Is Zenon unexpectedly the type who can't stand being alone?
Considering his usual timid nature, it seemed plausible that he might find nights spent alone in his room frightening.
While I was thinking such thoughts, he suddenly asked.
"Anelli, how about you?"
"About what?"
"The nightmares, haven't you shaken them off yet?"
"If it were something that could be easily shaken off, it wouldn't be called a nightmare."
The answer came out somewhat brusquely. Zenon, who had been staring up at me while lying down, sat up completely and leaned his back against the headboard.
"May I ask what the content was?"
Leaning back alongside him, I pondered for a moment.
'If I mention reincarnation or the goddess's proxy...'
I couldn't imagine how he would receive my words. Would he dismiss it as absurd?
I glanced at Zenon, who was quietly waiting for my answer, and slowly parted my lips.
"It was a dream about... my past."
"Is it related to that strange crown prince?"
"Further back than that."
I replied briefly and turned my head away. With my gaze fixed on the silent room's scenery, I asked in an indifferent voice.
"Do you believe in reincarnation?"
"...Well, it's not something I've ever thought about."
Perhaps because he hadn't grasped the intent of my question, Zenon's answer was cautious.
"Right, I hadn't thought about it either. Had no interest, either."
The goddess's proxy who sought to save all creation through self-sacrifice.
I had always thought she and I were different. That was why I grew angry at the Durahans who tried to find her image in me, and pushed away Samuel who tried to apply the feelings he had for her onto me.
But was that truly right? Was this a phenomenon I could refuse just because I wanted to?
"But I came to know about a past life I hadn't even been curious about, and eventually started dreaming about it, ruining my sleep."
I added.
Zenon pondered for a moment before murmuring calmly.
"Sounds like it wasn't a pleasant past life."
"It wasn't a matter of being pleasant or not."
Zenon hesitated at my words.
Especially today, that sense of kinship I felt just before waking from the dream left a deeper impression than I had anticipated.
Simply accepting that I had such a past life might not be enough. Perhaps even now, I, like her in that past life, needed to resolve upon some kind of nobility.
"She was... if I had to put it into words, holy. That such a person was reborn as me, I truly don't know if this is right."
I muttered with a bitter smile and lowered my gaze to quietly look at my two hands.
Wavering in the form of grayish smoke, they seemed as if they would disappear at any moment.
It was as if telling me that 'Anelli Roam's' existence was thus.
As if someone was telling me that the real one was the goddess's proxy, and the reincarnations that followed were merely lives of passing shadows.
Now that I knew of my past life, I should accept being the goddess's proxy and just like back then....
"I don't know what your past life was like, but there's no need to feel guilt over not being able to become the exact same person as then."
The long train of thought was cut off. The moment I glanced up, my eyes met Zenon's, who had been watching me.
In his eyes, not a trace of confusion or hesitation was visible.
Perhaps these were words he could speak because he didn't know. Even so, I asked him.
"What if I was resurrected to live like my past life?"
It was a question he couldn't answer. Yet unexpectedly, Zenon replied to my words with surprising ease.
"Even if that were true, does it matter?"
With a puzzled expression, Zenon tilted his head, then narrowed his brows and continued in a strong tone.
"Even if Anelli's resurrection is related to that past life, you're clearly a different person, so how can anyone expect the same behavior?"
Even though these were thoughts I'd been having all along, hearing them from someone else's mouth made them sound unfamiliar.
I looked at Zenon blankly, then gazed down at my hands once more.
I was currently a phantom, but this was just... communication magic, so there was no reason to fear.
Zenon was right. I was Anelli Roam, a different person from the goddess's proxy. Even if I had to fulfill the unfinished duties of my past life, the methods wouldn't be the same.
"Right, rather than sinking into dithering indecision, it's better to judge productively. I should quickly forget these useless nightmares."
It wasn't entirely satisfying, but it helped in steadying my mind.
As I quietly regulated my breathing and tried to empty my mind, Zenon, who had been quietly observing my complexion, suddenly asked.
"Shall I help you more actively?"
"How?"
Zenon grabbed the headboard and twisted his body, leaning his upper body at an angle. His gaze instantly became higher than mine.
A shadow approaching within arm's reach fell over my face.
'...!'
...It was a kiss where I couldn't feel the sensation, yet the sound of breathing was transmitted.
I didn't know whether to call this touched or not touched.
I had the illusion that his breath, exhaled like a sigh, was flowing into my mouth.
"I think I need to correct it with more precise magic."
He murmured with dissatisfaction and tilted his head again.
Breaths full of regret were heard from very close by.
"Depending on what you see just before sleeping, the content of dreams is sometimes determined. If that saying is true, then I'll be dreaming of Anelli."
So right now...
"Are you telling me to dream of you?"
He didn't answer, but it was tantamount to silent affirmation.
Truly an incredibly bold thing to say.
Me dreaming of Zenon?
Zenon in my dream?
I couldn't manage any response and could only blink, when he pulled his body back and clicked his tongue with a regretful face.
"Ah, time's up."
There was no need to ask what he meant. Along with dizziness, my vision began to shake violently.
This was a sensation I had already felt once before.
"Next time, you must definitely let me hear your breathing."
Zenon's voice, mixed with a sigh, reached my ringing ears.
Finally, as my vision turned hazy and was enveloped in white light, a heavy sensation returned throughout my body.
The soft texture of bedding against my skin, the warm air entering through my nose with each breath, the sound of firewood in the fireplace where embers occasionally sparked....
As the sensation that had been floating and disconnected from reality gained realism, I suddenly felt as if something enormous had overwhelmed me. My mind was completely blank.
When I blinked with effort, a different scenery than before filled my vision.
It was the Roam mansion.
"Ah."
There wasn't a bit of energy left in my whole body, as if I had returned from intense exercise.
Lying there almost sprawled out, I blankly looked at the ceiling. This peculiar communication magic, which I had experienced for the first time in my life, was considerably exhausting.
"At least I'll be able to sleep well...."
That was fortunate. I didn't have the energy to stay up all night ruminating over my dalliance with Zenon.
Not even a few minutes had passed since I returned to my room, but I could feel my eyelids growing heavier.
Just before falling asleep, the last thing that came to mind was Zenon's words.
「Depending on what you see just before sleeping, the content of dreams is sometimes determined.」
Perhaps.
For the remaining time, I might dream of Zenon.
* * *
The temple, which had been without any particular incidents for a while since the appearance of the resurrected one, made a major announcement for the first time in a long while.
Based on newly discovered historical records, they revealed a discourse concerning the current confused era.
And in that discourse, the temple clearly declared that 'Durahan' was the evil rampant in this land.
'As expected, my prophecy was right!'
Lilia couldn't contain her swelling heart and clenched both fists tightly.
She had told a few people about her returned prophetic ability. Among them was the Roam Duchess.
The Roam Duchess had gone out today for social activities. Everyone present there would probably hear the temple's announcement, and the Roam Duchess would learn that Lilia hadn't been lying.
Lilia paced by the window with a joyful heart.
For the past several days, she had been watching how things unfolded, not even engaging in proper external activities and staying holed up in her room.
But she believed without doubt that once the Roam Duchess returned home, she would call her back in.
At least for this moment, she didn't worry about Anelli's reaction.
It was true that Anelli had begun to secretly involve herself in Roam household matters, but she too would surely not act carelessly after confirming Lilia's prophetic ability.
'I'm going to win!'
She was filling her record book with more concentration than ever before, so she wouldn't forget her dreams.
With just that, not only would she rise again in Roam, but she could also return her fiancé Maxel to his original position.
'I did consider choosing Heinrich, but....'
Lilia had enough awareness to roughly know that Heinrich was the successor supported by the Empress.
How much power could the support of an empress soon to collapse provide? Moreover, he was also the very person who had attended to Anelli in every way while she stayed at the imperial palace.
Since rumors—not quite rumors of an affair—about Anelli and Heinrich had circulated briefly, she was reluctant to reach out.
'Honestly, Maxel isn't satisfactory either, but it can't be helped.'
The remaining princes were two, and of those two, the one who could be played by her hand was Maxel.
'Hm?'
Lilia, who had been stretching her neck waiting for the Roam Duchess's carriage, hesitated as she discovered something.
That silver-haired woman walking leisurely through the garden was Anelli.
Since coming to the mansion, she had always seemed busy with something, but today it seemed she was taking a rest, getting some outside air.
"So those are the guards they brought from outside."
Lilia murmured.
Behind Anelli, two heavily armed knights were visible following her. She had heard that because of those knights, all the knights belonging to Roam hated Anelli.
They were the ones who had moved aggressively when forming the pursuit team to capture Anelli in the first place.
After the incident where Arin Toston was reported to the temple during that process, she knew that hostility toward Anelli had grown even higher.
'To bring in outside knights in such a situation....'
Lilia's eyes narrowed.
That was truly the pinnacle of resentment.
The person herself didn't seem to care about such an atmosphere, but that attitude seemed to have wounded the knights' pride.
'The knights in the mansion follow Frisian.'
The one who had established a foundation in Roam for a long time was Frisian. Naturally, the knights had lived thinking the next duke would be Frisian.
If the Roam Duke stepped forward to change the succession, the subordinates would have no choice but to follow, but that didn't mean they could overturn their inner feelings as well.
'They'll fight and destroy themselves like that.'
Lilia smiled triumphantly and glared at the back of Anelli's head.
At that moment, as if by coincidence, Anelli turned to look at the mansion.
Startled, Lilia almost reflexively stepped back, but she soon put strength in her legs and stood firm, waving her hand.
Of course, she couldn't know whether Anelli had seen her greeting.