Luca woke up in the middle of his deep sleep. Not because he had a nightmare. Though, the same couldn’t be said for the person next to him.
Ren’s eyes were shut tightly, but his posture changed every few seconds. His hands grabbed onto the blanket tightly. Hiis brows were furrowed, and his frown was deep. Without warning, Ren woke up, breathing hard, only to turn and find the person next to him awake.
“Sorry for waking you up.” He muttered.
“Nightmare?” Luca asked.
Ren hesitated, before nodding.
Luca turned on the light. Ren’s face was pale, and his breaths came and went in short spurts. Luca ordered one of the invisible servants to get a cup of warm milk, and passed it to Ren. Ren looked torn between deciding to take it or not.
“Don’t worry it’s not poison.” Luca said, taking a small sip from the glass. “See?”
Ren still hesitated, but in the end took the glass. The warmth from the cup spread to Ren’s fingertips, bringing him back into the world of reality, but he was still dazed from the images he saw, real or not. Even after he left, they wouldn’t let him go, haunting him in his dreams.
Luca saw Ren’s panicked expression, and slowly patted Ren’s back. Ren was surprised by the sudden action, and almost instinctively pulled away. But he stopped himself, when he realized that Luca meant no harm. Besides, it didn’t feel entirely awful, to be comforted like this.
“When I used to be too scared to sleep, my mother used to comfort me like this too.” Luca suddenly said, breaking through the silence.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“It was silly, I know. But I got over the fear really fast once I realized I could dream myself hitting them with a cane.”
Ren almost spurted out the milk. Luca didn’t seem to notice and continued.
“They didn’t dare come after me then.” Luca said proudly.
Ren just looked at the other person incredulously. Was it really an accomplishment to beat imaginary creatures with something? Then as Ren thought more about it, couldn’t he do the same? Not beat them with cane, though that did sound entertaining. Ren could control his own dreams, he could control what he saw, and even if his mind wandered towards them, he had the power to control that scenario. Before Ren knew it, his emotions which were previously turbulent calmed down.
He completed the glass of milk and put it aside. After gathering his thoughts, he lay down, ready to face his dreams once again. His eyes strayed to Luca, who covered him with the blanket, and patted his head.
“If you can bravely face me, you can face anything.” Luca said.
“You’re the weirdest and least threatening one I’ve ever ran into.” Ren muttered, before finally closing his eyes.
Luca didn’t know if he should laugh or cry at the irony of that.
Strands of light peeked through the window. Luca’s eyelids fluttered open. He was about to get out of bed, when he found out he was pinned to the spot. Feeling trapped, he almost shoved the extra weight off of him, only to realize it was Ren who was on top of him. Luca calmed down, and tried to gently shift Ren to the space beside him. The child was surprisingly clingy in his sleep, and refused to budge.
Ren looked so defenseless in his sleep, it made Luca want to do something mischievous again. And so, pressed his mouth close to Ren’s ear and whispered, “Wake up.”
Ren shot up, and covered his left ear. He could still feel the warm air from Luca’s breath.
“Y-you! What was that for?!”
He then realized that he was sitting on top of Luca. That knocked all the tiredness and annoyance out of him, as he quickly scrambled off to the other side of the bed, as far away from Luca as possible.
Luca only smirked, and said, “Revenge.”
Ren rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like he could control his subconscious actions. This was only an excuse to tease him!
They both got out of bed. Luca went to his wardrobe, and pulled out a towel, and a change of clothes.
“You can wash up if you want.” Luca said, passing the things to Ren. Ren silently took it, and walked through the bathroom door, and slammed it shut before Luca could do or say anything else.
‘Rude!’ Luca thought. This child really wanted to get rid of him.
Luca lay on his back and idled in his bed, feeling rather bored. When he woke up from his decade long nap a few years ago, he was quite interested in seeing how the world had advanced. However, after catching up to this era, he already felt weary and bored. Now he found an interesting little one, his remaining years should be eventful. But it seemed that this little one was a bit unsociable.
Luca didn’t know what he was doing, bringing someone that would probably kill him into his house, but the kid’s reactions were so amusing, he might as well keep him around. Luca never imagined he would be so carefree when facing death, but he felt a bit relieved.
Ren showered in the bathroom. Warm water spilled over his body, as rubbed himself with lavender soap. It was the first time in a while he had felt so relaxed. When he planned his escape, he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes, or focus on anything else but getting out. He didn’t even have the luxury to worry about what would happen afterwards, much less plan it out, but somehow it all happened to work out.
His eyes strayed to the small mark on his chest. No matter how much he rubbed it, it never went away. It was imprinted into his skin. It was a mark of property. It infuriated him, but he knew it was a permanent mark. At least he was free of them now, even if he was kind of forced to stay at this manor until he healed.
He didn’t know if running into Luca was good or bad. What he said last night was true, that Luca didn’t seem threatening at all. But Ren was still suspicious, after all, who would bring a stranger into their house without any ulterior motives. But Ren couldn’t figure out what those motives could be. Though if Luca found out what he really was . . . Ren swore that it would never happen. Besides, this arrangement was temporary.
Ren got out of the shower. His bandages were wet, so he removed them, and examined the cuts on his body. Some of the angry red cuts had already started to scab. Whatever poultice the girl had applied on him worked really well. Maybe just in a few days he would be healed and able to leave.
Thanks for the chapter! ❤
thanks for the chapter <3