Chapter 45
Chapter 45
When Ariel opened her eyes, she realized she was lying in a bed.
“...A dream?”
The situation felt unreal, and she tilted her head in confusion. Considering she had been in a dazed mental state from transcendence sickness, that only made it worse.
But it didn’t take long for her to realize none of it had been a dream.
“……”
The room, though somewhat cleaned up, still bore clear signs of destruction.
Broken furniture. Stains of blood not fully wiped away.
And the medicine bottle.
“So it wasn’t a dream.”
Ariel slowly pushed herself up and sat on the bed.
It wasn’t a dream.
Johan had risked his life to save her. He had told her to live. He had said he needed her.
That made her happy.
“Mm……”
Now that she understood it was real, she felt a strange sense of disappointment at Johan not being there, only to feel relieved moments later.
“Ahem!”
She buried her face into the blanket. No one was watching, yet her face burned hot.
She had been in a hazy dream the whole time. Dreaming with her eyes open.
And in that dream, the boy had said—
“He told me to live.”
Johan had approached her, covered in blood, and saved her.
He had begged her to live.
“He said he needed me.”
Thud.
Wrapped in the blanket, Ariel collapsed back onto the bed.
Her head was spinning.
“He said it had to be me.”
He hadn’t actually said that much.
But unfortunately, Ariel—who had been dreaming with her eyes open—could no longer distinguish fantasy from reality.
At some point, her imagination began to seep into reality.
And the image of Johan in her mind slowly started to change.
“Ugh…”
Thump! Thump!
She pounded the bed with her small hands, writhing.
Her imagination kept feeding itself, spiraling further.
She knew it, yet couldn’t stop it. At the very least, the relieved smile Johan showed her at the end—that had been real.
He had always been a crooked person.
Even when spoken to, he would frown openly, showing his annoyance.
And yet, that person had smiled.
It was a smile she had never once imagined.
Ariel wasn’t foolish enough to completely confuse fantasy with reality.
“...This is bad.”
But even knowing that, she couldn’t escape her imagination.
She didn’t even want to.
Ariel had caught a disease.
And this time, there was no cure.
When I opened my eyes, I realized I was lying on a hospital bed.
I stared at the now-familiar ceiling before turning my gaze.
“Multiple contusions, four fractures, and signs of anemia. We’ll need to observe you for about three days.”
There was the doctor.
“Minor injuries.”
“I suppose you could call it that.”
And Loberia was there too.
Minor injuries? How is this minor? Am I the one who’s crazy?
I still don’t understand how to process this ridiculous world.
“Oh, Johan. You’re awake?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Stay lying down.”
“I am deeply honored.”
“That strange way of speaking still feels unnatural. So, Johan, how much do you remember?”
“...It’s vague.”
Where did the dream end and reality begin?
Did I succeed in persuading Ariel?
Maybe getting smashed in the head by flying furniture did more damage than I thought.
Or maybe I just lost too much blood.
“Hm, I see. We’ve grasped the general situation. Ariel had some kind of problem, and you saved her. Is that correct?”
“I believe so.”
Now there was no need to hide that Ariel had been suffering from transcendence sickness.
The problem had already been resolved.
She had only tried to hide it because she feared becoming a burden to Loberia.
Of course, unless Loberia directly asked, I had no intention of explaining.
And she seemed to think it was better to hear it from Ariel herself.
“Thank you. Because of you, I didn’t lose my friend. Sigh… I was foolish. Even after hearing your warning, I thought I understood.”
“My… warning?”
Did I ever say something like that?
No idea. If she thinks so, then sure.
“Now then, I assume you’re curious about what happened afterward.”
“Yes…”
Ending up in the hospital wasn’t strange.
After getting beaten like that, hospitalization was expected.
But the process in between—that was another matter.
“First, I was the one who found you. There were constant loud noises coming from Ariel’s room, so I went to check. The door was completely destroyed…”
Loberia shrugged and sighed.
“I nearly fainted thinking about the aftermath. Johan, I hate to say this, but you should consider the consequences of your actions.”
“Ahem…”
“Breaking into the women’s dormitory was bad enough, but knocking out the dorm supervisor wasn’t exactly wise either.”
“...That was me?”
“Do you think it was me?”
Something felt off.
Now that I think about it, there really wasn’t any resistance when I entered the dorm.
Could it have been someone else?
No, then there would’ve been a bigger commotion.
‘Yuna.’
She must have cleared the way for me.
Reading my intentions aside, her methods were pretty aggressive.
But I couldn’t really blame her.
“For now, I’ve handled things on my end. Ariel is my close friend, and you saved her. I should at least do that much.”
“I am deeply—”
“However, it seems our connection has grown deeper because of this.”
“...It hasn’t.”
“Don’t be so stiff. Am I wrong? I can’t just ignore you anymore.”
“Ignoring me would be the best help you could offer, Your Highness.”
“That won’t do. I have my own honor and authority. If I can’t repay someone who saved my friend, what kind of ruler would I be?”
“You’ve already done more than enough by cleaning up the aftermath.”
“Not for me.”
“…No.”
Did I do something wrong?
Why is she clinging to me like this?
“Soon, I’ll come visit with a proper gift. Look forward to it.”
“……”
“Aren’t you going to say ‘I am deeply honored’?”
“I won’t.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
With that, Loberia smiled brightly and left the room.
I had a dream.
Blue flames burned.
Before my eyes, a boy stepped back from the flames.
He was too young to understand what it meant.
Death, arriving so suddenly in a peaceful life, was something far removed from him.
What was the person inside those flames thinking?
What expression were they making?
Within the flames, stars shimmered.
Countless stars filled the air, forming a galaxy.
I was captivated by that light.
Even under the bright blue sky and the blazing sun, the galaxy did not fade.
It was beautiful.
I reached out slowly.
Trying to grasp those stars.
And I…
Even now, I continue to gather those stars one by one.
Maybe it was because I had resolved something big recently.
For the first time in a while, I dreamed of the past.
“Ugh…”
My head throbbed.
Even after sleeping well, fatigue weighed down my entire body.
I wanted to lie back down, but—
“Please vacate the bed.”
“Doctor, I think your bedside manner needs work.”
“I don’t give beds to minor patients for more than three days.”
“What do you mean—”
Why is this considered minor?!
“Your bones have set, and the bruising has gone down. Youth is wonderful, isn’t it? Just take your medicine and endure.”
“Shouldn’t patients be discharged when they’re fully healed?”
“Nope. Not here. Get out.”
“You’ve got to be—”
I only held back because it was free.
And just like that, I got kicked out of the hospital.
I seriously hate this place.
“Ugh…”
My whole body ached.
But the worst part was that my body itself didn’t even register it as pain—just fatigue.
Top-tier medical staff and equipment.
My body says I’m fine, but I feel awful.
Nowhere to complain.
“Sigh… I should go to the workshop and grab my stuff.”
Originally, I just intended to persuade her with the medicine.
Not risk my life getting beaten up.
So most of my belongings were still there.
“Congrats on your discharge, Johan!”
“Yeah, long time no see.”
A familiar pink-haired girl approached me.
Yuna.
She handed me tofu with a grin.
Am I getting out of prison or something?
Still, I took it.
“Oh right, Yuna. You knocked out the dorm supervisor, didn’t you?”
“Yep! You were being all serious for once—would’ve been sad if you got stopped at the entrance!”
“Fair enough.”
So no external interference.
Good. The place was peaceful.
Finally.
With Ariel’s matter resolved, I could just live quietly now.
Right as we reached the workshop—
“Hm?”
There was someone inside, even though it was class time.
I opened the door without thinking.
“Oh… Johan?”
“……”
And found my teacher looking like a corpse.
Georg was sitting at my station, mixing solutions and continuing experiments.
Wait… don’t tell me—
“Um… I’m back, Professor. It went well.”
“Just a moment… Huh? You’re back early. Has it been two hours? Ugh…”
“Y-yes. Fortunately, persuasion went smoothly.”
It had been three days.
And he’d been here the entire time.
Did he seriously not move once?
So this is what it takes to be a teacher here…
“Look at this! I did all this in just two hours!”
“……”
“That’s strange… this reaction should take six hours…”
“You should get some rest. I’ll take over.”
“Yeah… that might be good. Glad the person’s safe. You should take it easy too.”
Yeah… I’m not becoming an alchemist.
I don’t want to end up like that.
“I’ll clean up and head out too.”
And I’m staying away from this place for a while.
It’s cursed.
“Alright… I’ll rest a bit before my next class.”
Georg collapsed onto the sofa, barely conscious.
“Oh right, Johan. Did you name the medicine? Even if it’s incomplete, it’s still a treatment. You’ll need it for the report.”
“Ah.”
Right. I forgot.
I wasn’t really interested in naming things.
“Think of a reason or something.”
This medicine was one of my long-standing wishes.
Something I had once abandoned and finally completed.
Then suddenly—
“Chasing the rabbit…”
I remembered Ariel, clutching her hat.
Someone from a different world.
As she drifted further away, I reached out without thinking.
I wore a hat that didn’t suit me and followed after her.
And somehow, I ended up here.
Doing things unlike myself.
Risking my life over and over.
All because of Ariel.
Yeah.
Chasing a white rabbit—
“I’ll call it ‘Wonderland.’”