Felyn was dreaming.

Eitani had transmitted the illusion that Zervanie had encountered that day to Felyn, and it wasn't until today that Felyn dreamed of it.

This dream was a bit too real.

He felt as if he had returned to Eitani's illusion.

The environment in the dream was very familiar; it was Zervanie's home.

Felyn, as if his soul had left his body, watched his own figure busying about in the kitchen.

Then, that body pulled him in, possessing him.

Knock, knock.

Felyn knocked on Zervanie's bedroom door.

"Zervanie, I've prepared some late-night snacks for you. Do you want some?"

Hearing no response from the room, Felyn pushed the bedroom door open.

The room was dark, the curtains drawn tightly, not letting a single sliver of light through.

"Why aren't the lights on?"

Felyn turned on the light and found Zervanie curled up, lightly biting her thumb, seemingly having a nightmare.

He placed the tray on the table, picked up the doll she had thrown on the floor, and tidied up the clothes she had left on the bed.

"Zervanie, don't sleep now, or you won't be able to sleep at night."

Zervanie rubbed her eyes, whimpered a few times, and slowly opened her sky-blue eyes.

When she saw Felyn, when she saw his gentle expression, she froze for a moment.

She sat up, propping herself up with her hands, and stared at Felyn.

"What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

Felyn wanted to tidy her collar for her, but Zervanie covered her chest and scooted back on the bed.

"I'll do it myself," she said.

"Alright then." Felyn didn't find it strange. He stood up and brought the tray to Zervanie.

"I cooked some late-night snacks, and there are roasted lamb chops. Would you like some?"

"No, thank you."

"Then have some soup. It'll help you sleep. you haven't been sleeping well lately, it makes my heart ache for you."

But Zervanie still didn't move.

She was curled up in a corner, looking at Felyn as if he were a stranger.

"What's wrong? It's me, Felyn. Are you still sleepy?" Felyn wanted to reach out and comfort Zervanie, but she still retreated.

"I know. It must be that in your dream, I did something terrible to you, and now you're angry, right?"

Felyn was used to Zervanie's sudden anger, so he wasn't surprised.

"Then I'll take the snacks out and clean up the room for you."

Zervanie still didn't react, her gaze fixed on Felyn's face.

Her thin shadow was cast on the wall, looking somewhat lonely.

After putting the snacks away, Felyn came back to clean up for Zervanie, just like before.

"Don't touch my things."

This was the first time Zervanie had spoken.

"Huh? Okay, okay, I won't touch them." Felyn didn't tidy the clothes Zervanie had left on the floor, merely sweeping the floor.

"Aren't you angry?" Zervanie sat on the bed, hugging her legs, a strand of silver-white hair stuck to the corner of her mouth.

"Angry? Why would I be angry at you, Zervanie?"

"No matter what I say, no matter what I do, you won't get angry?"

"Of course."

Her mouth opened, wanting to say something, but in the end, she buried her head in her arms, her voice becoming muffled.

"This isn't right."

"Huh?"

"No matter what I do, you don't get angry. This isn't right," she repeated, her nails seeming to dig into her flesh.

"You should be angry. I'm being unreasonable, you should be angry. I'm not good to you, you should be angry too."

"You're not Felyn."

Zervanie looked at her shadow on the wall and threw out this sentence.

Felyn was stunned for a moment, then leaned the broom against the wall. "How am I not Felyn?" He wanted to get closer to Zervanie, but was pinned to the spot by the fierce look she suddenly shot him.

"Zervanie, I am Felyn. Are you having a nightmare, confusing me with someone else?"

Zervanie's expression didn't relax because of Felyn's words; she still stared at him warily.

"For me, it really is a nightmare."

"I woke up, and Felyn was gone."

"I woke up, and the person who took care of me was gone."

"I was angry, I was dissatisfied, I regretted it."

"I chased after him for so long, so long. Even if I fell, I would grit my teeth, get up, and continue chasing him."

"How I wished it was all a dream. How I wished I could wake up and find that my relationship with Felyn wasn't so bad."

"Do you know what excuse I'm using to stay by Felyn's side now? It's as a friend, a friend completely unrelated to a lover! The way Felyn looks at me is only as a friend, his thoughts about me are only as a friend. He doesn't see me as a girl who could become his lover at all!"

Zervanie's voice gradually grew louder, wanting to pour out all the grievances she had suffered recently.

"But even so, I'm already very content."

"I can still stay by his side, I can still watch him smile, watch him talk. I'm already very content."

"I did so many things to wrong him in the past, I did so many things that would make him sad. Just being able to stay by his side, I'm already very content."

Felyn spread his hands, his lips half-open. "I know, Zervanie. But I don't care. Look, aren't I by your side right now? I don't care about the past. I've actually always liked you. I like your willfulness, I like your spoiled behavior. For me, I'm very happy."

"You're not happy!"

Zervanie couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and threw the pillow in her hand fiercely at Felyn.

"Making you buy a cake at three in the morning, you're not happy! Me clinging to you anytime, anywhere, you're not happy either! Me getting drunk and throwing up on you often, you wouldn't be happy either! You've been enduring, always giving in to me, always letting me be infinitely tolerated, just because of money, because you want to live, so you have to put up with all my unreasonable demands. How could you possibly be happy!"

Zervanie was a little out of breath, her chest heaving up and down.

She felt angry seeing someone using Felyn's body, saying things like "I forgive you, Zervanie" on their own accord.

How are you worthy of playing Felyn?

How are you worthy of being Felyn?

"Zervanie, don't be like this." Felyn picked up the pillow from the floor. "No one here will blame you, and I certainly won't blame you. We had some conflicts before because of the contract. Can we start over now? Let's just pretend the contract never happened, let's just pretend today is the first day we met."

Zervanie realized that talking to the person in front of her was meaningless. Her voice became icy, and she practically squeezed out these words through gritted teeth, "Absolutely impossible."

"We met because of the contract. Because of the contract, we have so many conflicts, so much of a past. To me, these are all precious memories, the few moments of happiness in my past. Even though it's the reason for the strain in my relationship with Felyn, I still treasure it in my heart."

A few splashes of water landed on the back of her hand, sliding down her fingers and onto the bedsheet.

Because of her emotional outburst just now, Zervanie's hair was a mess, and her cheeks were very red.

Tears welled up in her eyes, the final touch to her tragically beautiful face.

"Because... because that was the closest I ever was to him. The closest in the past, and maybe even the future."

Felyn fell silent.

He stood there, stunned, silent for a long time.

A dazzling white light shone in from outside the window. If the curtains hadn't been drawn at this moment, one would see the world outside turn into a vast expanse of white.

"If, and I'm saying if, one day Felyn could see this scene, what would you say to him?"

Zervanie watched as a blinding light erupted all around, and she covered her eyes with her hand.

"Faced with my unreasonable demands, even if you were angry, you still considered me, even considered me after the contract. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"If I could, I really want to start over with you."

"I think we would hide under the covers and read books together, get drunk on the side of the road and watch the stars together, and travel the world with you together."

Zervanie's figure turned into a ball of white light, only her blue-gray eyes visible.

"I like you, Felyn."

"I'm about to wake up. I will protect you. Don't be afraid, Felyn."

(End of Chapter)