NOVPUBLudger introduced himself as royalty.
Everyone was shocked at first, about to say something—only to nod in agreement as if it made perfect sense.
“Huh? Somehow... I kind of expected that.”
“Y-Yeah. Same here. It kind of... fits, you know?”
“Me too.”
Ludger had expected a stronger reaction, so the way the members accepted it so readily left him feeling slightly deflated.
“You’re... not that surprised.”
Seeing Ludger’s somewhat downcast expression, Alex responded with an awkward shrug.
“Well, think about it. When you look at how you normally act, saying you’re royalty kind of makes sense.”
The members of his group were, fittingly, people Ludger had gathered with great care—they were unlike ordinary folks and possessed exceptional talents.
They had already realized long ago that Ludger was far from normal.
“To be honest, we figured at the very least you were some noble hiding your identity.”
“Yeah. I always thought you were at least a high noble. You know what I mean? That kind of... dignity? Like an aura of authority.”
“Still... it’s a bit surprising that you’re actually royalty.”
Seeing his comrades accept the revelation so readily, Ludger decided to take it as a good sign.
“Well, this should make things easier to explain. I was born into the royal family. But I wasn’t... welcome.”
The phrase “unwelcome royalty” triggered a single word in everyone’s minds.
Bastard.
Ludger was a blood relative of the king—a royal bastard.
“If I’d been just an ordinary bastard, I probably could’ve lived quietly in obscurity. But my only crime... was that I wasn’t ordinary.”
Despite the arrogance that might have come across in those words, no one refuted him.
They knew better than anyone just how capable Ludger was.
“People who saw me as a threat tried to kill me constantly, just to protect their own positions.”
The most frequent method, by far, had been poisoning.
Bellaruna mumbled in panic.
“Th-Then that’s why Boss is so resistant to poisons... and why you’re so knowledgeable about them...”
“I guess it’s because I ingested so much of it growing up... it just stopped affecting me after a while.”
Of course, the first time he was poisoned, he’d been bedridden for days.
No matter how talented a person may be, surviving toxins that eat away at the body from the inside was a whole different matter.
But Ludger survived.
It was thanks to divine power.
The gods had not wanted Ludger to die.
Back when Ludger’s control over his power was still immature, the gods had bestowed upon him both a blessing and a curse.
And while he lay sick in bed for days, all the toxins in his body were broken down and disappeared.
What took their place was an incredibly powerful immunity.
The repeated poisoning attempts over the years only served to mold his body into one that was impervious to any kind of toxin.
A curse—and a blessing.
A miracle born of those who tried to kill him, and those who wanted him to live.
“Eventually, when poison didn’t work, they tried every other method to kill me. So I ran. To stay alive.”
“So that’s why you’ve kept using aliases...”
“Yes. Even after I escaped, they kept trying to kill me. My very existence must have been a thorn in their side.”
The reason people in high places stay there is simple.
They leave no room for danger.
If anything gets in their way, they’ll eliminate it by any means necessary.
Especially if the person in question is someone no one would miss if they just died in the street.
“If I had to name one incident that stands out the most... it would be the attack by the Kalsapha assassins.”
“Ah.”
At those words, Violetta suddenly understood why Ludger knew so much about the Kalsapha assassins.
He had been fighting them for years and learned firsthand what kind of monsters they truly were.
“So I went around hiding my identity with my master, always on the move, until eventually the pursuers gave up.”
But Ludger knew.
The moment his true identity was exposed, they would come after him again.
That’s why Ludger had to keep changing his name.
Changing his name. Changing his identity.
In order to survive, he had to abandon who he truly was.
He could never reveal himself. Could never stay in one place too long.
What Ludger was experiencing couldn’t even be compared to ordinary discrimination—it went far beyond that.
Seeing his comrades looking at him with worried eyes, Ludger felt a surge of gratitude.
At the very least, he had people here who genuinely cared for him.
“And so, allow me to reintroduce myself.”
There would be no harm in telling them his real name.
“My name is...”
* * *
Rine opened her eyes.
Above her was the dormitory ceiling.
As she threw off the blanket and sat up, she recalled the dream she’d just had.
‘It felt... like a really happy dream.’
In that dream, she was a child.
Strange, considering she couldn’t remember anything from her childhood. And yet, she had dreamed of being little.
In that dream, young Rine ran across a vast green meadow.
Under a blue sky, upon a green earth, where the horizon stretched endlessly—stars, winds, and radiant light shimmered with beauty.
She had lived in that place for a long time.
Sometimes, she would stare endlessly at the star-filled night sky.
But she never felt lonely.
Why was that?
‘That’s right. I had a family. Or... I think I did.’
In the dream, Rine had a family.
She wasn’t alone—someone had been there with her.
But who? She couldn’t remember. If it was family, was it her mother? Or her father?
But she had no memories of her parents.
—From now on, call me Master.
Her earliest memory was of a white-haired old man who told her to call him “Master.”
Before that—where she ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) had lived, what she had done, who she had been with—
She remembered none of it.
‘And there was someone else.’
The dream version of herself had been a much more normal girl—one who laughed easily and cried openly.
She would sometimes trip while running and tear up.
When that happened, a boy around her age would hold out a hand to her.
His face was hazy, like it was wrapped in mist, so she couldn’t remember it clearly.
But she was certain they had played together.
Because she remembered being happy when they did.
‘And at the very end...’
There had been an older brother.
She didn’t know if he was her real brother. He was definitely older, though not quite an adult—that’s probably why she’d thought of him that way.
She didn’t remember his face, of course.
But she did remember the soft smile he would give her sometimes, or the warm way he used to pat her head.
‘It hurts...’
Just remembering him made a part of her chest feel painfully tight.
Why was that?
Rine didn’t know.
All she knew was that it hurt.
A lot.
‘It was just a dream... so why?’
A confusion between dream and reality.
Maybe it wasn’t just a simple dream reflecting her subconscious desires.
What if all of it... had actually happened?
‘I don’t know.’
She still couldn’t tell whether this was reality or a dream.
Rine opened and closed her hand.
The sensation in her palm felt strange—like she wasn’t really grounded, as if she were floating in midair.
What if this was the dream, and she would wake up in the real world once she fell asleep?
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
—Huh? I sensed a strange energy and came to check it out, but this is... interesting.
A voice suddenly rang out, and Rine slowly turned her head.
Maybe it was the haze in her mind, but...
She wasn’t even surprised as she looked at the figure.
“Who...”
There shouldn’t have been anyone in her dorm room—but a girl stood there.
A white-haired girl, wearing a subtle smile that gave nothing away.
Looking at her, Rine remembered someone.
“Ah... you’re...”
What was her name again? Julia...
—Julia Plumehart.
Yes. That was it.
She was a classmate who attended Ludger’s class with her.
Her stark white hair was striking, and she always walked alone—making her quite memorable.
Not to mention, she’d entered with the highest entrance score—top of the freshman class. It was impossible not to know who she was.
“But... what are you doing here...”
—That’s your first question? Hmm. I mean, I can explain it if you want. I was drawn here by your dream.
“My... dream?”
—Yep. Your dream.
Drawn... by her dream?
That’s a difficult thing to understand.
But Rine vaguely remembered encountering something similar in a book long ago.
“Dream... magic.”
—You know it? Interesting. Most students don’t know much about our Dreamwalkers’ School.
“I read about it... in a book.”
—You’ve been studying hard, huh?
Perhaps because of the unexpected praise, Rine giggled shyly.
Even that giggle sounded light-headed, like she was tipsy.
“But... why did you come looking for me?”
—I told you, didn’t I? Something about your case caught my interest.
“A... case? You mean me?”
—That’s right. You had a rather unusual dream, didn’t you?
“I think... maybe...”
—Hmm. Normally, it’s a secret that I’m affiliated with the Dreamwalkers’ School, but since I’ve come across something so interesting, I might as well explain it.
With that, Julia sat down next to Rine.
But the bed didn’t shift under any weight.
Rine realized then that the Julia Plumehart she saw before her wasn’t physically there—she was more like a kind of projection or illusion.
Rine felt a strange sense of wonder.
She had never even spoken to the top student before, and now here they were, having a secret conversation in the middle of the night.
Her heart beat a little faster.
—Right now, you’re standing on the boundary between dream and reality. That’s probably because the dream you had was so closely tied to the real world.
Julia’s light, pleasant voice chatting away was shockingly different from the image she had projected in class.
—Why are you looking at me like that?
“It’s just... surprising.”
—Surprising?
“I didn’t expect you to talk this much.”
—...Well, fair enough. Honestly, I don’t talk to other people much.
“Why...?”
—Because they’re boring.
Julia grumbled as if it genuinely annoyed her.
—Even at Seorn, the students are way below average. I didn’t even want to mingle with them.
“Ah, um...”
—Still, after quietly observing for a while, I did find a few interesting ones. That kid who uses anti-magic, for example. And right now...
“Right now...? Ah, you mean me?”
—Normally, dreams are far removed from reality. But yours is different. It’s more accurate to say you glimpsed into the past through your dream.
Julia Plumehart, a dream mage of the Dreamwalkers’ School, judged people through their dreams.
That was why she had appeared before Rine now.
Rine’s dream was uniquely rare and fascinating, enough to pique Julia’s interest.
“You came because of my dream? That’s kind of like... a dream fairy. Hehe.”
—...I’ll assume you’re still half-asleep and ignore that.
Julia had grown curious about Rine.
At first, she’d thought Rine was just a commoner clinging to power by sticking close to the Third Princess.
But the dream—and their conversation—showed her the opposite.
There was a strange charm about the girl.
—Most people tend to avoid me, though.
“Why?”
—I think I know why. It’s probably because I don’t talk much and always keep people at arm’s length.
Still, Julia was aware of that and chose not to change it.
Maybe it was just how she was wired—it wasn’t easy to change something like that.
Besides, she didn’t particularly enjoy getting involved with others anyway.
—Anyway, about your dream. There’s a high chance it wasn’t really a dream at all.
“It... wasn’t?”
—Ordinary people’s dreams don’t resemble reality. You might not understand, but I’m a Dreamwalker. I can tell. What you saw wasn’t just a dream—it was a reflection of reality. More specifically, the past.
Those words left Rine with an odd feeling, like something was just out of reach.
“But... I don’t really remember it clearly.”
—Let’s see now...
Julia reached out and placed her hand on Rine’s forehead.
Rine gently closed her eyes, and when Julia said “that should do it,” she opened them again.
—Weird.
“What is?”
—I can’t see your dream. Or rather, I can, but it’s incredibly blurry.
Rine had felt the same.
She could tell she had done something and been with someone, but she couldn’t clearly remember who it was.
—Dreamwalkers can usually read dreams that were just had. If I can’t read yours, there’s only one explanation.
“What is it?”
—Someone erased it on purpose. Your dream—no, your memory.
“Huh? But why would... now, all of a sudden...”
—You probably didn’t notice before, but something must’ve triggered those sealed memories to start leaking out again.
Rine couldn’t follow Julia’s explanation.
Someone had erased her memory? Why?
But... it did make a strange kind of sense.
Her childhood had always felt like a patch of missing time. Unnaturally so.
And she had only begun to realize that recently.
‘Come to think of it... after that Memory Storming with Erendir-sunbae...’
That was when she’d started having these dreams.
—Hmm. Memory sealing, huh. That’s rare.
“Can you... break it?”
—No. I can’t. This isn’t something I can interfere with.
Julia said it firmly, without hesitation.
The words filled Rine with a sense of disappointment.
—But you don’t need to be so down about it. Even if you can’t recover the sealed memories right away, just knowing about them is already something.
“How?”
—Your dream. There may be a key within it—something related to the sealed memory. Think. Was there anything that stood out clearly in the dream?
At Julia’s question, Rine thought quietly for a moment before parting her lips.
“There was... a name. I don’t remember the face, but one name came to me.”
—And what name was that?
Rine hesitated briefly, unsure if she should say it aloud.
But eventually, she did.
“Heathcliff.”
* * *
“My name is Heathcliff von Bretus.”
As Ludger—no, Heathcliff—spoke his name, everyone’s eyes widened.
There was only one place in the world where the name Bretus held meaning.
The home of the Lumenis Church.
The Theocracy of Bretus.
“I am a royal of the Theocracy of Bretus. Blood of the Holy Sovereign of Bretus runs through me.”
