Chapter 171: There’s Sugar Here

Ṛҽαɗ​ оｎ ​КаｔŔｅ​аđｉṅ​ģ​Саƒε​

She wandered aimlessly.

Step after absentminded step. All the while, an inexplicable emptiness gnawed at her. What even was this feeling of being toyed with?

She just wanted to apologize. To say sorry for asking something pointless. And if they could share warmth through casual touch in the process, even better. Maybe—just maybe—she could even indulge in a little selfish whining. It’d been a day since the chest pain faded, after all. If he wanted it, just a tiny bit wouldn’t hurt…

So why was she out here alone now?

At least she’d bought the candy her friend wanted. But the sight of its transparent sheen pissed her off so much she started a glaring contest with it.

What the hell? Who do you think you are, cutting in front of me?

The result was obvious: the candy won. A showdown between Sugar and candy—processed goods triumphed over raw ingredients.

Plunged back into emptiness, Sugar wandered again.

Then, by chance, a man noticed her and let out a sigh.

“Ugh… What a pitiful woman.”

He probably muttered it without thinking. A thoughtless remark, slipping out unchecked.

It wouldn’t have mattered—if only Sugar hadn’t heard it.

“…”

Creak, creak. Stimulated, her head slowly turned. The movement was nightmarishly deliberate.

And then their eyes met.

The gaze of a predator.

***************

Thudthudthudthudthud—

“AAAAAH!! AAAAAH!! I didn’t mean it!! I didn’t know you were actually pitiful!! Don’t chase me!! I’m gonna get traumaaaa!!”

After a long chase, they finally stopped in front of an ice cream shop.

Somehow, she ended up getting a free cup.

“Whoa. Strawberry-chocolate-deluxe-special…”

As she happily shoveled ice cream into her mouth, Leon spoke up.

“Your mood swings… That’s a mental illness. Get it treated.”

“Look on the bright side. It means I recover from depression quickly.”

“The problem is how suddenly you switch to rage mode.”

Sugar just laughed in response. Not to mock him—for once, she backed off easily.

“I can’t fix this.”

“Huh?”

“As long as the one who shakes me up is with me… it’ll be like this forever.”

Eating ice cream, she said it plainly. The sight was both childishly innocent and strangely mature. Even when led by her emotions, she could still look at herself rationally.

A blatant confession: “I have mood swings because of one specific person.”

Leon ventured a quiet question.

“…How did you and Riley become so close?”

Sugar chewed her ice cream thoughtfully. Someone else had asked her this recently. Here we go again.

“When we were at the orphanage together. I got close to him while learning magic from him.”

“The orphanage?”

“Yeah. We kept it a secret from the staff. Hehe…”

The attic where they always met. The backyard. Even if it was run-down, it was special because they were together.

She wondered what had happened to that building now.

“Back then, Riley was small and would explode at the slightest touch… Now he’s grown up all arrogant, acting all smug every time…”

She trailed off, then glanced up at Leon.

“Why’re you asking, though?”

“Just curious—”

“Wait… Don’t tell me you’re actually interested in Riley—”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Her sharp glare made Leon sigh deeply. Sugar, obedient for once, went back to devouring her ice cream.

“Actually… Hm. Just take this as a passing comment, nothing serious.”

“What is it?”

“I have this recurring dream. A dream with a connected world.”

“A dream?”

Random.

But intrigued, she nodded quietly, and Leon continued.

“It’s a world very similar to this one, but still different. Well, it’s just a dream, so don’t take it too seriously…”

“Just say it.”

“In that world… I was a hero.”

“…”

Sugar swallowed her ice cream silently.

“I was chosen by the staff, solving every crisis—monsters, evil cults… I took them all down. And, funnily enough, both of you were there too. I knew you before we even spoke in reality.”

“…Really? Weird.”

“But in the dream, you two… aren’t exactly good people. Riley smiles all friendly, then stabs me in the back. And Sugar, you’re… pretty gloomy.”

“How so?”

“A heretic saint—if you can even call her that. You end up completely controlled by it. You help me as a lingering thought, but in the very end… you die by Riley’s hand.”

“…”

“Ah, but it’s just a dream. Reality’s totally different. Totally. It’s just a dream. Ian doesn’t even appear there, and… a lot of other things are different.”

Flustered, Leon hastily added more, thinking of Sugar and Riley’s current relationship, and Sugar’s ties to heresy.

But to Sugar, it didn’t matter much at all.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just a dream. But why bring this up now?”

“I just… wanted to tell you someday. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Living with those dreams, then meeting the real you—so different. It’s like… a pull of some kind.”

“…Yeah. It is fascinating.”

Sugar nodded calmly. A monotonous reaction.

‘Ugh, how annoying!’ Leon had expected her to snap at least once.

Seeing her silence, he clenched his jaw briefly before deciding to continue. This, too, felt like something pulling him forward.

“Actually, it’s about the ‘water.’”

The Saint’s Water. They’d both agreed to keep it a secret outside.

“What about it?”

“In the dream… I think I made it. I don’t remember how, but when you mentioned the ingredients, it flashed through my mind like light.”

“Oh?”

Sugar finished her ice cream, scraping the cup clean before tossing it into the trash. Wiping her lips, she spoke casually.

“Maybe you really did make it in that dream.”

“…You think so?”

“So you can probably do it here too. Good luck.”

“You’re oddly trusting. Most would dismiss this as nonsense.”

“For a mage, you’ve got a serious lack of imagination.”

Who knows—

With that, she walked off, hands behind her back.

Calm. Mature.

Yet beneath the surface, her mind churned.

‘So this is what he’s been hiding.’

Listening to him, a thought struck her.

Leon’s dream was a story Sugar knew too well. The broad strokes matched the original—Riley as the mastermind, Sugar ruined under the Evil God, Ian absent. Could such a dream really be coincidence? A connected world, unfolding in his sleep?

‘No way… But if it’s true, how’d the memories carry over?’

Normally, she’d brush it off—Wow, protagonist, so cool—and move on.

But now, she felt the need to dig deeper.

A memory surfaced: an old astrology lesson.

“Everyone dreams at night, yes? Those dreams are influenced by the starry sky. Dreams are just imagination in sleep—sound familiar?”

“Magic is imagination. Grasping one possibility from the tangled threads and manifesting it—that’s magic. Apply that to dreams, and… can a single night’s dream remain just a dream?”

The starry sky, where countless possibilities intertwined.

In other words—could it be interpreted as proof of infinite worlds?

‘Parallel worlds…?’

If one of those worlds reached Leon as a dream… If memories from a world close to the original flowed through the stars… Could that explain it?

She wasn’t sure. Just a hypothesis. But something kept tugging at her thoughts.

‘Wait…’

Starry sky. Dreams. Parallel worlds.

Listing them out, something felt off.

A direction, starting from Leon’s dream. A sudden recollection.

Someone’s introduction, heard recently:

“I’m a traveler of the starry sky. Passing through countless dreams… I arrived here.”

“…”

“Sugar?”

“Huh? Oh.”

“Did… the story upset you?”

At his awkward question, she forced a grin.

“Compared to the way you look at Riley, nothing could upset me.”

“Ugh… Say what you want, but I don’t see him that way! Stop projecting and go bother that knight instead.”

“What? ‘Say what you want’? What’s that supposed to mean? Finally admitting your type, huh…?”

“ARGH!! Seriously!!”

Dropping the heavy thoughts, they fell into their usual bickering as they walked.

Not exactly friends, but not enemies either.

Somehow, she ended up trailing Leon to an herb market, where he bought a mountain of ingredients.

“Why the herbs? Starting research already?”

“Not exactly… It’s just something I need.”

“Boring.”

Sugar browsed too, picking up stamina-restoring ingredients for Riley. He’d seemed exhausted lately—she wanted to brew him something.

And she had another experiment in mind. Perfect timing. She bought a few extra items.

Her bag, once just full of candy, now held herbs and—various creatures’ eyeballs.

Leon side-eyed it but stayed quiet. Probably assuming it was for curses. (Better not ask and risk becoming a target.)

“Hey. What do you think of her?

On the way back, Sugar casually asked, “What do you think of Her Holiness?” The saintess who collapsed from illness—Ian was currently by her side, nursing her.

“Her? Ah… My first impression was scary, but knowing you’ve spoken well of her, I’m trying to be less afraid. If even you can get along with her, how bad could she be?”

“…”

Why am I being treated like this?

Bitter, she clicked her tongue. Leon continued,

“I heard the story. That she acted out of love for Ian. Isn’t that just how much she cares for her younger brother? If anything, I feel guilty for driving a wedge between them.”

His tone was calm.

But internally, Sugar was skeptical.

Just how obsessive do you have to be over a same-sex friend? A roommate, at that.

If Leon had feelings for Ian, maybe it’d make sense. But still.

“…Random question. I heard you and Ian used to share a bed sometimes. True?”

“…Yeah? Why?”

“Just curious. Never mind.”

His awkward reply made her cut the conversation short. Creepy.

Anyway.

Ian. The only man Sugar allowed close besides Riley. A purely platonic friendship.

To Leon, it made sense—”He’s His Holiness, they’ve known each other since childhood, he’s pure like clear water.” That’s why Sugar hugged him, held his hand, let him pat her head.

…But really?

Seeing how Sugar and Riley orbit each other, how she recoils from other men… Would she really tolerate anyone else, no matter how noble or long-standing their friendship?

The doubts piled up.

Of course they would.

The mental interference that should’ve smoothed this over… wasn’t working.

Leon gripped the staff at his side. Since acquiring it, the fog clouding his thoughts about Ian had lifted.

“I’ll head back now.”

After parting ways at the cathedral, he returned to his quarters.

Sugar narrowed her eyes, watching his retreating figure.

‘Leon… I can’t help but worry about him. He even stood up to Ione…’

Just as Ianne saw Sugar as a little sister, Sugar saw Ianne as something more than a friend.

A man who mistakes her gender yet shows interest. A woman who notices that interest.

“Young people these days…”

Grumbling, she headed to the infirmary. She pushed open the door to Riley’s room.

“Sorry I’m late, Riley. I stopped by a few places on the way.”

She dropped her bag on the table, rummaging inside. She did promise to deliver his errands first.

“You bought a lot.”

“Just because I ran into Leon—he was buying medicinal ingredients, so I picked some up too.”

“…You went around together?”

“Yeah.”

“Just the two of you?”

“Mhm.”

Riley’s eyebrow twitched.

Sugar, catching it instantly, tilted her head up.

“Why? It’s just hanging out with a guy friend.”

Her smirk was downright fishlike.

‘You’re one to talk, letting that knight visit as a ‘friend’.’

The candy errand, piled atop simmering resentment, had left her petty. She delivered the line sharply, then busied herself unpacking—while watching his reaction.

…

Ah. Satisfying.

Had his furrowed brow ever looked this good?

‘Shouldn’t have teased me.’

She’d planned to be sweet today, but no—now he’d gone and made her jealous. His fault.

Hmph. Hmph.

Internally gloating, she feigned nonchalance.

“Leon bought me ice cream too. Strawberry-chocolate flavor. And he told me about dreams—it was fascinating. At the market, he explained medicinal ingredients. He knows a lot. It was helpful.”

She rambled, deliberately avoiding his gaze. The anticipation of his reaction sent giddy thrills through her.

‘See? Not just me. You’re the same.’

Sure, Riley didn’t carry knives, but still. The satisfaction swelled. Her resolve to “be the mature one” crumbled—she knew how childish she was being.

“Anyway. He’s not a bad guy.”

She pulled out the candy, wrapping up her performance.

Time to check his reaction.

“Huh?”

But when she turned—no one there.

Confused, she felt movement behind her. In a flash, she was lifted—and dumped onto the bed.

“…”

She blinked.

Uh-oh.

Trapped under him, she scrambled for the blanket, pulling it up like a shield.

“H-Hey… um, Riley…”

“Yeah?”

“…Are you mad?”

He pretended to think. “Seems like it.”

“…”

Trembling, she held out the candy.

“I-It’s… l-l-licking time…”

He swatted it aside.

“Why not…? You said you wanted sugar earlier…”

His reply was flat.

“I have sugar right here.”