Just then, someone appeared in front of Raymund in the dream.
“Huh?”
It was a newly appointed maid.
Displeasingly, she had entered his space without permission.
At that time, dream Raymund, who had not met Seiana, was at the peak of his hatred toward humans.
He didn’t tolerate anyone trespassing into his domain.
He didn’t physically harm her, but he did show himself from a distance—without even the robe that usually hid his appearance.
Occasionally, people like that would approach Raymund.
Most feared facing him, but from another perspective, if they managed to win over his heart, his wealth and power would become theirs.
So, those who could endure their fear and approached him—once he revealed his true self—they all eventually fled.
He thought the same would happen this time.
“Huh?”
But for some reason, the maid didn’t run away.
In fact, she didn’t even show a hint of fear.
Dream Raymund thought she was incredibly tenacious.
How greedy must one be to endure that?
Unfortunately, the dream version of him had reached such a point of human hatred that he trusted no one.
Even though he rejected her, he was disgusted to see the maid persistently crawling back to him.
If she kept returning even after being driven away… the only option left was to make her leave on her own.
From that day on, the only palace servant managing Raymund’s residence was the maid.
She cleaned by herself, attended to him, and even maintained the garden.
Because of the excessive work, she didn’t even have time to approach Raymund—he thought she would eventually give up.
But the maid was persistent.
After observing her for some time, Raymund began to feel curious.
What kind of desperation drives her to keep approaching me?
He didn’t want to hope and be disappointed, so he decided to quickly give her what she wanted and send her away.
But the answer he received was that she wanted nothing.
[“Then why did you approach me?”]
At Raymund’s question in the dream, the maid hesitated before answering.
[“Because Your Highness saved me.”]
She said she wanted to repay that favor—that she was the girl he saved in the forest long ago.
“Huh?”
Raymund was dumbfounded.
The maid was lying.
The person he had saved back then was Seiana.
But in the dream, perhaps because he couldn’t see, dream Raymund was easily deceived.
If he saw the real Seiana, he would’ve immediately known the maid was a fake. It was frustrating.
The foolish dream Raymund was completely captivated by the fake. She no longer worked as a maid.
All she did was talk with Raymund.
Then soon, they held hands and did even more, which made the real Raymund extremely displeased—he even felt repulsed.
Dream Raymund, in his ignorance, seemed to think what he had with the maid was love, but Raymund didn’t see it that way at all.
He couldn’t say precisely what was missing, as he didn’t fully understand love either.
But there was one thing he could say with confidence:
Touching the maid brought none of the comfort or relief he felt with Seiana.
It always felt like walking on thin ice.
Raymund’s obsession with Seiana stemmed from a desire to be loved more, to be seen.
Whenever that happened, she would return his affection, and he could always feel at peace.
But dream Raymund’s obsession…
“Disgusting.”
Was this really love?
He doubted it, yet couldn’t let go.
He was on edge, afraid someone would steal her away.
He asked the maid if she loved him, and though she answered yes, it didn’t make him feel fulfilled like with Seiana.
So he kept obsessing, kept trying to touch her.
It was a perfect example of what not to do.
Raymund understood why the dream version of him was so desperate for the maid.
She whispered sweet nothings with a kind face and offered her body, yet her expression was completely hollow.
She looked like a doll programmed to respond, devoid of true emotion.
That’s why Raymund felt nothing but disgust toward the maid who mimicked Seiana, the only person who was truly special to him.
But the dream Raymund, who had never experienced real happiness, didn’t know it was a cheap, gold-plated imitation.
He cherished it as if it were treasure.
Foolishly, he didn’t even hide it—and so disaster struck.
Aries appeared in the dream.
[“What do you want from my fiancé?”]
Dream Raymund and Aries must have had similar minds, because Aries did exactly what Raymund had done.
She even went further, showing up before the maid without hiding her face.
Knowing that leaving her be would only become more troublesome, she seemed intent on driving her mad and casting her aside.
She’d done the same to Seiana, after all.
In that sense, Aries was consistent—whether in dreams or reality.
But things didn’t go as Aries planned.
The maid didn’t lose her mind.
Instead, Aries did.
It was as if she’d developed a second personality—one obsessed with Raymund, and another obsessed with the maid.
She told her to stay away from Raymund, yet she herself couldn’t let her go.
Raymund, watching all this, found it strange.
“This is almost like…”
…someone trying to imitate someone else.
But the difference was clear—the maid’s eyes still held not a trace of affection.
She spoke of love with a gentle face, held hands, met his eyes… but her eyes were lifeless, like glass.
It was unsettling, like someone wearing human skin to mimic humanity.
Even so, everyone went mad.
Starting with Raymund and Aries, other espers began to obsess over the maid as well.
Some even began to envy Raymund. It was clear this would lead to disaster.
Fortunately, dream Raymund used his dominion ability before things went too far—but they still desired the maid.
“This is ridiculous.”
From a third-person perspective, it was absurd.
The maid said she loved Raymund, yet didn’t push away the other espers who approached her.
She left subtle openings.
It made others think, “If Raymund weren’t around, I could take his place.”
She was a dangerous person.
Dream Raymund was burning up inside.
The maid was his, yet others constantly eyed her and threatened his position.
His obsession deepened.
He even declared he would marry her.
He didn’t think her consent was necessary—he believed she loved him, so she must want to marry him too.
To do that, he had to first break off his engagement with Aries.
But Aries, who still obsessed over Raymund, refused.
Just as the atmosphere began to grow tense… a demon appeared.
Demons showed up often, but this time was different.
Around 500 of them had gathered—a number large enough to call a battalion.
Before the others encountered the demons, the espers needed to quickly take them down.
Dream Raymund also moved to act.
But then the lunatic brought the maid to the battlefield.
He had separation anxiety, hated being apart from her, and thought being by his side was safest—so he naturally made that decision.
Of course, the maid didn’t refuse, and none of the other espers objected.
They didn’t want to be apart from her either.
In Raymund’s eyes, they were all insane.
Though there were many demons, the espers fought hard as usual, and it looked like things were wrapping up.
Which, of course, meant it wouldn’t end so easily.
“What the—!”
Raymund was horrified.
Just as the demon numbers dwindled and the end was in sight, suddenly the other espers, his allies, turned and attacked Raymund instead of the demons.
He wondered if they’d been hit by some kind of mental attack or illusion, but that wasn’t it either.
They—
He truly wanted to kill Raymund.
If only you weren’t here.
Then I could have her.
Everyone, having lost their minds, became united in purpose and launched deadly attacks at Raymund.
Among them was also Aries.
In the dream, Raymund eventually had no choice but to use the power of domination.
And he killed them.
Everyone died, and now Raymund was the only psychic left.
However, because he had taken their heartfelt attacks, his condition wasn’t good either.
Grasping his wounds, the Raymund in the dream approached the maid.
He wanted comfort from the shock of having killed his comrades—his friends.
He approached her, hoping she’d say, with her usual gentle face, “It’s not your fault.”
But the maid, consumed by fear, only screamed.
Raymund tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work.
The maid completely lost her mind.
“Hahaha…”
Only then did the fool in the dream open his eyes.
He realized the truth—that everything he had seen was fake.
He despaired, thinking, “Let this world be damned,” and gave up on himself.
And that’s exactly what happened.
“…Hmph.”
But so what?
That was all Raymund had to say after seeing the foolish story of the fool in the dream.
So what if he was dumb and got fooled by a fake?
Was the dream meant to teach me a lesson? To make me stay alert?
“But I have the real one.”
Naturally, Seiana came to his mind, and he began to miss her.
The person in the dream was just a person in the dream—not him.
The only thing Raymund cared about was how to escape this boring world and see Seiana again.
He was blankly watching his crazed dream-self destroy the world, when—
“Why aren’t you going mad?”
Someone spoke to him.
He looked around, but saw nothing.
No—there was something.
But his insane self was already killing everything.
Then Raymund realized something strange about his shadow.
There was something inside it that shouldn’t be there.
Two ominously glowing red eyes were embedded in the head of his shadow.