novelraw Chapter 202 : Chapter 202
Chapter 202 : Chapter 202
Chapter : 202
“Driving me crazy!”
Zephyros ran with all his might to avoid being engulfed by the wave of shadows that surged towards him, threatening to swallow him whole.
Starting with the Director’s shout to get out, the Director’s body completely melted and surged forward as a wave.
At that moment, something like arms shot out from the wave and tried to grab Zephyros’s legs.
“Crazy, crazy, crazy!!”
Zephyros, who narrowly managed to dodge, stumbled as his feet tangled for a moment, and his body pitched forward.
Ah, I’m going to be swallowed as is.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but there was no sensation of being swept away.
His body, which was tilting forward, tilted sideways as someone pulled him.
THUD!!
Zephyros’s body rolled on the floor with a loud noise.
“What kind of dream is this!”
Even for a nightmare, this crossed the line by far.
Swallowing harsh curses, he touched his throbbing body.
“Phew.”
Don't panic, calmly assess the situation.
After a few deep breaths, Zephyros looked at the one who saved him.
“Huh, no one?”
Something like a small hand definitely pulled Zephyros sharply. Just what kind of strange occurrence is this.
Zephyros, who couldn't continue speaking and just moved his lips, eventually raised his body.
Right now, the only ones who could help him were either Theo or Lucian, so it must be one of the two.
Usually, when something like this happens, the other person is mostly Theo, and sometimes Lucian.
Since Theo is dealing with that unidentified fake Lucian right now, it must be Lucian.
“Lucian, what is this guy trying to do here? Is he avoiding me perhaps?”
Zephyros muttered, his eyes sharpening.
Certainly, if it were that guy, getting needlessly gloomy and avoiding him was plausible.
“Did he call it sweet potato?”
Whenever Lucian acted soft, Theo would grab the back of his neck, act exaggeratedly as if he would collapse, and look for sweet potatoes or something.
Back then, he couldn't quite understand the meaning of the words, but looking at it now, it was exactly that.
The guy's attitude is nothing but sweet potato.
“Lucian.”
Although he was alone in the space, he had a hunch that Lucian was watching this scene and listening to everything he said.
Because this is inside Lucian’s dream.
“I’m speaking thinking you are listening.”
Still, there is no answer returning.
“Don’t mind words like being cursed.”
However, he will definitely listen.
“You aren’t some cursed brat, you’re just Lucian.”
Following those words, the sound of urgent footsteps, tatadak, was heard.
Running hurriedly towards where the sound came from, he saw a figure like a small shadow.
“Lucian!!”
At the urgent shout, the pitch-black shadow moved even faster.
Seeing it speed up enough to be missed in an instant, Zephyros also increased his speed.
Damn it! To think it could be this inconvenient without the power of the wind!
If only the power of the wind were intact, he could have tracked him or brought him over entirely!
Gritting his teeth, Zephyros tried to manipulate the wind, but as expected, the wind remained silent.
“Damn it!!!”
As he spat out a curse as if chewing it, the shadow flinched and stopped its hurried steps.
What is it? Is he hesitating? I must not miss this chance now!
Zephyros aimed for the opening and grabbed the shadow, but there was no way he could grab a shadow.
“Ah!”
The shadow slipped through his fingers.
“I’m sorry, Zephy.”
It was a voice that sounded like crying. Somehow, it felt like Lucian was crying.
“It’s better for me to be on ‘this side’.”
We can’t defeat Iris without you!
I can't catch up.
Before he knew it, the wave of shadows that followed engulfed Zephyros.
“Go back, Zephy.”
Amidst the urging to go back, Zephyros felt his consciousness fading.
No. But, the wave of shadows sweeping over him was disgustingly cozy.
Letting go of all the obsession for revenge filling his head, and all the complicated situations surrounding him, he could just become comfortable—
“No way!”
He roused the power of the wind.
The wind did not respond.
He roused the power of the wind once again.
As expected, the wind did not respond.
It seemed impossible to resist this coziness any longer.
However, he roused his power once more.
Rustle.
Finally, a very, very faint wind rose briefly.
And that single strand of wind instantly swelled its body to become a storm.
WHOOOSH!!!
Just before the shadow swallowed Zephyros’s last fingertip, the storm drove away all the shadows from him.
“Damn it.”
The power out of control felt like it would tear all the internal organs in his body to shreds.
Even amidst that terrible pain, Zephyros slowly raised his body.
“Lucian, you damn bastard.”
His consciousness flickered.
Theo Lisitoel. This crazy guy. You can stay conscious in this kind of pain? Although he knew that because it was a dream world, one becomes weaker to pain than in reality, this was still too severe.
Zephyros, unable to move his steps any further, just flopped down and coughed up blood.
Lucian, who had been running away urgently, approached.
Unlike the other faces that melted like ice cream, Lucian’s appearance couldn’t be seen at all.
Pitch-black, as if someone forcibly painted over a person's face with a black crayon.
“Lucian.”
“Please, go back.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Asking for the reason.
With a voice that sounded like he would cry at any moment, the child asked.
Why on earth are you looking for me.
“Why shouldn’t I look for you?”
“Because, I’m cursed.”
“What the hell does being cursed mean?”
The small child wiggled his fingers.
Then, as if extremely afraid and ominous, he continued speaking sparsely.
“If you stay by my side, ominous things happen, and you keep getting hurt. Even Theo is like that.”
“For Theo, 80% of it is his own fault for jumping in without knowing if it’s a death trap, you know?”
“Ever since I entered the orphanage, bad things always followed the orphanage.”
“Is that your fault?”
“Then whose fault is it?”
“It’s the fault of the immature adults.”
“I’m a child abandoned even by parents.”
“Speak correctly. Abandoning a child is the parents’ fault, why is that the abandoned child’s fault?”
“That’s something you can say because you aren’t the person involved.”
Zephyros held the small Lucian’s hand with a trembling hand due to pain.
Damnably small. What kind of pain did the world have to give to this small child.
“It would be rare to see someone with a father as terrible as mine.”
“…….”
It was truly a story of disgrace that he had never dared to mention to anyone.
However, in this moment, he definitely wanted to say it to Lucian.
That there is no need to blame yourself for things you didn’t do.
“When I was young, my mother passed away.”
Zephyros continued speaking quietly.
It was far from his usual demeanor, but his sincerity was felt that much more.
It wasn't just words brought up to persuade Lucian briefly in this moment.
A distinct sincerity above all, without a bit of lie or exaggeration.
“It was a murder disguised as a natural death from illness.”
The mother Zephyros remembered was a truly kind person.
A kind and affectionate person who loved her son and loved the world.
“Who on earth?”
“The man called my father did it.”
“…But he’s your father.”
He asked back as if he couldn't understand.
“She was his wife.”
“Indeed, I wonder why he did that.”
He still doesn't know the reason.
He wanted to ask if the opportunity ever came someday.
But, he couldn't.
“…Actually, I think I know. It’s probably because of me.”
“It probably isn’t.”
“No, it’s because of me.”
His mother in the last moments Zephyros remembered was anxious and afraid until the end, eventually closing her eyes.
She must have been afraid. That the husband who murdered her would eventually extend his hand to her son.
“I remember clearly. The moment when contempt and hatred seeped into my father’s kind gaze.”
He remembered what the trigger was, and the weather and the air, everything.
After that day, everything changed, and the father who respected his mother as the Duchess even if he didn't love her, no longer even respected her.
As long as he remembers that moment, Zephyros will never be free.
“Even so, I don't want to blame myself. Because the one who did wrong isn't me, but that man called my father.”
“Of course!”
Lucian nodded repeatedly, seeming to assert Zephyros’s innocence together.
“So, you also don't need to turn even the reason for being abandoned by your parents into your fault.”
“What?”
“I’m saying it’s not your fault. Being abandoned, being bullied at the orphanage. Everything.”
“But….”
“How does it feel to be someone else, even if just in a dream?”
“…It’s the worst.”
Lucian bowed his head deeply and muttered.
As expected. Even I think it’s really bad. Especially if it means staying in a past that has already been shaken off, even more so.
“If you truly find reality too burdensome and want to stay in the dream, I won’t care whether you do or not. Rather, having no competitor in the Flowering Festival going forward would be very comfortable.”
This also seemed like the utmost sincerity, so Lucian looked at Zephyros a bit dissatisfiedly.
“But even so, this place is really not it.”
“I….”
Before he knew it, the overlay like black crayon painted on Lucian’s face gradually scattered.
Watching clearly the sight of it completely disappearing as if melting, Zephyros waited for Lucian’s following words.
“Even though everyone pretends not to be, I’m burdensome, right?”
“What kind of fresh bullshit is this again?”
“Because of me, you keep getting into dangerous situations.”
“The guy who should blame himself for that isn’t you, but Theo, that guy.”
Just thinking about the things he went through because of that guy makes him grind his teeth so hard he wonders if they might break.
“I can’t handle that guy alone. So let’s go back, Lucian.”
Zephyros flicked Lucian’s forehead.
“I’ll specially forgive you for making us suffer needlessly with this.”
“Really?”
“As the Young Lord of Nevera, I don’t go back on my word.”
“…Really unlucky.”
At Lucian’s grumbling, Zephyros retorted leisurely.
“Look who’s talking.”
With that answer, finally, this dream world began to collapse.
* * *
How long has it been since I felt the sensation of my lungs being pierced.
The ‘fake’ lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.
Do I want to destroy the world?
Just as he was about to open his mouth, his body jerked greatly.
His body was slowly melting down.
The foretold moment has arrived.
Knowing it already, the ‘fake’ closed his eyes.
Lucian, he is the Hero.
If it is Lucian who is ‘still’ the Hero because he doesn’t know the secret of the world ‘yet’, he cannot be held back by such a dream world forever.
Because overcoming adversity with friends and taking a step further is the virtue of a true Hero, this dream was destined to be broken.
So there is no way regret would remain at the foretold end.
“What is this!”
It would have been better if not for the existence of the variable widening his eyes in shock.
“Answer me!”
The urgent voice demands an answer.
Even though his smile should have been answer enough.
Perhaps because he realized the answer, he desperately wishes for his prediction to be broken.
“Yes, I wish for this world to meet its end.”
Not a halfway end like Iris Viden, but he wished for the complete and total end of this world more desperately than anyone else.