CH 26

Licht stared at Yernian, who was restlessly exhaling, with an expressionless face.

For two days, Yernian was unconscious and even vomited the antipyretic that was poured in her mouth.

[I can’t fully understand the cause of the fever. I’m sorry, but if this goes on, the life of Her Highness the Princess and His Majesty could be in danger.]

Despite the advice of the doctor that it was life-threatening, Licht couldn’t easily make a decision.

“Yernian.”

“…”

“Why do you always sleep so much?”

He didn’t even listen to antipyretics made of special herbs that only grow in the Myo World.

Every healing magic he tried was thrown back without even having access to Yernian’s body.

The tendons bulged in the back of Licht’s hand, which was holding the medicine bottle tightly.

“If I had known you would be sick this long.”

“…”

“I would have killed them a little more painfully.”

Two days ago, thanks to Yernian’s timely use of magic, he arrived at the scene of the abduction faster than his clone.

It was thanks to Yernian’s mana that remained within his body, which became a milestone for him.

However, the moment he saw the face of the kidnapper sitting on the driver’s seat, he moved his hand first, very unlike him.

When he came to his senses belatedly, it was after the luggage compartment, where Yernian was supposed to be in, and the driver’s seat were completely separated.

[Cough…!]

[Don’t be noisy. Because I might actually kill you.]

The face that ran away with his back showing was too familiar.

‘The second son of the Ragdoll family.’

A faint blue light shone through Licht’s eyes.

[Cough…!]

Licht, who had pierced the middle of the second son’s chest with his hand wrapped in his mana, let out a languid breath.

As he glanced at the separated luggage compartment, he stuck out the second son’s tongue and cast Silence Magic around him.

[Will you follow me quietly like this, or will you be dragged to the corpse?]

His eyes, clearly insane, shook with venom towards him.

[Licht el Persian…! You will never be able to prevent the collapse of the Myo World!]

Licht laughed at the stark hatred of the man.

[As a Myo people, you wish for the collapse of the Myo World. How funny.]

[Sacrifice is inevitable for the sake of a cause. You vile Persians will never have both the Messiah and the Myo World…]

Before he could finish speaking, the man’s head, separated from his body, rolled over the floor.

Licht, covered in hot blood, looked down at the man who had turned into a corpse with an expressionless face.

[…Ah. I haven’t asked anything about his background yet, though.]

Licht, who was recalling the time, frowned.

It was only a fleeting impulse to kill that man on the spot two days ago.

The destination where the kidnapper was going to take Yernian was a dead end, also called the Lake of Death, within the Myo World.

Unless he was going to die with Yernian, it was not an understandable destination.

“Should I have just put up with it?”

It’s a clue that has crawled in on its own after 4 years, yet he killed it so ridiculously.

Viscount Ragdoll, who was being interrogated, seemed unaware of his son’s misconduct.

It was when Licht sighed and looked down at Yernian, who was crossing the slope.

The voice of the knight guarding in front of the bedroom was heard along with the sound of a careful knock.

“Your Majesty. His Highness the Third Prince is asking to meet you.”

At the sound of ‘the Third Prince’, Licht’s expression became subtle.

For the past two days, unlike Askari, who had been struggling to get into the bedroom by any means and methods, not a single hair of Noha could be seen.

“Why is he here now?’

Licht, unable to hide his annoyance, narrowed his eyes.

“Send him back.”

“It’s about Yernian.”

“…”

“I can save Yernian.”

The voice of Noha, a young boy with a strange madness, leaked through the cracks in the door.

***

The sound of gentle hum touched my nerves.

‘Ugh, how noisy…’

As I forcibly pushed my eyelids up, I could see the strangers around me through my blurred vision.

‘What?’

After blankly blinking my eyes, I stopped breathing reflexively at the voice I heard the next moment.

“Call the Doctor right away. Mana was expressed from the test subject.”

The person who said that wasn’t a beastman, but a human in a white robe.

A man who wrote something on the chart looked at me with cold eyes.

‘What. It’s a dream again.’

It was also a dream based on the memory of when I was about four years old, when my mana was just being manifested.

Perhaps because it was before I lost my sight, the faces of those observing me came to me clearly now, unlike my last dream, when the whole place was filled with darkness.

‘Damn it.’

What kind of dream is so vivid like reality each time?

I immediately turned around and wanted to run away, yet I couldn’t move as if my body was tied to something.

Suddenly, a cool cloth obscured my vision. My fingertips trembled as I foresaw what was about to happen.

“The Doctor has arrived.”

A dry voice pierced my ears like a death sentence.

The sound of refined shoes hitting the cold marble floor cut through the quiet air of the laboratory.

“Hmm.”

Even though my eyes were covered, I could clearly feel the gaze that looked down on me as if I was one of the items displayed in a store.

“Her name is Yernian.”

“…”

“Is she unable to speak?”

The researcher who was by my side answered.

“She can talk, but she rarely does it unless it’s necessary.”

“I see.”

As the modulated voice got closer, my heart started beating with a thud.

A smooth hand in gloves gently clasped my trembling shoulder.

“Nice to meet you, Yernian.”

The Doctor, as always, had a faint smell of medicine.

“I’m the doctor who will take care of you from now on.”

“…What are you going to do with me?”

My bruised lips moved unruly, creating a single sentence. It’s not just a dream, it’s as if I was reliving the past.

“I think I’ll be working for you and the world’s well-being once a month.”

An unbearable smirk rose.

Once a month the Doctor, who said it was for the well-being of the world, put me into a test tube filled with an unknown drug.

And just like that…

I hastily stopped the thought that was about to follow, and focused on the sensations I felt in my body now.

It was because I didn’t want to evoke the terrible memories myself.

“It would be good to run a few simple tests today.”

“…Does that hurt a lot?”

“If you follow me well, I will try not to get you in pain as much as possible.”

How foolish I was at that time. As a result of believing the Doctor’s words, I was completely ruined.

To the point of no return. With great desperation.

It was when the Doctor’s hand led me in the direction of the test tube.

[…Ni.]

The world presumed to be a dream was shaken precariously by the sudden noise.

‘What is it?’

I didn’t focus on the Doctor’s hand holding mine, but to the faint voice I had heard from before.

[Yeni.]

‘…Perhaps, Noha? Is it Noha?’

At that moment, the bandage that covered my vision slowly disappeared, and the Doctor’s hand that had been holding me fell off as well.

I looked at the middle of the empty laboratory with a bewildered expression.

Noha, paler than usual, stood staring at me.

I couldn’t see where the researchers and the Doctor with whom I had been together a while ago had gone.

“…It’s a success.”

With a sigh of relief, Noha staggered and walked towards me.

I couldn’t say anything in bewilderment, yet the boy’s little hand grabbed my cold fingertips.

“Let’s go back, Yeni.”

“Noha, how can you be here…”

“I’m here to pick you up.”

I looked down at the unfamiliar warmth that touched my hand with trembling eyes.

Contrary to reality, Noha, who looked down at my thin-branch like wrist with squinted eyes, said in an unshakable voice.

“Everyone is waiting for you to wake up.”

…Ah. Instantly, something like a hot lump shoved into my throat, and tears welled up in my eyes.

I see  I have a place to go back to, now.

Having gained a new realization, I nodded and took Noha’s hand.

“…Yesh. Noha.”

***

Licht looked down at the two sleeping children holding hands side by side with an unknown expression.

“Mir.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Why didn’t I know until now that Noha has a dream-type magic?”

A Nightmare, who can handle dreams, the rarest of all classes.

He couldn’t have imagined that Noha, who lived holding his breath in the main palace as if he were absent, was a Nightmare.

Most of the Persian royals, who are accustomed to the law of the jungle where the weak are the prey of the strong such as the battle of succession of ranks, were born with attack-type magic unless there was an unusual event.

To think that he has dream-type magic.

Mir, who had come up to report the results of Viscount Ragdoll’s interrogation, scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

“…First of all, His Highness the Third Prince has been in the bedroom since the Prince Consort passed away.”

It was after he brought Yernian to the main palace that he, who had been staying there, showed up.

There, and now…

Licht pressed his throbbing temple with his hand and let out a heavy sigh.

“I know that Nightmare is a rare class even in ancient times when magicians existed.”

“You’re right. According to the literature stored in the library, since it’s a magic that uses life as collateral, I heard that the manifestation itself is rare.”

Mir looked down at Noha, who was lying down holding Yernian’s hand, with mixed feelings.

[I can save Yernian.]

[Now that you’ve finished only your first growth, what, how?]

[It’s because Yernian isn’t sick.]

[…What?]

[Yernian, no, Yeni is heartbroken.]

That’s why he’ll definitely save her this time.

Noha’s muttering voice was filled with a strange obsession that made even Licht pause for a moment.

“Oh, come to think of it, the first growth of His Highness the Third Prince began right after the Prince Consort passed away.”

Licht’s expression subtly changed at the word ‘Prince Consort’, which he hadn’t heard in a long time.

“…Father was quite kind to Noha.”

Even so, the time the two of them were together was at most a little over a year.

Because his father, who was the Prince Consort, died about two months earlier than his mother, who was the head of the former squadron.

A dark shadow fell from Licht’s eyes looking down at Noha.

“But, why does it have to be dream-type?”

If he was influenced by his father, who had an incurable disease, shouldn’t he be born in the healing-type?

Mir scratched his cheek at Licht’s question, which was close to him talking to himself.

“I don’t know. Maybe he was hurt because of the deceased Prince Consort more in heart than in his body, just like the Princess…”

It was time for Mir to express his reasoning with a serious expression.

Yernian’s eyelids, which had been closed all the time, shook. Licht and Mir’s ears perked up at the same time.

Licht, who held his breath without realizing it, looked at the pale pink eyes that slowly appeared.

“Yernian.”

“Mmm…”

“Are you awake?”

Yernian, who was blinking helplessly, opened her mouth.