A Famous Traitor and Treacherous Genius

279 – The Golden Disaster, the Great Depression (9)

I dream.

On a white sandy beach with a golden sunset, I close my eyes, laying my head on a place that is warmer than any pillow.

There is a dark shadow in front of the eyes.

“I think I fell asleep, Ass…”

The shadow is a curve so familiar to me-

“It’s a dream.”

For a moment, I forgot the boundary between dreams and reality.

“Excuse me, princess.”

“Hmm.”

As I raise her body, she puffs out her cheeks towards me, something so familiar to me but now a bit foreign.

“That’s right. Does this mean that there is now a difference from the princess in real life and we can tell them apart?”

The princess puts her hand on her chest and looks at me intently.

“If you liked it so big, why did you marry me?”

“Didn’t we meet in a state where growth was already halfway done before we raised them?”

“Oh my, is it my fault?”

“That’s why it was a keyword.”

“Ha, really.”

The princess slowly gets up.

“So, did your date go well?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for the princess’s help, she would have really run over her.”

This is a world colored with silver.

Because it is a dream, I can meet the princess for a moment and solve my personal problems.

“So are you going to attack me?”

“Wasn’t it already attacked?”

“Oh my, what a shame. I could have done it one more time if I hadn’t noticed.”

“I can do it one more time, but it’s a bit much to do against the princess in my dreams.”

“Am I just a tool to solve your needs?”

“That’s the way it is.”

The princess giggles and begins to walk leisurely on her white sandy beach.

“Well, it’s not wrong. In her reality, she and I are already very different.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you, her, me, and her are both ‘Astasia’.”

“Really? Hmm, I guess so. Maybe it could be completely different.”

The princess spread her arms and turned her body towards me.

“I have never had a child. But in reality, against Astasia now…”

“To do that, I will kill the emperor.”

Commonalities between past and present.

“You didn’t want children, and Astasia didn’t want children either.”

Astasia von Tersian is not infertile.

However, she voluntarily refused to have a child, and continued for seven years because it was ‘difficult to have a child’.

“Hapsburg von Tersian endured for seven years. What is it like now?”

“She might be sooner than that, because in her real life, your relationship with her already started when she was 13.”

“I was a minor.”

“We have had such a strong relationship, and the situation has changed a lot. Will it be easy?”

“It won’t be easy.”

They met when she was 17, and they became lovers when she was 20, and they remained childless until she was 27, when she was executed.

What about now?

We met when we were 13, and we planned to get married when we were 20.

If being executed 10 years after their first meeting is the order of the day, the emperor will become suspicious of Astasia if she does not give birth to a child by the age of 23.

The reason why the emperor began to worry about her descendants was because Astasia gradually got older and did not give birth to a child even after passing the ‘physical age for giving birth to the most perfect child’according to the emperor’s standards . ＞

“I won’t be able to hold on for as long as I say, ‘I have no intention of hurting Astasia’ or ‘I want to enjoy more time with my lover.'”

“That’s right. I’ve already tried it.”

“The emperor will be suspicious.”

“Perhaps even before the regression, he tried not to have children. Maybe that was the trigger for the regression. Well, the details are very different!”

The princess smiled.

“Then, in order to change from the past, I guess I should kill the emperor?”

“Of course.”

“Even though he is the one who can pave the way for you?”

“The path the emperor wants and the path I want to take are different.”

I held the princess’ hand

“I don’t need a crown prince or the next emperor. Even if you don’t belong to Gibraltar, it’s okay if just you can walk next to me holding hands.”

“Hmm…”

“What I wanted to walk, as always, is the path I walk with you.”

“The real Astasia should have heard those words.”

After the princess held my hand for a moment, she lightly tapped her hand against my chest.

“Well then, my prince. It’s time to wake up from your dream.”

“Already?”

“Hehe. You have something to do, right?”

“Haa…”

For a while, I had a happy time dreaming.

“Time here flows differently from reality, so I hope it lasts forever…”

“In the end, it is a dream, and at the same time it is the past. As you live in the present, you have something to do.”

A shadow is cast.

As always, the red wind blows and covers the world.

This red trace is probably the blood that still remains in my memory.

Astasia von Tersian, the memory of the blood that was scattered at the moment the princess died before her return

“I have to wake up from my dream.”

“Just 5 more minutes, I want to sleep.”

“Too many things are happening in reality right now for that to happen.”

The princess waves her hand at me in a red storm of shadows.

“I guess an accident happened again today.”

“Ha…”

“A new accident this time. Another accident that never happened in the past.”

The princess puts her hand to her ear and pricks up her ear.

“I am your subconscious, the one who reminds you of reality. I am the one who opens your ears even while you sleep and tells you what I secretly hear what others are saying.”

The reason the Silver Princess knows what is happening in the present is because she is aware of a part of reality even while she is sleeping.

“Looks like my subordinates are worrying beyond the door. Should I wake them up or not?”

“…Princess.”

I approached the princess and kissed the back of her hand.

“When we meet again, I will come to ask your child’s name.”

“Oh my, are you asking me?”

“Because you deserve it.”

“Please discuss such matters with the princess in real life.”

Pair.

“It’s time to wake up, Sleepy Prince.”

* * *

“…”

It happened.

As always, every time I wake up from a dream, I wake up feeling refreshed and uncomfortable in many ways.

“…”

As always, I quickly get out of bed and head to the shower room.

Although it is my room in Gibraltar Castle, thanks to the early introduction of imperial magic engineering facilities, my room has a place where I can lightly wash my body without having to go out.

Shoot.

As always, wash off your body quickly.

While sleeping, the body wipes away waste products, puts sweaty, wet clothes in a basket, and uses a magic tool containing cleaning magic to perform primary purification and wipe the clothes clean.

Rattling.

And open the window to ventilate.

The scent of silver that was filling the room quickly goes out, and the cool Gibraltar air seeps into the room.

It’s probably about 4 a.M. And the whole world is dark, but after just an hour or two, daylight will slowly appear.

What’s the point of waking up in a hurry this early in the morning, changing clothes and washing up?

The problem may simply be that Astasia was too attractive.

There is no particular problem.

There is no need to feel ashamed, because it is a phenomenon that all men experience.

Just.

“Sir Robert. What’s going on?”

[Uh, um…]

Sir Robert, waiting outside the door of my room, cleared his throat.

[Can I come in, master?]

“If it’s not something to report in person, is it okay to do it outside?”

[That’s true…But the case is a bit unique and new.]

“New case?”

[Yes. Well, what should I say? Um…]

Robert tended to have difficulty speaking, but soon cleared his throat as if he had decided on something.

[There have been reports that people who are drunk on false gold have fallen into a state of suspended animation. No, I’m not sure if this should be considered a suspended state…]

“…?”

[I drank false gold.]

“…?”

You drank that?

“What do you mean?”

[It is said that he drank the gold immediately after killing the Golden Knight.]

“No, why?”

[I don’t know either. It is still under investigation, but according to the initial investigation, after killing the Golden Knight, he drank it to avoid losing the false gold in the distribution issue.]

“…Drink that?”

This hasn’t happened even once in two months.

Drinking gold in the first place was incomprehensible, and it was even more incomprehensible given that the state before solidifying the gold was the liquid that made up the body of the undead.

Isn’t that no different from drinking the blood of a corpse?

[Yes. It is said that he then fell asleep as if he was in a dream and did not want to wake up. Even if someone touches him or tries to wake him up, he shows lethargy and appears to be hallucinating.]

“…?”

What about white?

“…Sir Robert.”

[Yes, master.]

“I’ll have it ready in 10 minutes.”

I woke up from a sweet dream, but it seems that other people are unable to wake up from their sweet dreams.

* * *

1 hour later.

I arrived at the border heading to the County of Sirene with the knights.

“Are you here, master?”

“Thank you for your hard work, Sir Carlos.”

When I arrived by bike, a temporary tent similar to a field hospital had already been set up, and a young man was fast asleep inside the tent.

“This is…”

“The victim… Is William Taille, a mid-level knight from the County of Sirene.”

“…”

It’s a familiar name.

Before returning, he was a member of the revolutionary army that caused terrorism by riding a bike and shooting a crossbow with the princess of a fallen country.

Although he hasn’t really seen the light of day, he is a hero of late-life plastic surgery who I think will become a master level in middle age when he gets a little older.

It can be said that it is currently being carved from a rough stone.

“Do you know someone?”

“You’re a knight belonging to the Count of Sirene, right? You say you’re from…”

“I was kicked out a while ago. But…”

“Either they say they were exiled and are hunting the golden knight, or they were really exiled and started chasing gold.”

“I will have to ask the Count of Sirene for more details, but I don’t think it will have much effect.”

“I guess so. Either way, as the Count of Sirene, I don’t want to get involved. Rather… “

I pointed to something golden covering Knight William’s face.

“Who made it like that?”

“I don’t know. It happened while I was away for a while.”

“…”

A golden covering that appears to cover the nose and mouth.

Gold connected to the top of the cover, covering the eyes like glasses.

It even covers the ears.

It was like a torture mask meant to block four of the five human senses: sight, hearing, smell, and taste.

Or something…

“Little, dragon?”

“Yes?”

“No. It’s just… That’s how I feel.”

It looks like a dragon the size of covering its face is curled up with its wings spread out to cover its eyes, its ears covered with the tips of its wings, and its nose and mouth covered with the lower part of its body.

It was an indeterminate liquid that had hardened into gold, so it was impossible to say for sure.

And of course, Gibraltar has never made a mask like this.

If I did make it, I would have made it with a more sophisticated design, but I didn’t make something like this kind of metaphysical ceremonial mask.

“…”

I reached out toward the false gold with a hand wrapped in aura.

“Oh, master. It’s dangerous!”

“I know. That’s why I’m raising aurors and approaching.”

I don’t have any obligation to save you, but if I have to-

Mutter, mutter.

“…Huh?”

Just now, I heard something being said.

“…Huh.”

Underneath the golden mask, a voice that seemed to be whispering something was heard.

“Okay, master! For now-“

“Wait a minute. Does this guy seem to be talking in his sleep?”

It’s not a proper language, it’s a sound that sounds like someone mumbling something nonsense.

“…Die…Traitor…”

“…”

“Master. Shall I kill you?”

“No.”

I pushed Sir Carlos’s hand as he drew his sword and put his sword into its scabbard.

“Let’s listen a little more.”

For a moment, I got goosebumps.

“If you are really an assassin-“

“The traitor…Who ate the country…Syrene…”

“…?”

Sirene?

“I…The Knight of Gibraltar…William Tell…”

“…”

??