Chapter : 200

Rubbing my stinging neck, I saw red smeared on my hand. Wow, that’s a color that’s truly bad for one’s mental health.

“Hey!”

If this were reality, the wound was deep enough to be 100% instantly fatal.

“Be quiet, and you run. Find the real Lucian and end this dream.”

It’s not like the genre suddenly changed to an R-rated horror game, good grief.

When I forcibly pushed Zephyros away, he hesitated before fleeing.

Just how deep was the cut? I felt like half the air I inhaled was escaping.

I clutched my neck, where blood was gushing out, and focused on my skill.

They say imagination becomes reality in a lucid dream. This isn’t my dream, and imagination won’t truly become reality, but at least with the help of a skill…!

My prediction was correct. Although it didn’t stop instantly, the blood that had been flowing out was stanched.

“…This is unexpected.”

Before I knew it, the child-like appearance was nowhere to be seen.

A sword was gripped in the hand of Lucian, who had become more ‘adult’ than his current self.

However, there was no stigma on the back of his hand, and the sword he held was not the Holy Sword, but an ordinary iron sword that could be bought anywhere.

That appearance was deeply engraved in my memory.

“Why are you.”

It was that Lucian I saw in the Trial of Judgment within the dungeon where Lou was.

Why on earth? What happened to me? Amidst the questions, I felt as if even my breath would stop.

Wasn’t that definitely a trick of the dungeon? You’re saying it wasn’t?

“…….”

The silence of the fake Lucian felt like a guillotine about to fall on my neck at any moment.

What is he thinking right now?

Although the wound healed and the bleeding stopped, I hurriedly opened the skill window while still covering my neck with my palm.

The parchment that appears when using the Writer skill materialized before my eyes.

I lived! Despite the relief, I barely swallowed a breath and looked at Lucian.

Damn it. The scene of him mercilessly killing my father resurfaced, and my body trembled with fear involuntarily.

“You are—”

Before his reaching hand, I couldn’t do anything, like a frog in front of a snake.

Even while fear strangled me, I struggled to write with my frozen hand.

「The Lucian before my eyes cannot move.」

Before Lucian’s fingertips could reach me, the sentence was completed, and golden chains shot out from the empty air to bind the fake Lucian.

Seeing him struggle a few times as if uncomfortable, my breath caught in my throat.

No, absolutely not. He absolutely cannot break free. He cannot be released like this.

Biting my lips nervously, I watched him struggle to break free, and when he finally relaxed his body as if realizing it was impossible, a hurried breath burst out of me.

“Haa, haa!!”

My hand, covering my neck, fell limply, trembling.

I don’t know what to do. I just want to faint right here and now, but even that was impossible due to the fear that this monster might break free if I did.

Another problem was that I couldn’t be sure what effect fainting in the dream would have on the real me.

“What on earth are—”

Who the hell are you!

My voice didn’t come out well because of my clogged throat.

Why on earth is the fake Lucian I saw in the dungeon inside Lucian’s dream?

“This is driving me crazy.”

Even when I had just escaped the dungeon and woken up, I had barely managed to shake it off and face Lucian, but now I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the real Lucian and the fake one.

Moreover, in this state, with the fight against Iris just ahead.

“What kind of existence are you?”

The fake Lucian, who seemed lost in thought after being captured, asked.

The only answer I could give to that question was this.

“Figure it out yourself, take your time.”

Contrary to the content of my words, my voice was trembling.

The fake Lucian frowned as if displeased.

It was at that moment.

In an instant, the fake Lucian relaxed his body to lessen the force of the chains, then suddenly lunged at me.

The air shifted, and the chains tightly bound the fake’s body.

The fake Lucian’s iron sword aimed precisely for my heart.

Perhaps it touched slightly, as the area touched by the iron sword stung.

I took a deep breath to calm my heart, which was beating crazily with fear.

Good, now I feel like I can deal with this fake Lucian somewhat properly.

My intuition screamed loudly that I must not miss this opportunity.

‘In the dungeon, I was a one-sided bystander.’

I left the last words to this ‘Lucian’ not to choose death lightly and to atone, but did that even reach him properly?

In the first place, that was a hallucination created by the dungeon.

I thought so, but damn it, this Lucian appeared before my eyes again.

As if saying this is Lucian’s future.

“What is your name?”

“…….”

Seeing him keep his mouth firmly shut, looking just like the stubborn side of Lucian, made me feel dirty.

Making the fact that he was a fake seem pointless, it felt like Lucian would really look like this when he grew up, and that actually scared me the most.

Since it has come to this anyway, I decided to try having a ‘conversation’ eventually.

It might be a bit dangerous, but it would be best to confirm it.

“Phew….”

In the end, rendering my warning to Zephyros to be careful pointless, I have no choice but to risk everything.

“This is a dream world, isn’t it?”

* * *

“Damn it!”

What on earth happened! Zephyros, who had been running for a while, eventually stopped abruptly at the sight of an orphanage child in the dream world looking at him puzzledly.

Right, there is no need to panic and fluster.

‘Let’s trust Theo.’

He’s a guy who finds a way somehow, so let’s trust him.

How fortunate it is that this is a dream world. If it were reality….

Zephyros clenched his fist tightly, then grabbed the shoulder of the child looking at him strangely and asked.

“Excuse me, where is Lucian?”

“Why are you looking for that kid?”

The child blinked and asked.

At that moment, just as the Director’s face had melted, the child’s appearance also began to melt like ice cream in front of the sun, all mushy.

Startled by the sudden change, Zephyros tried to let go of the hand holding the child’s shoulder, but the child grabbed Zephyros’s hand abruptly.

“Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?”

Repeating the same question like a broken doll.

“Lucian is cursed! Lucian is cursed! Lucian is cursed! Lucian is cursed!!!”

The child, whose head was creaking, eventually melted down completely and became a sticky residue stuck to the floor.

“Ugh!”

What the hell is this? Even if it’s a dream, this is too much.

At the horrific sight, Zephyros covered his mouth without even being able to wipe off the child’s residue on his hand.

“Just an ordinary—”

It looks far from a dream.

Zephyros, barely swallowing the word dream, grabbed his throbbing head and looked around.

So this was what Professor Artemia meant when she said that even if it looks peaceful on the surface, it would be different in reality.

If he entered someone else’s dream one more time, he felt like he would go crazy.

The children playing in the vacant lot at the orphanage were all staring intently at Zephyros.

“Ugh.”

Goosebumps rose at the bizarre gazes that seemed to know exactly what purpose he came here for.

Thinking that things might get more complicated than expected, Zephyros involuntarily clenched and unclenched his fists.

He cannot borrow the power of the wind.

Having something and then losing it really sucks. He had always felt the wind was noisy his whole life, but now he was on the verge of missing their chatter.

“Theo will be fine.”

It was a sudden ambush no one could have predicted.

Although he was on guard knowing any danger could come, he didn’t expect an attack so sudden.

Perhaps inwardly, he had been arrogant, thinking Lucian would never put them in danger.

Even knowing better than anyone how meaningless and futile the word ‘absolute’ is.

“Let’s stop blaming ourselves.”

If that solved the problem, maybe, but nothing would change.

Taking a deep breath, Zephyros was startled by a presence behind him and hurriedly looked back.

“What is the matter?”

Now, the Director appeared before Zephyros’s eyes wearing a mask that was beaming broadly.

He absolutely hated scary things, especially masks.

Zephyros looked at the Director with a face pale as a sheet.

Now the Director started tilting his neck from side to side.

Taking a deep breath, Zephyros barely managed to calm down, supporting his collapsed body to stand up.

“Could I perhaps see the room where Lucian is staying?”

“Why there?”

The smiling mask’s face changed subtly.

Seeing the hesitant, wavering expression, he brought up the reluctant words with difficulty.

“I already know that child is cursed, so hurry up.”

“Oh, you knew!”

“Then did we look like people who wouldn’t even find out that much?”

At Zephyros’s question, the Director hurriedly waved his hands.

“No! No way! We always trust the Young Lords!”

At the Director’s words, his mood worsened.

Even so, saying such things about a resident of the orphanage he runs; shouldn’t he be offended rather than agreeing?

Argueing won’t have any meaning anyway.

Besides, he shouldn’t look suspicious to the dream resident right now, so let’s just endure it.

Barely calming his boiling insides, he continued his quiet threat to the Director.

“How long must I repeat myself?”

“I-I apologize!”

The Director’s face changed to a crying mask as he bowed deeply.

“I will guide you inside.”

Right, all I want is to know where Lucian is, so hurry up and guide me to Lucian’s room.

He even felt his insides heating up with impatience.

“I hope you understand that we absolutely do not intend to abuse the child, but merely isolated him from other children due to his danger.”

“It would be better for you not to prolong your words any further.”

He didn’t want to hear this person’s voice anymore. Seriously.

At Zephyros’s murderous threat-that-wasn’t-really-a-threat, the Director bowed once and hurried his steps.

On the way to Lucian’s room, Zephyros happened to look out the window.

The scenery outside that he glimpsed was no longer the same as before.

The scene that was peaceful and beautiful, like peeking into paradise, had turned into ruins like a scene from a cruel fairy tale.

“That is—”

What the hell.

Zephyros’s voice barely leaked out like a groan.

“What is the matter, C-C-Customer. N-Nice to m-m-meet you. I-I-I am—”

Amidst the stuttering voice, Zephyros’s complexion turned pale to a degree incomparable to before.

The Director, grabbing his shoulder abruptly, shouted.

“Get the hell out of here!!!”

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