My Villains Episode 214
46. Master of Dreams (4)
Three days ago, when the group arrived at Raven’s Cliff through a foggy passage. Phoenix felt an unknown sense of incongruity from the moment he saw the small fortress in the distance.
It was because of the surrounding scenery that felt lonely, quiet, and even peaceful at first glance.
He said, ‘Isn’t this an empty tin can?’ It was in this context that I had a small hope of doing so.
If the dark knight Achillem Nur or the spell thief Saitz had been here, something would have come out and stopped the party right away, but there was nothing like that, so I can only think it’s strange.
Kelsenne, whose cheeks were rosy, opened her mouth with her lips quivering as if she were still immersed in the aftertaste of drinking blood. The explanation that started like that was not very different from Phoenix’s expectations.
“If it were Achillemnur who sat on the throne, the entire Gistol region would have already been swallowed up by the dream land. Because the dark knight is that powerful.”
“The throne?”
“Your throne. It’s the key to claiming the Dream Mansion, but it’s probably empty by now. It is occupied by a weak person without qualifications.”
“It might be empty for a while? I heard that if you kill the person who occupied the dream territory, the fog will clear?”
“To be precise, this fog will disappear only when the dream land disappears.” Phoenix’s eyes narrowed.
“It seems that the words change little by little.”
“No, no.”
Under the murderous eyes, the frightened vampire prostrated himself and begged.
“To destroy the Dream Mansion, you must destroy the throne, and to destroy the throne you must kill its owner and claim the throne-” “
Where is the throne? Hasn’t it collapsed already?”
“no. The throne is in a very secret place.”
“Oh yeah. It must have been made with thousands of human lives… It must be underground, right?”
“…yes that’s right.”
“O uh” — n.
Most of the party were listening to the conversation between Phoenix and Kelsenne.
Except for two.
Sitting at the top of an oak tree, the assassin Mungchi of the Martial Arts Association, who was wary of the surroundings, made a strange expression.
‘I can… I can too.’
Engraved in her mind was a scene where Phoenix commanded Kelsene to ‘sit down and turn her hand’.
He imagined himself in the place of Kelsenne, who was disciplined only for dogs and would only feel contempt for Park Dae-geon.
She swallowed quietly.
Of course, the treatment would be different from that vampire. Because Phoenix likes himself.
He wouldn’t make a cold face or slap him. He would give commands in a playful voice with a warm smile, and would stroke his head and chin with a gentle touch, or pinch his nose and cheek.
“Ahhhh…
I was just imagining it, but I was so happy that my heart throbbed.
So confused. How can humans dream of being treated like beasts?
Mungchi has spent his whole life polishing the learning to kill and putting that learning into practice. In the process, he came to have a twisted common sense and sensibility, but he knew at least that the desire he had now was not normal.
I knew this clearly, but Mungchi couldn’t deny it.
The fact that living as a young animal was the happiest time of her life. The fact that it was the only time when each day was filled with no worries or worries.
It didn’t mean that the recent days weren’t happy. Because the man she loved so much had a knack for pouring out affection with her eyes, and when she communicated with him, it felt like her heart melted.
But there was a limit to that happiness.
I couldn’t bathe while enjoying his touch, couldn’t fall asleep enjoying his body odor in his arms, so I had to sniff his nose as if I were stealing every night, I couldn’t lick his eyelids and lips, I couldn’t even get myself between his knees. Couldn’t have been in his arms on the road! Some of them are things someone still takes for granted, but she couldn’t!
O ” -— How come you can’t? Because you became human? Then should I reverse the road curse and pray to become a beast? Or can he get rid of the person most precious to him and take his place to regain that limitless happiness? If so, gladly-
“…out”
The group blinked in amazement. When I took a breath, warm breath flowed out, and the narrowed pupils and contorted face relaxed as usual.
Shaking her shoulders, she hurried down the tree like a squirrel with her tail on fire. Then, he ran straight to Phoenix and snuggled up next to him.
“Poi”
“Is it a bundle? Why so suddenly?”
“Eh me, eh,”
Mungchi couldn’t finish the words and just whined, and Phoenix made a puzzled expression.
“what the.”
For a moment, Phoenix burst out laughing. The narrowed eyebrows, the crooked nose, and the purring lips were cute, so he wrapped his arms around the bundle’s neck.
“Eh”
Moongchi stiffened at the strong body odor and then screamed ‘Kyahak’. It was because Phoenix hit the head with a headlock.
“Ah- I just want to eat this.”
“Oh no *ah* it’s tickling!”
“What’s wrong?”
“If you catch and eat it *hehehe* it won’t work-”
“Really? Do you really want to try it?”
When Phoenix opened his mouth wide as if to swallow his head, Mungchi laughed and wrapped his arms around his waist.
Then, someone approached the two of them.
“…really does all sorts of things.”
Ellen, her face hardened, swung her wand.
Screaming
“Ah- Hey, it hurts!”
“Then stop doing that nonsense. Is it a situation where you are going to flirt?” At Ellen’s words, Phoenix touched the back of his head and looked around. He scratched his eyebrows with a puzzled look at the mercenaries avoiding their gaze as if they were talking about something else.
Ellen looked back at the bundle this time and narrowed her brows.
“and you.”
“…Me?”
“Yes you. Stop getting entangled with Poi all the time. I’m doing it when I’m resting. It doesn’t matter, but what are you going to do if you’re doing it in a situation where the enemy might come out right in front of you?” If it was a normal bundle, he would have withdrawn with a teary face, but somehow he didn’t this time.
“Did Ellen do it too?”
“…what?”
“Did Ellen get entangled with Poi? Why am I”
“When am I?”
“I guess I was always hugged by Poi.”
When Munch said that with his lips pouted, Ellen burst out laughing.
“under. Is that the same?”
“to?”
“Since my mana is depleted, I asked Poi to take a proper rest.”
Phoenix said ‘…please?’ I muttered, but Ellen didn’t care and continued talking.
“But you sit quietly on top of a tree and get bored, so you come down and get entangled.”
“It’s not because I’m bored-”
“Then? Is there any other reason why you had to stick to Poi?”
“… I… As
Mungchi kept his mouth shut and lowered his head, Phoenix came out and stopped Ellen.
“no way. Why are you doing this to Mungchi? I was kidding.”
“Yeah, you have a problem too. Why did you take it and sit down?”
“Oh, I didn’t do that on purpose.”
Phoenix shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.
“I couldn’t come to my senses when a cute guy suddenly came in. Isn’t that a bunch?”
“Eh”
Phoenix said to Mungchi, ‘Huh? no?’ he asked and stroked his head. Moongchi, who had a sullen expression on his face, made eye contact with Phoenix and smiled.
“…under.”
Ellen was constantly bursting out laughing, and it looked as if black flames would pour out of her eyes at any moment.
“Okay, you die. If you can’t stand it, why don’t you hide and play? Because
I don’t want to see you.” “no way. I wish I had in the past, but I don’t anymore.”
“Was it like that in the past?”
“uh. I used to be a bit lacking in patience.”
“I think it still is.”
Phoenix smiled, frowning as if it were nonsense.
“Can that be? How much patience I have grown because of you.”
“me? What did I do?”
“If I look at you…” Phoenix’s gaze touched Ellen’s soft brow.
“…something is getting better and I’m going crazy.”
“Mmm what?”
“You don’t know how helpful it is to train patience by putting up with this.”
“What does that mean, you idiot?”
Perhaps mistaking his gaze, Ellen awkwardly moved her pink lips. Suddenly, not only her small face, but also her ears and nape of her neck were stained bright red.
“What if you suddenly say such a thing!”
“…That kind of thing? What did I say”
“No you- I don’t know!”
As Ellen sat down beside her wearing a hood, Phoenix asked, ‘Why is he like this again?’ I looked down at her with a gaze.
Sitting on the gentle slope of the hill, her cloak spread out, Heila stared down at the stack of paper candy.
Dried fruits are mixed with melted sugar, hardened into beads, and sweetened with honey. It was Heila’s favorite snack.
When I was in ‘Tow’s Den’, the home of the Twin Kings, I used to eat 12 meals a day, but I couldn’t do that while traveling like now. Apart from being expensive enough to reach 3 silver coins each, it was because it was a rare item that could not be easily obtained.
So Heila took out this candy only at certain moments.
Like the day she killed an innkeeper in South Harbor, the day her 8th cousin Shane died at the foot of Mount Graduil, and the day the stable collapsed in an attack by vampires a few days ago and her beloved horse, Etonize, disappeared.
Then, something heavy, stuffy, or hot that had settled in my heart would be forgotten a little.
In that sense, Heila was feeling the current door. It’s because he didn’t understand this moment when he took out the candy and looked down.
To be precise…
a thorn sprouting from the depths of the chest and stabbing in all directions. I couldn’t understand where or why this thorn came from. Fortunately, this sensation was not the first.
Heila blinked quietly, thinking of her older sister.
Ayla was a woman with bulging eyes, twisted lips and reddish skin. It was a very rare and ugly woman, but she was popular with servants and soldiers, and everyone seemed to find it strange.
Ayla enjoyed going for walks, and in the spring and summer she picked the flowers that bloomed along the promenade and decorated them with colorful paper and string.
Bouquets completed in this way were usually given as gifts to relatives, and most of the gift recipients responded like Zahakhar and Balu. As such, Ayla’s bouquet was usually dismantled and discarded in an unnoticed place.
There was only one case where it was not.
Phoenix, the son of Count Akele, did not throw away the bouquet his cousin gave him. He filled it with water and put flowers in it.
When the vase was removed as the flowers withered, Phoenix stared at the servant who removed it. When the servant lowered his head to apologize, Phoenix waved his hand saying it was okay. And within a couple of months, the servant vanished.
What Heila recalled now was the memory of that time.
Withered irises abandoned under the castle wall and Phoenix collecting them.
The day Heila saw the sight, she felt a thorn grow deep in her heart.
Heila’s eyelids quivered as the sensations she thought she would no longer feel after Ayla’s death returned.
Why did this thorn sprout again?
The answer was obvious. It was because he had seen the scene where Phoenix feeds blood to the vampire Kelsenne.
For the descendants of twin royal families, the act of sharing blood was only for a master who would give his life, a subordinate who would entrust his life, or a spouse who would be with him for the rest of his life.
Heila also had only one person to whom she shared blood in her 23 years of life. When he received the red ring in return, he almost lost his mind for a moment. I did…
Heila blinked quietly.
Phoenix shared his blood with that vampire. Then a thorn sprouted in his chest.
She was no fool who would not have noticed this simple cause and effect. And I also realized what connects that cause and effect.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“…yes? what did you say?”
One-eyed Simos, who was cleaning his knife, asked, and Heila shook her head quietly.
Her pitch-black gaze turned to the kneeling vampire. Poor Mibu Kelsenne’s shoulders trembled.
We approached the castle only after most of the walls collapsed and became ruins. There was no sign that felt as expected. Following Kelsenne’s guidance, the stairs leading to the basement were blocked by rubble.
But it wasn’t a big deal.
Utequa and I threw out quite a few stones at once, and even large rocks and the roof of a castle tower could be easily removed if we joined forces with the mercenaries.
That’s how we secured the stairs through half a day’s work, and after enough rest, we went down to the basement.
