Masera’s nightmare began the night before Cynthia disappeared, after he saw the unusually red aurora shimmering.
It was a dream so specific and realistic that it blurred the line between reality and illusion.
“Are you very busy? Let’s have dinner together.”
In his dream, Cynthia was still smiling.
‘I’m not busy at all. Shall we go to the restaurant we went to last time?’
But his answer didn’t reach her.
The dream was shown from an observer’s point of view.
In the dream, he treated her, who was acting so cheerful, coldly, and it was on a completely different level from what he had done unconsciously in reality.
‘Is he crazy?’
He wanted to leave because he didn’t want to see the atrocities he was committing as himself.
But he couldn’t. He was forcibly bound, deprived of the freedom to even blink, and felt like he was watching an unpleasant play.
It was ridiculous that he always exchanged cold words in the process of misunderstanding and going astray, but it was closer to affection than hatred.
When she was treated unfairly, he secretly helped her from behind, and he kept her by his side under the pretext that he needed her bloodline.
After she revealed that she was not royalty herself, he kept her under the pretext of taking responsibility.
He strongly denied it, afraid of revealing his hidden feelings, but it was always the foolish him who was anxious that she would hate him.
Then one day, she asked him.
“There’s a place I need to go for a while. Would you… like to come with me?”
If it had been the real him, he would have agreed immediately.
But the dream version of himself didn’t.
“You don’t have to report to me or make polite suggestions for everything. I’ll prepare an escort for you.”
He seemed oblivious to the shadows darkening her face as he raised his thorns, not wanting to be hurt.
“I thought so. I’ll be back.”
He saw the dream version of himself reach out to Cynthia’s retreating figure, only to drop his hand helplessly.
That dry conversation was the last.
Unlike her promise to return, only a suicide note came back in her place.
***
“I know Brigadier General doesn’t like me.”
That’s not true.
I am…
‘I can’t live without you.’
He reached out desperately, but Cynthia’s sad smile gradually faded, and then he heard a bell ringing somewhere.
Ding-dong.
Before he knew it, Masera, who was sitting in the cathedral in his dress uniform, gasped and raised his head.
He, who had become the main character from being an audience member of the nightmare, looked around the silent cathedral.
The sound of the cathedral bell flowed on the bleak winter wind.
Soon, he turned his gaze to the black coffin filled with white flowers, placed on the cold marble floor.
And without realizing it, he began to walk towards the coffin. That short moment was strangling him.
He looked down at the deceased lying in the coffin.
The moment he saw her white face, devoid of any color like a porcelain doll, and her silvery white hair, he stopped breathing and his vision flashed white.
“…Cynthia.”
The colorful light that came in through the stained glass caressed and dyed her, who had lost her color.
At the same time, he heard whispering voices from somewhere.
“I heard she committed suicide, leaving a suicide note?”
“She always seemed so bright, I didn’t know…”
“Priests don’t even hold funeral masses for those who commit suicide. I heard this cathedral reluctantly accepted it.”
Suicide? That can’t be.
But no matter how much he spoke, his voice would not reach them.
Just like watching a past that had already passed, he couldn’t influence this painful dream in any way.
Masera raised his head and looked up at the ceiling painting of angels.
It was as if he was trapped in the worst possible outcome, assuming he had made the wrong choice.
Perhaps it was showing him ‘the result of me not trusting her.’
To only watch and then bear the consequences, what a terrible role.
After the funeral, the cruel nightmare showed him a world that went on the same even without her.
The officer who lost his wife was resilient, but there were rumors that he seemed out of his mind.
Was it because he skipped meals and sleep and only focused on his work?
Or was it because he brutally massacred the forces that threatened her?
He unknowingly stopped somewhere in a world without her.
Until the real will arrived, leaving all the royal family’s assets to Masera.
「I knew all along that you were secretly helping and taking care of me from behind the scenes, even though you felt betrayed.
I didn’t hate you. Rather, I liked that kindness.
I believe you didn’t hate me either.」
Masera, who was still sitting in his office processing paperwork, suddenly raised his head and stared into the air.
He had momentarily forgotten that this was not reality but a dream.
Click.
A loose self-mockery hung on his lips as he took out an officer’s revolver, which was mainly used for suicide, and held it to his head.
“When will I wake up from this damn dream?”
The dream always ended with a final gunshot.
***
“…Am I still in a dream?”
Masera, who had returned to the official residence as soon as he heard the news of Cynthia’s disappearance, muttered in a daze.
“She wasn’t kidnapped, she seems to have left on her own. I’m sorry.”
Dahlia lowered her head with a sorry expression.
‘If she left through the door with such confidence…’
She could pick the lock, I guess.
Masera, staring at the open door, swept back his bangs and narrowed his brows.
He seemed to have been too careless with an escape expert.
But he didn’t expect her to go out alone so dangerously in this cold weather, and at such a late hour.
“Haa.”
Masera rubbed his face as if trying to shake off the lingering effects of the nightmare.
Then Dahlia cautiously approached and asked.
“One of the vehicles is missing, but when did the Princess learn to drive?”
“Which one?”
“The vehicle you recently purchased. The one with the heater function installed…”
She even stole the most expensive new car.
‘I didn’t hear that she was a phantom thief in her past life.’
The anxieties that had been plaguing him were transforming into bewilderment.
Standing in the middle of the well-organized room, he found a note lying on the bed.
His sinking eyes fixed on the round handwriting in the note.
This is the first test, getting to know strengths.
“……?”
When he lifted the paper, he saw a train ticket hidden underneath.
Like a Princess from a family that loves riddles and challenges, she seemed to be giving him a test.
[Departure – 11:30 PM/Last Train]
‘Was it a game of tag?’
Masera, rolling up his sleeves to check his wristwatch, hurriedly left the room and gave instructions to the soldiers.
“Prepare the vehicle. Move to the train station by the shortest route within 30 minutes.”
“Within 30 minutes? Even a driver with 10 years of experience can’t do that…”
It was then that the driver spoke with difficulty and hesitated.
Just then, an old coachman who was passing by stood up straight with dignity and conveyed his intentions with hand signals.
‘I have 20 years of experience. Possible.’
***
Thanks to the coachman’s excellent skills, who had been a driver on the battlefield in the past, and the crazy decision to cross the frozen river, Masera was barely able to board the last train.
He sat down and looked out the train window.
‘…I was definitely wrong.’
She’s an active person, but I only thought about locking her up because of my anxiety.
But he couldn’t help it.
The dream was full of warnings and was too realistic.
“Are you General Masera Guise?”
Then, a train attendant approached, greeted him, and handed him a note.
“The Princess asked me to deliver this.”
“Do you know where she went? Is she on this train with me?”
“She left on the previous train. She said she plans to get off at the port.”
Is she planning to escape by boat?
He sighed and unfolded the note. There was a boat ticket inserted in the note.
He noticed Cynthia’s small handwriting on the boat ticket.
Now the second test, sharing sadness with me.
“……”
Soon, Masera’s eyes widened slightly when he saw the destination written on the boat ticket.
Before the attendant left, he casually explained.
“The Veldetta Sea Route, which had been closed due to the war, will open from midnight. The naval battle that took place recently ended in victory.”
Masera looked down at the boat ticket in his hand.
‘Could it be…?’
💟 Translator Notes 💟
Not sure if this needs to be said, but he’s dreaming of the OG story.
