“Don’t follow me, Randal!” Alexis shouted the order over his shoulder as he left his sister’s quarters. His hands were shaking.
Though I finally reunited with my sister…
He quickly proceeded farther into the castle. After walking for a while, he arrived at the entrance to the Great Corridor. He inhaled and exhaled deeply to slow his breathing.
Is it something like imprinting?
He entered the Great Corridor and looked around as his chaotic thoughts and emotions calmed. The trembling in his hands stopped.
“You… You’re just like a bird.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
“Sister…did you hear what I said?” The question fell from his lips.
No, I’m sure you didn’t hear it. And I’m sure I won’t end up uttering the same thing as King Eus. Even if—
Alexis stared at his right hand. The hand that had been about to reach for the wreven. When the wreven attacked him, he’d had something like a daydream. It was probably because the scene was similar to an incident that once happened to King Eus. The king had grabbed the body of an attacking wreven. Alexis felt the sensation so vividly that it was as if he had done it himself.
The feeling of feathers in my hands. The flapping of wings weakening… The moment the life drained from its body.
The king’s sister and…that man…had once saved a wreven. Then, after King Eus’s sister died, he’d taken in her pet wreven. The bird had grown fond of him. Alexis had dreamed about it before. However, King Eus killed that wreven with his own hands.
“I wish…you had been saved by my sister only,” the king had muttered darkly.
If that man—Klifford Alderton—hadn’t caught the bird before Alexis did, that daydream could have become reality.
And right in front of my sister, no less.
“I don’t want my sister to hate me.” After saying this, Alexis realized something.
No, I don’t want that at all. That’s right.
“I’m not the same as King Eus.”
But then his lips twisted in a self-deprecating smile.
So what if I didn’t take a life? It’s not as if I care about the wreven. I only care about what my sister thinks.
“I’m glad I didn’t kill that bird.”
He hadn’t done anything yet. Alexis clenched his fist.
The line between me and King Eus is blurring. I can’t trust myself.
“…It would be better if I just died.”
Wouldn’t that be best for my sister?
When they’d met at the side gate, that thought had crossed his mind for a moment, and then it floated away again. He shook his head.
“………”
After going to Turchen, Alexis became convinced. He’d been King Eus in a dream.
It’s because things were different from true history—because things were wrong—that he knew he was in a dream.
That’s what he believed. Rather, that’s what he wanted to believe.
But it was the opposite.
His dream—that was the true history.
That’s how he knew. About the true Sky Chamber, that King Eus murdered his sister Idéalia Esfia there, and that her tomb was there now.
“Do you really wanna destroy Esfia that badly?”
The man who appeared in his dream in Turchen. Ever since the appearance of that mysterious man, his dreams had gotten much more lifelike.
Still, it was just a dream. It shouldn’t have any effect on Alexis’s life…and yet.
Is that really true?
The innocent question materialized in his mind.
Do those dreams truly have no effect on my life?
A memory flashed through his mind—his reflection in the mirror that day.
His own eyes, turning amber.
Eyes suddenly changing color—he had never heard of such a thing before. But one thing was clear: It had to be connected to his dreams of King Eus.
Most importantly…did it only happen that one time?
That was the only time Alexis was aware of. His eyes had never changed color since.
But what about in the past?
As far as he could remember, it never happened…or so he thought.
But a doubt materialized in his mind again.
Are you sure?
“In the past…”
Here…in the Great Corridor…I met with somebody.
“…”
He turned around. He was forgetting something, but he couldn’t remember what. He got the sense…it was something he was not supposed to remember. Either that, or—
“Something…I don’t want to remember?”
His question hung in the air, unanswered.
He slowly walked on. When he arrived in the center of the Great Corridor, Alexis stopped. And a silly notion popped into his mind:
If I receive the Sky God’s Judgment, will He save me?
Many times, he had prayed to the Sky God.
Most of his prayers concerned his father the king.
But his prayers were never answered.
He knew it was pointless.
Even so—
Alexis looked up at the ceiling. At the god painted on it.
“……?”
Nothing was supposed to happen, just like always. He expected nothing. And yet. Why?
“—Do you really want to defy the happy ending?”
It was that vision again.
Or…the man was really there, talking directly to Alexis.
The man’s amber eyes gleamed with ecstasy.
“A…happy ending?”
“That’s right. The happy ending where one of your descendants is bonded in true love with one of the same gender.”
The first thing that popped into Alexis’s mind was Esfia, the kingdom itself. A free nation where the king was permitted to marry another man.
“After all, this world was created for that sole purpose.”
“Stop…tormenting me…!”
He wanted to attack the man, but he could not move.
“But you’re alive because this world was created. And your big sister was born, too. Poor thing. You had to go and kill her.”
The man’s words tortured every fiber of his body. Like poison.
“That’s why I’m asking for your input. If ya think about it, simply being reborn into the book world as is would probably be boring for Maki as well as everyone else.”
“Maki…?”
Who was that? That was the second time the mysterious man said that name.
“So anyhoo, here’s my proposal: Wanna defy fate? If ya do, I can help.”
He could move again.
He tried to approach the man—
“He…disappeared?”
No. Alexis shook his head. He didn’t disappear. He was never there to begin with. The man was just a figment of his imagination.
Unable to stand any longer, Alexis fell to his knee.
“Ah! Prince Alexis?”
Alexis slowly raised his head.
From up ahead—from the opposing door of the Great Corridor—he saw the silhouette of somebody running to him.
It was Derek Nightfellow. The brown-haired man. His brother’s friend.
And his sister’s—
“Lover…”
The moment he murmured the word, a murky, ominous emotion spread through his entire chest.
Stay away! No. Come to me.
The closer he got, the harder the emotion boiled inside.
He grabbed Derek’s arm.
“What’s happened to—!”
As Derek tried to help Alexis, the man’s expression suddenly changed.
Aha… Now I see.
It felt like he was seeing this through someone else’s eyes.
And surely, his eyes had changed to amber again.
Just like the time he met with his elder brother here—