Waking from the Dream

The nightmare bleeds into Iris’s room, trapping it in shadow.

Iris looks up at me, eyes wide and round.

Surely, she hadn’t expected such a reaction from me, not here.

So now, I press the attack harder.

“Lady Iris is of an age where she can decide what she desires for herself.

The Lady Iris I know is not one to cling to familial bonds without considering consequence.”

Iris Heishrion.

Back when I played *Flame Butterfly*, always a character of mysterious charm.

An expression impossible to decipher, shadows clinging to her face.

Yet, even more consistently powerful than Lucas.

That was certainly my impression when I was still playing the game.

But now, the game has become reality.

I’ve seen for myself how Iris has been living.

Clearly, Iris is being forced onto the imperial throne by Cheonhye.

She has been burdened with a load against her will.

Even so, Iris has always poured her strength into her duties as the Third Imperial Princess.

She stood before others more admirably than anyone else.

Even if she was tormented by nightmares behind the scenes, she lived proudly as a princess.

That image is etched firmly in my mind.

Not some significant final boss character, but Iris Heishrion, the person, has been imprinted on me.

Iris is, without a doubt, starved for familial affection.

But she is not one to cling to such ties for the rest of her life.

A person who can stand as a princess more brilliantly than anyone.

*That* is the Iris Heishrion I have seen.

“I am aware that even a princess cannot always be perfect.”

A princess is still just a person.

No matter how the world praises and elevates her, she may still stumble and fall.

“But the Iris I know is not so weak.”

Iris was teetering, on the verge of being devoured by nightmare.

I gazed into the tear clinging to the crimson of her eye and declared,

“Undoubtedly, I have committed an unforgivable sin against you, Iris.

Borrowing the name of Hanon, my cousin, I stood at your side.”

My hands gripped her shoulders tight.

Holding her back, more fiercely than anyone, from falling into that nightmare.

“But may I dare ask you, Iris? Have I spoken only falsehoods in all that you have seen of me?”

Iris’s nightmare-stricken eyes met mine.

“Have all my actions towards you truly been meaningless?”

I wanted to save Iris with all my heart.

I wished for her not to fall into that nightmare, and so I did everything I could.

What was the reason Iris opened her heart to me?

Even in her eyes, which so meticulously screened others, I always approached her with sincerity.

Hania had said,

Knowing the sincerity in my heart for Iris, that she would at least not be the first to speak out against me.

It was a story I heard directly from Hania, who had always supported and protected Iris.

“Iris.”

I called out to her again.

Staring directly into her crimson eyes.

My hands clenched tight, taut with force.

“Is it not true that family are not the only ones who can understand and support you?”

There are those who have stood by Iris all this time.

Among them are myself, and Hania as well.

“Does the opinion of those around you hold no importance? Is the framework of family, defined by society, the only truth in this world?”

I pressed Iris.

Shouting at her, who, starved for the affection of family, had kept her gaze fixed only on that.

“Are all the things you have seen and felt with your own two eyes, falsehoods?”

Iris treated me with sincerity.

The things I did to help her were never in vain.

I improved her nightmares and made it so she could sleep more peacefully than anyone.

Iris had felt this truth more acutely than anyone.

“Right now, the me reflected in your eyes, Iris, is the Hanon Airey you’ve always known.”

He conveyed his sincerity.

He shouted relentlessly to Iris, who was about to fall into the nightmare.

“Truly, is there nothing but falsehood in me?”

The hand that gripped his collar trembled slowly.

“…No.”

For the first time, Iris uttered a denial.

“The Hanon I’ve known was sincere.”

Tears streamed from her eyes.

“He genuinely wanted to save me from the nightmare.”

Sincerity reaches.

His sincerity had always been reaching Iris.

And so, now, Iris acknowledged that his efforts were more genuine than anything.

*Kuwuung-*

In that instant, the entire girls’ dormitory shook.

Iris’s nightmare had begun to spread and affect the dormitory.

Belatedly, Iris snapped back to awareness, her body stiffening.

If the nightmare were to seize the dormitory as it was, the students within would be in danger.

She had recognized this fact.

More than anything, the situation was perilous for Iris herself.

The moment Iris was consumed by the nightmare, she would be lost forever.

*Kuwuung!*

As expected, the nightmare bloomed within Iris’s heart.

Realizing that she was beginning to be devoured by the nightmare, Iris tried to push him away.

She understood that if he stayed as he was, he too would be consumed.

But he reached out and pulled her shoulder.

Iris was drawn into his arms in an instant.

He had always been drawn into her embrace, but now, he was the one embracing Iris.

“Wait!”

“Lady Iris, the world isn’t bound together by family ties alone.”

Iris frantically tried to push me away.

But I only held her tighter, more firmly.

Iris’s nightmare was bleeding into me.

The frigid nightmare threatened to devour both Iris and me in an instant.

“Lady Iris, you have me, you have Hania, you have the other students at the academy.”

But I had no intention of letting it happen.

What I had gained after countless near-death experiences and hardships resided within me.

The Crimson Dragon’s mark etched onto my skin slowly began to raise its heat.

In response, the remnants of the Ancient Dragon, influenced by the Crimson Dragon, burst into flame.

Yellow eyes, like those of a lizard, loomed.

Scales of the Crimson Dragon sprouted on my face, reshaping it.

The rising flames blazed fiercely.

But even so, the nightmare continued its relentless advance.

“No! Stop, you must flee!”

Iris cried out in a pained voice.

But if I had intended to flee, I wouldn’t have embraced Iris in the first place.

“Forgive my belated introduction, Lady Iris.”

The bandages of concealment unwound.

With that, my true form was revealed.

A form I had tried so hard to hide until now.

But now, to build a genuine, new connection with her, I revealed it.

“I am Vikarman Niflheim.”

White hair billowed around me.

Thanks to my height and build, now far taller and broader than Iris, I could hold her even closer, more protectively.

Iris’s eyes met mine, widening dramatically.

It was only natural, considering who stood before her.

At the same moment, another flame began to erupt from my body.

A flame truly unlike anything before.

The Flame of Ash, once corrupted by the Archfiend.

Now it began to blaze with a ferocity, seeking to melt away the nightmare.

The fire of the Crimson Dragon was being stained with ash.

Accordingly, the ashen flames fiercely dissolved the encroaching nightmare.

But the nightmare was not so easily subdued.

It fought against the ashen flames, striving to extinguish them by any means.

The more it struggled, the brighter the ashen flames burned.

A flame inherited from Vulcan.

It would not be pushed back by a nightmare planted by the Archfiend.

*Squeeze!*

At that moment, Iris too began to suppress the nightmare.

She, as well, did not want the nightmare to devour everything.

The nightmare thrashed about.

Having just barely gained the chance to bloom within Iris, it had no intention of falling asleep just yet.

“How can a person live on dreams alone?”

I declared to the nightmare, and stoked the ashen flames ever higher.

The blazing ashen flames sank their teeth into the nightmare.

“Wake up.”

*Crack!*

Rifts began to spread across the entirety of the nightmare.

*Shatter!*

With that final sound, the nightmare finally splintered into pieces.

Fragments of the nightmare scattered in all directions.

Bathed in the light of the ashen flames, the shards of the nightmare were, for now, dreamlike in their beauty.

Iris rested her head against my chest.

Her eyes, which had not known sleep for some time, slowly began to close.

The warmth she had always felt as she drifted off to sleep.

It was thanks to that warmth that she felt so at peace.

“…Hanon.”

She murmured the name she had spoken so often.

“…It’s Hanon.”

All this time, Hanon, I, had been someone she considered a cousin.

My warmth reached her with the most genuine sincerity.

Before I knew it, Iris was drifting off to sleep.

Not the nightmare that tormented her, but a slumber where she could rest easy.

With the sleeping Iris, the surroundings returned to reality.

Fragments of the nightmare crumbled to dust and scattered away.

*Bang!*

At that very moment, the closed door burst open.

“Lady Iris!”

Hania stood there, having rushed in with a face etched with urgency.

Sweat beaded profusely on Hania’s brow.

It seemed she had been desperately trying to force the door open.

Noisy commotions filtered in from outside.

A little while ago, Iris’s nightmare had shaken the entire dormitory.

So, the students were hastily evacuating, following the guidance of the dormitory maids.

Hania’s eyes met mine.

Hania hesitated, recognizing a form she had seen before.

Then, she saw Iris, nestled in my arms, breathing softly in her sleep.

“…Hanon?”

As Hania spoke my name, I nodded.

Hania wore a complicated expression, before closing the door.

Leaving the door open would allow others outside to see my figure.

“What exactly happened?”

“Iris discovered my true nature.”

Hania gasped, inhaling sharply.

At that moment, she understood the reason for Iris’s recent darkening mood.

She vaguely assumed it was due to nightmares, but the truth was, I, her only family, had been discovered.

Hania gazed upon the sleeping Iris, then released a long sigh.

“Is Lady Iris alright now?”

“For the moment.”

It’s regrettable, but I can’t say I’m perfectly fine.

The moment a nightmare sprouts even once, I’ll be ready to wake at any time.

In the end, the only way to remove this sprout is to remove the cause.

“Cheonhyegong.”

I have to get rid of him.

Hania quietly gazed at Iris’s sleeping face.

Then she walked over, took out a blanket, covered her with it, and sat down beside me.

“I’ll have to apologize when Iris wakes up.”

“Indeed. Do you think she’d accept a grand kowtow?”

“I don’t know what a grand kowtow is, but Iris is a kind person.”

Hania smiled faintly as she looked at Iris.

“She’ll definitely forgive us.”

If nothing else, Iris has good luck with people.

“More than that, Hanon, is that really what you look like now?”

“How is it, seeing your ex’s true form?”

“Annoying.”

So this is what relationships with ex-girlfriends are like, huh?

Hania let her peach-colored hair fall down and rested her face on her drawn-up knees.

Then she grinned bashfully.

“It’s better than before, though.”

It’s still Vikamon’s face, after all.

“Should we date again? It feels like dating a new guy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Such a scathing ex-girlfriend.

And so, amidst our two people’s giggling.

Iris slept with the most peaceful expression she’d ever worn.