Chapter 19: Waking from the Dream

The curtains were not drawn, revealing the brilliant starlight outside; the moon was exceptionally clear and bright.

Until the east gradually showed a pale light and a red sun slowly rose, I subconsciously moved back, avoiding the rising sun.

Turning my head suddenly, I realized Gareth had woken up at some unknown point. He was watching me without his glasses; his eyes were beautiful, deep grey orbs. Yet at this moment, those eyes looking at me did not possess that usual tenderness that felt like it could drown me; instead, they held a touch of pity and a hint of strangeness.

I blinked, but those deep grey eyes remained serene, without a single ripple.

"Gareth?" I called out tentatively.

He continued to watch me with a calm, compassionate mercy. That look was as if a high and mighty deity were looking down upon the ants of the living world.

In just one night, how could those eyes have changed so completely?

A searing pain shot through my hand. I cried out and fell clumsily from the bed. Looking back, the spot where I had been sitting was now being struck by the morning sun slanting through the glass window.

The ten days had just passed, and I had been forced back into my true form.

"Miserable undead, in the name of the Father, I grant you liberation." His beautiful lips parted slightly as Gareth looked at me with a face full of pity.

I froze.

He slowly reached out his hand—a slender, fair hand—and placed it upon the top of my head.

Such a warm hand, such a gentle caress.

I knelt on the floor, looking up at the god-like Gareth before me, my mind in a trance.

A dazzling white light began to overflow from his palm. I didn't even have the strength to struggle; I just stared at him, stared at him...

My consciousness began to fade bit by bit.

In my daze, it was as if I had returned to ten years ago.

Just like today, it was also a morning.

When the first ray of sunlight rose in the east, I woke up in a pile of trash. All my memories were blank, and everyone avoided me as if I were a plague...

Only that man, as gentle as water, walked slowly toward me in the sunlight. The warm rays brushed against his body like an angel's halo.

He stood before me, just like now, looking like a deity.

He leaned down and carried me home.

Such a refined and elegant man; he carried the filthy me with such care, as if I were a precious treasure.

I didn't remember who I was, I didn't remember my name, I didn't remember where I came from... I couldn't even speak or walk.

That man, gentle as water, held me and supported me, helping me learn to walk step by step.

That man, gentle as water, tirelessly taught me to speak, over and over again.

He held me and said: "Aurora, is this name good?"

At that time, I could only smile at him.

He said: "It doesn't matter if you don't remember who you are, and it doesn't matter if you don't remember where you came from. From today on, you are Aurora. Aurora means dawn—everything is a new beginning, and you have a new life."

To me, he was such an essential existence.

Without him, I would have forgotten even how to breathe...

I could forget where I came from, I could forget my name—I didn't care about anything else as long as I remembered I was Aurora.

Gareth's Aurora.

The dawn is a new beginning.

I loved Gareth's voice, I loved Gareth's warmth, I loved Gareth's gaze, I loved everything about Gareth... including that full jar of milk candies.

The soft white light enveloped me, but I only looked up at him fixedly.

He said: "Miserable undead, in the name of the Father, I grant you liberation."

That gentle voice was just as if he were saying, "Rory is the cutest child I've ever seen," right before I willfully kissed him to prove I wasn't a child.

It felt as if something was being pulled from my body. I blinked, but found no tears. I murmured, "Why?"

I asked, why.

Why, Gareth? Why, in the end?

What did I do wrong?

"If you don't listen to your elders, you'll suffer the consequences." A teasing voice sounded by my ear.

Alastor?

I was instantly pulled away from that white light and tucked into an equally cold embrace.

"Why?" I looked at Alastor, murmuring to myself.

"Why did I take so long to rescue you?" Alastor interpreted my words himself, then rubbed his nose and gave me a brilliant smile. "The heroic knight always makes his entrance last, saving the princess from danger. That's the only way it's aesthetic enough."

To hell with aesthetics. For the sake of his knightly aesthetics, I was almost processed into a truly dead person.

A sudden burst of rage flared within me, and I bit Alastor’s arm hard.

"Ow, ow... why are you biting me? Are you that hungry?" Alastor yelled.

Tears suddenly welled up and spilled from my eyes, an overwhelming flood.

"Idiot." Alastor raised his hand and gave my head a light knock.

I was exhausted to the extreme and slumped limply into Alastor’s arms.

"Hey, hey... I knocked very lightly, don't play dead on me..." Alastor’s shouting drifted into my ears.

"Stop it..." I frowned, my head splitting with pain.

Alastor looked down at me, then back at Gareth. "Lord Gareth, you really are cold-hearted, actually laying a hand on this innocent girl who is so single-mindedly devoted to you."

"Miserable undead, how could you understand God's mercy? In the name of the Heavenly Father, I intend to save her." Gareth spoke with a smile, his voice faint and as moist as water.

"Mercy? Your so-called mercy is to kill her?" Alastor sneered.

"Aurora died long ago. Now she is just a miserable undead controlled by darkness, maintaining this sinful body with fresh blood. I wish to save her from the mire of darkness."

My heart was already dead, so why could I still feel pain?

"But... this miserable undead clung desperately to the ten-day limit, dreaming of returning to the past," Alastor pursed his lips with a half-smile, then looked down and shot me a disdainful glance. "Be sharper next time. Don't embarrass me again, or don't you dare tell people you're my progeny. Stupid to death~"

I opened my mouth, but I didn't even have the strength to speak.

"Ah..." Alastor looked at me again, then looked up with a grin. "Great Lord Gareth, look, you are about to save her... soon she can turn into a wisp of smoke and scatter with the wind... never to harm the world again..." After a pause, Alastor curled his lips and laughed. "However, this single-minded idiot would probably follow you foolishly even if she turned into smoke..." Alastor shook his head and sighed leisurely.

Gareth's body stiffened slightly.

Exerting all my strength, I looked toward Gareth. A ripple appeared in those deep grey eyes.

Taking advantage of Gareth's momentary distraction, Alastor held me, wrapped his black trench coat around me, and quickly turned to jump out the window.

Wait... isn't it daytime?

And... there's the sun.

How could Alastor appear in the daytime?

My confusion was quickly answered as Alastor carried me into the sewers...

I blinked and saw small sparks on Alastor’s body; his handsome face looked as though it had been scorched by fire, blackened and charred.

I wanted to laugh, but I didn't have the strength for it.

Perhaps seeing the slight curl of my lips, Alastor shot me a glare and continued racing through the sewers.

"Heartless little thing. Why do I bother? Who am I doing all this for? I've lived for over six hundred years, yet I'm risking my life in broad daylight to play the hero saving the beauty..."

Little thing... how chilling.

However, at his advanced age of over six hundred, he could certainly be considered an "old thing."

"Still laughing? You were almost finished, you know? That guy is really heartless, actually using that move on you. Even I might not survive that strike, let alone a rookie like you."

"Forget it, I'll take you back to the Demon Realm. It's too dangerous here... the Demon Realm is better after all, spring all year round, plenty of beauties..."

Alastor rambled on to himself, ignoring my protests and making the decision as if it were set in stone.