“He’s not getting up.”

William didn’t wake up suddenly without any warning signs. Shiod said that sometimes dragons did that because William didn’t want to wake up on his own. He would wake up after finishing what he needed to do in the dream.

“Why on earth isn’t he waking up? Isn’t there any way to wake him up?”
“There’s no other way but to wake up on his own.”

Grenavir, knowing that he could only hear the same response, asked repeatedly,

“Really? He won’t wake up forever, will he?”

“…….”

“Why no response?”

Shiod sighed and changed the subject.

“How about letting Larisa’s voice be heard?”

Grenavir hesitated and said,

“Sure. That might be a good idea.”

In the room where Grenavir disappeared with teleportation, Shiod was looking down at his son. William, who was dreaming, had a peaceful expression.

Shiod’s mother never woke up from the dream until she gave birth to him and fell asleep to die. Dragons usually faced death in that way. Shiod didn’t mention it because he was afraid Grenavir might have a seizure if he knew about it.

“What kind of nice dream are you having? Is that why you don’t want to wake up?”

Shiod asked, but William still didn’t answer. Soon, Grenavir appeared holding Larisa.

“Oh, Mother…”

Larisa had a frightened look on her face. Grenavir comforted Larisa gently and said,

“It’s okay. William is just sleeping. Would you like to try waking him up, Larisa?”

“Me?”

“Just talk to him. Say anything.”

Grenavir put Larisa down. She approached the bed and called William.

“William…”

Shiod didn’t think this method would be effective. He just didn’t want to see Grenavir helpless.
However, surprisingly, it had an effect.

“William!”

William slowly opened his eyes. Grenavir quickly approached William.

“Are you awake?”

“…Larisa.”

“Larisa is here.”

Grenavir even placed Larisa into William’s bed. After taking a deep breath, William sat up from the bed.

Even in the midst of this, William asked while making sure Larisa didn’t fall off the bed.

“Why are you all here?”

“You’ve been asleep for three days.”

“What?”

It was unbelievable. Last time, he lived ten years in a dream overnight, and this time only about a month had passed. Was it because it was a dream?

Grenavir said with a relieved voice,

“Larisa woke you up. Thankfully.”

Worried that Larisa might be concerned about William not waking up, Grenavir had lied to Larisa that William was at the estate. Now that he finally revealed the truth and brought her, he thought he should have done this earlier.

Contrary to Grenavir’s thoughts, William answered with a innocent face.

“It must have been a coincidence.”

He vaguely knew the way to wake up from a dream. Stabbing the heart. He had postponed it because he wanted to stay by Larisa’s side until the end.

Young Larisa asked carefully,

“William… why did you sleep so much?”

William had no words to say, so he just smiled.

“Yeah, I guess.”

While William washed his face, he tried to find excuses.

“I guess I was just a bit tired.”
“Don’t overdo it… William doesn’t like it when I’m hurt.”

William tightly embraced Larisa. Fortunately, he could smile. William casually smiled and said,

“It’s not that I’m hurt; I just took a nap. Were you worried?”

“No, I thought William had gone to the estate, but it turns out he’s been sleeping all along, so I was surprised.”

“Good job, Mother.”

It would have been better if Larisa had kept not knowing at all.

“Did you have a dream?”

William nodded in response to Grenavir’s question. He would ask about the dream, right? There might be a gap between reality and dreams, so they should share their stories.

Right now, he was too tired. With a weary voice, William said,

“Can you leave me alone for a moment?”

Holding Larisa, Siod pushed Grenavir’s back. In the room where everyone left, William quietly began to sob. For a long time.