Three days before the Grand Duchess’ party, October 28th, Korean time.
May 20, 523 Imperial Calendar.
She was with him in his dreams.
“Yes… Huh, huh.”
As his long fingers brushed her temple, a faint moan escaped her lips. As a blush appeared on her pale cheeks, his long fingers gently ran down her silky hair.
“Ha.”
She opened her closed eyes. Her bright blue eyes looked up and were filled with his image.
“It’s an addiction.”
Her lips also changed from purple to red as she whispered. He, who was pressing her head, opened his mouth.
“I’m glad you liked it today.”
“I never thought massaging a person’s head would feel this good. To find out this great thing only after meeting you makes me feel like I’ve been living in vain.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
She turned to face him. Her slightly raised eyes narrowed.
“It’s neither an exaggeration nor a public statement. I couldn’t forget this, so I went to get a massage in real life too. I thought I would never feel this way. you are the only one Ha, I survive thanks to you these days.”
The fatigue of the day was literally relieved. Even after a crappy day, she fell asleep and forgot about him when she met him in her dreams.
“It’s just a dream, but my fatigue is definitely going away? How could I have lived without you before?”
His dry face slowly collapsed. She tapped his eyebrows with the tips of her fingers as he smiled silently, frowning between his eyes.
“If you’re not going to be able to use that face like that, give it to me. And if you’re going to laugh, make some noise. It’s scary.”
Hearing her rough words, he shrugged his shoulders.
“It doesn’t matter because I only smile in front of you.”
“But I wonder if there’s anything to laugh about in your situation.”
She flicked her fingers in the air. At that moment, the chair she was sitting on, the chair he was sitting on, and everything surrounding them disappeared. She and he stood face to face in a pure white space.
“Where are you going today? If possible, it would be better if it was just left lying around.”
“Then.”
This time he flicked his fingers in the air. In an instant, a huge bed, a gorgeous sofa, and seemingly endless bookshelves appeared. She asked after looking around her.
“Where are you?”
“My bedroom. You said you wanted to just lie down, so it would be comfortable to have a bed.”
She opened her eyes and looked around a little more intently. White bare feet lightly walked between the bookshelves. She disappeared between her bookshelf and stuck out her face towards him.
“Do you even sleep in the bedroom?”
“I haven’t slept in about 8 years.”
“I guess so. There’s no way a workaholic like you can sleep in the bedroom.”
“Workaholic?”
“It is a person addicted to work.”
He didn’t specifically deny it. She immediately took out a book from the bookshelf and flipped through it.
“Maybe it’s because it’s a dream, but there’s no content in the book.”
“It’s not implemented that far.”
“It’s a dream. It’s not like I’m going to read a book, so it doesn’t matter.”
Yes, unlike reality… She swallowed her words and put the book away and headed to bed.
“You haven’t laid down here once in eight years? Nonsense. It’s this good.”
She rolled around on the wide bed. A thin blanket was wrapped around her white naked body after she took off her shower gown like the skin of a chrysalis. He buried his back deep in the luxurious sofa and chuckled.
“If you can close your eyes without having to lie down to sleep, you can do it anywhere.”
“They say humans spend 1/3 of their lives sleeping, but there is an exception here.”
“You know I’m not that relaxed.”
“That’s what… yes.”
The man in front of her was a character in a novel. Since he was the final villain who would oppose the main character, there was no way he wouldn’t be busy.
“There is something that comes, so there must also be something that goes. What is today’s problem?” she asked, tilting her head back and looking at him upside down.
“It’s always the same problem. The crown prince.”
His dry voice, so dry that it made sand dust, passed her ears. His upside-down appearance resembled the person he was the day she first met him.
Meeting in a dream.
She didn’t remember when it started. But at some point, he began to appear in her dreams, and she began to appear in his dreams.
“Do you remember our first meeting?”
He responded casually to her words that came out of nowhere. The time he spent with her made him adapt to her.
“It’s vivid. Because you suddenly lunged at me and bit my arm.”
“What woman wouldn’t feel that way when a naked man suddenly appeared in front of her? Be thankful that I didn’t kick your core.”
“I’m really thankful for that.”
She widened her eyes and turned over to rest on her chin.
“What, are you being sarcastic now? It’s a huge step forward.”
“Because I’m with you. There has been a lot of talk.”
“That means there’s not a lot to talk about…”
She slowly raised her body. He narrowed his eyes. She sat close to him with her bare body and narrowed her eyes. She looked at his lips. She looked at him so intently that he thought she might break through.
“Tell me honestly.”
“There’s no need to lie to you.”
“Before you met me, was there a spider alive in your mouth spinning a web?”
“What?”
“Or did you put beeswax on your lips every day so you couldn’t open them? Otherwise, I can’t believe there’s so much talk about it now.”
She looked down at his round forehead and opened her mouth.
“Ouch!”
“Nothing has been applied, and there are no spider webs. Did you check it?”
“That’s why you bite your nose!”
“It doesn’t even hurt.”
“Of course, it’s a dream! Still, I was surprised!”
She gritted her teeth, saying she was going to bite him too, and he laughed, blocking her face with her palm as she attacked him.
“I was surprised too.”
“I haven’t bitten your nose yet.”
“I never thought the day would come when I would bite someone’s nose.”
Hearing his soft voice mixed with laughter, she puffed out her cheeks and stepped away.
“It’s a dream, what? If you think about it that way, the most surprising thing is sitting like this, naked, with a man whose name you don’t know?”
“As you said. Because it’s a dream.”
“Okay, okay. Because it’s a dream. We’ve already agreed on the clothes, so let’s move on. Now, shall we have a real talk?”
She got up from her couch and headed back to the bed. She sat in the middle of the bed, holding the biggest pillow in her arms.
“What happened to the attempt to assassinate the Crown Prince?”
“It failed.”
She clicked her tongue at the answer that came out without her having time to breathe.
“Are you sure it was written by a certain person?”
“Yes. It was better than I expected.”
“Better than expected… I’ve heard that before. Well, it can’t be helped that it has already failed. Because it would be foolish to use the same move right next time…”
She tilted her head and thought for a moment. How to kill someone. That’s also a way to get rid of the main character of the world, that is, the main character of the novel where this man appears in the shadows… Was there a way to get rid of the main character? But since she couldn’t speak straight, she shrugged her shoulders and opened her mouth.
“What about poison? Oh. Is there poison in that world?”
“I already tried it.”
“You said it wasn’t poisonous?”
“No. I didn’t eat at all. As if the information had been leaked, only that man, the crown prince, was fine. Of course, everyone who was with him died.”
Her face crumpled at his words. She didn’t remember all the details, but the dark side also released the poison.
“Is there a lot of collateral damage?”
“Because they were all worth dying for.”
“Those who are worth dying for?”
“Yes.”
He leaned leisurely on the sofa. The half-closed eyes soon closed completely. She closed her mouth too. There was silence between the two. It wasn’t the kind of thing that made you want to twist your body because it was uncomfortable. A character in a book that you only meet in your dreams. A ghost that you never see in reality and that disappears when you open your eyes. If you fall asleep and have another dream, this was a man she would never see again. Was there even one reason to be uncomfortable? Her lips twitched as she thought for a while longer.
“You said you would ride a horse or carriage.”
“Yes.”
“Then.”
Hearing her quiet voice, he slowly nodded his head. He approached her side as she closed her mouth.
“It’s time to wake up.”
“Huh.”
Her eyes were closed at the same time as she looked up and he looked down at her, facing each other. The world around them was collapsing. The figures of a man and a woman and a contentless book fell among the falling pieces of scenery.
* * *
May 21, 523 Imperial Calendar.
The Grand Duke’s bedroom. The woman vaguely came to her senses. It seemed like she hadn’t tried 7 since her phone’s alarm hadn’t gone off yet. How many more minutes could she sleep? Her life felt like Monday every day, so she wanted to open her eyes a little later. She traced her hand to her bedside. She didn’t have her phone where she was caught every time. Was she buried under the pillow…? With her eyes still closed, she groped harder here and there. Soon she scrunched up her face in frustration. She didn’t even look at her phone before going to bed last night. Where did she go?
Pressing her face against the pillow, she finally opened her eyes. Without glasses, she couldn’t see an inch ahead… It shouldn’t be…? She blinked her eyes rapidly.
It seemed… She could see ahead. She could see ahead too clearly. She turned her body over. The blanket wrapped around her body was too soft.
‘What’s this?’
Her mouth gaped open. No sound came from her parched throat.
‘Keep your composure. Let’s calm down.’
First of all, this was not her home. She slowly looked around. A familiar bed, a familiar sofa, a familiar… She looked down at the pillow she was hugging and sighed. Calmness was like a dog eating grass! She shouted, throwing down her pillow.
“Here in the bedroom…!”
Before she could finish speaking, the door in front burst open. She instinctively wrapped the blanket around her body.
“…I will do it, Your Majesty.”
Someone’s voice passed by the buzzing of her ears. A man entered. He came into her bright blue eyes.
It’s him in her dream. He opened the door, entered, and latched the door. A dark figure in a novel who only existed in a woman’s dreams and whose details she couldn’t remember at all.
The two suddenly met in reality, not in a dream.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on February, 21.
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