Chapter 270: Sleeping Beauty

Boren leaned in so quickly that the chair behind him nearly toppled over, but he was oblivious to it. His full attention was locked onto Sage’s face.

The change was still small and delicate, yet to Boren, it felt louder than thunder. Sage’s eyelashes trembled, quivering in faint, uneven movements as if he were struggling to rise through a sea of darkness that didn’t want to let him go.

Boren’s heart pounded fiercely in his chest, like a war drum struck by a madman. Without realizing it, he moved closer and closer until his large frame nearly hovered over the bed, his face just inches from Sage’s, as if mere proximity could pull him back fully into the waking world.

He could hear the subtle shifts in Sage’s breathing and see the slight twitch at the corner of his eye. In that stretched-out moment, the entire room seemed to fall into a different kind of silence.

Even the sounds from the Guild outside, the footsteps in the hall, distant voices, and faint noises of life continuing, felt muffled as if pushed behind thick walls. There was only this bed, this room, and the man who had lain silent for a month.

Then Sage’s eyes finally opened.

They didn’t snap open all at once or blaze with immediate clarity; instead, they opened slowly and unsteadily as if the world itself was too bright and heavy after so much emptiness.

But they opened nonetheless, and when they did, Boren froze completely. He stood there in stunned stillness for one heartbeat after another, his face locked in disbelief while his mind blanked out entirely as if time itself had stumbled and forgotten how to continue.

Sage’s eyes carried the haze of sleep but gradually focused on Boren before that hoarse voice emerged, dry and weak yet unmistakably his.

“Fatty…” Sage murmured; his voice sounded foreign for a moment yet familiar enough to stab straight into Boren’s chest simultaneously.

“You know I’m not gay, right? I’m straight. So why are you trying to kiss me? I’m not Sleeping Beauty…”

The words registered slowly at first before crashing down on him all at once, the shock, relief, absurdity of the insult mixed with hearing that voice again after a month, it overwhelmed him like an unbearable wave.

He stumbled back suddenly as if tripping over his own feet; his eyes widened while he opened and closed his mouth twice before any sound emerged.

His expression flickered between laughter and tears, a chaotic blend of emotions battling for dominance on his face until ultimately settling into all of them at once. His lips trembled; his throat tightened; when he finally managed to force words out, they came out in a broken stutter that shook as much as his hands.

“B… bo… boss…” he choked out unsteadily enough that it almost cracked apart under pressure. “You… you’re awake… you’re finally awake…”

The sudden burst of sound, heavy with emotion and louder than Boren had anticipated, shattered the fragile peace of the room.

Beside Sage, Mina finally stirred from her sleep. She had been curled up close to him, one small hand still clutching his as if she were guarding it in her dreams.

As she pushed herself up groggily, her golden hair shifted and she rubbed her big, watery eyes with the back of one hand. Still half-asleep, her face scrunched in irritation, a natural expression only children can manage, as she mumbled sleepily,

“Fatty, can’t you see that petty Uncle Sage is trying to sle…”

But the words died in her throat.

She froze.

Her eyes, which had been heavy with sleep just moments before, widened until they seemed too large for her little face. Staring straight at Sage, every trace of drowsiness vanished in an instant.

Her expression mirrored Boren’s own: shock, disbelief, a hope too sharp to trust, and fear that this might all be a dream. All of these emotions flashed across her face so openly that it made the moment both painful and beautiful.

Sage turned his head slowly toward her. He still looked weak and pale, like someone who had fought too long in a place no human should ever endure but when his gaze met hers, a soft smile broke through. It was small and tired but undeniably warm.

“Hey,” he said softly, his voice hoarse yet gentler now. “Flatboard Princess.”

That was all it took.

Mina didn’t scream or even speak; instead, she launched herself forward. One moment she was frozen in place; the next, she threw herself across the bed into Sage’s arms with all the force her tiny body could muster.

Wrapping both arms around him tightly and desperately, as if trying to anchor him to reality, she let loose a torrent of tears. These weren’t quiet sobs; they were loud and violent cries born from a heart that had struggled for far too long not to break.

Her little body shook as she cried into his chest, each sob echoing relief so profound it made the room feel smaller.

Watching this unfold shattered whatever final barrier held Boren together. He wasn’t sure what overtook him, perhaps it was Mina’s tears or Sage’s silly joke or maybe it was simply the exhaustion from the past month finally finding an escape route.

Whatever it was, Boren surrendered completely to it. With no dignity left to uphold, he let out something between a laugh and a sob before flinging himself onto the bed beside them and wrapping both arms around Sage and Mina in one massive hug that made the whole bed groan under their weight.

Sage’s pale face went from white to red in a matter of seconds as his lungs nearly gave up on him.

For a brief moment, the room was filled only with Mina’s cries, Boren’s broken laughter, the creaking of the bed frame, and Sage making a strangled sound that suggested he had just come to a profound realization about death.

“Boren…” Sage gasped after what felt like an eternity, one weak hand trying in vain to push against what felt like an entire collapsing building. “Okay… okay, that’s enough… you’re going to turn me into meat sauce…”

Instantly, Boren snapped back to reality. “Ah…!” He jerked upright, panic washing over him as he wiped his tear-streaked face with both hands. “Sorry, boss! Sorry! I got carried away!”

He stumbled back from the bed, still crying and smiling at the same time in a way that looked embarrassingly ridiculous. His nose was red, his eyes glistened with tears, and his whole face had lost any semblance of dignity but he didn’t care.

Not really. Sage was awake. Sage was talking. Sage was even insulting him. That alone made all his foolishness feel worthwhile.

On the bed, Sage took several deep breaths as if he had narrowly escaped being buried alive. His chest rose and fell sharply while he glared at Boren with whatever strength he could muster; yet even that glare lacked real intensity because his eyes kept drifting helplessly back to Mina, who still clung to him tightly.

She hadn’t loosened her grip at all; if anything, now that Boren had moved away from the bed, she tightened it further, burying her face deeper into him as her sobs continued in broken waves. Her tears had soaked through his shirt by now, but she seemed oblivious.

Sage let out a long sigh and lifted one hand to gently pat her back. The movement was slow and weak but filled with patience.

“There, there,” he murmured softly in that familiar tone he always used with her. “You don’t have to cry anymore, okay? I’m awake now. See? I’m right here.”

But Mina didn’t stop crying; if anything, his voice only intensified her tears. She clung tighter to him, shaking with every sob as no amount of gentle patting or soft reassurance seemed effective in convincing her this wasn’t just a dream.

Nearby stood Boren, sniffling and wiping his face, utterly useless in this moment of emotional chaos. Sage shot him a glance as if silently pleading for help; however, Boren could only offer a weak smile that clearly said: I have no idea what to do either.

Sage sighed again and tried once more but spoke a little firmer this time: “Mina,” he said while continuing to pat her back gently. “If you keep crying like this, your whole face will get puffy.”

No response came except for more tears.

“You’ll become ugly,” Sage added, his voice tinged with a desperate absurdity that arose from the failure of more sensible approaches. “And then you won’t be as beautiful as your big sister.”

That hit home.

Mina froze, slowly lifting her head from his chest. Her face was wet, her nose red, and her eyes sparkled like she had just emerged from a river of tears. She looked down at Sage with a deeply suspicious gaze, still crying.

Sage felt a flicker of hope.

“There,” he said softly, as if he had just solved the problem. “See? Better.”

For a brief moment, it seemed like she might actually calm down.

Then Mina’s mouth quivered.

In an unexpected twist that defied all logic and mercy, she threw herself back onto him, entering a second wave of crying that was somehow louder and even more heartbreaking than the first.

Sage stared at the ceiling in disbelief.

He raised one hand to cover his eyes. “Why…” he muttered weakly. “Why did that make it worse?”

Boren stood nearby, tears in his own eyes and his usual round face marred by emotion. He could only shrug helplessly; there wasn’t a single useful thought in his head. He met Sage’s gaze with a watery smile that conveyed both apology and amusement.

Sage lowered his hand and looked at Boren with the exhausted expression of someone who had just awakened from a month-long coma only to be immediately overwhelmed by a crying child and an emotional friend.

Boren smiled back, sniffed loudly once, and spread his hands slightly as if to say, “Boss, this one is beyond me.”

And there was Sage, still trapped under Mina’s tear-soaked embrace, staring back at Boren in utter helplessness.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep