Chapter 10
A dragon without a head. A maid without a head. Countless severed heads seen in the river.
‘Ah, I think I’m starting to get it.’
From Marmel’s seemingly nonsensical and insane dream, Sonidor managed to uncover a single rule.
“Snake, should I eat this?”
Marmel casually tossed a piece of fruit from a tray and caught it again as he asked. It was such an enticing fruit, just the sight of it made one salivate. With a relaxed smile on his sharply defined lips, he asked again.
“Hmm?”
Was he seriously asking her? Sonidor hissed in annoyance. Asking a snake for advice? Facing a face as sculpted as a statue, the snake’s head moved up, down, left, and right. Eat it or don’t. Eat it or don’t. Honestly, she was rather frustrated that, being a reptile now, she couldn’t even make a proper sound.
“……”
Reading something in her noncommittal reaction, Marmel curved his lips upward and abruptly crushed the fruit in his hand. Black juice dripped from the pulp crushed in his grip.
Sonidor froze and broke out in a cold sweat. Can snakes even sweat? Probably not—but that’s how she felt. Was she about to be the next addition to the headless collection of the crown prince? Even if this was a dream, she had no interest in experiencing separation of head and body. She gave up trying to act cheeky and simply nodded.
“You want me to eat it?”
Nod, nod.
“Hmm.”
Even getting an answer didn’t seem to please him.
Maybe it wasn’t the answer he wanted. Was this one of those cases where he already had an answer in mind and just wanted her to say it? Just as Sonidor was about to shake her head instead, Marmel’s face subtly twisted. It was a tiny change, but he clearly looked displeased.
He tossed and caught the juice-dripping fruit again, then asked,
“Say it again. Snake, should I eat this?”
“……”
He asked twice. Even someone completely oblivious would pick up on it by now. The crown prince clearly didn’t want to eat that fruit. It must mean something more than just “fruit” in his dream. As Sonidor stared at it, something suddenly clicked in her mind.
‘A source.’
In dreams, she referred to objects or people that provided new information as “sources.” Normally, they were hidden like clues scattered across the dream. They were like breadcrumbs leading to the dreamer’s innermost thoughts. But to have a source shoved at her like this and be asked about it—this was a first. Was it because it was a lucid dream? Did he know what it meant?
Her reptilian eyes glimmered with a spark of realization.
“…Do you know what happens if you eat it?”
She was shocked by her own voice. What?! She could talk!
It was her first time being an animal in a dream, so she hadn’t realized until now. It wasn’t like moving her mouth—more like directly transmitting her thoughts. Though she was still annoyed to be a reptile, being able to communicate made the situation much less hopeless.
“You can talk?”
Marmel’s expression flickered with surprise, and then he burst into laughter. It was the most genuinely amused she had ever seen him. After laughing for a while, he looked down at her with a smirk, as if thinking, how should I cook you up?
“A talking snake. Nothing in my paradise is supposed to be able to speak.”
Why… why not? Sonidor wanted to ask, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.
Because everyone has no head, right? No head, no speech.
‘Haha, His Highness must enjoy silence.’ She would never say that aloud. This man wasn’t destined to be a great ruler—he looked like a tyrant in the making. A father-son tyrant duo? The empire was doomed.
Marmel asked in an almost certain tone,
“You definitely came from outside. Are you even a real snake?”
So he had suspected she wasn’t from this world.
Sonidor hesitated a long time, wondering if she should reveal her identity. Normally, saying this world was a dream—or that she was from outside—was taboo. If she violated that rule, the “beings on the surface” would try to reject her. To hide that fact, she would automatically transform into a being from the dreamer’s memory.
But Marmel was different. He already knew this was a dream. He had no precious attachments here. He was also clearly mad. It was only a matter of time before he figured her out. So maybe breaking the rule was worth it. It was a gamble, but maybe a worthwhile one.
At this point, she might as well tell the truth and ask him to wake up. That would be the fastest and easiest way out of this laborious mess.
“I’m not a part of the paradise Your Highness mentioned. And I’m not a snake either.”
“Then you’re human? How did you get in here?”
She whispered like revealing a great secret.
“I’m Sonidor, a Dream Artisan.”
“Dream Artisan? So you’re a craftsman who can enter dreams? Fascinating. Did His Majesty send you?”
“Correct. I was commissioned to wake Your Highness from deep sleep.”
Suddenly, Marmel whistled softly and clamped her mouth shut between his thumb and forefinger. Sonidor stared up at him, startled, almost biting her tongue. He said nothing for a moment, just smirked. Then he gestured toward the headless maid. Raising his wrist wrapped with her snake body to his face, he whispered,
“I just felt an intense murderous aura. She wants to kill you.”
The maid had no head, but she was clearly staring right at Sonidor. She didn’t speak a word—obviously—but twisted her body slightly. That alone was terrifying. Frightened, Sonidor coiled her body even tighter around Marmel’s wrist.
“W-Why all of a sudden?”
“She seemed to react to what you said.”
React to what? She didn’t even get a chance to ask before he continued.
“Even without a head, they can apparently hear things.”
What the hell, that’s terrifying. Then… did she hear everything they said? Sonidor shrank back and whispered near his ear.
“I thought it would be fine since Your Highness already knew everything, but… turns out surface beings really do try to kill me if I break the taboo.”
“Taboo? What’s that?”
“Saying this place is a dr— I mean, what this place really is.”
Sonidor had never revealed this much information to a target before. She could act like an award-winning actress when necessary, but this… this was a first. Still, Marmel seemed to know the rules of this so-called “paradise” better than she did. If she approached honestly, maybe he would open up and help her too.
“Saying it’s a dream doesn’t matter. I didn’t react when you said it, did I?”
“Right. That’s what made me feel safe…”
“I know it’s a dream, and they know I know.”
Marmel shrugged casually.
“I think the real issue is the word you were about to say.”
Sonidor recalled what she had been about to say earlier. After the dream talk, she had intended to say she came to wake him up. If anything was taboo there—it was probably that word. Wake up. So the surface beings were afraid Marmel would awaken.
Usually, the dream inhabitants were terrified of the dreamer realizing the truth. Since they only existed within dreams, they raged at the thought of becoming illusions the moment the dreamer woke up. If Sonidor triggered that realization, they often tried to kill her—and even the dreamer. She had died a few times that way.
But what was this place?
Marmel knew it was a dream. And yet, they hadn’t killed him—or her. So they were okay with being illusions… but not with disappearing? If Marmel woke up, they’d vanish too.
Sonidor smacked her forehead with her tail. Ten years as a Dream Artisan, and she’d never seen anything like this. It gave her a headache.
“That killing intent wasn’t normal. Best not to use that word again. As long as you avoid that taboo, they won’t harm you. They’re pretty stupid.”
“That’s a relief.”
“But sometimes they’re sharp.”
“…So which is it?”
“I mean, it never hurts to be cautious.”
Wait—did the crown prince just save her? Sonidor was unexpectedly touched. She’d been calling him crazy all this time, and now she felt a little guilty. Maybe he really did think of this hellish world as paradise. Just a man with peculiar taste.
But Marmel’s next words shattered that thought.
“I’ve got a lot to ask you. It’d be a shame if you died in the dream.”
Just as one crisis ended, another began. Sonidor laughed bitterly inside. Damn it. Marmel’s face changed. No longer casual and teasing like when he asked about the fruit, his eyes now held a serious gleam. He stared at her as she hissed nervously, and murmured like to himself:
“You saw it all, didn’t you?”
“W-What?”
“Everything.”
It wasn’t a question anymore. He looked like he was asking himself what to do with her now. Seriously? Another reason to die? Now there are more reasons?
Sonidor looked miserable. No matter how many death traps she escaped in the dream, if she died in reality, what was the point?
Then Marmel spoke a chilling prophecy:
“If His Majesty sent you personally… then you’re bound to die.”
A very grim future indeed.
“I’m currently running around trying not to die, you know.”
