Chapter 300: Dream Encounter

Until she left, Lirinel remained concerned about Deon Hart.

Expressing her worry that he wasn’t sleeping well, Lirinel gently reached out. She carefully laid him down on the bed, tucked him in with blankets, and urged him to get some rest, even if just for a short while.

Deon, unable to refuse Lirinel at least in that moment, obediently lay down and closed his eyes. The exhaustion, combined with his weary mind, seemed to crash over him, and he fell into a deep sleep, almost like fainting.

…And then, he dreamt.

It was a goddamn nightmare—sad and laughable, terrifying yet infuriating, and even a little welcome… a terrible nightmare where he had to appear calm while suppressing all those conflicting emotions.

***

[…I said it, but I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything.]

Ed hastily added, as if sobering up from the alcohol-induced confession, suddenly regaining his senses.

Aiga chuckled. He must have spilled his guts because his willpower weakened by the alcohol, only to suddenly get scared. Looking closely, he’s quite a coward.

[Weren’t you talking because you needed help?]

[Just having you listen to my pointless drunken rambling is enough.]

[Enough? I doubt it. And it wasn’t pointless rambling either.]

[…Anyway, just drop any useless ideas you have.]

After all, the target is who they are, so whatever you do, it won’t work properly.

The worry faintly visible in his tone of resignation is truly delightful. Aiga stretched out with pleasure.

[That’s for me to decide.]

[You…!]

[Oh my, look at the time. I should get going now. Bye!]

[Aiga!]

Ed said he was worried because the person he served was pushing things too hard. He wanted to stop it, especially since the plan seemed terrible at first glance. He didn’t know what it was, but it was enough to guess that the opponent was the Hero.

Ed had already visited this First City as ‘Deon Hart’s adjutant.’ Of course, the target could also be the Demon King, but there had been no news of the Demon King actively pushing anything, so it probably wasn’t him.

‘If someone like the Demon King were pushing things too hard, rumors would have spread already.’

So, on the day Aiga entered the Demon King’s castle as a garden assistant, he slipped away at the right moment and found Deon Hart’s room. No one particularly paid attention to the incubus, who always did his job and returned on time.

‘Ed told me not to…’

The worry embedded in the words and actions trying to stop him made him feel elated. It felt like they had finally become friends after a long detour. So, Aiga acted impulsively.

Dreams are a space where incubi can thrive, and even stronger demons take a step back here, so even if it’s a Hero, wouldn’t it be the same? – A naive thought also played a part.

‘It’s not fighting, just persuasion.’

If he could just get into the dream, he could manage somehow.

Having moved without any hindrance, Aiga, perched on the windowsill that was openly inviting him in, discovered the young man lying in bed and his eyes lit up.

‘So he’s the Hero…’

I can tell just by looking.

His appearance is truly befitting of a Hero. His pure white hair seems to exude holiness and purity itself. Perhaps it feels even more so because his eyes, said to be red, are hidden beneath his closed eyelids.

‘He’s devastatingly handsome.’

If I had that face, I wouldn’t have to starve for essence. Rather, wouldn’t everyone rush to give it to me? Imagining himself surrounded by beautiful demons, he inwardly clicked his tongue at the envy that washed over him.

…Come to think of it, it might not have ended with just essence. It might have been possible to suck out even power beyond essence and rise to the top of the Demon Realm.

‘Anyway… I should try.’

Even while confiding his worries, Ed kept his boundaries to the end, so he didn’t hear the details about what he should stop, but it wouldn’t be a problem if he roughly told him to stop what he was doing now.

Aiga silently entered the room and approached the holy… no, the sleeping Hero.

Contacting the target makes it easier and deeper to delve into their inner self… but the Hero wouldn’t just stand by. He stopped near the bed, keeping a reasonable distance without physical contact.

Closing his eyes and awakening his familiar instincts, he focused, and his vision changed.

‘…?’

In a dark space where fragments of emotions and memories floated around, Aiga looked around with a questioning face. His expression even carried suspicion, as if he found this situation unbelievable.

And for good reason, he was let in too easily.

Suspecting a trap, he was briefly wary, but soon realized there was no trap and tilted his head.

“He let me in easier than I thought…?”

I thought it would be difficult because he’s a Hero.

‘Is he just mentally exhausted?’

Well… he said he’s been pushing things hard, so it’s understandable.

Either way, it’s a gain, so there’s no need to worry about it. Then now… whose appearance should I borrow to persuade him to cooperate? He crossed his arms and looked around.

‘There aren’t many memories I can see.’

Being in a non-contact state, and not delving too deeply because of the possibility of being discovered or bounced back, the things visible in this space are all just fragments of intense memories repeating in snippets.

Since I don’t need to dig into detailed memories anyway, this is actually more convenient. He seriously scanned the fragments that were replaying too quickly to follow with his eyes.

‘With my current power, I can only peek into one of these.’

Memories that replay quickly or are blurred are a kind of defense mechanism. Naturally, to bypass this and peek into them, power is needed.

Therefore, I must choose carefully.

Aiga, examining each fragment of memory, discovered a fragment with particularly intense emotions and reached out his hand.

The scene that was spinning rapidly slowly slowed down, and soon played back at a normal speed. After confirming the content, he inwardly cheered.

‘…Bingo.’

Looks like I chose well.

There, the scene of a black-haired, green-eyed man shielding the owner of the gaze to a desperate extent was repeating.

***

Deon Hart stared silently at the black-haired, green-eyed man.

Having dropped his initial surprise, the man, with an expression subtly distorted as if in sadness or anger, opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again before he could even speak. His lips, once firmly shut in a line, curved upwards into a bitter arc.

“Why?”

An ambiguous question, not knowing what was being asked, popped out.

Leaving aside the question that was difficult to answer, the black-haired, green-eyed man said it had been a while. He asked if Deon’s complexion was bad, and if he was resting properly.

Deon chuckled, looking at him blankly.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Hero, so rest isn’t necessary, and my complexion doesn’t seem that bad, but it’s a bit unexpected that you pointed that out. Have you been watching me all along?”

“…”

“I clearly told you to rest.”

He grumbled in a low voice, saying that he had sent him away, but he didn’t listen to his words and came back again. The man listened to all these complaints silently and reached out his hand. Deon lowered his gaze slightly at the approaching hand, as if worried.

It wasn’t a refusal, but it wasn’t an action that could be taken as positive acceptance either. The paused opponent withdrew his hand and slowly opened his mouth.

“…You seem to be overdoing it lately.”

“Is there anything to overdo?”

“Deon.”

Deon flinched at the familiar call.

Eyes with a color that made him endlessly weak looked this way, bearing a stern expression. Unable to face those eyes directly, Deon finally turned his head and let out a trembling sigh.

A sorrowful voice followed.

“Why did you come today of all days?”

The opponent’s expression was unreadable.

In the silence, Deon turned his head back to face him and gave a faint smile.

“…Of course, I’m not resenting you, hyung. It’s just… just…”

It’s just a little, hard.

A faint whisper, as if about to break, lingered in the space.

“You should give me time to rest.”

Bad timing. …No, in this case, should I say it’s good timing?

After exchanging glances with the silent opponent for a moment, a deflating chuckle broke the silence.

“…I said something unnecessary.”

“Deon.”

“Don’t call me that.”

The startled opponent looked at Deon with surprised eyes.

Deon, as if he himself hadn’t expected such a sharp remark to come out, covered his mouth with one hand and widened his eyes. Soon, he lowered his hand powerlessly and spoke in a softened voice.

“Sorry, I had something going on today.”

“…It’s okay. More than that… I’m worried about you.”

“…”

“Don’t overdo it, and how about taking it easy and proceeding leisurely with your work? The plan you’re thinking of right now doesn’t seem like a good plan, so it might be good to reconsider it at this point.”

The expression that had crumbled at the word ‘worry’ cooled down at the following remarks.

“…No.”

As if he had never been docile, his bright red pupils glowed eerily.

“That’s not it. ‘Hyung’ wouldn’t say such things, would he?”

“…!”

“You should have investigated more thoroughly before coming.”

I overlooked the subtly different manner of speaking, but this is troubling.

I went along with it to get even a moment of comfort, but if you can’t even do that, what am I supposed to do?

The opponent’s previous remarks ultimately meant to stop what he was trying to do now. Words and actions completely opposite to Cruel’s words to live without regrets.

“You stupid bastard.”

At the same time, negative emotions began to surge violently like a tsunami. A situation where he felt like he would be swept away if his concentration wavered even slightly. The guy who hurriedly raised his head to say something stumbled back, facing the red gaze. Madness was overflowing from the center of all these emotions.

“Ah…”

His tongue stiffened with fear, and broken words stammered out.

“You knew… how?”

“Why don’t you take a look at your own appearance first?”

The incubus hastily created a mirror.

“…What is this…”

He clearly imitated ‘Cruel’, but other than the black hair and green eyes, there was no resemblance to him at all. Far from resembling him, he wasn’t even similar, and far from being similar, he didn’t even look human.

A body rippling like a watercolor painting that had been smudged, or like a mirage, as if to show that he was not human.

In a situation he was experiencing for the first time, the incubus Aiga desperately spat out a question, not knowing who he was asking.

“Why…?”

“Well, the Emperor’s ghosts told me. That I placed hyung in the realm of the inviolable.”

So that no one can dare to imitate hyung here unless they are ‘real’.

Deon smiled faintly and took a step forward. Even though all sides were wide open, he felt a suffocating pressure.

“You know, if you had really imitated hyung properly, I was willing to let it slide.”

If he had acted like the real hyung, he was even willing not to wake up from the dream forever.

“I clearly said I wasn’t resenting ‘hyung’, right?”

If you had acted like the real hyung, I would have just let it go.

A dry voice fell like a death sentence. One step, then another, the distance gradually narrowed. As that happened, the intensity of the pressure also intensified, and Aiga, feeling a sense of crisis as if he would be crushed to death, hastily escaped the inner world.

And as soon as he returned to reality, he quickly backed away….

“Cough!”

A hand that stretched out even faster seized his neck.

Deon Hart, who had somehow risen and come right in front of him, tilted his head with a faint smile.

“Now then, shall we have a little chat?”

“…”

“Who sent you?”