A Dream That Should Have Been
Irene felt a familiar warmth.
Her heart had been torn apart when Rian chose Sera, yet Logan's embrace was still warm and comfortable. She clutched at his sleeve and wept.
"Logan... it's me... hah, hng..."
"Irene... it's all right. You don't have to say anything."
His voice was as gentle as ever, and the arms wrapped around her were solid and strong.
"...Thank you..."
Her chest still shook and ached with the pain of heartbreak, but having Logan to lean on whenever things got hard made her feel a little at ease.
"I'm sorry about everything I've done... Logan..."
"Don't be. It doesn't matter. I'm fine, Irene."
"Logan..."
She had treated him so ruthlessly over the course of the Demon King Subjugation that he had every right to turn her away — and yet he remained kind and considerate as ever. His unwavering devotion gave Irene the courage to stand back up.
Afterward, she returned to the imperial capital and threw herself at Rian's feet, begging him to take her back even if it could only be as a concubine.
"Rian! Please... I can't live without you...!"
"I'm sorry, Irene... Believe me, there's nothing I'd like more..."
But the Church refused, citing its doctrine: since the Hero was bound to the Saintess, he could have no other woman.
Even so, she couldn't let go of her lingering feelings for Rian. Because she could see that he had feelings for her, too.
"Rian... then you can keep seeing me, can't you?"
"Of course. Why would you even say something like that, after everything between us?"
"Rian...!"
After all, there was no way he would keep meeting her every time if he truly intended to refuse.
But the whole process was so exhausting that she found herself leaning on Logan — sometimes... no, often.
"Logan... I... hah, hng..."
"......"
"I'm sorry... but I..."
"It's fine. You don't have to say anything..."
"Thank you... truly..."
She felt guilty toward him, but then again, this was Logan they were talking about — so she told herself it was fine, and kept craving his comfort.
And in the course of all this, the face of Crown Princess Anastasia whenever they crossed paths was an absolute spectacle. That expression, twisted with jealousy and rage.
"Irene! Stop using Logan like this!"
"And what business is that of yours, Your Highness? This is between me and Logan."
"That's exactly what the problem is! If you had a shred of conscience, you couldn't keep doing this to him!"
"...Hmph. You're one to talk, Your Highness."
"What did you say?"
"You keep picking fights with me because you're trying to win Logan over for yourself, don't you?"
"Ha...!"
Yes — watching her seethe, beside herself with frustration, was endlessly entertaining. Try to crush her with her authority all she liked, the woman could never say a word if she went running to Logan for help.
"Your Highness... forgive me, but... even for you, treating Irene so rudely is..."
"Logan, I—!"
"I apologize."
"Ah... Ah..."
The sight of the Crown Princess collapsing, unable to muster even a single reply to one sentence from Logan, was a delicious thing to behold. Logan had always been on her side — and he always would be.
"Kyahaha!!!"
Drunk on victory, Irene burst into deranged laughter.
Laughing down at Anastasia with a gaze dripping with mockery and contempt.
Because Logan was hers.
"Ah... Ah... Ah...!"
The hateful Crown Princess could do nothing but wallow in despair.
Watching Anastasia weep and writhe in agony, Irene felt as if all the rage and humiliation she had suffered — helpless before the woman's every slight — was being wiped away clean.
Including, of course, the sting of defeat at having Logan stolen from her.
'Wait... stolen Logan from...?'
In that instant, a violent sense of wrongness surged through Irene, like waking from a dream.
'This is... a dream?'
Something was off.
At the banquet hall, Irene had gazed at Logan with desperate longing — and he had turned away from her.
So she had fled the banquet hall in tears. Then why was Logan here at her side, and why was Anastasia over there crying tears of blood in torment?
Think of it that way, and this situation could only be a dream.
And yet, for a dream, every one of her senses was achingly vivid. It felt exactly like reality.
Oh. Of course.
'This isn't a dream...!'
Yes — this was the reality that should have come to pass.
Then why?!
Why was the reality of the present so utterly different?!
"Why!!!"
With that violent cry, Irene woke from her sleep.
"Hah...! Hah...!"
Gulping down ragged breaths, she looked around. An unfamiliar guest chamber.
"Ah..."
Only then did she realize how she had come to fall asleep after such a dream.
She had fled the banquet hall in a daze, weeping at the unbelievable sight of Logan, and somehow wandered back to the very room where she had first fallen asleep, sobbing herself into slumber.
"Logan..."
She murmured his name, recalling the tender way he had looked in her dream.
"Yes. That's the real Logan...!"
The man he was now had clearly been bewitched by something.
"Something must be wrong with him. It has to be."
Otherwise, how could that Logan turn on her so suddenly? How could he possibly be happy at the side of that shameless wretch Anastasia, wearing that loathsome expression?
"That place was supposed to be mine!"
Logan — who, no matter how harshly she treated him or how hurtful she was, always looked only at her, always devoted himself to her.
His side was a place she could always return to whenever she longed for rest and comfort!
Who dared to covet that place?
Yes — what she had just dreamed was not a dream at all. It was the reality that should have been.
Which meant!
"You think I'm just going to roll over and step aside?! I will never give up!!"
Irene muttered, her whole body trembling with fury, her eyes blazing like searing flame.
Just then.
"That's right. You mustn't give up, Lady Irene."
A soft, silken voice filled the room.
"S-Sera...?"
Irene turned toward the sound. There stood Sera, wearing a benevolent smile.
"Yes. It's me, Sera."
"Wh-when did you get here...?"
"I've been here all along, of course."
"What...? Oh..."
She was a little surprised to learn that Sera had kept watch at her side the whole time she slept, but quickly realized that wasn't what mattered.
"Sera, what do I do...? Logan and the Crown Princess... that hateful woman... hah, hng..."
'Tsk.'
Sera clicked her tongue inwardly as she looked at Irene — hair a wreck, tear stains smeared across her face.
Who knew what she'd been dreaming about, but she'd been talking in her sleep, spouting every manner of nonsense. Then the moment she woke up, she started screaming and carrying on. It was beyond pathetic.
'Well... she does make a perfect tool to use, though.'
Honestly, the sight of Irene and her brazen, revolting selfishness disgusted Sera — but what Irene needed right now was exactly that kind of self-centered resolve.
So Sera gently took both of Irene's hands in hers.
"Irene... you're not seriously thinking of letting the Crown Princess take Logan from you, are you?"
"...No. Of course not."
The moment Irene recalled the image of Anastasia smiling happily at Logan's side in the banquet hall, her expression froze over, ice-cold.
She wanted to grab that doomed bitch by the hair right now and burn her to ash with magic.
'No — this very instant, if I could...'
The reckless thought must have shown on her face, because Sera stroked her hands soothingly to calm her down.
"Irene... I understand exactly how you feel. But please, calm yourself first. You mustn't forget that woman's rank and position..."
"So you're telling me to just give up?!"
"No. There is no reason whatsoever for you to give up Logan."
"Then what am I supposed to do? I... without Logan, I..."
"Sigh..."
"Sera...?"
"No, it's nothing. You're just so pitiful, so heartbreaking, I couldn't help myself..."
Sera hurried to offer words of comfort. Irene had been so suffocatingly pathetic that a sigh had escaped her before she knew it.
"First things first, Irene — you need to calm down. Besides, the Crown Princess has plenty of problems of her own. Even our Church won't be sitting idle with her around."
"Problems...?"
Irene's black eyes flashed.
Problems with Anastasia? As if stealing her Logan weren't enough, there was more?
"Yes. So that's why that cursed bitch acts the way she does! She must be deceiving Logan!"
"...."
Sera had been briefly pondering how best to persuade and exploit Irene, only to realize there was no need whatsoever.
How a woman this stupid had ever been hailed as a once-in-a-century genius at the Magic Tower Academy... it was truly a once-in-a-century mystery.
'No point thinking about it, I suppose. The stupider, the better.'
Having decided not to question it, Sera focused on calming Irene down, offering a small explanation of what she planned to do going forward.
And then she couldn't help but be dumbfounded.
Because—
"...So, if things work out the way you want... you'll make sure I get to marry Rian too, right?"
Irene tossed out the absurd question as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Did she genuinely have no idea what had brought her to this sorry state in the first place?
'In my heart of hearts, I'd love to tell her to just take him if she wants him so badly...'
But she couldn't — not with the man installed as the Hero.
So Sera smiled serenely and deflected, forcibly steering the conversation elsewhere.
"Rather than that, Irene? If you want to make things even more unbearable for the Crown Princess, then..."