NOVEL WEB chapter 119
Side Story – Even in a Nightmare, If I Met You
“aaah, aaah!!!”
Raiden’s day was no different from usual.
An utterly mundane day.
The hell that had repeated every day since that day.
The boy eventually ran out of strength, screaming while shedding tears until he was on the verge of losing consciousness.
As if that was the only thing he could do in this world full of misfortune.
.
.
.
“Huff……!”
Raiden opened his eyes, which had been closed.
As his head jerked up, the cold sweat that had gathered on his brow dropped to the floor.
He frowned, clutching his head that throbbed as if it were breaking.
His consciousness, which had been hazily submerged, gradually awakened.
He could feel the sunlight from outside the window poking at his eyes.
“…Is it morning already.”
Raiden sighed and raised himself up.
He suddenly felt something was off.
It was because of the scenery around him, which was visible through his blurry vision.
He had clearly fallen asleep in the academy dorm.
But somehow, he was currently in a different place.
“Where is this…”
Neatly arranged bookshelves.
Furniture placed with precision, a desk piled with documents.
The space exuded a calm, yet gentle atmosphere overall.
Lyden quietly spoke the room’s name.
“…Mother’s study?”
Then.
A voice came from behind him.
“Hmm? What are you doing, Lyden?”
In that moment, Lyden felt as if his entire mind had been paralyzed.
A familiar voice.
Warm and benevolent.
A tone like the scent of blossoms in an April spring breeze.
The boy turned his creaking neck, looking towards the source of that fragrance.
“You look terrible… Did you have a bad dream or something?”
Standing there was a woman with fiery red hair.
Bathed in the light streaming in from the window, and kissed by the gentle breeze, she looked like a painting.
She was a single rose, scattering on the wind.
All the thoughts that had filled Lyden’s head just moments ago were wiped clean.
Upon his bleached-white mind, only a single color began to bleed through.
Red.
A drawing of longing and lingering affection.
The loss of the past.
“Mother…!”
Lyden rose from the sofa he’d been sitting on and ran to her.
The woman gently embraced the boy.
“You need to be careful. What if you hurt yourself running like that?”
A word that resonated leisurely in his ear.
That one word, a show of concern for him.
The boy finally burst into tears at the warmth.
The woman gently patted Lyden’s back, comforting him.
“Looks like you really had a nightmare.”
“Ugh, y-yes… it was so, hiccup, scary, a d-dream…”
“It’s alright, it’s alright, shhh… it’s all okay now.”
“Mother, hiccup, mother… because of me…”
“Don’t worry, my dear. Mommy is right here beside you… it was just a dream, forget it.”
The boy hugged the woman tighter.
The woman, in response, wiped the tears from his cheek.
He desperately rubbed his face against the woman’s hand.
Though it felt strange, with no warmth to be felt.
The boy decided to ignore it.
Because the hollow nightmare was sweeter to him than the hellish reality.
The boy just focused on this moment.
His reunion with his mother that he had yearned for so much.
“I’m sorry, hiccup, mother….”
“It’s alright, my dear… truly.”
The price of the boy’s soul, devoured by the demon.
Like a 30-cent silver coin, sold his fate, lay discarded on the floor, rolling about.
The boy embraced his false delusion.
From his right wrist.
The crimson reality was still dripping.