Chapter 183
Chapter 183
Swimming Through the Nightmare (4)
Late in the evening, I went to find the Imperial Princess. Guided by the Vice-Commander, I arrived at the Imperial Princess's bedroom.
“Oh, she's asleep.”
The Imperial Princess was sleeping peacefully on the bed. I found it strange. The Imperial Princess's nightmare was extremely dangerous.
The number of times the Imperial Princess had mentioned dying was by no means small. Yet despite dreaming of such a hellish place, she had such a peaceful expression.
“Hoho. It's thanks to Student Davide.”
Perhaps sensing my confusion, the Vice-Commander smiled softly. This wasn't an effect that could have been gained merely from clearing Stage 1 of the roguelike.
“One is most vulnerable while asleep.”
I noticed the Imperial Princess's hand sticking out from beneath the blanket. A sturdy silver gauntlet was visible. Noticing my gaze, the Vice-Commander elaborated.
There had been countless assassination attempts ever since she was young. Because of that, the Imperial Princess always wore armor. I nodded roughly and called the Dream Bird.
―Mwi?
The Vice-Commander's eyes widened when the Dream Bird immediately appeared. The magician's sharp gaze scrutinized every inch of the Dream Bird.
Faced with a gaze it had never experienced before, the Dream Bird shrank back and hid behind me.
“Oh dear. It seems I frightened it. My apologies. I was simply fascinated.”
The Vice-Commander readily apologized at the Dream Bird's reaction. The Dream Bird gave the Vice-Commander a meaningful look.
“Can you enter her dream?”
―Mwimwi.
I redirected the Dream Bird's attention. At my request, the Dream Bird showed a confident attitude. It placed one of its wings atop the Imperial Princess's head.
The peculiar magic possessed by a Spiritual Creature bloomed, and it pulled a pure white orb from the Imperial Princess's head.
―Mwi.
I slowly reached toward it. My consciousness became enveloped, and my mind gradually sank. It was a strange sensation, as though water were filling the space around me, or perhaps I was sinking into the depths of the sea.
Entrusting myself to it, I slowly lost consciousness. I was falling endlessly. After falling without end for a while, my previously stifled vision suddenly opened up.
“Hmm?”
It was an unfamiliar place. I'd expected the Imperial Palace to appear, but this was somewhere strange. I continued falling.
Black water had risen beneath me. With a splash, I plunged into it and hurriedly surfaced.
‘The sea?’
The salty scent drifting through the air and the dense magic enveloping my body. This was definitely the sea. The Dream Bird wouldn't have made a mistake.
Then why was the Imperial Princess's nightmare submerged beneath the sea? I let out a small sigh.
‘Don't tell me.’
Back when the Imperial Princess and I had been together inside the nightmare. Every time the Imperial Princess died, the water inside the Imperial Palace had risen. That had happened because it was connected to my Mental World at the time.
But this time, I'd merely entered her dream.
Then did that mean the Mental World that had connected with her back then still remained within the Imperial Princess?
“What the.”
“…….”
I stared blankly. A rough hand suddenly grabbed me by the back of my neck. Thanks to that, I was able to step onto something solid instead of the sea.
Startled, I quickly steadied myself and saw familiar figures. Among them, the Imperial Princess looked at me with a troubled expression.
“You have come.”
“Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess.”
Fortunately, the Imperial Princess didn't seem to be in bad condition. Even so, that didn't mean I understood the current situation.
When I shifted my gaze beside her, I felt dizzy.
One was a completely black silhouette. A figure so dark that it looked as though it had been made from shadows.
It was the existence that had merely watched without doing anything inside the Imperial Princess's nightmare.
“…….”
Well, that one didn't particularly matter.
What mattered to me was the remaining person.
Her skin was so white that it was practically pallid.
She had ebony-black hair and wore a skirt that looked as though it was wrapped in black flames.
The moment I saw the strange tattoos covering her upper body and the stag skull worn over her head, overwhelming emotion surged through me.
“It is an honor to meet you, Anaye-nim.”
I immediately prostrated myself and paid my respects to Anaye. I sensed the previously still Anaye gradually approaching me.
Feeling warmth against the back of my head, I drew in a breath. Originally, I'd thought of Anaye as little more than a benefactor.
A benefactor who had allowed me to survive in this absurd world and, on top of that, had created a body that would allow me to live an ordinary life.
“Seeing you directly like this. I'm overwhelmed.”
A hand grasped my shoulder and pulled me upward, and I slowly raised my upper body. The warmth I felt against my shoulder was real.
She was different from the Fragment I'd seen at the ash tree. She wasn't the terrifying figure overflowing with murderous intent.
There was an immensely powerful affection that surpassed even the Vice-Commander's.
It was similar to that of a mother looking upon a son who had been deployed far away.
“…….”
Without saying a word, Anaye embraced me.
She had a small build similar to Winter's, yet the embrace felt overwhelmingly heavy.
▶[Religious Quest: Simulacrum(2)]
Hearing the system's alert, I tightly embraced Anaye.
It was a warmth I'd never experienced before.
***
“…….”
The Imperial Princess, Eliza Atticus, felt complicated emotions as she watched Anaye and Davide.
A sense of isolation, as though she had been completely shut out of a world belonging solely to those two. Alongside it was the feeling of envy blooming within her chest.
She envied the overwhelmingly immense favor that a great god like Anaye bestowed upon a mere human.
Or perhaps she simply envied the fact that they had a relationship where they could embrace one another like that and be happy.
‘What a relief.’
At first, she had been worried. The Imperial Princess knew that Anaye appeared in her dreams. And she had deliberately chosen not to tell him.
She had believed the treatment would be performed through Necromancy just like last time.
And she had wondered whether Davide might be shocked upon seeing Anaye.
But nothing of the sort happened.
She quietly stared at Davide's face.
It was an expression she had never seen even once before.
“You, Davide.”
Judging that their emotional reunion had more or less concluded, the Imperial Princess called out to Davide.
The four of them, including Shadow, were currently on a small rowboat.
It was a little rowboat that relied upon a pole and a lantern instead of a sail. Anaye sat Davide down on the floor before seating herself on the railing.
“Yes. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess.”
Anaye began carefully tending to Davide's hair. She undid the hair tied into a small ponytail and stroked it.
Davide entrusted his hair to her without the slightest hesitation. And he answered the Imperial Princess.
“If there is something you wish to ask, you may ask.”
“Where are we?”
Davide asked something different from what she had expected. She had naturally assumed he would ask about Anaye.
The Imperial Princess had intended to answer him anyway, so she slowly opened her mouth.
“This is your Mental World.”
“……My Mental World?”
Davide seemed unable to readily believe the Imperial Princess's answer. The Imperial Princess nodded. No matter how she considered it, there was no other answer.
“It must be an aftereffect of the Necromancy.”
“You could say that. Because your god was here, I did not have nightmares.”
The Imperial Princess told him exactly what had happened.
Unlike at first, Davide remained as composed as ever. He quietly listened and contemplated something.
What could possibly be inside that little head of his? The Imperial Princess instinctively realized that Davide's perpetually confident attitude originated from that head.
“Then. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess. Why did you wish to receive treatment?”
At Davide's question, the Imperial Princess looked at Shadow behind her.
“This was the Shadow I once mistook for you.”
“I remember.”
“Yes. It was irritating that it never helped me with anything, but even so, I was able to endure because it was here.”
“……I see. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess.”
The Imperial Princess gave a bitter smile at Davide's suddenly solemn attitude.
Was it pity born from sympathy? Had even Davide felt that way about her?
The Imperial Princess shook her head and cast aside those distracting thoughts. For some reason, she became emotional whenever she was inside a dream.
It was probably because she didn't have her artifacts.
“Recently, this Shadow's body has begun turning transparent. Some parts have even been severed. Since there are no external factors, the cause must be internal. I believed it was connected to this nightmare, and thus I summoned you.”
Davide stared at the Imperial Princess without answering.
With most of his body obscured by darkness, Davide looked unfamiliar.
She only now realized that his brightly gleaming eyes resembled golden amber. His golden pupils stood out much more clearly in the darkness.
“I see. That certainly makes sense.”
After hearing Davide's answer, the Imperial Princess comfortably observed him.
Davide's soaked appearance looked rather fierce.
Like a shark that had crawled onto land, perhaps.
The Imperial Princess glanced elsewhere. Strangely enough, her gaze headed toward the depths of the sea.
The black shark that Anaye had sealed in chains had regained consciousness as the water rose.
It had begun thrashing about, only for Anaye to put it back to sleep with one of her special flicks to the forehead.
“You, Davide.”
“Yes. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess.”
“I wish to hear how you feel after meeting the god you believe in.”
The Imperial Princess pulled her gaze away from the sea and questioned Davide.
It was something she had been curious about all this time.
Davide's eyes widened briefly before he smirked. At least there was a gentle smile on his lips.
“Originally, I thought of her as little more than a benefactor.”
“A benefactor.”
Davide's words carried significance.
Calling her a benefactor meant that he had received help from Anaye.
Several possibilities came to mind, but the Imperial Princess waited for Davide to continue.
“I've met her directly like this before as well. But at the time, I was undergoing a trial.”
“I see.”
“And now that I've actually been able to touch her like this, it feels completely different. It's like finding a mother I'd lost a long time ago.”
Davide's impression was simple.
Perhaps he simply couldn't think of any better way to express it.
A mother he'd lost long ago.
The Imperial Princess nodded.
After all, this was the first time she'd ever seen him look so happy.
“Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess. When do you intend to enter the nightmare?”
“Well. I would like to enjoy this respite a little longer.”
“As you wish.”
The Imperial Princess answered without changing her seated position. Davide responded readily.
He probably needed this moment as well.
“Will you be able to meet her again after this?”
“Once Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess's nightmare ends, this moment will end as well.”
Davide calmly answered the Imperial Princess's question.
There was no regret visible on his face.
The Imperial Princess could only wonder how he could remain that way.
“Do you not regret it?”
“It's fine. Anaye-nim will always be within me. Simply because I cannot see her or touch her does not mean she isn't real.”
The Imperial Princess nodded at Davide's answer.
Not being real.
Those words struck surprisingly deep.
The Imperial Princess glanced at Shadow.
It was a strange existence with which she couldn't interact at all.
If Davide had Anaye, then she also had someone similar.
Master.
Her benefactor who had taken the place of her parents.
Whenever the Imperial Princess looked at Shadow, she found herself thinking of him.
“It'll be over soon. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess.”
The Imperial Princess turned her gaze back toward Davide.
His face was resolute.
His expression revealed that there was something he absolutely intended to accomplish.
It wasn't an expression a warrior would wear merely while performing a treatment.
Looking at Davide's face, the Imperial Princess smiled brightly.
He had once seemed so unreliable, so how had he managed to worm his way into her heart like this?
“I have always believed in you.”