May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 36.1
At first, Elizer thought he must be dreaming. A dream that felt endless, excessively cruel.
The room was filled with a strange, drifting smoke.
A bed wide enough for half a dozen men to lie on.
Dozens of servants bowing their heads to him and soldiers with faces covered in iron armor.
Everything was unfamiliar.
“Your Majesty.”
“Could they really be calling me that?” Elizer frowned at the incomprehensible title and blinked through his blurred vision.
Between the hazy outlines, he could see a man backlit by light, looking down at him.
Elizer could not recognize him. Even the slightest attempt to think made his head feel as though it would split.
He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, and the man spoke.
“King Bailion has returned to the embrace of God.”
King Bailion was dead. Then, was Cassian finally ascending the throne?
As he absentmindedly considered this, his consciousness drifted again against his will.
After that, he remembered nothing. When he came to, he was already seated on the throne.
Elizer looked down at the dozens of subjects bowing before him with a flustered expression.
It was truly a disturbing nightmare. He struggled to wake from it.
“Attend the king.”
Immediately, his limbs were seized. He was captured like a beast and confined in the dark chamber.
Every attempt to regain his senses was met with the acrid smoke flooding his lungs and the bitter liquid spreading across his mouth.
“You will feel comfortable shortly.”
Elizer followed the familiar voice with his eyes.
The man backlit by light looking down at him was Leonard Dazbel.
The moment he recognized him, a memory of a voice surfaced in his mind.
“Elizer. You must survive.”
It was Cassian’s voice.
Something felt wrong. Elizer lowered his gaze. Blood was flowing from Cassian’s abdomen.
‘Your Highness.’
Just as he was about to support Cassian, his lord’s head fell weakly onto Elizer’s shoulder.
‘Cassian.’
Elizer shook his head without realizing it. He wanted desperately to wake from this horrific nightmare.
Even as he tried, his mind slipped away once more.
He could not think of anything again. As Leonard had said, Elizer could feel his body and mind gradually becoming more comfortable.
Yet the nightmare repeated itself.
Elizer wished desperately that someone, anyone, would end this nightmare.
Then, as if in answer to that plea, he heard her voice.
“Elizer.”
Elizer opened his eyes to see Reyna looking down at him with a worried expression.
“You seem to have a fever. Shall I call a physician?”
Her delicate hand brushed his face. It was cool. Instinctively, he tilted his head and pressed his cheek into her palm.
Reyna flinched slightly but did not pull away.
Elizer wondered if this too was a dream.
After such a terrible nightmare, she was the one comforting him. It felt impossibly precise.
Elizer, remembering the dreams he had every night while waiting to meet Reyna again, grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his embrace.
“Ah.”
Reyna collapsed awkwardly over him.
Her eyes widened in surprise. She froze in an unusually shy manner, giving the scene a startling reality beyond the dream.
“Well… I just heard you were unwell, so… I did not mean this…”
Reyna tried to speak but nervously closed her mouth.
Elizer, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other cradling her head, slowly lifted his upper body.
He tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers.
It was the same shock as their first kiss. No, the sensation was even stronger.
He instinctively knew what should follow.
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