Not expecting her words to backfire on herself, Celitia nearly collapsed.

That hand roamed across her back, stimulating every sense to become even more sensitive.

Celitia tried to reach back and grab that audacious hand, but her wrist was forcibly caught by Sophia and pressed beneath her body.

"Really?"

Sophia giggled and leaned close to her ear, breathing a trace of warm air into her earlobe.

"If Lily still wants more, you must tell me. I'm happy to oblige."

"Really, really!!"

Even Celitia's earlobes turned blood red, embarrassed enough to want to cover herself completely with the blanket.

No, even if you learned it from storybooks and picture albums...

You're way too skilled!!

A certain someone with experience but completely clueless about such matters thought with great indignation.

If she tried to force a counter-attack, she'd probably just get completely devoured again before succeeding...

Counter-attack plan, failure X1.

Sophia regretfully let her go.

If not for considering that after experiencing so many incidents tonight, Celitia was probably exhausted, Sophia really would have wanted to go again.

Taking her hand out of Celitia's clothes, Sophia gently stroked the girl's long hair.

"You must be very tired, Lily. Let's rest early tonight. Those troublesome matters can wait until we wake up tomorrow morning to deal with properly."

Brushing away the hair covering the girl's face, Sophia cupped her head and slowly leaned close to her cheek.

Then she gently placed a tender kiss on her lips.

"Good night, Lily. May you have beautiful dreams."

This kiss contained no lust, only deep affection.

"Mm." Celitia responded softly.

With her head pillowed on Sophia's arm and her face buried against Sophia's chest, Celitia quietly listened to her heartbeat.

Beat after beat, steady and strong.

Sophia's breathing gradually became steady as she was about to enter dreamland.

Suddenly, Celitia spoke extremely softly, like a drifting ghost:

"If... I were hiding many things from you… You wouldn't get angry or leave me, would you?"

"Mm?" Sophia was half-asleep and didn't hear her words clearly, only responding drowsily.

"...It's nothing."

Celitia closed her eyes and hugged her slightly tighter.

"Good night, Sophia."

Celitia gradually entered dreamland.

At a moment she didn't notice, the mark on the inside of her right wrist that had already disappeared suddenly flashed with a faint light.

When she opened her eyes again, Celitia saw that strange dreamscape once more.

She was floating in the air, with several translucent clouds circling around her, as if observing her reactions.

Celitia curiously reached out, wanting to poke these various-shaped clouds.

Before her finger could touch the clouds, they were frightened into changing shape, dodging her contact and scattering outward in all directions.

All the clouds surrounding her fled far away, floating at safe distances while still carefully observing her.

Celitia was somewhat bewildered.

Could these not be clouds, but some kind of creatures?

With a thought, her body slowly descended and eventually gently landed on the ground.

So there was more than just sky here.

Celitia looked around and saw a lush forest.

Feeling gazes from all directions, Celitia couldn't help but look around carefully.

She discovered clouds similar to the earlier ones hiding in the woods, secretly observing her.

Noticing Celitia's gaze, those clouds hurriedly hid behind tree trunks, their forms gradually becoming transparent before disappearing.

What a strange dream...

Celitia pondered.

What was stranger was that despite clearly being in a dream, she could maintain such clear consciousness.

Looking up ahead, Celitia saw a simple wooden cabin standing at the foot of the mountain.

Could there be other people in this dream?

Celitia's eyes lit up as she immediately walked toward the cabin.

The cabin wasn't far from her, and Celitia quickly reached the front of it.

She politely reached out and knocked on the door.

Celitia knocked three times repeatedly but still got no response from inside.

Was there no one inside?

Celitia was very disappointed.

Really unwilling to leave just like this, Celitia couldn't help but try gently pushing the door.

The wooden door wasn't closed tightly and swung open with her movement.

The interior wasn't dark—light from outside streamed through the windows and fell on the floor.

A tall figure sat in a wicker chair by the window, leaning back with hands folded over his abdomen and head slightly tilted, as if dozing.

It was a man with light brown curly hair, deep-set eyes, and a high nose bridge, looking young and handsome.

Looking at the sleeping man, Celitia hesitated for a moment.

She ultimately pushed open the door and walked into the cabin.

Celitia vaguely remembered having this dream many times before.

But this was the first time she had seen another human in the dream.

She wondered if she could communicate with him...

Thinking this, Celitia called out:

"Hello, sir, may I disturb you for a moment?"

Barging into someone else's residence and waking a sleeping person should be quite rude.

But at this moment, Celitia really couldn't worry about that.

"Sir? Sir?"

Persistently, Celitia called out several more times, and the man finally showed some reaction.

The man's body trembled slightly, he straightened his back a bit, and his folded hands slowly relaxed.

His eyelashes fluttered as he extremely slowly opened his eyes, which still held the confusion of deep sleep.

Celitia was completely stunned, instantly captivated by those eyes.

They were deep purple eyes, sparkling like gems, noble and mysterious.

Her first impression was that they were very similar to her own.

Gradually, clarity returned to those hazy deep purple eyes.

"You've finally come."

A smile appeared on his lips as the man looked at Celitia warmly, his face full of joy. "Thank you for awakening me, my child."

Celitia was startled and looked at him in confusion: "You are...?"

Before she could finish speaking, the entire dreamscape suddenly twisted and began spinning like a whirlpool.

"Ah, discovered so quickly."

The man helplessly spread his hands. "Leave this place, child. Soon, we will meet again."

"Wait a moment—" Celitia tried to call out to him.

However, the whirlpool kept expanding and involuntarily sucked Celitia into it.

The dreamscape became blurred before her eyes as consciousness fell into deeper sleep.

Celitia only felt her eyelids growing heavy, drowsiness rapidly approaching, and before she knew it, she had completely fallen asleep.

Night reached its end as dawn was about to break.

In the bedchamber, two girls snuggled together, still sleeping sweetly.

In another bedchamber not far away, a dozing maid was suddenly awakened by rustling sounds.

Then a hoarse voice asked: "Is there water?"

The maid trembled all over, jumping up from her chair in fright, thinking it was a ghost:

"Who, who's there..."

She tremblingly looked up toward where the sound came from.

In the dim light, the maid discovered that the person who had been lying in bed for many years, almost never waking up, had actually sat up by himself.

"Your, Your Majesty?!"

The maid finally reacted, her voice rising in disbelief.

"Your Majesty, you've finally awakened!!"