C191: Dream camouflage (1)
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Rudger introduced himself as a royal.
Everyone was surprised by his words and was about to say something, but soon nodded their heads in agreement.
"Somehow it seems so."
"Uh, um, so am I. I have to say that I understand something."
"Me, too."
Rudger, who thought there would be a big reaction, felt a little weak in his shoulders when he saw the members agreeing surprisingly easily.
"I'm not surprised."
Alex replied indifferently to Rudger's appearance, which looked somewhat sullen.
"No, that's right, because considering leader 's usual appearance, it makes sense to say that he is a royal."
As Rudger's painstaking collection of people, the members of "U.N. Owen" have extraordinary abilities unlike others so they knew at once that Rudger was no longer an ordinary man.
"I easily guessed that a leader would be a hidden aristocrat in the first place."
"That's right. I thought that even if you don't say it, you would be at least a great nobleman."
"Well, it was a little surprising that the boss was a royal."
Rudger decided to think positively about the appearance of his colleagues who immediately agreed.
"Then the story will be easier. I was born into a royal family but I was just an unwelcome being."
A word flashed across everyone's mind when he said "unwelcomed".
Rudger was the king's illegitimate child.
"If it was an ordinary illegitimate child, I could live as if I were dead. My only fault is that I wasn't normal."
No one could refute even though he seemed arrogant because they knew Rudger's abilities better than anyone else.
"People who saw me as dangerous tried to kill me all the time so as not to lose their seats."
The most representative of the methods was poisoning.
Belaruna murmured something bewildered.
"Then the reason boss was so resistant and well versed in poison……."
"I don't know if it's because I've eaten too much since I was young, but I'm not affected anymore."
Of course, when he first took the poison, he was sick for days.
No matter how talented a person is, it is one thing to endure the poison that gnaws at the inside of the body. Still, Rudger survived without dying because of the power of God.
The gods did not want Rudger to die.
When Rudger was still inexperienced in dealing with power, the gods gave him protection and a curse.
All the toxins in his body decomposed and disappeared during the few days he was sick and his immune system became stronger and stronger.
Since then, years of poisoning attempts have made Rudger unaffected by any poison. It was a curse and a blessing at the same time, a miracle made by those who want to kill and those who want to save.
"Later, they tried to kill me in all sorts of ways because it wouldn't work with poison so I ran away to live."
"Then the fact that you kept using aliases……."
"Yeah. They kept trying to kill me even after I ran away because my existence itself bothers them."
The reason why people in high positions keep their position is simple. They never leave any danger behind and try to get rid of anything that bothers them at all costs.
Especially if the other person dies on the road, then it has nothing to do with them.
"One of the most memorable attempts was the attack of Calsapa Assassins."
"Ah."
At the words, Violetta realized why Rudger knew so much about the Calsapa Assassins.
He has been fighting with the Calsapa Assassins for a long time and learned with his body what they are like.
"Like that, I went around with my teacher, hiding my identity. As I saw it, I no longer had a pursuer."
But Rudger knew that the moment they find out who he is, the pursuers will move again. That's why Rudger had to keep changing his name and identity.
He had to give up on his 'real' self to survive.
What Rudger was going through was nothing compared to simply insurmountable discrimination.
Rudger felt grateful for the way his colleagues looked at him with worried eyes. At least there was someone who really cared about him.
"So let me introduce myself again."
He didn't mind telling them his real name.
"My name is…."
* * *
When Rene opened her eyes, she saw the ceiling of the dormitory. After she got up she recalled the dream she had just had.
'I feel like I had a happy dream.'
In her dream she was young. It was a curious thing since she couldn't remember her childhood, but had a childhood dream.
In her dream, Rene played on the green meadow.
On the endless horizon where the blue sky and the green land met, the stars, wind, and light were beautiful.
Rene lived there for a long time and sometimes she looked up at the night sky with stars but she didn't feel lonely.
'Yes, I had a family. No, I think there was.'
In her dream, Rene had a family. She wasn't lonely because she had someone with her. However, she doesn't remember who it was. If it's a family, was it a mother or a dad? But she doesn't remember her parents.
The first memory Rene remembered was an old man with gray hair who told her to call him teacher. She doesn't remember where she lived, what she did, and who she was with before.
'And there were more people.'
In the dream, she was an ordinary girl who laughed and cried much more than now.
Sometimes when she fell while running, she shed tears and there was a boy of her age who reached out to her. She couldn't remember his face properly because it's blurry as if it's in the fog but she was sure they played together because she thought it was fun to play with him.
'And lastly…….'
She had an older brother.
She doesn't know if it's her brother or not. However, although he is old, she may have thought so because he was not an adult.
Of course she doesn't remember his face. However, she thought that the soft smile that he sometimes made while looking at her or the touch that patted her head was very warm.
'My heart aches.'
When she thought of him, one side of her chest hurt like a sore thumb.
'What's wrong with me?'
Rene didn't know much about herself. However, what was clear was that it was quite painful now.
'It's only a dream. Why?'
It was a confusion between dreams and reality and maybe this was not just an ordinary dream to see the scene she wanted.
What if it was all real?
'I don't know.'
Even now, she couldn't tell if this was a dream or reality.
Rene held her hand and opened it. The sensation felt vague in her hand as if it was floating in the air.
In fact, this was a dream, and when she fell asleep, she thought she opened her eyes again in reality. When she thought about that.
-I came here because I felt something strange but this is interesting.
At the sudden voice, Rene slowly turned her head.
Maybe it was because she was in a dreamy mood but Rene stared at her opponent with little surprise.
"Who?"
It was definitely her dormitory room where no one was supposed to be, but one person was there, a gray-haired girl with a subtle smile that is hard to understand.
"Ah, you are…."
What was the name again? Julia…
-Julia Plumhart.
That's right. It was that name.
She was a classmate who took Mr. Rudger's class with her. Above all, she had the highest grades in the admission exam, so there is no way Rene wouldn't know her.
"But how did you get here……."
-What? Are you curious about that? Hmm. I've actually been led by your dream.
"Dream?"
– Dream.
She was led by a dream. It's a hard word to understand. However, Rene vaguely remembered seeing something similar in the literature she had read before.
"Dream…… magic."
– You know it? That's cool. Usually, students don't know much about our dream school.
"I read it in a book."
-You studied hard, didn't you?
Rene laughed, as if she was happy to be praised for no reason.
"But… Why did you come to see me?"
-I told you, I came here for an interesting case.
"Interesting……case? Are you talking about me?"
– Yeah, you had a weird dream, didn't you?
"I think I did……."
– Hm. It's a secret that I'm a dream wizard, but since I saw something interesting, I'll explain it to you.
Julia said so and sat next to Rene but she didn't feel heavy.
Rene realized that Julia Plumhart in front of her was a kind of vision, not the real one and felt something strange.
She couldn't believe she was having a secret conversation with Julia since they never spoke to each other before and was also a little nervous.
– Now you are on the boundary between dream and reality. Maybe it's because your dream is very similar to reality.
Julia, who speaks softly in a pleasant voice, surprised Rene because she was so different from the image she showed in class.
– Why are you looking at me like that?
"Amazing."
-What's amazing?
"I didn't know you could talk this much."
-………Well, I understand that. Honestly, I don't talk to other people.
"Why…?"
-It's not fun.
Julia grumbled, as if she was complaining.
-Even if it's Theon, the level of students is too low and I don't want to mix with them.
"Uh, um…."
-But I kept watching quietly, and there were some interesting people. The kid who can use anti-magic and now…….
"Now……? Oh, you mean me?"
– Usually people dream, but it's very far from reality. However your dream is different. It's similar to reality, or in fact, it's closer to peeking into the past through dreams.
Julia Plumhart, who uses dream magic from the dream school, evaluated people through dreams. That's why she appeared in front of Rene.
She became interested in Rene's dream because it was so unique that it was rare in recent years.
"It's like a dream fairy coming here for a dream. Hehe."
-………I'm still thinking that I'm talking to you because I'm drunk.
Julia became interested in Rene. At first she thought she was just a commoner who wanted to stick with a powerful person since she was hanging out with the 3rd princess, however she felt the opposite when they talked in her dream. She was a child with some strange charm.
– Usually people don't like me when they see me.
"Why?"
-It must be because I'm always pointing out something and don't choose my words well.
However, Julia is aware of that part but won't change it even though she knows it. It was difficult to correct because of her birth and because she doesn't like to get involved with other people for no reason.
-Anyway, I'm talking about your dream, but it's probably not a dream.
"Not a dream?"
– Ordinary people's dreams are different from reality. You don't understand, but as a dreamwalker I can tell. The dream you had was a projection of reality rather than a dream. More specifically a projection of your past.
At the words, Rene felt strange as she was about to catch something.
"But I don't remember very well."
– Let's see, um…….
Julia reached out to Rene's forehead. Rene closed her eyes softly and opened them when Julia said, "That's enough."
-It's weird.
"What?"
– I can't see your dream. No, I can see it, but it's incredibly blurry.
That was something that Rene agreed with. She knew she did something and was with someone, but she couldn't tell exactly who it was.
-We Dreamwalkers can read the dreams that the other person has just dreamed, but if we can't see it, there's only one case.
"What's that?"
– Someone intentionally erased your dream, no, your memory.
"Huh? But why are you suddenly……."
-I don't know since when, but your blocked memories started leaking little by little recently.
Rene could not keep up with Julia's explanation.
Someone erased his memory? Why the hell?
However, there were parts that made sense. Her childhood, which she doesn't remember, was somewhat strange and it was only recently that she realized that.
'Come to think of it, even since I did the memory storming with Erendir…….'
She began to dream of this.
– Hm. That's interesting. I can't believe it's a memory seal.
"Can you open it?"
– No, I can't. It's not something I can touch.
Julia declared neatly and Rene felt depressed at her words.
-You don't have to be so depressed. You can't find the sealed memory right away, but knowing it is enough.
"How?"
– The dream you had. I can find the key to the seal of your memory in it. Think about it. Was there anything in your dream that you remember clearly?
At Julia's question, Rene thought a little and opened her mouth.
"Come to think of it, I don't remember the face, but there's a name that comes to mind."
-What name?
Rene thought about whether she could say this or not and put the name in her mouth.
"Heathcliff."
* * *
"My name is Heathcliff Van Bretus."
Everyone opened their eyes wide when Rudger said his name because there was only one place in the world where the name Bretus was used.
Home of the Lumensis Church, The holy kingdom, Bretus.
"Member of the royal family of the Holy Kingdom of Bretus, and blood relative of the Holy Emperor Bretus. That is me."