I awoke from sleep, bolting upright with eyes wide open.

Startled, I tried to catch my breath when I felt a hand holding mine. Turning to the side, Sicar was looking at me with sleepy eyes.

I was utterly shocked at seeing Sicar holding my hand, likely due to the dream I just had of him kissing me. My face felt hot with embarrassment, thinking he must have seen the entire dream.

What would he think? That I liked him too much because I dreamt of kissing him? I quickly retorted.

“What, what?! You?!”

Sicar, with an indifferent expression, let go of my hand.

“I went in to see how scared you were dreaming about that closet again. But your fear was so strong I couldn’t pull you out of the closet. You need to overcome it to escape that nightmare.”

So, it was Sicar who came into my dream?

“You, you can enter dreams?”

“While I can’t summon spirits, I can control existing ones. If a dream spirit causes you to dream, I can intrude into others’ memories through it. Of course, not all Citar people can control all spirits, as you know.”

Of course, I know that. But that’s not the important thing now!

“Then, was it you who kissed me?!”

“You wouldn’t overcome your fear and come out of the closet, so I had no other choice. If I continue to kiss you, that dream will gradually turn into a pleasant memory.”

Huh? It feels more like a nightmare. He can’t think he turned someone else’s nightmare into a worse one, can he?

“Especially for someone like you who dreams full of fear, it’s harder to get away from the nightmare spirit. Until you overcome that dream, I plan to continue kissing you in your dreams. Then, it will remain as a beautiful and pleasant memory.”

Sicar believed that by kissing me, my nightmares would become beautiful and pleasant memories and no longer nightmares.

This is entirely his idea?! I need to emphasize again, this guy is definitely crazy.

“Isn’t there another way?”

Sicar, with a sly smile, shook his head.

“Are you that embarrassed? Your face is redder than a ripe strawberry. Don’t enjoy it too much. It’s just a dream. Not reality.”

Do, does it look like I’m enjoying it?

Although Sicar said it wasn’t real, the sensation of the kiss felt real. So, I was so shocked that I woke up from sleep.

“Looks like that dreamcatcher. I’ll have to make another one. It seems you need it as well as Kian.”

If it worked, I would have already hung one.

“But, that doesn’t work. It’s a superstition.”

“Then why did you make one for Kian?”

“Kian’s a child. I thought it would help if he believed in a dreamcatcher that protects him from nightmares. It might be a symbol of hope.”

“Your words make sense. So, I’ll have to continue going into your dreams.”

“Are you… going to… kiss me…?”

“I’m going to get rid of your nightmares, but you think I’m going to kiss you. Naughty kid.”

“Wh, who’s naughty?!”

“Your face is flushing again. You’re really naughty.”

He kisses me and then calls me naughty!

Is this perhaps a delusion genre? The villain deluding themselves, something like that?

No. It definitely wasn’t. This was a very intense royal succession novel!

“By the way, I saw in your memory yesterday, you suggested origami?”

“Kian likes that play, so I did.”

“The main character playing with origami. It’s pathetic.”

From Sicar’s point of view, he might think so. He lost his parents at a younger age and had to attend the Duke’s successor classes.

So he couldn’t even learn the usual playful lessons that noble children do, and he couldn’t go to the Royal Academy either.

“Our goal is to raise young Kian emotionally bright, just like other normal children. And origami is what I’m good at. I’m confident!”

“I need to see what kind of play is suitable for children.”

Sicar said, holding my hand and concentrating.

“Origami wouldn’t be difficult, and the straw doll play doesn’t look bad.”

“I’m planning to play that when Kian gets a little older. It’s good for intellectual development.”

“Does highly intelligent Kian need to learn such a thing?”

“This is good for emotional intelligence. From this period, Kian’s emotional intelligence was not good. He grew up too lonely.”

I regretted having said that far. He was a character who grew up even more lonely than the protagonist. So he never gave his heart to anyone, never even smiled, and was a thoroughly lonely character.

Fortunately, I glanced at Sicar, but he was only focusing on reading my memories.

Sicar, who was holding my hand, frowned as if he did not like something.

“By the way, I think I told you to look at the roses outside the window every morning when you wake up, but you haven’t been keeping it lately?”

Am I some novel character? To calm my mind by looking at roses every day! That’s a setting dealt with in novels to show the protagonist’s stubbornness and perseverance to readers!

Anyway, so I made an excuse that I did not eat.

“I think I’ve become a bit haughty now….”

As expected, it did not work. Sicar did not let go of my hand he was holding and made me stand up abruptly.