As always, the night was the calmest time of all. Even the Imperial palace, which was full of noise and movements, went silent at night.
I felt the elements blessing everyone with good sleep and security; I sat on my bed, looking outside the window.
Only the dim flowing starlight illuminated the sky.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I just came back from death, but everything seemed remarkable to me. Even if it was something that I didn’t particularly enjoy in the past.
“Is it worth living now?”
It wasn’t foresight, but I knew the voice. It wasn’t even surprising anymore.
I turned my head.
I saw the silhouette of a young man leaning onto the door under the gloomy light.
“You’re here?”
“Were you looking for me?”
No, nope.
Dranste raised his body. As I watched Dranste’s approach, I didn’t plain.
“Why do you always visit at such a time?”
Instead of answering, he smiled.
I always thought about it, but the sight of Dranste smiling in the night was still fascinating to my eyes. I was never consciously aware of it, but Dranste was handsome enough to seduce humans. If I didn’t know that he was a sword, I would have called him a devil.
Even at night, where everything was black, his blue eyes would always shine. Dranste smiled.
“I thought you wouldn’t return.”
Light tone.
But serious.
Pulling my knees closer to my chest, I held myself while looking at Dranste. Dranste moved to the side of the window and folded his arms.
The window and bed had quite a distance, so it wasn’t unfortable. It was forting to know that there was a distance between us, though.
“It was tough finding dad.”
“It must have been.”
“I didn’t know it would take a long time.”
I only thought that it would take a day or two. Well, it was a miracle to even find my dad, so I had no plaints.
“Since you went in your own way and managed to enter his dreams, it will cause Caitel to suffer from nightmares for a while.”
Bastard!
I frowned.
I couldn’t do anything other than hate him. If I had a chance, I would have scratched his face to the extent where no one would like him. I had wanted to do that since I was young. It was shocking how consistent his acts and looks were.
However, when I was nervous, it was apparent, so Dranste relished on it.
That pervert.
Eventually, I quietly shook my shoulders and looked out the window.
Black sky.
Strangely, when I looked up at the sky, the things I saw in the dreams, which I couldn’t think of happening, faded one after the other, as if I was placed under the influence to forget them.
“What I saw in the dream… was it true?”
I really hoped that it was just a dream.
It would be good for me to think of it as such.
However, Dranste trampled on my hope.
“It is.”
“…”
“But not all. I told you, Caitel’s memories, hopes, and fears were all mixed together.”
I remembered hearing such a thing. The only thing I remembered was that the dreams were so faint and fragmented of scenes, but that was enough to pain me.
“I really wish they were just dreams.”
I didn’t want to think that my dad went through such things. If that was true, I would be depressed as hell, although I knew that it was all in the past. They were stories I never knew about.
Ah, man! I won’t be able to long because of dad—obviously, a short life for me.
However, another entity didn’t let me leave dad’s side.
“Dranste”
“What?”
“You know…”
I took a breath and asked as seriously as I could.
“Do you want Caitel to be happy?”
“Happy?”
Dranste frowned as if he heard something unpleasant.
“No. I never thought about something like that.”
“But you helped my dad and me every time.”
“Was that help?”
The corners of his lips rose into a nasty smile. He replied as if he was teasing.
“I thought I was teasing you.”
“You play around, but you help.”
Not exactly play around.
I could have the same kind of conversation for years with him.
It had been a long time since I got used to Dranste’s way of conversing, the way to divert from the topic if it was tough for him. He always tried hard to leave other people’s attention. Thus, I asked.
“Why do you do that?”
Dranste frowned at my question; it was like he didn’t want to talk about it.
“If you want to be helped, then get some help. Ask for something.”
“I was just curious.”
Curious.
If his acts were once or twice, I could have moved on, but a decade had passed. I never asked before, but I was getting curious every time.
In fact, Dranste would stay away from us.
However, it was always him who would e to our rescue. He was the guy who was worth forgetting but would always e for us.
Thus, I wondered—the reason he visited, helped, and cared for us.
“It’s fun.”
Dranste’s answer.
I tilted my head.
“You pass without knowing the actual answers.”
Sit.
“Wanna die?”
Dranste laughed out loud.
It could be heard from outside, but I was more concerned about the way he saw me.
Ugh, that rotten bastard.
He really liked to pull my leg!
Despite my glare, Dranste laughed for long.
Ah, really!
“Congratulations on ing back.”
Did he think I would let him off the hook for saying that?! I wanted to shoot some snarky words at him, but I just nodded.
“Thanks.”
Dranste smiled. I asked as I watched him stand from the window.
“Are you leaving again?”
“Why? Do you want me to sleep next to you?”
“Go die, you pervert.”
When I threatened him, Dranste laughed again.
If he was a little close, I could hit him again.
Unfortunately, Dranste was standing far from me.
Eventually, Dranste’s laughed subsided as he spoke.
“I need to go.”
“Where?”
“Well…”
Dranste shrugged as if he wasn’t sure where to go.
Right, he’s a pitiful man who didn’t know where his own body was scattered.
I sighed out loud. I was really grateful that he listened to me plaining, although he had tasks at hand.
As I nodded, Dranste came in front of me.
“I’ll e to find you again.”
Seeing Dranste naturally kiss the back of my hand, I felt something strange, an unknown feeling. Well, I felt like it wouldn’t last long.
“Right, e back soon.”
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