Episode 41: Rendezvous in Dreams (3)
The Fen who she usually couldn’t even easily touch found its way into Muriel’s embrace when it was time to sleep. Muriel, who was already feeling cold due to a cold, subtly begged him to go away, but his blue eyes just looked up at her as if asking what the problem was.
Knowing there was no way to drive him away, Muriel decided to lie down in front of the fireplace to which shed added a generous amount of firewood, as if her intention was to turn the room into a furnace.
The bundle of cotton wrapped around her body felt so cold it was like she was covered with snow, but the air in the room was bearable thanks to the heat from the fireplace. She must have fallen asleep like that, but she woke up in a snowy plateau covered.
She wondered if she had finally frozen to death.
Muriel seemed to have died of hypothermia thanks to Fen who liked to torment her by putting out the fireplace as soon as she fell asleep. It sounded plausible.
It was cold.
However, the snow touching her bare feet was cold. The sensation was even more vivid than reality. It wasn’t just cold, but it stung painfully to the bone. It was the most realistic sensation Muriel had felt since she opened her eyes in the Kingdom of Bulrion.
When she fell asleep, she had tightly wrapped herself to ward off the cold, so it was strange that her clothes right now were too thin and light. The loose and thin white nightgown, made of a single layer of fabric, was an outfit she had never worn except when she was in the Storm Estate.
Where was she?
Muriel’s eyes, who was leisurely exploring strangely the familiar and friendly plateau, caught the view of someone even more familiar. There was no mistaking it. He was a person who had a presence that was unmistakable, no matter where you saw him.
“Mr. Crawford.”
Muriel approached Kaiton, who was sipping tea at a perfectly equipped tea table in the middle of the plateau.
She thought it was a dream.
When the unexpected man’s face appeared, this place suddenly looked different. If Kaiton had appeared, then this couldn’t be a normal dream. Muriel stood in front of him, her throat tightening, not sure whether from the cold or tension, and forced herself to speak.
“Did Mr. Crawford call me here?”
“…You’re becoming more and more perceptive.”
Without even turning to look at Muriel, Kaiton slowly savored the steaming tea. He was dressed in his black as always, but his clothing was lighter than Muriel’s. Like a nightgown you wore just before bedtime.
“You really did call me here? Why… didn’t you just come to see me like last time?”
Because Kaiton seemed different from usual, Muriel’s head tilted naturally. However, her pondering didn’t last long. Her feet were too cold. Muriel noisily shuffled her feet and took refuge on the chair in front of Kaiton.
Her feet hurt as if they were about to fall off.
“Um… It’s a bit chilly here. Can we move locations? Anywhere is fine. It would be better if you could summoned me somewhere else.”
“Where would you like to go?”
“Well… anywhere, really. Somewhere we can escape the wind and snow?”
Kaiton silently set down his teacup and looked quietly at Muriel. He spun his long fingers on the table as if contemplating whether to listen or not, and suddenly, without doing anything, the snowy white plateau turned into pitch-black darkness.
It was a strange place.
Although it was dark everywhere, it didn’t mean she couldn’t see ahead. Muriel could easily see her own hands and feet, and she could also see Kaiton sitting with his legs crossed, leaning against the back of his chair.
However, when she looked around, everything was pitch black.
Muriel cautiously sat down and tried to touch the ground where she was standing, but there was nothing for her hand to reach. It was an empty space with nothing in it.
The only things that existed in that black and empty space were Muriel and Kaiton.
“I can’t stay here for long today. I hope you’ll surrender quickly today, but…”
Kaiton rose from his chair with a somewhat heavy and melancholic face.
“You’re going to be stubborn again today, aren’t you?”
Again today? Did that mean she’d seen Kaiton here before? Sensing Muriel’s doubt, Kaiton’s expression turned chilly.
“In truth, you’re a huge coward who bursts into tears at the slightest pain… and stubbornly insists on having your own way.”
Kaiton had a chilly smile on, his tone was gentle and friendly.
“Me? I…”
As if knowing what Muriel was about to say, he nodded and intercepted her words.
“I know. You originally don’t know pain. But not here, Muriel.”
Muriel, who remembered that her feet hurt enough to fall off from the cold air in front of her, secretly bit the flesh inside her mouth. It hurt. Perhaps she made a stupid face because Kaiton’s smile deepened. But he didn’t seem happy at all. On the contrary, he looked very tired.
His eyes, darkened by the loss of light, flickered only with tenacity.
“That’s why… I can’t let go of this place. Foolishly.”
Kaiton hand brushed against Muriel’s cheek. She was sure he’d just been holding a teacup elegantly just until a moment ago, yet the temperature of the hand on her cheek was as cold as Fen.
“What are you doing here?”
Her hands became damp, probably due to tension. She had a rough idea of what his answer would be, but she had no choice but to ask. This was something that Muriel had no memory of.
“I’m going to be straightforward with my persuasion. Forget about the foolish talk of saving the Demon King and swear to destroy Sharan alongside the Demon King.”
“What if I don’t swear?”
“…I will make you cry.”
“…”
“…I will make you hurt, beg for mercy, and cling to me.”
…Muriel forced herself to swallow her saliva, her dry throat moving. Her mind screamed and echoed like a warning siren, but she tried to ignore it. Muriel raised her chin, pretending to be calm. She had been worried that her voice would sound sleepy and foolish, but it came out quite steady.
“…So, I cried and clung to you…?”
“More easily than you’d think.”
The answer came quickly.
She thought it was a bluff, but there was no trace of a lie on the face looking at Muriel.
“So, your answer?”
“…”
“Are you going to be stubborn again, Muriel?”
Kaiton snorted coldly and asked.
The fear of the unknown is scarier.
She was afraid of what he might do with those brooding eyes.
But if she swore here, what would happen to Kaiton? She couldn’t abandon her decision to help him. Besides, it was just a nightmare. It would be forgotten once she opened her eyes, so thought she could endure it.
“I’ve been having nightmares for a few days, and I thought it was because of Fen whom Crawford gave to me. That snowball-like creature kept digging into my chest, so I thought I was just having restless dreams…”
“…”
“So, all those nightmares were because of you, Crawford?”
“Yes.”
As expected.
Seeing his gentle nod, Muriel faced a new question again. She tilted her head, waiting for him to tell her more, but he remained tight-lipped as if he had finished speaking.
“But…”
Muriel stretched her words and glanced at Kaiton. Based on her past experiences, she knew that asking about the things he didn’t say would only worsen his mood, but she couldn’t help but ask.
“Why can’t I remember?”
“…”
“If you wanted to persuade me… it would have been better for me to remember all the nightmares. Why… did you erase my memories?”
A suffocating silence followed.
The longer the silence grew, the darker his face became. She’d just asked something obvious, but when she saw his face getting depressed, she felt as if she had done something wrong and was being punished. What the hell? She looked here and there, waiting for him to speak, but he quietly opened his mouth as if he were unwilling.
“…If you don’t remember, it’s because I wanted it that way.”
There was a hint of sadness in his low voice. Hesitation. She heard the answer, but somehow, her questions deepened. So, he meant that he erased Muriel’s memories just because he wanted to, without any particular reason. Then why was he making that face? Like someone resentful and betrayed.
Should she apologize? But for what? Why? Confused, Muriel, who had been mumbling, thought it would be quicker to ask again and opened her mouth. But she heard a voice filled with complexity.
“I wanted to erase your memories today too, but I don’t have the energy for that, so let’s stop asking questions now. So, are you still not going to give in today, Muriel?”
Perhaps it was true that he had no energy, for Kaiton’s face looked slightly gloomier, rougher than usual. At that moment she remembered his hand that had touched her cheek, as cold as ice, and felt a chill.
“But where are we?”
“Don’t change the subject…”
At Kaiton’s firm words, Muriel quickly shook her head. It was true that she had been trying to divert the conversation with irrelevant remarks, but not anymore. She was worried about Kaiton’s pale face.
“Is this… a place created by Crawford? So, you’ve been creating places like this for the past few days and erasing my memories? That kind of magic must be really difficult…”
The more she spoke, the more things became clear.
The questions and anxieties that couldn’t be grasped before suddenly came to mind.
“Then, what about pacio.?”
She raised her head in surprise, and just in time, her gaze collided with a black one that looked at her with a distasteful expression.
“…Unbelievable.”
Though the surroundings were dark, it was clear.
The black eyes that were looking at Muriel lacked their usual liveliness. They were dull and faint. It meant that his pacio had been pushed to a precarious level.
“Answer me! This kind of magic consumes a lot of magic power, doesn’t it? What are you going to do if all your pacio disappears? You’re risking everything?! Your face doesn’t look good right now either!”
“… “
When you run out of pacio, you become a lonely and unhappy ghost. The breath of God, which protects humans from the strong power of the spirit, disappears, and one is then devoured by the power of the spirit.
Despite Muriel’s rapid and anxious questioning, Kaiton had no answer. As the silence grew longer, Muriel became more restless. Suddenly, she became scared.
She snatched Kaiton’s hand. As expected, it was as cold as holding an ice cube. There was no Unet here, and she couldn’t check pacio with magic like him, but Muriel could tell.
He pushed himself too hard.
He stubbornly and recklessly pushed himself too much, even as his Pacio was fading away. This stupid guy.
Muriel didn’t like this cold, hard hand, so she gave strength to Kaiton’s grip.
Kaiton: bahaha I’m gonna intimidate and scare her today so she finally gives in
Muriel: you fucking idiot
