Story Title: Meeting in a Midday Dream
Source: Suddenly Became A Princess One Day [Novel], Volume 4, Book 14: The end of my 15th year and the start of my 17th.
Author: Plutus
Artist: Spoon
Disclaimer: Story and art are not ours, only the translations. Translations are not 100% accurate. Story title is made up.
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The next day, while alone in my room, I looked out of the window and tapped my finger. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, white flowers that were in full-bloom filled my field of vision.
Once I saw the flowers swaying in front of me, I suddenly regretted being here, but I didn't leave. In fact, I couldn't tell whether the reason I'm standing here was because of a momentary impulse, or a decision to finally end this agony after countless hesitations.
Maybe it was both, maybe it was neither.
I walked in the flower garden for a while, thinking that it didn't matter. If I see someone that I've met before here, it's okay. If I don't get to see anyone this time, it's also okay. Yes, the truth is this is all sophistry, too. But what can I do if I don't even know how I feel?
Then, after a while, when I turned around, I could see him before me like a lie. The low wind slightly disheveled his neat silver hair. His golden eyes, like a handful of sunshine, opened a little wide and held mine from afar.
"...am I dreaming now?"
Ezekiel looked at me and whispered as if he couldn't believe I'm here now.
I had seen him for a moment when I went to Jeanette at the Alpheus mansion, but this will be the first time he'd seen me since Claude's last birthday banquet. He might have just heard of my return to the Imperial Capital after I went missing, so I understood why he looked doubtful of my presence.
"Or is it an illusion created by my wishes?"
The place that we're standing in now was the white flower fields where Ezekiel hid me when I was teleported to the Alpheus mansion because of Lucas' mischief.
As I averted my eyes, I caught a glimpse of his arm with a folded sleeve. Somehow, his left arm was carefully wrapped in white bandages, from his elbow down to his wrist. That injury was probably why Ezekiel and Jeanette couldn't attend my birthday ball yesterday.
"Is this a dream, an illusion..." Looking at him, I slowly spoke. "Or...."
Ezekiel's expression changed slightly as a quiet voice flowed out from my lips.
"Is this real?" [1]
Was this the same face Pygmalion made when he saw Galatea, a sculpture, breathe after being blessed with life by a goddess? [2]
As if he had affirmed that I was neither a dream nor a fantasy when he heard me, Ezekiel began to stride forward, then came into a halt.
"I..."
My fingertips flinched at the sound of his voice, finally from a few steps away.
"I want to touch you."
His face had a pained look, and I couldn't say anything.
"But I don't know how to do that."
"......"
"Even now, I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, you'll disappear..."
A self-contradictory voice was pushed by the wind, glimmered and disappeared in my ear.
"I never thought I could have this kind of heartache."
What did I feel at that moment, when Ezekiel Alpheus, the hero in the book, whispered in such a passionate voice, as if confessing his feelings?
"Think of this meeting as just a midday dream."
I glanced at him for a moment before I silently spoke. The words that came out of me shifted his expression as if he was pierced by a sharp dagger.
"You just said this is real."
"Not from this moment on."
"Are you going to disappear in front of me again?"
He paused for a moment, as if suppressing something he couldn't bear, then finally let out a subdued voice.
"Why did you come see me today?"
I didn't answer.
"Is it not the same reason I am here now?"
The petals, like snowflakes, gently fluttered. I could only stare at him silently.
"If so, please allow me to touch you."
After a low whisper, Ezekiel stepped towards me. White petals and yellow-green blades of grass were swept by his legs, effusing a pale fragrance. A shadow soon fell before my eyes. Instead of the bandaged left arm, his right hand stretched out towards me.
And right when Ezekiel's fingertips touched me... Aah!
"Did I interrupt?"
A harsh voice suddenly dug into my eardrums. Before I knew it, I had returned to my room instead of the garden filled with the mixed scent of grass and flowers.
"It was so unpleasant, I couldn't take it anymore."
It was Lucas looking down at me with cold, sunken red eyes as I lay down on the sofa.
"Even if you say I'm interrupting, I'm not going to send you back to him."
I lay down and spread my hair on the sofa for a while, and then sat up and answered.
"No, good job."
I honestly don't know if I could've gotten out of that situation of my own will, so I could say that Lucas did a good job by bringing me here at the right time.
"Good job?"
"Yes."
Somehow, Lucas was tight-lipped at what I said. He didn't seem to like something, but I had nothing more to say.
I got up and brushed my disheveled hair with my hands. Then I looked at the clock, it was 3 pm.
"Oh, did Lily come here by any chance?"
"She already left."
"She knew I wasn't here then."
Well, she must have thought I went to the Black Tower.
I kept on thinking about it for a moment, and soon I ended up muttering it casually.
"You know, living seems like a complicated thing to do, don't you think?"
Lucas said nothing.
I rose from my seat shaking off the scenery of the white flower field that came up unconsciously, with Ezekiel in it and the warmth that touched me for a brief moment.
"I should go see my dad. You can stay here a little longer or leave, do whatever you want."
Lucas said nothing again, but this time, I didn't expect an answer either, so I left the room without waiting for words to follow.
It was the early summer of my 15th year, when I felt like I had already seen the last page, even though I had just started to turn the first page over.
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Annotations:
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[1] We believe Athy said this line. This is how the conversation went:
Ezekiel: ...am I dreaming now? Or is it an illusion created by my wishes?
Athy: Is this a dream, an illusion, or... is this real?
Ezekiel: I... I want to touch you, but I don't know how to do that.
Athy: ...
Ezekiel: Even now, I'm afraid that if I close my eyes, you'll disappear... I never thought I could have this kind of heartache.
Athy: Think of this meeting as just a midday dream.
Ezekiel: You just said this is real.
Athy: Not from this moment on.
Ezekiel: Are you going to disappear in front of me again? Why did you come see me today?
Athy: ...
Ezekiel: Is it not the same reason I am here now? If so, please allow me to touch you.
DUN DUN DUNNN...
[2] Pygmalion and Galatea.
This is a story in Greek Mythology. Pygmalion made a sculpture of the perfect woman in his eyes and fell in love with it. He names it Galatea. Aphrodite took pity on him and gave life to her...