I Will Avoid The Death Flag [It's Published]
43. Insomniacs

Consultation and healing sessions with holy powers always end at five in the afternoon. It was the final after Viten ordered me not to use too much holy power. Just tell me he's paranoid, he says he's afraid I'll die if I use too much holy power.

How could I be dying from healing people, right? He's overreacting.

As for Cioten's matter, I've studied several journals given by Arcelio. However, it certainly takes a lot of processing to study dozens of journals as a reference to healing curses. So what I do every day is through the spotlight full of cold, mystery, and fear to calm the curse that enslaves in his body.

Then the matter of Etrill and Kallistar, I have submitted a request letter to Viten to ease their sentence so that both of them have now come out of the dungeon after receiving a hundred lashes each. And thank God now both are recovering from the whip. I mean, I don't have to deal with them right now. I was also still upset that they had actually arrived at an inopportune time.

I haven't seen Axel in a long time either. The boy seemed to have lost track of him after I punished Clare by sending her to the afterlife. However, one letter from Krone was able to calm my worries. It was the invitation of Young Master Krone's birthday party at his twentieth.

I remember how we first met and listened to the rumors about Axel. He was nineteen, just like Serethy, but he was ahead of me and would be twenty in a few days.

Now, the troublemaker young master even had his own influence as a future Marquis for no longer troublemaking. I'm proud of him.

I was just about to reply to Axel's letter when my room was forcibly opened at eight p.m. I'm trying to understand what that shameless bastard did.

"What's up, Your Majesty? Why did you come so far"

I couldn't finish my sentence because Viten immediately charged at me and hugged me tightly.

I almost had trouble breathing if Viten didn't relax his embrace.

But that's not the problem. The problem is that Viten hugged me with a vibrating body, a new experience for me that continues to see Viten in a steadfast condition.

Viten always looked tough and psychopathic in my eyes, but apparently both sister and sister both kept a fragile side in the deepest corners of the heart. Reluctant to examine it, as if showing off a piece of wound is a taboo.

I stroked his back slowly. In the end, I let Viten cry on my shoulder with his body shaking violently.

"It's okay, Your Majesty."

I'm not telling this big man to stop crying because crying is a human thing. Crying is one way to humanize a human being, the only way to express a whack wound that does not know its solace, the only way to escape from the angular circle of pain. That's a normal thing. It does not matter if the crying is an adult or toddler, both are equally human, fragile, need a hug.

"Fear."

Now, he whines at me like a baby.

I carved a smile. When he is like this, Viten is not like a psychopath who torments Serethy in the novel, but rather a fragile man who needs a hug to calm him down.

"It's okay, Your Honor. I'm here, don't be afraid anymore."

Viten finally pulled away from me. And how messy that handsome face is right now. Viten has thick black eye bags, as if he can never fall asleep. Then tears drip past the firm cheeks and jaw. Then, his black hair was now sticking out everywhere. Well, look at it from any side, Viten is super fucked.

I stretched out my finger, confirming some hair sticking out of his head.

"Is Your Majesty pleased to tell me?" I asked gently, a smile on my lips to calm down, then a warm look that showed that I would not judge him half-heartedly like most people who surround a King.

Viten slowly nodded. He did not move from his place, but instead placed his head on my thigh.

I exhaled slowly, then stroked her black hair. Surprisingly, the strands of hair felt so soft, almost like silk. So that it even provides its own comfort for me to caress it.

"So, Your Majesty. Do you want to talk now? I'll wait until you're ready to talk."

I felt Viten's head on my thigh.

"I have been unable to sleep for the past two weeks" chimpanzee Viten said in a soft voice, almost as if he was whispering in the wind.

"Have you checked with the doctor?"

"Yes, I said I was insomnia."

Oh? I also suffered the same thing before I became Serethy. That's what sleeping pills are always for on my desk nightstand. So, I was more or less able to understand Viten's condition and situation. Conditions where I couldn't sleep every night, but my body screamed and told me to sleep. It's torturous, really.

My fingers did not stop to caress the strands of her hair, as if the brainpower could make Viten feel a little calm.

"It seems, Your Majesty is bothered by something? Am I right?"

"true."

"Are you willing to talk to me about it?"

"It happened two weeks ago." Viten took her breath. "I'm dreaming."

Pause.

"It was a scary dream." Her hand in my nightgown strengthened, but had no intention of hurting. "It was so scary that I was afraid to sleep. I was scared to death. I was afraid that if I slept, then all I went through was that hell again.

"It was a dream, but it felt very real. In the dream, there was another me, then there was another you. Viten in my dreams, tortured Serethy in my dreams. The same dream repeated dozens of times until I was fed up. I'm sick of Serethy's blood, I'm sick of the garbage conversation in my dreams, I'm sick of all the torment that Viten gave Serethy, I'm sick of hearing Serethy screaming in pain."

I stiffened. Is that ... scenes in the novel? In any case, Viten in front of me had never tortured me once-excluding torture mentally. So, the thing that was left in my mind when I heard that Viten in the torturous dream of Serethy was a scene shot in the original novel.

But why all of a sudden? Why did Viten suddenly dream of a scene in a novel that wasn't supposed to happen? Is Serethy's true destiny to be persecuted like the sentence on a novel?

"Although I can feel what I did in the dream," continued Viten in a choked voice. "I can't control my body. It was as if something was tearing me apart, trapping me, holding me back so that I wouldn't mess up the dream path. As if I wanted to be tormented by the sound of your pain begging me to stop."

Without me knowing, my body shook. My finger stroking her hair stopped a quarter of the way.

Goddamn bum. I freaked.

No, relax, Serethy. Where maybe the fate that I have worked so hard to change cannot be accepted by a powerful stroke. Not likely.

Wouldn't it be fair if Serethy was destined to be persecuted and die? It was such a bad fate that I naturally wanted to change it. So, for what purpose did the dream come and haunt Viten? As if I didn't deserve to live a peaceful life.

"Your Majesty," call me, desperately holding back the vibrations in my delicate vowels. "It's okay."

Yeah, it's okay. It was just a dream. It's not a sign that destiny is completely against everything I do. Its alright.

"It's okay, Your Honor. There's me. I'm here, healthy and happy. And it's all because of you. Dreams are just dreams. They can't interfere in real life, so calm your mind."

Viten must have felt tormented for the past two weeks. He dreamed of things he did not do, then at the same time his beloved mother left him, even Cioten who was not fine from his curse. Viten's mentality must have been shaken up a lot.

But I salute him. He could really fight to stay alive despite the unstoppable agony. He lived without complaining about everything, though at the bottom of his heart he cried out a stifling torment. This guy is absolutely amazing.

I stroked her hair back.

"Your Majesty must have had trouble sleeping all this time. His Majesty must also feel extremely tormented. However, His Majesty has fought very hard. Your Majesty has survived and it's been amazing." I reviewed the smile on my lips even though Viten who was still laying his head on my thighs could not see it. "Your Majesty must be tired. Please rest."

"Goddess of the Sun, give peace of mind to your poor son" I murmured, closing my eyes. "Lantas, accept my soul in your great recess."

...***...

When I opened my eyes, I was in a place I hadn't been for a long time.

Nebula, home of the gods and goddesses. More precisely in the Castle of the Sun, Angelina is right.

I made a request to Angelina to visit her place just now.

"Serethy."

I sat down with Angelina's golden bead. Her white dress still looks elegant, the crown-like decoration on her head still shows the dignity of the goddess, and how the way Angelina smiles makes the heart feel calm.

"Sit down." Angelina invited me to sit on the sofa in front of her.

I complied and sat down before him, limited only by a tiny round table. On the table, two cups of tea are provided that still reflects thin smoke.

"I know the purpose of your arrival," Angelina said as she lifted the teacup, then sipped it slowly.

"Yes, Goddess. I've come to you about Your Majesty's dreams."

Angelina commented on the thin smile on her lips as we again exchanged glances. "You're a good woman, the right woman to marry Viten."

I smiled stiffly. Why is she carrying around the matter of getting married in front of me?

"Viten dreams of the past" Angelina continued.

"Past time, Goddess?"

A past? Isn't that a dream a scene in a novel? No, does Angelina even know that this world was created from a novel?

Angelina nodded her head. "Serethy, this is a big secret, but I will reveal it in part. To be honest, time has repeated when you became Serethy."

"Yes?"

Whatisthis? This is completely new information to me. I had no idea what it meant, but tried to listen.

"Actually, the real Serethy had gone through his life in the Kingdom of Asher as a prisoner of war and slave to the torments of Viten and Clare before you arrived. By the time Serethy dies, time repeats itself and you finally occupy Serethy's body. Then, you can change Serethy's unfortunate fate."

"So, Goddess, actually the real Serethy once lived in this body and got torment from His Majesty?"

Angelina nodded her head. "That's right. Only, when time repeats itself, of course everyone's memory will be erased. However, a special case for Viten who regained his memory through a dream."

I bite my lips.

So it's like that. The reason why Viten could not control his body when he tortured Serethy, when he was joined in a conversation that was considered rubbish, when he heard Serethy screaming. It's all Viten's past. The things that Viten had gone through before time were repeated. And all of that can't be changed.

"Who turns the clock? Did Serethy do it?"

Angelina seemed hesitant to reply, "I can't say. However, it is the power of the gods and goddesses that makes time repeat itself, Serethy."

I exhaled. At least by looking at Angelina's hesitation when answering, I could tell that it was the real Serethy who had turned the clock around.

However, after time had repeated itself, he should have been able to start over and write a new destiny. Why did he give up his body to me?

"Ah, yes, Goddess. If Your Majesty gets his memory back, why don't the others?"

The memory that Sir Derick and Axel had certainly had a lot of influence in the original story, so I was quite astonished why they were not caught recalling their past memories. But what exactly can all this still be said to be just a novel again? The groove had clearly gone so far that I did not use the groove inside the novel as a benchmark at all.

Angelina carved a soothing smile on her lips. "Don't I tell you? The Viten case is quite special. However, I have some guesses as to why Viten got his memory back, Serethy."

"I beg you, tell me, Goddess."

"Do you know the situation in the Nebula right now?" Angelina raised next to her eyebrows that were the color of a golden sheen. "We're making a strategy to fight the God of Death."

The God of Death again.

"To be honest, I already sealed the Death God hundreds of years ago. However, someone unsealed the Death God. It's Calmaria, making the seal weaken. Then, after Calmaria, many people tried to unseal by sending death offerings to the God of Death. War, torture, torture, murder. All of them were offered to the God of Death. So Nebula was busy. We're trying to figure out a way for the seal of the Death God to recover.

"For the true plan of the God of Death is to send sorrow on earth, making the earth a land of death that no one will track, making them subject to the power of death. Therefore, after obtaining some offerings, the power of the Death God finally gradually returned. Nebula will not remain silent. By allowing the God of Death to carry out his plan, the gods and goddesses lost. It was an embarrassing thing for us.

"And imagine when the power of death was given to the Royal Family, Serethy. First, curse Cioten. Second, torture Viten."

I clenched both my hands. Bastard. Just this time I heard there's a god asshole.

"If the God of Death succeeds in mastering the core power of a kingdom, then the God of Death can be said to be the winner" continued Angelina. "However, Serethy, take it easy. We will work on the subject of the gods. You just need to think about the Queen and how you should continue to be next to Viten to calm her down, she must be quite tormented."

"So, I don't have to worry about the situation in the Nebula?" my question, make sure.

Angelina nodded her head in return. "Yes, Serethy darling. Nebula business let the gods and goddesses take care of it. You only need to perform an important role as a saintess and a future Queen. And, isn't your problem growing too, Serethy? Etrill and Kallistar."

I exhaled my breath in annoyance. "You're right, Goddess. Etrill and Kallistar, I don't know what their true purpose is."

"You should be careful. The two were not easy opponents, especially those who ignored Serethy in the palace for thinking that Serethy was an illegitimate child."

I'm nodding. "All right, Goddess. Thank you for your enlightenment and answer."

"Yes, Serethy darling. Go back to your place with Viten. He needs you."

Angelina waved her hand. At first glance, a golden light filled my vision and when I opened my eyes, I was in my room again.

Viten is still lying with my thigh as his cushion. Slowly, I stroked her soft hair.

"A little more" I murmured. A little more process for me to become Queen, then everything will go well.

...***...

Is that really so? HAHAHAHS.

This is the scene I had hoped for even when I wrote chapter one, which is Viten who naro his head on Serethy's thigh! Aaaaac! I did not expect to be able to get through this scene which seems to take quite a long time.

December 18, 2022