Chapter 7 : Nightmare

At the Lord's mansion in Fluere.

"AAAAAAAHH!"

A young woman woke up in the darkest hours of the night screaming in terror. The scream was so terrifying that it woke the maid, who had fallen asleep in the chair beside her bed.

'It's happened again!' thought Amelia, trying to regain consciousness.

Then, she immediately leaned over to the woman on the bed and grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to calm her down. "My lady, please come to your senses!"

But the woman, screaming with fear, still had not regained consciousness. Amelia felt as if her words were not reaching the woman lying on the bed in front of her as she screamed helplessly in fear.

"HELEN!"

Amelia shouted in despair and failure, involuntarily and to her surprise.

Thanks to that, Amelia's screams finally reached the woman, and she slowly began to regain consciousness.

Upon regaining consciousness, she surveyed her surroundings and recognized the familiar bedroom where she usually slept. How often had this occurred this week? Another dreadful dream had plagued her, and the frequency had been so high that she had lost track.

Then she noticed Amelia, gazing at her with tears rolling down her cheeks. Had she caused distress to the young girl once more? She straightened up and attempted to compose herself.

"I'm sorry... I did it again, didn't I?" Helen tried to look strong, her forehead still covered in sweat, but she told her maid beside her that she was desperately sorry.

"Please don't apologize, ma'am." Amelia's eyes filled. "It's all my fault for not taking better care of you. It's not your fault."

Helen seemed to recover quickly, but her hands trembled from the dream. She must have noticed this, too, because she immediately tried to hide her hands under her duvet. She couldn't appear weak—not anymore.

"Haha, I'm glad you saw this side of me, Amelia. Who knows what would have happened with the other maids?" She tried to ease the worries of the maid in front of her by forcing herself to laugh. But it didn't seem to work.

"Please... Don't say that..." Amelia could not hold back her tears this time and spoke, her voice cracking. "It's all my, 'hık', fault. I'm failing yet again at the only duty I've ever had. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you 'hık'."

Amelia was deeply concerned. How could she not be? Her whole life, she had only her brother and this woman to call 'family.' She couldn't help but feel angry at herself for not being able to protect a family member from this situation. That's why she was very angry with herself.

'I am really a pathetic person...'  She couldn't help but thinking like that.

Helen was touched to see the maid, whom she saw as her little sister, weeping in front of her. But she couldn't cry. Not now. Helen grabbed Amelia and hugged her, pulling her tightly to her. "I never blamed you, Amelia, so... Please don't blame yourself for what you did!" Helen's voice was like that of a caring mother. After hugging each other for a while, they both went back to their seats.

Both of them had finally recovered a little. Helen often woke up at night, screaming in terror. The strange thing was that they didn't know why. Or what Helen saw in her dreams. Helen could only remember, no, she could feel, that these events had left her with a horrible feeling. 

Helen was well-known for being a strong woman, a leader who inspired confidence in others. While she hadn't always been this way, she had portrayed this image for many years, even if she didn't always believe it herself. So why was this strange thing happening now?

She gently touched her stomach, wondering if these forgotten dreams were bringing up repressed emotions. Regardless, it didn't seem like a good sign.

Changing the subject, she turned to Amelia and said, "Hey, Amelia," making eye contact before asking,

"Of course, you've had bad nightmares at times. Tell me... What do you do at such times?" She was sincere. She was genuinely curious about it but didn't have much experience with such things because of her past.

Amelia thought. What would she do? She had dreams like this all the time. If there was an answer, it would probably be 'acceptance.' Because whether she wanted to or not, she had to have these dreams because of her gift. She didn't know what a normal dream was in the first place. But could not disappoint his Lady. So her mind went back to old memories. Very old memories...

She remembered a memory. She and Arthur were together as they always were. They were somewhere in the streets of the suburbs. But it was cold outside. It wasn't a very pleasant sleep, considering that they were both wearing quilts made of newspaper.It was worse after that Arthur woke up because he had had a nightmare like Lady Helen's. Arthur said he had a dream that the crabs had imprisoned and tortured him. Well... they were still children, after all. Amelia had told him to get used to it and go back to sleep, but Arthur hadn't quite managed it. It wasn't easy to go back to sleep in the cold night air anyway. So Amelia didn't sleep either. She hugged Arthur tightly on a cold winter's day and wrapped a blanket made of newspapers around him. Then they talked until dawn, looking up at the beautiful stars in the darkness of the night. They talked about everything from their dreams and what they wanted to do to what they wanted to eat. In the end, Arthur seemed to relax, too. However, perhaps the biggest reason for Arthur's relief was not the things they talked about so much but the fact that someone was there to listen to him. Someone to share his pain with.

"I... I used to chat until dawn in situations like this. I guess? At least that's what my brother and I used to do in the suburbs!" Amelia clumsily tried to explain herself.

Helen already knew that they both came from humble backgrounds. After all, it was she who had taken Amelia in from the slums.

 'I see... So you should chat with someone like these.' Helen had an idea while having an enlightened look on her face.

She got up from her bed and went to the wardrobe.

Amelia asked in surprise. "My Lady? What are you doing?" 

Helen was already putting on the clothes she had taken from the closet.

"Changing." Helen's answer was simple.

Amelia pouted. "I see, my Lady... I just meant, why are you changing? Are you going out at this time of night?"

 "No, of course not," Said Helen.

Upon hearing this answer, Amelia thought. 'So, She's probably bored and wants to spend time in her clothes then,' she thought until she heard the rest of the sentence.

"We're going out TOGETHER. So don't just sit there. Come to me and start picking out clothes." She gestured for Amelia to come to him.

"???"

Amelia was at a loss for words.

...

"My lady, is this the right thing to do?" Amelia spoke from one of the streets of Fluere, where they were walking in the dead of night.

"Trust me, you'll like it when you see where we're going," Helen spoke from behind a face hidden by rags.

"Anyway, neither you nor I would have slept properly if I had stayed in that room. So maybe it's better to let things take their course."

 But Amelia was still worried. "But what if someone recognizes us? If the Lord finds out that I took you out at this hour, it will be the end of me in every sense my Lady"

"So what? You want me to return to a torturous sleep in that cursed room?" Helen gave Amelia a little emotional poke.

"Oh, of course not... However, this doesn't feel right", Amelia spoke as she peered around the corners of the streets, walking down in the darkness of the night.

She already had the sickening feeling that someone had been watching them since they set off. But slowly, she began to think she was wrong. After all, if someone was watching them, they had plenty of opportunities to attack. 'Maybe a guard who saw us sneaking out of the mansion is secretly trying to protect us?' she thought.

In any case, they both knew what they were doing was irrational. Because no matter how safe a city was, going out at this time of night was unreasonable. Helen also knew that Amelia was right in her concerns. Yes, she was aware of that. However, remaining in that room was a poorer decision for Helen than she was currently making. It no longer felt like her room. It was already becoming ingrained in her memory as a location that only brought her unpleasant experiences. So why not leave that cursed room and follow your own path? And it would be good for Helen too.

Due to her pregnancy, she had been unable to leave the mansion for an extended period. This marked her first venture outside in quite a while.

"Here we are." Following numerous disagreements during the journey, Helen announced to Amelia that they had arrived at their destination, almost as though they had achieved a triumph in a conflict. 

They stopped at a small hill by the sea in the city. Helen was touched. How long had it been since she was here? Someone she met when she first arrived in this city had shown her this place. 'This hidden landscape that someone else showed me, now I am showing someone else how poetic it is,' Helen giggled.

She was already in a good mood. Amelia, too, gazed at the beautiful sea from the hill she had climbed. She couldn't help but be impressed. Despite the darkness of the night, the sea was incredibly beautiful. Who knows what it would look like in the morning?

"So what do we do now?" Amelia asked. After all, they had seen this beautiful view, but what then?

"What do we do? Don't you remember? You told me this, Amelia, we'll sit and talk while looking at the stars. Just like you did with your brother."

Amelia froze. Had they come here because of her thoughtless words ?

She put her hand to her face and spoke inwardly: 'I've messed up another task I was given, haven't I? I was supposed to look after her, not run away with her...'

As she cursed her own incompetence, Amelia saw that Helen was already lying on the grass beside.

She also sat down next to her, there was both comfort and pain in her gaze.

Helen looked up at the beautiful view of the stars as far as she could see. "You were right, Amelia," she said.