Chapter 12: Is the Past That Haunts Me a Nightmare or a Sweet Dream
“How’s it going over there? No danger, right?” Althea got straight to the point.
“Don’t worry, Your Highness, everything’s fine,” Tina replied lightly. “But what about you? Feeling super lonely without me?”
“No way,” came a slightly pouty retort. “I just wanted to check on a certain heartless someone who didn’t even bother to let me know she arrived safely.”
“Uh…”
Tina hadn’t even thought of that. Were they really that close already?
Before she could respond, another voice cut in.
“Hehe, Tina dear, don’t listen to this princess. You have no idea—she’s been staring at that crystal ball for almost an hour. If I hadn’t pushed her to call, she’d probably be hugging it to sleep tonight.”
“Phyllis! You—!”
The red-haired girl’s cheerful laugh was unmistakable, and Tina recognized it instantly.
Althea, mortified at being exposed, scolded Phyllis on the spot, her face red as she burrowed into her blankets, refusing to come out.
“Wahhh—Tina dear, the princess is bullying me!”
Phyllis tried to fish for sympathy, but Tina sided with Althea. “Phyllis, come on, how could you treat the princess like that?”
“What? Tina dear, you’re taking her side? I’m so hurt! Back in the day, you always backed me!”
“That was then, this is now, Phyllis.”
“Ugh, fine.”
‘Why am I the one losing here?’ Phyllis wondered, feeling like the underdog.
“Um, Tina, if you’re free during the festival…”
Before Althea could finish, Tina guessed her intent.
“I’d love to spend the festival with Your Highness in the city. Would you grant me that chance?”
“Huh?”
Althea froze. That was her line—she’d called Tina tonight just to ask that.
She hadn’t expected the seemingly aloof Tina to beat her to it.
“Ahem, alright then. As a reward for completing the mission, I’ll let you spend a fun day with the kingdom’s greatest princess.”
“Oh, right, Your Highness, I brought some books. I promised to read you stories every day.”
Tina flipped open a page. “It might not be the same since I’m not there.”
“Hmph, it’s fine~ I’m just happy you remembered.”
Even separated, Althea listened intently, soon drifting into a sweet dream to Tina’s gentle voice.
…
But in the same royal city, someone of the same bloodline was trapped in a starkly different nightmare.
“I am Rune Daniels, prince of the Kingdom of Kellivir—Althea’s younger brother.”
The words echoed in his mind, unbidden.
This was his self-description, but also the bond he most wanted to escape yet could never let go.
In his dream, Rune relived his past, his childhood, from a godlike perspective.
He saw the day of his birth—
The kingdom rejoiced, everyone thrilled for the new prince, hopeful for the kingdom’s future.
But no one could’ve predicted that shortly after his birth, the queen would die in a sudden accident, vanishing from the world.
A joyous occasion turned to mourning. The banquet planned for Rune’s birth was canceled, replaced by the queen’s funeral.
From that moment, the kingdom’s view of the prince began to shift.
Some called him a cursed child, doomed to kill his mother, one who should be dealt with.
Others said he was inferior to the princess in every way, his existence meaningless to the kingdom’s future, someone to be ignored.
“No matter what they said, what the outcome, the world always saw me as the extra one.”
But why, Althea, why were you the one to reach out to me back then?
The dream shifted to when Rune began to remember things.
From the moment he entered the kingdom’s top academy, whispers followed him—noble kids gossiping behind his back.
How could he not know?
Teachers, classmates, even his own father looked at him with bias.
In those days, pinned against walls, insulted as a useless prince, he endured endless humiliation.
When he tried to end it all, it was his sister, a year older, who found him and stopped him.
“You don’t have the right to stop me…” He remembered saying that.
“I’m sorry, Rune. My existence… it’s caused you a lot of trouble, hasn’t it?”
His sister’s voice was filled with guilt, yet still full of care.
Her unexpected words caught him off guard.
“…No, it’s not about you.” He choked, holding back sobs.
“It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been born, Mother wouldn’t have died. If I hadn’t been born, Father wouldn’t have sunk into despair.”
It was all his fault.
The glass shard in his hand dug deeper, piercing his skin, blood trickling down.
That pain was nothing compared to the scorn he’d faced since birth.
“Stop it!”
His hand was slapped away, the glass flying into the air, shattering on the ground.
“Why do you care about me…?”
He lowered his head.
“Because you’re my brother. We’re family.”
Those words were etched in his mind, unforgettable even now.
“Family? Even Father ignores me! If family’s different from those awful people, prove it! Prove family brings warmth, not indifference!”
Rune didn’t know why he’d lashed out like that.
Maybe because someone finally cared, he couldn’t help spilling years of pain, craving just a shred of comfort.
“I’m sorry on Father’s behalf. He loved Mother deeply, but he shouldn’t have wallowed for so long. I’ll talk to him.”
His sister, taller than him in their growing years, hugged his frail self.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to notice. From now on, no one will bully you. Trust me—trust your sister.”
He knew she had no reason to know his struggles—they weren’t even in the same grade.
Their only connection was meeting at home for dinner, nothing more.
“…Sister.”
He’d had so much to say back then, but it all melted into that one word.
Leaning on her shoulder was the happiest moment of his life.
After that, as Althea promised, the bullying stopped.
Classmates did a complete 180, and their father seemed to emerge from his grief.
Rune didn’t know what she’d sacrificed for it.
All he knew was that his sister grew tired, her smiles fading.
He couldn’t bear it.
So he vowed to work hard, to seize hope.
If he could prove he was capable of ruling the kingdom, maybe people would see him differently. Maybe he could ease her burden.
He wanted to become king, to make his sister smile again.
That was his dream—until that happened.