Sleeping Princess -1

Noah was indeed near the carousel.

She was leaning against the fence there, fast asleep.

The problem was that her expression looked agonized.

Sweating cold sweat, she moans as if she might die at any moment.

“Noah?”

Having undone my transformation, I approached Noah in my Shin Hyun form. To make her change a little, I went inside one of the carousel rides.

I laid Noah down in a small room-like place, but she still looked pained.

“Ugh… no… no…”

What kind of nightmare is she having now?

“Mister… no… ugh…”

…A dream about me?

Noah kept calling for me while making a pained expression. What on earth are you doing, dream version of me?

Should I be happy that I’m trusted enough to appear in her nightmares, or should I feel sorry for tormenting her so much?

I laid Noah’s head on my lap and stroked her hair, but there was no sign of improvement.

Flutter.

A white sparrow folding its wings and dropping down in front of me.

It’s Kyukyu.

“Kyuu…! Noah-nim!”

“Kyukyu.”

“Shin Hyun-nim… would you please hold Noah-nim for a moment?”

Kyukyu lands on Noah’s body and spreads a faint light. It looks similar to the purification that Natalia performed earlier.

But it lacked the brilliance to compare with that.

The limitation of a mascot who isn’t a magical girl.

Noah continued to make painful sounds without waking up.

“Kyuu… Noah-nim won’t wake up…”

“Kyukyu, how can we wake her up?”

“There are two ways to wake Noah-nim. Either use powerful purification magic, or forcibly circulate magical energy by flowing a strong essence into the body.”

The option of purification magic is not available.

Kyukyu’s magic failed, and I don’t know how to use such magic.

But as for a strong essence.

‘Kkomul-i. You still have that, right?’

‘Which one?’

‘The essence. The one we got last time.’

Kkomul-i, who had been pondering, answers.

‘Bagrude, right?’

‘Yes. The essence we got from Bagrude.’

‘Yes, I can take it out right away if you need it. But will it be okay?’

Kkomul-i said that.

It seemed Kyukyu was the concern.

If an ordinary person were asked where they got such a strong essence, I would have no answer.

Just possessing essence is illegal for ordinary people. On top of that, Kyukyu is specialized in detecting magical energy.

It probably wouldn’t be a challenge for him to know who the original owner of the essence was.

“Ugh… mister… it hurts…”

But I can’t just watch Noah suffer.

Even if I have to face Kyukyu’s questioning later, even if Noah finds out, right now.

‘Take it out.’

‘Yes, I’ll bring it.’

Silently.

A dazzling crystal emerges from the shadows.

This is the pure essence obtained after handling Bagrude.

Kyukyu made a surprised sound upon seeing it.

“Shin Hyun-nim? Where on earth did you get that…”

“…I’ll answer later.”

“…That essence, it feels like that orc I met before…”

“That too, later.”

“…I heard rumors that villain called Kraken eliminated that orc.”

“…”

He’s persistent.

Kyukyu’s gaze feels sharp.

I hesitated for a moment, then showed him.

The familiar tentacles protruding from my shadow.

“…!”

“Kyukyu.”

“How are you…! From the beginning, have you been approaching Noah-nim with such intentions!”

“Calm down, Kyukyu.”

“Don’t touch Noah-nim, Kraken! I will definitely protect Noah-nim-“

“I also want to protect Noah, Kyukyu.”

Kyukyu’s words were cut off.

It was a look of complete incomprehension.

I understood.

After fighting like that all this time, now to say I want to protect her.

However.

“Do I have any other way besides feeding Noah the essence?”

“…”

“Is there a way to deal with that monster without waking Noah?”

“…Kyu…”

“If not, at least watch. I’ll explain everything after it’s all over.”

Kyukyu retreated without saying anything more.

“…Thank you.”

“…I will definitely hear what’s going on.”

“I’ll tell you as much as you want.”

But.

Now, how do I do this?

“How do I feed her this? Kyukyu.”

“Normally, you would have to absorb the essence into the body. But in this state, we have no choice but to use a primitive method.”

“Primitive method?”

Kyukyu nodded.

“Chewing the essence to crush it and then swallowing it.”

“…Hmm, but Noah is currently…”

“That’s why someone else has to do it for her. In a situation like this.”

Kyukyu stares at me intently.

“I hope your words about protecting Noah-nim are not false, Kraken-nim.”

His words were thorny.

I expected it, but I guess I’m still being regarded with suspicion.

But that’s not important right now.

“…Haah… in other words, you’re saying I have to feed her directly.”

“Kyu, that’s right. Transfer it from mouth to mouth.”

Isn’t this completely like a kiss?

Well, there is a legitimate reason for it, but still…

“…Huh.”

It’s quite strange.

Why, of all times, am I reminded of what Noah said before?

‘What should I say… like a princess… you know those things, right? Like Sleeping Beauty… or a wake-up kiss…’

A kiss to wake the sleeping princess.

It’s ambiguous to call it a kiss, but it is a lip-to-lip contact.

I put the essence in my mouth and chewed it thoroughly.

Since it had about the hardness of candy, breaking it down wasn’t too difficult.

When they were finely crushed into a swallowable state, I opened Noah’s mouth.

Thump.

Even at a time like this, my heart was beating foolishly.

‘Get a grip, Shin Hyun.’

This is just an action to save Noah.

I pressed my lips to Noah’s cherry-colored lips, and slowly the essence began to flow into Noah.

Seeing this, Kkomul-i quietly marveled.

‘I didn’t think you’d actually do a candy kiss… no, an essence kiss…?’

I know, right?

I never thought things would come to this.

Since it’s come to this.

‘Might as well let her feel like she’s become Sleeping Beauty.’

+++++

Noah was not feeling well.

‘Again…’

A feeling of being frozen.

A dirty feeling of being tightly bound all over with hard ropes.

A hellish scene was unfolding before Noah, who had been forcibly put to sleep.

Her father being murdered and the bed sheets turning red. Herself, unable to do anything while watching it.

It’s the second time already, but seeing it again is truly a horrific and nauseating scene.

‘…Phew…’

Noah closed her eyes and exhaled.

How much time passed like that?

‘Noah.’

A very familiar voice was heard.

‘Mister?’

That man was the person she called “mister.”

Tall stature and black hair. His uniquely smiling eyes sparkled with blue pupils.

What brings the mister here?

…No, it’s probably just a dream.

That must be it.

…Because.

‘Noah, could you perhaps save me?’

Otherwise, there’s no way that mister would be captured.

‘Mister!’

He was now hanging with a rope around his neck.

Nearby, monsters that looked like rabbit dolls were carrying out the execution.

‘Stop!’

Noah rushed forward.

Her heart was racing and her breath was caught up to her chin.

But no matter how much she ran, she couldn’t reach the execution site.

The dolls began counting down.

‘3.’

No.

‘2.’

Please stop.

‘1.’

Don’t do this!

‘0.’

Ah-

As the countdown reached zero, the foothold disappeared with a thud.

The man’s body falls downward in that state.

Still with the rope around his neck.

The man’s neck, dangling.

They say that in a hanging, one usually dies instantly from a broken neck, but the man didn’t die.

No, there was no way he could die in the first place.

This was all an illusion shown by her nightmare.

However.

‘Kuk… kahak… kuk…!’

There’s no way to avoid the painful feelings.

Noah closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the man’s breath being cut off.

The sound of gasping for breath with a “kuk!”

The sound of resentment, asking why she didn’t come sooner.

The sound of cursing, saying it’s all your fault I died, I hope you die painfully too.

It was painful.

That this man would utter such words.

But Noah was able to come to her senses.

He is ultimately a phantom created by the dream.

The real mister would never say such things-

‘Still, it’s okay, Noah.’

‘…Huh?’

‘You survived safely. That’s what matters.’

A voice brushed past Noah’s ears.

It was the usual, very caring and gentle voice.

‘Don’t be too sad. As long as you survived, that’s what matters.’

The damn dream was now spewing words that the real mister might actually say.

The mister no longer appeared sad or in pain. Even with the rope around his neck, he only tried to comfort her with a smiling face.

‘I’m sorry, Noah.’

‘…’

‘I don’t think I can give you head pats ever again.’

‘Ah… aaah… aaaahhh!!!’

That was unbearably painful for Noah.

Even though she knew this was a nightmare.

Thud.

Noah collapsed to the ground.

She wished someone would save her.

Like the prince who saves the princess in fairy tales of old, she wished someone would appear and wake her from this dream.

Please, save me.

…As she wished that, someone else appeared.

It was the mister.

He stared at Noah for a moment, then soon extended his hand. Noah looked at him with suspicious eyes, but the man patted her head, saying it was okay.

Noah closed her eyes at the very warm touch.

Is it really the mister this time? Not a dream but really existing?

To Noah, who was looking at him with such expectation, the man said.

‘Let’s see, how well our Noah is living without the mister, shall we?’