Chapter 09
I brought my lips close to Ahak’s ear.
It was to chant a spell.
I could feel my hair slipping down. Perhaps because he had just been bathed with magic, a pleasant scent drifted from around his nape.
“ɠʎɗʁɡ ɠæst ʃÌåɠɥst ʈaɠŭɛɫ ɡʤ ɤʐɨ.” (I will save you from the swamp of nightmares.)
I couldn’t give him a kiss like the prince from Sleeping Beauty, but at least I could recite a spell I had learned.
I lifted my upper body slightly.
I placed my thumb on Ahak’s still-furrowed brow. Then, like a priest drawing a holy sign, I traced a pattern with the tip of my nail as I spoke.
“ʃɡɦø ɤɑɹɛɖæɯ ɡɨ.” (Do not go down.)
The geometric pattern glowed blue before slowly fading as if seeping into him.
I pulled my finger away and whispered,
“ɠʁɦɦɑʁɑɡɨ.” (Come up.)
A spell chanted while drawing a sigil was far more powerful.
I quietly looked down at Ahak, waiting for the effect to appear.
At least let him sleep peacefully.
I didn’t know the pain of having one’s entire family slaughtered, but I did know what it felt like to lose family.
Of course, I had lost my mother and sister in <Sun’s Stelshenin>.
But even before that—
My family on Earth.
I had come here without any warning, so I couldn’t even say goodbye.
It was a memory I had tried hard to bury, since homesickness only made things worse—but it was undeniably my past.
From my perspective, I had lost my family on Earth forever.
Back in my first life, I used to dream about my family a lot.
Even if the circumstances were different, I could still sympathize with Ahak’s pain.
But despite chanting a mana-infused spell, his furrowed brow showed no sign of easing.
It shouldn’t be a nightmare anymore… so what kind of dream is he having?
Maybe, contrary to my assumption, it hadn’t been a nightmare to begin with.
Perhaps it was because I unconsciously overlapped his situation with mine that curiosity stirred.
“Could it be… ancient swordsmanship?”
During my earlier match with Sharehin, the knight’s muttered remark had been accurate.
I was the direct disciple of my second-life master, who had taught me both ‘ancient swordsmanship’ and ‘ancient magic.’
Though of course, I’m not as good at magic as I am with the sword.
I could only manage simple spells.
Among ‘ancient magic,’ there wasn’t just a spell to prevent nightmares—but also one that allowed you to enter another person’s dream.
I’m curious… maybe I’ll just take a quick peek at what kind of dream he’s having.
If this were Earth, it would be a massive invasion of privacy, but—
I did save his life. This much should be fine.
I nodded to myself, rationalizing it.
Ahak was practically on the brink of death anyway, so there was no way he’d notice me sneaking into his dream.
I recalled the spell from memory.
First, I need to hold his hand.
Physical contact was required to enter someone’s dream.
I gently placed my hand over the back of Ahak’s hand.
Being a man’s hand, it was at least twice the size of mine, firm and solid.
Perhaps he faintly felt the touch, as he shifted ever so slightly, his black hair rustling.
I slowly closed my eyes and whispered the spell.
“Lepihashanasra.”
The world began to distort.
It felt as though my entire body was being torn apart and sucked into a black hole-like darkness. The spinning world made it seem as if my body was flipping upside down.
Then—blackness.
I’m inside the dream.
The moment I opened my eyes—
The world inside Ahak’s dream was…
…Impossible.
It was so shocking that it defied imagination.
I once read that when people experience a great shock—or when they simply want to zone out—they tend to repeat actions they used to do habitually in the past.
Why am I saying this?
Because that’s exactly what I was doing.
When I came to my senses, I had already exited the dream. It was morning, and I was in the training grounds, practicing ‘ancient swordsmanship.’
If I skipped even a day of practice, my master would beat me senseless.
Even though I had regressed and my body wasn’t the same as before, my mind still remembered the movements.
Since this was practice, I used a regular longsword instead of the Rose Sword.
First form: slash.
Second form: swing.
Third form: thrust.
Fourth form: block.
Fifth form: left-right slash…
After completing all thirty forms, I returned to the first, moving my body mindlessly.
What did I just see?
Of all the dreams I had entered before, his had shaken me the most.
It was too intense—too vivid, too violent.
A raw display of human instinct and desire.
I didn’t want to continue the thought, so I swung my sword harder, cutting through the air.
At that moment, I sensed someone’s presence and paused.
“My Lord, there is something to report.”
The maid who bowed politely belonged to <Elitnet>, a group composed only of elites.
Elitnet was a name I had bestowed—a group of particularly capable servants among all the staff.
They always wore black clothes with blue armbands, making them easy to recognize.
“Report.”
I gave the order and resumed my practice, not sparing her a glance.
My hair, tied high in a ponytail, left the back of my neck cool for the first time in a while, and the sun shining over the outdoor training ground was brilliant.
The training ground itself was lavishly decorated to my taste.
Suddenly, I thought of Ahak, whom I had left in bed.
My mind grew uneasy, and I gripped my sword tighter.
The maid lifted her head and began speaking.
“Yes, my Lord. News has arrived that <Mist Catoblepas> has placed a bounty of 50,000 gold on Ahak of <Blood Osbldarun>, who is currently missing.”
50,000 gold—equivalent to 5 billion won on Earth.
Enough to buy an apartment in Gangnam.
If I call Sharehin now and hand Ahak over, they’d probably pay up willingly.
But the thought passed quickly. I still felt absent-minded.
The maid continued.
“Additionally, as ordered, we have secretly secured several servants and knights of <Blood Osbldarun> who survived the massacre and were fleeing.”
Swish. Swish.
I silently cut through the air again and again, as if enemies stood before me—pouring my emotions into each strike.
Even my ornate earrings swung with the motion.
“Also, I will report only the important letters received. First, a marriage proposal has arrived from <Snow Mountain Asbennyusel>.”
I hadn’t heard that family’s name in a while.
I felt nothing about the proposal.
It was obviously a political marriage.
Lowering my sword diagonally, I placed the back of my other hand against my cheek.
Perhaps because I had trained harder than expected, my body was heating up.
“Second, an invitation has arrived from <Sun’s Stelshenin> for an upcoming grand family banquet.”
“……”
“Lastly, as of yesterday, the number of preliminary qualifiers for the ‘Imperial Succession War’ has exceeded double digits.”
At the words Imperial Succession, I flinched.
It felt as though icy water had been poured over my body.
For a moment, it felt like I had been forcibly dragged from Ahak’s dream back into reality.
“That concludes the report, my Lord.”
Watching the maid bow deeply, I reached up and pulled out my hair tie.
My wavy hair fell down to my waist.
“Replace all the servants assigned to the man I brought back with members of Elitnet.”
My first order was for Ahak.
I wanted to elevate the level of service he would receive.
The maid seemed momentarily surprised, having realized my intent, but quickly composed herself.
“Yes, it will be done.”
The shackles I had placed around Ahak’s neck suddenly bothered me a little.
“Inform me immediately when the man wakes up.”
“Yes.”
“And guide me to where the Osbldarun survivors are being held.”
“That will be all.”
The maid silently acknowledged and opened the door.
I had grown more curious about Ahak—and about the inner workings of <Blood Osbldarun>.
As I followed her, I recalled the dream I had seen earlier.
It wasn’t a nightmare.
It was his naked subconscious.
I had never seen a dream so vast and so meticulously constructed.
Normally, unless someone was a genius, dreams contained contradictions or had limited space.
But in Ahak’s case—not at all.
It was an excessively perfect and intricately detailed empire.
The scale of it exceeded human limits.
A chilling level of genius.
I had even confirmed it by purchasing a telescope within the dream and observing it myself.
And moreover—
In that dream, Ahak had red eyes.
A version of him that had broken his principle of not killing.
Dreams reflect the inner self.
Was the man who seemed the most moral actually more violent than anyone else?
“…Ambition.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing.”
In that dream—
I had seen his ambition.
To rule all lands beneath the sky and reign as a terrifying tyrant.
An overwhelming, dangerously boiling ambition.
