Chapter 62 · Tears (2)

Leo was crying. To be precise, he was sobbing in his sleep, caught in a nightmare. Tears and cold sweat streamed down his face as he moaned desperately.

“Mother…”

I couldn’t hear the sound, but his lips were clearly forming the word “Mother.” My heart ached. Leo was dreaming of his mother. However much he pretended to be mature and composed, he was still a young boy who needed his mother’s care.

Nine fidgeted restlessly, hovering around Leo. He showed no sign of waking from the nightmare. Nine approached his face and tried to lick his cheek to wake him, but because my divine power was insufficient, its body wasn’t fully materialized, so it couldn’t touch him.

I tried to gather the remaining prana, but a sharp, squeezing pain in my chest made me gasp and stop. At the same time, Nine gently faded away.

‘My prana is depleted.’

The symptoms of prana depletion were similar to those of mana depletion. Having both powers, it seemed that depletion of either one triggered symptoms. Chills and a headache washed over me. In this state, I should just rest. It was obvious. And yet…

‘…I’m worried.’

Leo’s face kept flickering before my eyes. I bit my lip hard, gingerly got out of bed, and recited the activation word.

“Spatiális ōs.”

I had no choice but to go. Because in all my past lives, I too had nightmares every night. Because when I opened my eyes steeped in that pain, I despaired again at finding no one beside me.

And even now, when things are relatively safe, I still have nightmares often. Probably I always will.

◇ ◆ ◇

Even when I came out of the portal, Leo still hadn’t woken. I hurried over and shook him as he trembled and suffered.

“Leo!”

Leo gasped for breath like someone pulled from water. His face was streaked with tears.

“Leo.”

When I quietly whispered his name, Leo’s eyes went wide as if he’d seen a ghost.

“You, you…”

He shook his head back and forth as if trying to wake from a dream.

“…Am I still dreaming?”

“It’s not a dream. I’m sorry for coming so late.”

He blinked blankly for a moment, then hastily wiped his face with his sleeve. Only then did he seem to realize he had been crying.

“Ah, damn it… this is…”

I pretended not to notice. He wiped away all his tears roughly, then spoke coldly in a slightly hoarse voice.

“Why did you come?”

“I sent Nine every day, but I couldn’t today. I thought you might find it strange…”

“You came all the way here at this hour for just that?”

“…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that I couldn’t leave him alone—it was too embarrassing. Especially since Leo had no idea I could see him through Nine.

“You think I’d be worried about you? Don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t waiting for that fox at all. Whether it comes or not is no concern of mine—”

He stopped mid-sentence and looked at me in surprise. My reflection was visible in his wide iolite eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I was shivering from chills and a headache. I had thought it would get better if I didn’t use divine power, but the symptoms only seemed to worsen.

“Are you sick again? Like last time?”

He seemed to be talking about the day we first met.

“Not that… it’s prana depletion. I used a huge amount of prana today…”

“Are you insane? Moving around in that state!”

I knew I shouldn’t have come! This boy, in such a pitiful situation. I would have been better off not knowing at all.

“I still have mana left. If I just… rest a little, I’ll be fine.”

When my legs gave out and I sank down, Leo came over and examined me. Then he hesitated, then carefully placed his hand on my forehead. My forehead was so cold that his hand felt like a burning coal.

“You… your body is like ice!”

Leo recoiled in shock. I was already shivering from the cold, and the warmth of his touch made me long for it even more. Perhaps that was why. Why I grabbed his hand.

“Wh-what are you doing!”

“It’s warm…”

Leo flushed and stammered in confusion.

“E-even so, how can you just grab a man’s hand like that?”

What is this boy saying? A little kid getting embarrassed over holding a girl’s hand? How cute. Even in pain, I wanted to tease him.

“What does it matter between friends?”

I pulled Leo’s hand and pressed it here and there against my forehead and cheeks. His hand was quite large for his age and covered my face completely. Soft and warm, it seemed to ease my headache a little.

They say big hands mean a tall frame—would Leo grow tall too?

“Ah, it’s warm.”

“…!”

My eyes were closed, but I could feel Leo’s intense agitation. A giggle escaped me.

“S-stop that!”

He shook my hand off violently. I felt like a child whose hand warmer had been taken away, and I looked at him glumly. Leo’s ears and neck were bright red as he turned his head away. Then he began gathering the blanket.

“Stay still.”

He wrapped the blanket tightly around me. I became a cocoon and was plopped down on the mat. Compared to the soft, warm blanket in my bedroom, this was little more than a rag. I hated the king for not giving this boy even one decent blanket, and I hated everyone who had ordered this treatment. Heartless people.

‘Isn’t there a way to get Leo out of this tower?’

The thought came to me through the throbbing headache. Immediately a second self scolded me.

‘Anastasia, you said you’d stop interfering in other people’s fates.’

I argued back.

‘But Leo practically saved my life this time!’

If it weren’t for Leo, I wouldn’t have even thought of using mental binding magic on the Baranus. If this boy had changed my fate, then maybe I could interfere in his just a little.

‘And how would you do that? The fact that the Kalisan prince is a hostage in the Santran royal palace is a secret known to only a very few. Are you going to go to the king and whine to let him out?’

The second self’s cold facts made me shrink a little.

‘There must be a way. Who am I? This is my tenth life!’

I rolled my eyes and looked at Leo, crouched in front of me.

‘You, I’ll get you out of here.’

In real age, Leo is three years older, but let’s not count that.

“Feeling a little warmer?”

Leo asked, his voice full of worry. I had planned to go back soon, but my condition showed no sign of improving. Using portal magic in this state seemed dangerous.

“Mmm… cold…”

When my teeth chattered, Leo furrowed his brow.

“There’s nothing more to cover with…”

I was looking at him pitifully, since he didn’t even have an extra blanket, when he clamped his mouth shut and suddenly began unwrapping the blanket from around me. I rolled across the mat.

“Whoa! What are you doing?”

Leo silently pulled away all the blankets, then lay down in front of me. And covering his face with his hands, he let out a groan, “Ugh.”

“?”

What’s wrong? Is Leo going to sleep too? He turned toward me, who was bewildered, and pulled me tightly into his arms.

“!”

Um, I didn’t expect this.

“L-Leo…?”

When I called him in confusion, he stammered.

“B-because… body heat is the warmest.”

That’s true, but… the boy who was so averse to holding hands is doing this? Was he that worried about me?

Leo must have a high body temperature. It was incomparably warmer than that shabby blanket. A cozy warmth spread through my body, and the throbbing headache gradually faded.

“It’s warm.”

When I giggled and wriggled in his arms, he cried out in a flustered voice.

“D-don’t move…!”

I obediently leaned against him as he said. Thump, thump—his heartbeat echoed loudly.

‘So this is what it actually feels like.’

Having shared Nine’s vision every night for weeks, this situation wasn’t unfamiliar. It was just much more vivid now that I could feel the sound and touch. As my condition improved, sleep quickly overtook me. After all, I was exhausted to death.

Ah, I shouldn’t. I have to go. Just a little, just a very little sleep?

In this warmth, I felt like I wouldn’t have any nightmares. I closed my heavy eyes.

‘Just a little…’

◇ ◆ ◇

Basileo woke to the light of dawn. A fluffy mop of white hair was right before his eyes. He started and unwound his arm from around Anastasia.

‘How could I fall asleep in a situation like this?’

He had intended to wake her if her temperature rose, but he must have dozed off without realizing it. Anastasia was sleeping soundly, breathing softly. He tried not to make a sound as he touched her forehead. Fortunately, it wasn’t ice-cold like before. Color had returned to her pale lips.

Leo stared at Anastasia for a long while, then clutched his wildly pounding heart.

“What am I supposed to do with you…”

Suddenly worry crashed over him. It reminded him of something his mother had said.

“Once a man and woman lie in the same bed and sleep, from that moment on, they must absolutely take responsibility for each other.”

After finishing a meal with his father, while drinking tea, the conversation had turned to his mother’s youngest brother. The uncle was his mother’s biggest headache, known in society as a scoundrel. Even his usually gentle mother couldn’t tolerate that uncle.

That day, after hearing that a marquis’s daughter had slapped his uncle at a ball, his mother had shuddered and lectured her son.

“You must never become an irresponsible man. If you do, Mother will be deeply disappointed in you. Understood?”

“Ahem, ahem. This seems too early a topic for the young prince.”

“Oh, Your Majesty! I believe sex education should be given as early as possible. I’m going to make it Kalisan national law.”

His mother had been so furious she slammed the jam knife onto the table, making his father flinch.

After that, so many things happened—war and all—that he had learned nothing about that subject. It was the same after being dragged to Santra. He had obsessively stolen only magic-related books. He had no leisure to pay attention to anything other than knowledge he deemed immediately necessary.

However, as someone who knew little about male-female relationships, this much he was sure of.

‘…I have to take responsibility.’

Basileo looked at Anastasia with a troubled heart. A heavy responsibility had fallen on him, but instead of feeling bad, his chest felt ticklish.