Chapter 44: Why Would I Have a Dream Like This
The sound of dripping water echoed through the damp, dark prison cell, where mold spread everywhere.
Adults wearing army boots walked back and forth, and the dull thuds of their steps echoed in his ears.
This place felt so familiar. It was a dream replaying old memories.
The past that wouldn't go away had turned into a nightmare that haunted him every day.
He hated this kind of painful nostalgia and hated these memories that kept reopening old wounds just to push him forward.
Through the strands of his hair, his blue eyes stared at the tall figures walking past. It had been so long ago that he couldn’t remember any faces clearly. There were no details in the dream.
Even his dream self couldn’t recall what he had looked like when he was young. When he looked down, all he saw were the same ragged clothes from back then.
“It seems like someone died again...”
“Yeah… how could such a small kid survive something like this...?”
The frightened voices were still very clear.
Back then, someone died every day. Every day, he could hear cries of pain coming from the nearby “training room.”
The person next to you might have been groaning in pain yesterday, and just a few days later, the smell of their rotting body would fill the air.
“How can something so cruel even happen...?”
A slightly older child prayed in a trembling voice.
“Mmm… mm…”
A younger child sobbed, their broken words too unclear to understand.
“That guy was just a kid, barely over ten years old! How could he make such a cruel decision...?!”
The bearded homeless man was covered in the smell of medicine, his body filled with strange chemicals. His final words were like a last burst of life, using all his remaining strength to curse the unfairness he had faced.
“...That bastard of an emper—”
“Do you want to die?!”
A young girl, stirred by the old man’s words, looked like she was about to say something dangerous. A nearby boy quickly covered her mouth, afraid that the well-dressed nobles passing by, who treated people like they were picking goods, might hear something that could get them dragged away and killed on the spot.
But everyone here knew. Everyone here cursed under their breath, cursed the nobles, whose polished appearances hid their rotten hearts.
In this dark cell, the only thing that shined was the candlelight.
But outside the dream, morning had already arrived.
Evelia came early to Armand’s door. Once it was time for him to wake up, she knocked and brought in breakfast.
“...Hoo…”
Surprisingly, Armand wasn’t up yet. But he seemed to hear her outside. His body moved slightly, and he let out a soft sigh, but he still didn’t get up. He just curled deeper into the blanket, not even wanting to show his face.
Looks like last night’s sleep aid worked well.
Evelia gently placed the tray on the table, then walked quietly over to Armand with the silent footsteps she was good at.
When Armand felt her coming closer, he moved a bit, poked out half his head. Only to pull it back again in frustration as the sunlight coming through the curtain slit hit his face.
Evelia stood quietly by the bed, watching his sleeping face with a bit of pride. She even praised herself in her heart, thinking she might really have a gift for helping people fall asleep.
After standing there for a while and seeing that Armand still wasn’t planning to wake up, Evelia crouched down, rested her head on the edge of the bed, and looked at his face, not exactly peaceful, but still asleep.
Evelia didn’t know what kind of dream Armand was having. She only saw that even though he had moved away from the sunlight, his eyebrows were still tightly furrowed, like he was in pain.
Seeing how troubled he looked, Evelia thought back to last night. Her excellent skills had clearly pleased Armand. He not only let go of their past tension but also got a good night’s sleep. So she decided to try the same trick again today. Maybe he’d start to like the feeling, and that would help her improve how much he liked her too.
With that in mind, Evelia quietly leaned in closer and gently blew a soft breath into Armand’s ear.
And then, on Armand’s side, his dream suddenly turned strange.
The prison cell that had only held him now had odd sounds around it. When he looked beside him, there was suddenly a large pink dog standing there.
Where did the dog come from?
And why was it pink?
That bright, eye-catching color looked totally out of place in the dark prison.
How could a dog be so pink?
In the dream, Armand even seriously started wondering what breed of dog it was.
“You—wha…?!”
Before he could figure out what was going on in this weird dream, the big pink dog pounced on him. Without warning, it began licking him all over, like it wanted to lick off a whole layer of his skin. The dog was so big it crushed him, he could barely breathe.
“Hey—hey?! Stop—stop licking me, let… me go—!”
In the next second, Armand woke up from the dream and opened his eyes.
But what he saw first was not the ceiling he was used to.
“Hmm—?”
Instead, he saw... well, two round white things.
Two fluffy, snowy-white balls that looked soft and bouncy, like tiny cushions you could rest your hand on or gently squeeze.
Evelia had leaned her body over him to get a better angle while she was licking his ear. That strange position made her chest press tightly against his face. As she moved, they squished and shifted softly against him.
“...?”
Armand, who had just woken up, clearly had no idea what was going on. He stared blankly at the white softness in front of him, unsure what to say. His ear still felt tingly and warm, and he could hear strange breathing sounds.
As for Evelia, when she noticed that Armand had woken up, she gave his ear one last little swirl with her tongue, then licked her lips and slowly pulled away. Her chest also bounced slightly as she moved back, dropping down from the bed’s edge with a soft jiggle.
“Eve...?”
Still half asleep, Armand blinked at the pink-haired girl whose lips still sparkled. His brain wasn’t fully awake yet, and he found himself wondering why the dog from his dream had suddenly turned into a person.
Afterward, his foggy mind briefly thought it over and realized that Evelia really did resemble the dog from his dream. Without thinking, he poked the “culprit” that had been pressing against him and making it hard to breathe, mumbling, “It’s actually pretty soft.”
He stared at her in a daze, then turned over and buried his head under the blanket again. Just moments ago, he’d been pinned down and licked by a dog. Now he was here like this. It was too weird. No one would believe this had happened in real life.
Especially since the night before, Evelia had already messed with him like that, so he figured it was just a dream made from yesterday’s memories.
“Woken up by Evelia licking me… Why would I dream about something like that…”
Mumbling to himself, he turned over again and drifted back to sleep.
Until he opened his eyes again and saw Evelia still sitting by his bed, waiting for him. He stared at her in confusion for a long moment before finally managing to say a single sound.
“...Huh?”