An explanation, you say?
‘’I’m the one who needs an explanation!’
Livia looked at Cardien, who was glaring at her with a fierce glint in his eye.
He was clearly not an impostor. But this place was undoubtedly inside Cardien’s dream.
Then the person in front of her…?
‘This man is undoubtedly Cardien too,’ Livia thought in confusion.
From the chilly gaze to the twisted smile.
Why would the Cardien she knew in reality be here…….
‘……Could it be because of that?’
Because he woke up, just before her powers were unleashed?
She had no idea what was going on. But for now…
“First… Please release me, Your Grace.”
“…..So you are the Tutor.”
He must have suspected Livia’s identity as well.
Muttering almost inaudibly, he didn’t loosen his grip on her arms.
‘What should I do?’
Livia was pondering her options when suddenly…
“Get him!”
“You little rat!!”
In that moment, both adults turned their heads at the sound of shouting.
A small child darted into the alley.
When she spotted the child, Livia’s eyes widened.
Unkempt, messy silver hair, and violet eyes that peeked through whenever the bangs shifted in the wind.
‘Cardien……!’
Livia recognized the child instantly, for she had already seen the young Cardien once before.
So did the older Cardien, surely.
But the child in front of them didn’t last long. He was struck by a flying stick and tumbled forward.
Her eyes widened as far as they could go. Livia reflexively observed Cardien’s reaction.
Cardien stared at the boy squirming on the ground without even blinking, but it seemed like his grip around Livia’s body loosened without him realizing.
Finally, when his arm dropped, she quietly slipped to the side and observed the situation.
“You damn rat!”
Soon, two men entered the alley with anger.
They approached the boy, who was still lying on the ground.
And…
Thwack!
Livia gasped.
“……!”
But that wasn’t the end of it.
~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~
The men started ruthlessly kicking him.
“What on earth…”
Livia watched the unfolding situation in a daze.
Thwack! Thwack!
With each dull thud, her body involuntarily trembled.
Livia glanced at Cardien slightly, reading his expression. Because Cardien was the owner of this dream, and that boy…
But Cardien silently stared at the boy, as if he was calmly observing a total stranger.
Eventually, the men shouted aloud.
“If the little rat from Zone 4 wants to act like a rat, he should be hiding in some corner, not crawling out and coveting my goods!”
“You’re in big trouble today!”
The men seemed determined to kill the boy.
That’s when…
“There! What are you doing!”
A security officer who had noticed the situation from a distance rushed over.
“This guy is a little rat from Zone 4!”
“He always steals from all the stores, so today I’ll show him a lesson!”
As the men shouted, the security officer who was running towards them paused. The officer’s gaze shifted towards the boy, whose appearance was in tatters, and then back to the men.
“Take care of this quietly in a hidden place where it won’t cause trouble during the festival.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Don’t worry. We can’t let the festival atmosphere be disrupted because of this little rat.”
As the men responded with warm smiles, the officer briefly glanced at the boy and left the alley.
With the arrival of the security officer, the excitement seemed to subside, and the men no longer continued the assault.
Instead, they spat on the motionless boy, warning him.
“If we notice you again, you’ll really die!”
“Damn bad luck!”
Shortly after, the men left the alley.
After a while, the boy, who had appeared lifeless, started rustling and moving. Soon, he pulled a rotten apple out of his arms.
Livia knew instinctively that it was a stolen apple.
The boy opened his mouth wide, hastily eating the apple as if afraid it would be snatched away.
“Gulp, cough!”
Even while coughing from hastily eating, he didn’t stop chewing and swallowing.
Then, gulp–
The boy chewed every bit of the apple, even the core, and then stumbled to his feet.
Thud!
But after only a few steps, he fell down again. In that state, young Cardien remained motionless for a while.
Barely indicating that he was alive, he just breathed for a while.
While inside the grim alley where only the sound of faint breathing could be heard, outside the alley, people were enjoying the festival.
The sound of trumpets announcing the arrival of a wandering troupe echoed in the distance, and lively shouts from street performers could be heard from various places.
Like light and darkness, the scene outside the alley was completely different, bustling with festival-goers.
The young Cardien, who had been barely breathing, stood up again.
Leaning against the wall for support, he slowly took hesitant steps forward.
The young Cardien walked past the two observers, disappearing into the depths of the alley.
When the younger Cardien was completely out of sight, the deeply sunken voice of the Cardien that Livia knew in reality emerged, clear as day.
“That’s me.”
An emotionless, and therefore even more chilling, voice.
Cardien slowly turned his head and looked at her.
Unlike the eyes of the corpse-like child a moment ago, the eyes of the current Cardien before her glowed brightly in the darkness.
Suddenly, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. The voice that seeped out through those lips was more eerie than ever.
“I guess you should explain, Tutor.”
In the end, Livia tightly closed her eyes.
There was no escaping this.
* * *
Livia couldn’t determine where to start explaining, so she began from the time her abilities first manifested.
Surprisingly, Cardien silently listened until the story was finished.
“…… I thought you were having a nightmare, so I unleashed my powers, and apparently you got caught up in it.”
“So, this is a dream.”
As he spoke, he let out a hollow laugh as if in disbelief.
“To have the ability to manipulate dreams… That’s some absurd nonsense. Then, I suppose the fact that I’ve only been having absurd animal dreams for a while is also due to your ability?”
His words made Livia flinch.
She recalled how she had made him dream of being a rabbit and eating a carrot.
Not to mention the dream where he turned into a puppy and protected the dukedom, or the dream where he became a cow and went to the market…
“Well…” Livia began sheepishly.
“I know I’m right.”
“…….”
“Hah….”
He let out a genuinely exasperated sigh, as if there was no more dignity left in the world.
Feeling ashamed, Livia tucked her head down.
‘Aghh, I didn’t think it would get caught like this.’
If she had known she would get caught someday, she would have made him dream more normal dreams.
No, it’s unfair. Those animal dreams are so cute!
Well, of course, it wasn’t just a dream with animals, it was a dream where Cardien became an animal himself.
As Livia watched him, his lips slowly parted as he thought about something.
“…… In that case.”
“……?”
Maybe it’s the mood. The way he was looking at Livia seemed to have changed.
~ Translations by Lurelia | Editing by Valpal | Read only at moonlightnovels.com ~
“Tutor, can you change the content of the dream as you wish? Like involving specific characters or altering the course of events.”
‘Why is he asking me this out of the blue?’
Livia felt puzzled but nodded her head.
“I can change the dream itself, but I can’t manipulate the specific content of the dream. And I’m not even usually able to see it in the first place.”
Yeah, right.
Originally, she could only change the dream itself in the abstract, like saying, “Have a happy dream,” but she couldn’t look into the content of the dream.
Was her ability growing stronger?
Or…….
‘Is Cardien special?’
For some reason, Cardien’s gaze wavered in response to her answer.
What thoughts were going through his mind that made him react like that?
Livia truly never thought she’d have to tell him this…….
Of course, she had thought that someday it would be revealed.
But she didn’t expect it to happen like this.
In a way, it was a relief.
Cardien seemed to have had some suspicions about her as well, and this open revelation might alleviate those suspicions to some extent.
‘Should I reveal the fact that I’m a time-limited woman too?!’
Livia struggled with conflicting thoughts, but soon shook her head.
It seemed unnecessary to reveal her illness when it was not directly related to Cardien, and she would be leaving the Duchy of Mercedes at some point.
And if it were to reach Vincent’s ears, it would become irreversible.
‘Let’s just hope I don’t collapse in front of Cardien.’
And Vincent, of course.
By the way…….
‘Is Cardien okay?’
Livia glanced over at him.
He was still lost in thought.
Just now, that child. He was undoubtedly Cardien, though his appearance was so pitiful that it was hard to believe it was the noble Cardien that Livia knew.
She lowered her gaze.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t aware of his past. The original story had briefly explained that he’d lived on the streets as a child.
But it was too brief of a description. Livia didn’t realize that his street life was so desperate and miserable.
Suddenly, she remembered what he had said in front of the <My Favorite Restaurant>.
‘As long as it can fit in my mouth, I won’t refuse anything.’
..girl, wtf are you saying!?