Chapter 140 : Trump Card
Chapter 140: Trump Card
Who was the true owner of this dream?
For both Levi and Annie, that was the question, because their answers were completely different.
Levi believed Joe was the owner of this world, while Annie leaned more toward Miss Godney.
As for the possibility that both of them were real...
While it wasn't impossible, it seemed unlikely.
Moreover, judging from both of their accounts, each of them had sufficient motivation to create the other.
You could say that Miss Godney secretly liked Mr. Joe but didn't know how to express it and worried he wouldn't accept her, so she dreamed all of this. However, deep down she knew the two of them could never be together, which was why she deliberately came up with so many conditions to restrain him.
Or...
You could say that Mr. Joe had a secret crush on Miss Godney, but he knew he wasn't good enough to approach such a beautiful woman, so he created this nightmare to force himself to give up.
At that moment, Levi found himself missing Freud.
That man would certainly have explained everything perfectly.
Unfortunately, Levi wasn't familiar enough with Freud.
Otherwise, he could simply summon Freud into the dream and have the whole matter resolved.
Sadly, it seemed he would have to solve it himself.
Levi thought for a moment before making his decision.
No helping it.
Time to use his trump card.
“Alright, you two, I have a solution.”
Levi once again walked over to them and spoke. Hearing his words, both of them raised their heads and looked at him curiously.
“Since neither of you is satisfied with this marriage, then here's what we'll do...”
As he spoke, Levi stood at the bow of the ship and snapped his fingers.
“Miss Godney.”
“Please come with me.”
“Eh?”
“I truly love you.”
“That's why I've come here to take you away.”
“Come with me, beautiful lady.”
“I'll take you to see the entire world!”
“I'll let you experience a wonderful life you've never imagined!”
“A magnificent adventure far beyond anything you could ever imagine!”
“Abandon this foolish wedding.”
“And leave this world with me.”
Levi gazed directly at Lavinia.
His expression was solemn, while his eyes were as gentle as melted honey.
Even the wedding guests seemed stunned by Levi's dramatic declaration of stealing away the bride.
“………………….”
Faced with Levi's completely unexpected invitation, Annie merely blinked without saying a word.
Joe, however, was dumbfounded.
Then he leaped into the air, frantically waving both hands.
The other guests also erupted into loud protests.
“No! No! Absolutely not!”
“You've only just met!”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“I'll go!”
“I'll go with you, handsome sir!”
Unlike Joe, who desperately objected, Miss Godney's face was now flushed with excitement.
Lifting the hem of her wedding dress, she ran onto the warship's deck and stopped before Levi.
“Please take me with you!”
“Don't worry, Miss.”
However...
Before Lavinia could finish speaking, Levi pressed the muzzle of his pistol against her smooth forehead.
“I'll send you away right now.”
Before his words had even finished, Levi pulled the trigger.
“Bang!”
Her head exploded beneath the gunshot.
Immediately afterward, her body rapidly began to twist and distort.
Accompanied by a shrill scream, she transformed into a shadowy silhouette before disappearing into thin air.
At the same moment...
Joe, who had been protesting so frantically moments before, suddenly trembled violently.
He stood there blankly, completely motionless.
After a few moments, clarity gradually returned to his eyes.
He blinked.
“I'm...?”
“Huh?”
“Where is this?”
“What am I doing?”
“I'll explain that later, Mr. Joe.”
“But please board the ship immediately.”
“Huh? Ah...”
Perhaps because the nightmare had been destroyed, the entire church began shaking violently like an earthquake.
The ground split apart.
The surrounding walls collapsed.
Holding his head with both hands, Joe hurriedly rushed aboard the ship.
Almost the moment he stepped onto the deck, the church around them sank beneath the sea like Atlantis swallowed by the ocean.
Only the ship remained, floating peacefully upon the water.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
At the same time...
Applause echoed through the air.
“Wonderful.”
“Absolutely wonderful, Dream Weaver.”
The Cheshire Cat appeared once again from seemingly nowhere and applauded Levi.
“I truly didn't expect you to figure out that young lady was a Dream Spirit in disguise.”
“How did you see through her?”
“To be honest, I was lucky.”
“Because Mr. Joe and all the wedding guests opposed it.”
“Hm?”
“Dreams reflect a person's subconscious reactions.”
“But more importantly...”
“More importantly?”
“From my experience... whenever I seriously speak to a woman, she generally enters a semi-dazed state.”
“In other words...”
“If Miss Godney had truly been the owner of this world, then while I was talking to her, neither Mr. Joe nor the other guests should have reacted at all.”
“……………There's no basis for that.”
Not only was the Cheshire Cat completely dumbfounded...
Even Annie frowned and quietly objected.
“That simply doesn't happen in reality.”
“Then let's perform an experiment.”
Levi chuckled before turning toward the still utterly bewildered Joe.
“Mr. Joe, could you do me a favor?”
“What favor?”
“Do something over there.”
“Anything that attracts attention.”
“Anything? Something attention-grabbing?”
Joe frowned and thought for a moment.
“I'll do two sets of squats.”
“...Whatever makes you happy.”
“Oh! Hup—Ha—Hey!”
And so...
Joe began doing squats right beside the two of them.
Watching his enormous body repeatedly rise and fall, Annie's expression remained unchanged.
Still...
It was difficult not to notice such a massive man exercising right beside them.
“Could you keep count of how many squats he's done, Miss Branson?”
“Of course.”
“He's on three now.”
“Excellent.”
Keeping her calm expression, Annie watched Joe doing squats while silently counting in her mind.
Just then...
Levi spoke again.
“Now then, Miss Branson... please listen to me.”
Levi's voice hadn't changed at all.
Yet somehow...
It carried an irresistible charm.
Almost instinctively, Annie shifted her gaze toward him.
She saw Levi looking directly at her.
His eyes were so affectionate that they resembled a whirlpool, completely drawing Annie into them.
“I want to be with you.”
“I hope you'll stay by my side.”
“Never leave me.”
“Will you?”
“Promise me.”
“Will you?”
Levi's voice was soft and pleasant.
It was as though it had become something tangible, slipping into Annie through her ears.
At that instant, the young woman felt an indescribable tingling ache deep within her heart.
His gaze became like invisible fishing lines, hooking thoughts within her that she had never experienced before.
In that moment...
Annie felt her mind go completely blank.
It was as though all the strength had left her body.
She felt light, as though clouds themselves were carrying her.
She wished for nothing more than to lie in this man's embrace...
To melt together with him...
To become one.
“I will...”
“Good, Miss Branson.”
Levi raised a hand and snapped his fingers beside Annie's ear.
Snap.
Immediately afterward...
The hazy world surrounding Annie suddenly became clear once more.
It was as though a layer of fog had previously covered everything before her.
Aside from Levi...
Everything else had appeared blurred.
Now...
Everything regained its original clarity.
“I...?”
“May I ask...”
“Were you still paying attention to how many squats Mr. Joe had done?”
“……………”
Only after hearing Levi's question did Annie come back to herself.
She looked toward Joe once more.
He was still beside them enthusiastically chanting, “Hup! Ha! Hey!” while doing squats.
Working so earnestly it almost made one's heart ache.
“I'm sorry...”
“I... don't remember.”
“So now you understand?”
“I understand.”
Annie finally grasped Levi's reasoning.
If every woman reacted to Levi's performance the same way she had just done...
Then the dream itself should have changed.
Yet the reality was that although Miss Godney herself seemed captivated by Levi...
The surrounding world became even more resistant and self-consistent.
That proved Miss Godney was not the protagonist of this nightmare.
“……………Mr. Levi...”
“Do you often do this to girls?”
“Of course not.”
“I'm far too lazy to invite that kind of trouble.”
Levi shook his head.
That move was a double-edged sword.
Although it could make girls obedient to him at the time...
The aftermath was always troublesome.
Back when he was younger, there had once been a woman cutting in line.
Levi had used this very trick to persuade her not to.
As a result...
She immediately broke up with her boyfriend and insisted on dating Levi instead, claiming that since only Levi had stopped her from cutting in line, he must have feelings for her.
Her boyfriend had nearly challenged Levi to a duel on the spot.
In this world...
Levi was even less willing to use that trick casually.
He only dared use it on Annie because she looked gentle and physically possessed the strength of an ordinary young woman.
Even if she completely lost her senses...
Levi was confident he could restrain her.
If it had been Katie...
He wouldn't have dared use it even if someone threatened to beat him to death.
If that little girl lost control and threw herself at him...
Levi suspected all of his ribs would be crushed instantly, leaving him critically injured.
Incidentally...
As for whether this move worked on men...
Levi had never tried.
Nor did he want to.
And he certainly didn't dare.
Meanwhile...
Joe had been faithfully doing squats beside them the entire time.
Completely focused.
Completely ignoring everything else around him.
Only after completing fifty squats, drenched in sweat, did Joe finally stand up in satisfaction.
Seeing this, Annie quietly took two cautious steps closer to Levi.
“Oh, right, Mr. Levi.”
“I still don't understand.”
“What exactly is happening?”
“How did we end up at sea?”
“Well... that's a long story.”
Levi briefly explained everything that had happened to them.
The more Joe listened, the more astonished he became.
“Something like that actually happened?”
“Wait!”
As he spoke, Joe closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
Then he shouted,
“Hah!”
Accompanied by his roar, Levi and Annie watched as two dumbbells materialized out of thin air.
Thud!
They landed heavily on the deck.
“Hahaha!”
“So it's true!”
“It actually worked!”
Joe opened his eyes and stared excitedly at the dumbbells before rushing over, grabbing them, and lifting them high.
“Mmm!”
“This weight!”
“This balance!”
“This craftsmanship!”
“Ah... as expected, Fenold's products really are the best!”
“What a pity.”
“I could never afford these in reality.”
“But all those years I spent enduring the owner's dirty looks while visiting his shop weren't wasted after all!”
“Hahaha!”
“Even if I can't own them in reality... I can use them in my dreams!”
“Now then, let's start with four sets...”
Watching Joe enthusiastically carry the dumbbells off to continue pursuing his grand fitness ambitions...
Levi and Annie exchanged a glance before silently shaking their heads.
It seemed...
This man probably wouldn't have any chance of getting married for quite some time.
(End of Chapter)