As soon as Raymund saw it, he felt a sense of displeasure.
Maybe it was because it resembled his shadow, but it felt as if it was his true nature.
To make matters worse, it even asked why he hadn’t gone mad.
As if he was supposed to act like the dream version of Raymund.
Feeling irritated, Raymund turned away from the shadow.
As he blatantly ignored it—as if it were invisible—the shadow chuckled lowly.
— “Don’t reject the future you saw. Accept it. You don’t have any other choice anyway.”
The shadow, which had been flat against the ground, began to swell.
A bulge appeared where its head would be, followed by shoulders, chest… finally, legs began to take shape.
The shadow, which was now becoming a tangible figure, looked like Raymund drenched in ink.
Is this what it feels like to meet a doppelgänger?
Raymund instinctively recoiled at the sight.
No—it was more than just aversion.
‘I want to erase it.’
Hostility surged.
The same was true for the shadow, whose red eyes sparkled with dangerous amusement.
After staring at each other in silence for a while, they moved.
‘Tch…’
It was almost at the same time, but the shadow was a bit faster.
As Raymund staggered from being struck, the shadow launched another attack.
Perhaps because it was a dream, Raymund couldn’t fight properly.
Whether in speed or strength, the shadow was superior in every way.
Despite the relentless assault, which could’ve easily frightened or broken his spirit, Raymund only burned with determination, looking for an opening.
To bring down the shadow and escape the dream.
— “I don’t understand.”
Even as the violence continued, Raymund didn’t submit, which puzzled the shadow.
Although this was a dream, it showed a future that was bound to happen—so it was half-real.
In fact, the moment Raymund entered the dream, he should’ve synchronized with the dream version of himself.
He should have fallen into despair and collapsed—but strangely, his will remained unshaken.
It was as if he was saying: This isn’t my reality, and I have to return.
The shadow felt a slight sense of unease.
The Raymund before him was no different from the leader of the gifted ones.
He had the most power, was the most dangerous, and carried the bloodline of the one who had stolen the most.
Which made him the most hateful of all…
To the shadow who longed to be whole again, Raymund was the number one target he had to consume.
So when the opportunity to break his mind came, it had to be seized.
These thieves—perhaps because they possessed powers beyond human limits—had unstable minds.
If there was a threshold where the mind breaks, ordinary people stayed far from it.
But these ones stood right on the edge, teetering dangerously.
Raymund had been like that until earlier this year.
Just one little push, and he would’ve crossed the line.
But now, for some reason, even with a push, he wouldn’t budge.
The shadow knew—because he had tried several times—that this method used to work.
And yet now, it was as if Raymund had built a barrier around his mind.
— “You cannot be happy. This is your future, and you will become the final blow that brings down the world.”
The shadow whispered as it reached backward.
There, another Raymund—one who had lost his sanity—was slaughtering the people within the capital.
The brutality was enough to make one grimace, yet Raymund didn’t flinch.
His demeanor suggested it had nothing to do with him.
— “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
All gifted ones harbored love and hatred toward the world.
If given the chance, they’d want to burn it down, just like the Raymund in the dream.
What stopped them was a sense of duty.
A cursed shackle that neither let them destroy nor release themselves.
Upon hearing the shadow’s words, Raymund scoffed.
Yes—maybe that was his future.
After all, there were moments when, burdened by the curse, he had wanted to set the world on fire.
But not anymore.
“This isn’t my world. So that won’t happen.”
There was a firm resolve in Raymund’s eyes as he said it.
The shadow was a bit deflated, realizing none of his violence had worked.
Regardless, Raymund stood his ground.
Because Seiana existed in his world.
He would never endanger a world where she lived.
Raymund smirked.
As soon as he recalled Seiana, it felt as if a shield had formed around his heart.
The dream was coming to an end.
It was the moment when the dream Raymund, after turning the capital into a river of blood, was about to destroy the Temple of the Main God.
Suddenly, the world flipped upside down.
— “Damn it.”
The shadow muttered through clenched teeth.
It was a scene he had witnessed countless times.
Just as everything was about to end, for some reason, it all reverted as if nothing had ever happened.
— “You erased waste of existence!”
He didn’t know how such power still remained, but he felt wronged.
From the shadow’s perspective, it was just the lingering will of a dead ghost.
Was he too hasty?
Raymund had seemed weakened, so the shadow tried to finish it quickly by showing him the future he would face…
— “No…”
In the end, he couldn’t make Raymund yield and lost. In a previous timeline, the shadow had definitely won.
In battles like this, the victor takes all.
The shadow felt his power being gradually drained into Raymund.
— “This can’t…”
The shadow couldn’t even finish his sentence before he collapsed and vanished.
As he disappeared, Raymund’s tattered body became perfectly healed.
Since it was a dream anyway, it wasn’t as if he’d been truly wounded.
Still, Raymund had not yet escaped the dream.
Standing in the middle of a white, erased world, he closed his eyes.
Seiana.
The name of the person he most wanted to see slipped from his lips.
When he opened his eyes again—astonishingly—Seiana was right in front of him.
“Is this still a dream?”
It was understandable to think so—after all, the person he’d longed for appeared right before him.
But the warmth he felt reminded him this wasn’t a dream.
“Sei?”
He called her name, still dazed.
Seiana, looking down at him, trembled slightly.
Raymund smiled briefly at her stunned face—then blushed.
Given the setting, their pose, and their clothes—it was all rather embarrassing.
“Ah, th-this is, um…”
Despite being young, Seiana had essentially barged into a man’s bedroom uninvited.
Her face flushed bright red as she tried to explain herself.
But then, as if realizing she was still holding him, she quickly let go in a fluster.
Raymund, however, reached out and held her in return.
“I missed you.”
“Eh, uh… what…?”
He whispered in her ear, and Seiana’s body stiffened.
But Raymund smiled—he could tell it was because she was startled, not because she rejected him.
Seiana’s hand, which had hovered in hesitation, gently embraced him again.
That warmth calmed his heart.
‘Yeah. This is my world.’
The world he cherished and had to protect.
For Seiana’s sake, it had to be preserved.
Raymund, embraced by his world, thought so.
***
Of course, my intrusion into the Crown Prince’s palace was discovered. Naturally so.
‘Shy Ari caused all that commotion, after all…’
Despite her prim appearance, Ari was actually quite lively—but only when bickering with Ray.
Normally, she carried herself with the elegance expected of a noble lady.
So for her to suddenly cause a commotion late at night in pajamas in front of the 4th Prince’s palace?
And right when I happened to be there?
Naturally, it led me to suspect that Ari’s strange behavior might be connected to me somehow.
I had been in Ray’s room, hugging him, when the knights suddenly burst in, startling me.
They seemed just as shocked—probably because Ray, who was said to be unconscious, had woken up.
Soon after, someone who appeared to be the palace physician arrived, likely having been notified of Ray’s recovery, and I was naturally pushed out of the room.
“Is he okay?”
I was worried about Raymund’s condition after waking up for the first time in a long while, and also anxious about what punishment I might receive for breaking into the prince’s palace.
Escorted by the knights, I returned to Ari’s palace.
Despite my complicated feelings, I quickly fell asleep.
So much had happened during the night that my exhaustion simply overpowered my worry.
The next day, however, last night’s incident didn’t turn out to be as big of a deal as I feared.
I had been worried they might ban me from the palace or send a letter of complaint to my family.
But since Ray had awakened, it seemed those trivial matters no longer concerned anyone, and nothing happened.
Except for one thing.
“Seiana Lovely Estarote.”
Although the imperial palace didn’t say anything, my father and brothers, having apparently heard what happened during the night, stormed in first thing in the morning.
They sternly called me by my full name in stiff voices.
“I’m sorry…”
At times like this, trying to make excuses was the worst thing one could do.
So I simply apologized and did my best to appear sincerely remorseful.
Normally, my family would soften up quickly when I acted like this, but since this incident involved the palace, they seemed far more serious.
Their expressions didn’t ease easily.
“You, really! What would you have done if something had happened!”
If the knights had mistaken me for an assassin sneaking into the prince’s palace at night… it wasn’t an impossible scenario.
I had no defense.
“The only place you can act however you want is within the Count’s estate! Because there, no matter what you do, we can intervene to protect you!”
“I was wrong….”
I didn’t make any excuses and kept my head bowed, admitting I was at fault.
Perhaps seeing me like that began to soothe my father’s anger; his heavy breathing slowly grew calmer.
My older brothers, who had come with him and were glaring at me with fierce eyes, also began to soften when I continued to apologize without a word of defiance.
Maybe I started to look pitiful to them.
“Ahem. Father. I think Lovey understands after all this scolding.”
“Yes, she really seems to be reflecting deeply.”
As the two of them tried to calm him down, Father’s heart seemed to soften as well.