Just Hold My Hand

It looked like Sonidor was simply asleep, but she was now diligently searching for Marmel’s consciousness.
In order to enter his dream, it was necessary to connect her consciousness with his.

‘What?‘ 

She found it sooner than she thought.
She had initially guessed that the consciousness of a person who had fallen asleep forever would be more difficult to find.
She found a huge, black mass, swaying as if it were calling out to her.
His thoughts wandering around also swayed, as if resonating with the black mass of consciousness.
‘Is that the prince’s consciousness?‘ Sonidor stretched out and quickly intertwined herself with the mass.
She was surprised that there was no resistance. 

The Crown Prince had such a pristine appearance on the outside, but his consciousness appeared to be a clear black, so Sonidor became a little reluctant as it had been a while since she had seen such an opaque colour.
Usually, the colour of someone’s consciousness is translucent or mixed with several colours – however this was a very clear black, so she had a bad feeling but quickly shook it off.
The risk of a real crisis happening would increase if she thought it was somehow dangerous while in the dream.
She had to control her thoughts properly.

‘Weather.
Let’s do…the morning of a clear autumn day, without a single cloud.’ 

Normally, night was better than day to dig into the depths of a client’s heart, but Sonidor didn’t want to take risks straight from the start.
First of all, the first attempt was just to figure out the dream – she needed to know what he usually dreamt about.
It was because there was a possibility that the Crown Prince did not actually look like himself in the dream.
It was really the worst case if she was in a very unknown place without knowing who the owner of the dream was. 

Sonidor opened her eyes, thinking she could find him right away.
A colourless landscape spread out in front of her.
She was probably in the woods as she saw dense trees, thick forests, and flowing streams.
Because dreams are usually reconstructed based on experience, Marmel had recreated the five senses he actually felt.
It felt even more vivid to her as a result.

However, this place was achromatic with just black and white all around.
There was no colour, so even though the weather was set to daytime, everything seemed dark. 

It was her first time hearing that His Highness the Crown Prince was colourblind.
Sonidor wondered and moved her legs.
At least, she tried to move them, but somehow she couldn’t free herself.
‘What?’ Looking down at her own body, she was momentarily speechless.
It was because it was the body of a snake that continued from her neck. 

She couldn’t believe it.
Originally, Sonidor had to be transformed into the person the owner of the dream most desperately wanted to see.
But a snake was what the Prince wanted to see the most right now? ‘Did he have any pet snakes that died?‘ She slithered across the grass and looked at the reflection of herself in a river, lamenting why she had to slither in the first place.
It seemed she was a small, white snake.
But she couldn’t tell if she was really white.
Because now she felt colourblind, what with the whole world losing its colour. 

There was no sound from the river.
There was no sound of insects chirping, or rustling leaves in the wind either.
She was in the woods, but far from hearing the sound of nature, she heard the hum of a woman singing.
The song that languished in her ears were lyric-less hums, and occasionally made a harsh, raspy sound.
If the song had a colour, it would be a dense and black one, like a clot of solidified tar.
Sonidor shook her head and tried to drown out her singing voice, but it was all to no avail. 

‘Her taste in songs is a bit…’ 

A black puddle started to form in the rather bright white river water.
The river water turned black in an instant.
When she lowered her head to the water’s edge at the metallic smell that suddenly lingered in her nose, things she’d never seen before began to appear in front of her eyes. 

At the bottom of the river was a human head.
Not just one in fact, but dozens or hundreds of heads – all spouting black water from their mouths and noses with their pupils grotesquely dilated. 

“HIIC!!!” 

‘Crazy!’ Quickly removing her head from the water of the river, she streaked through the forest as fast as she could.

‘Oh no.
Don’t panic.
Calm down.
Control your mind.
Yes, control your mind.
They were just stones that spit black water.
Stones.’  

At that moment, she saw a very huge dragon, not far away.
It must have been an imaginary dragon that was the size of a house, but strangely, it had no neck.
As the deformed dragon waggled its tail with its head cut off, dozens of trees fell at once and rolled across the ground.
It was Marmel, who stood in front of him holding up a shiny sword.
Even in a colourless world, his pure white hair reflected the sunlight and shone dazzlingly. 

It was a dream to slay a dragon.
Was the Prince, rumoured to be kind and gentle, dreaming of becoming a hero like any other ordinary boy? She had never spoken to him in real life, so she could only guess.
As Sonidor watched him quietly, Marmel slaughtered the dragon’s body with a single sword.
The headless dragon, split in two, rolled across the ground like the trees that had broken, spraying his dark blood everywhere.
The blood had gushed out like a fountain, staining every inch of its surroundings until it left the Prince’s body and the forest black. 

He brushed off the blood that soaked the blade.
He threw his head back and let out a long, empty laugh into the air.
The sky instantly turned the colour of twilight.
Red and black bloomed in Sonidor’s vision.
It was a sign she was awakening soon.

The Prince muttered softly to the headless dragon.
It was a low, decadent bass that made her whole body shiver. 

“Father.” 

The faint song grew more intense, and the sky began to break apart little by little.
A dazzling streak of white light leaked out from the cracks in the twilight sky that had split apart.
Little by little, the world, which had been entirely black, was coloured with white.
Feeling the change, the prince stared at the sky and then slowly turned his back.
The corners of his mouth twisted grotesquely as he found Sonidor. 

Between the pure white eyelashes that didn’t move at all, his shiny, black eyes looked directly at her.
Marmel, aiming his blade at her, lazily approached her as if he were a beast of prey approaching his next meal.
She was so scared she couldn’t even budge. 

‘The Prince is mad.
It’s very quiet too…’ 

The world completely collapsed and flashed white like a snowy field bathed in light.

She couldn’t come to her senses for a while because the colour-blindness she had temporarily experienced.
By the time she regained consciousness, she started to shed tears because of her sore eyes. 

Marmel’s consciousness, which had been tightly bound to hers, was completely lost to her. 

Gradually, her sense of reality returned.
When she felt the soft touch of the bed sheets on her cheeks, Sonidor was greatly relieved that she had come back – so much so that she was confused whether her flowing tears were due to pain, or relief. 

‘He was about to kill me.’ 

Sonidor, who was silent for a moment, spoke calmly. 

“Knight, please help me up.” 

She didn’t feel calm at all, but she didn’t want to make a fuss in front of Christian.
After signing the contract and taking on the request, shouldn’t she show a trustworthy appearance? In fact, she’d had dreams worse than this a few times.
She almost died many times, and actually died a few times, too.
To be honest, it was the first time she had such a bizarre dream, but it wasn’t surprising. 

As Sonidor continued to brainwash herself, Christian, who had been watching from the side-lines, carelessly touched her shoulder.
Then she felt so much pain that her tears, which had barely stopped, began to flow again.
Her resolve not to make a fuss was quickly shattered.
‘Argh, my tendons……!‘

“Kyaaak! My shoulder! You broke my shoulder!” 

“What? I just touched it.” 

“Will you be aware of your strength! Can’t you hold me properly?”

“I will give you a massage now.” 

He sighed and pressed his thumb against her shoulder.
Christian had been listening to Terry on ‘How to handle Sonidor’ throughout the journey to the Imperial Palace.
In summary, after using her ability, her body stiffened for a while, so he had to loosen it up, and if she used her ability more than twice in a row, she would sleep until the next day, so it’s better not to massage her.
Sometimes, there are times when she sleeps for longer than one day, and falls asleep at the level of fainting.
Since this request is a long-term one, it will cause a lot of grumbling in the future, so he had prepare something for her to eat in every time.
Even if he just took care of the food, half of what he needed to do was gone, so it was really simple. 

“My shoulder feels weird, isn’t it broken?” 

“Do your best.
The doctor will come by tomorrow, so bear with it until then.”

“Doctor?” 

“He was the first doctor to diagnose His Highness’ condition.
He will help you in the future.” 

Sonidor raised her eyebrows thinly as she recalled the Emperor’s credo*: to move most efficiently with the least number of people.
They really were doing well with the minimum number of people.

[*t/n: a statement of the beliefs or aims which guide someone’s actions.]

For some reason, she felt like she should pray for the doctor to rest in peace.
Doesn’t the minimum number of people mean, in other words, the minimum number of heads to be cut off? She twirled her wrists, that were still numb, as she sighed deeply.

Marmel had slaughtered the headless dragon and called it his father.
That empty voice did not disappear from her mind.
Was it an expression of his inner desire to kill his father, the Emperor? If that was true, Sonidor should have informed the Emperor immediately.
This is because everything that happened in the world of the dreams she entered were related to her client’s subconscious thoughts.
There was no such thing as a random dream. 

She pondered how to communicate what she saw. ‘Do you think His Highness has lost his mind? How long has he been like that? It seems that you will break the heavenly rules sooner or later, don’t you?‘ It seemed that no matter what she said, she would be caught and summarily executed on the spot. 

“Marmel…his name is as soft as a marshmallow….” 

How nice it would be if the dream melted sweetly the moment it caught on your tongue like a marshmallow.
As she lamented, Christian placed her piece of cake on the table next to her.
He was now faithfully following Terry’s ‘Handling of Sonidor’. 

“Oh my God.
Thank you for the food!”

She gave a short exclamation and quickly picked up the cake and cut it into small pieces with a fork and put it in her mouth.
It was all for this cute cake that she had to see that hideous dream.
It felt like she was being healed as it melted in her mouth.
She closed her eyes tightly and put on a happy look.

“So, how was it?” 

“The thick chocolate taste of the sponge cake is sweet, yet bitter.
The harmony of the ripe cherries and whipped cream is amazing! Plus, it’s so moist that it melts the moment it touches your tongue, like cotton candy.
Hey, as expected, even if the Imperial family chef is on a different level, it tastes much better…”

“Who asked about that? I’m asking if His Highness is doing well.” 

‘Then why didn’t you ask that from the beginning?‘ Sonidor, who grumbled inwardly for a moment, rolled her eyes with an embarrassed face.
She glanced over at the sleeping Prince.
He was still cursed, and looked like he was asleep in an ice palace.
His previous appearance covered in black blood was so strange that it was unimaginable to believe that all that had really happened. 

“If you ask how he is, he is fine.” 

Although, his dream world is truly insane.