He would definitely go to see her when all the schedules were over today.
As the evening meeting time approached, Zion moved his steps to the meeting room.
When he stood in front of the door, he heard the sound of conversation, as if everyone was already gathered.
“I mean, I had the same dream.”
Bianca spoke excitedly.
“So, Bianca, you’re saying you had a dream where a black dragon appeared.”
Royden’s voice was different from usual, as if he was surprised.
Zion opened the door at once on the topic related to the ordeal all day. Then the gaze gathered.
“You had a dream?”
Even without the explanation before and after Zion’s words, Royden understood, his eyes widened.
“Did His Majesty also have a dream?”
“A dream of a black dragon falling.”
At Zion’s words, everyone looked surprised. Royden, Bianca, Lucas, Hills, everyone.
Then Hills cut in.
“No, you guys…”
Hills spoke with a flustered face and stopped. But soon he closed his mouth.
As Hills became quiet, Zion spoke.
“It seems everyone had the same dream.”
It was an unbelievable thing.
Several people all had the same dream. Normally, a very powerful magician can control dreams, but that only works for ordinary people.
The people in front of them were all powerful talents of the empire. It was impossible to use psychic magic on these people at once.
For now, there was something more curious than why this happened.
“Since everyone had the same dream, ask.”
He really wanted to know. The part that he can’t remember.
“What happened after the dragon fell?”
At Zion’s question, no one could easily open their mouths. It seemed that they had recalled the dream to a similar level as Zion.
“White wings.”
Then Lucas muttered.
“Six white wings…flew up into the sky.”
