Did She Truly only Dream?

What confronted her was the rooftop scene from a third person point of view. Her uncle, Mr Dawkins, and a younger Robin. Each spoke their lines, re-enacting the scene before her.

....

"You don't like him? It doesn't matter. You will learn to like him."

.....

"What's taking you so long, Harry!? I've got a schedule to keep!"

....

"...You won't go?"

....

Robin slowly walked towards her young self And stood in front of her. Finally she spoke.

"Don't worry. With me here, no one can cause you any harm." She said.

"Eh?" Robin's younger self looked at Robin in surprise.

As if an invisible wall shattered, the three became aware of Robin.

"Who are you!? How did you get up here? The door was clearly barred-" Her uncle's face froze as he saw the door reduced to scrap metal.

Robin glared piercingly at Dawkins, who stepped back, his face turning pale.

"Sometimes, looks can kill, but Karma will surely give you a far more fitting fate than I ever could." Robin said.

Just like how it happened during his trial, Mr Dawkins suddenly clutched at his chest, breathing laboriously. He doubled over, and fell to the ground in the middle of a heart attack.

Robin's uncle sniffed. "Who are you? T-this is a family affair! Outsiders shouldn't butt in!"

Robin shook her head and chuckled.

"Why, Uncle, don't you remember me?" Robin asked. "And here we have such FOND memories between us..." Her voice was heavily laden with a hidden menace.

"D-don't be rid-ridiculous! I only have one nephew, and he is most c-certainly not you! W-who are you!? Show yourself!" The man stuttered as he backed away.

"I never said I was your nephew." Robin chuckled as she took off her mask. "Recognize me now?"

The man's eyes widened as his gaze flickered to the shivering girl over by the railing, and back at Robin.

"H-how?" He stuttered.

"Karma." Robin shrugged, then tightened her grip on her sword. "If you want to harm her, then you'll have to get through me!" She brandished her blade, aiming it towards her uncle's throat.

"Choose. Your life, or your niece: which do you hold more dear?"

the uncle's eyes widened, and he staggered backwards. Then stumbled over himself as he raced through the open rooftop door. Robin's uncle, though treacherous, was ever the coward.

Robin placed her mask back upon her face, and turned to face her younger version, and smiled gently. Robin gave her younger self a pat on the back.

"Be at ease. Your brother is more vigilant than you think. Don't let fake friends ruin your happiness. They cannot follow where you will go."

Last of all, she turned towards Mr Dawkins, who had been unable to see her face from the angle he was at. While in the midst of the heart attack, he somehow managed to speak.

"Who-who are you?" He asked. "You seem familiar.."

Robin narrowed her eyes.

"You are the one and only person who will never know. Die, and regret the very thought of laying a hand upon the person under my charge."

After all, who else would Robin be in charge of protecting if not herself? With her own sword, she pierced straight through the man's heart.

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"Aaah!" A young man sat up in terror, breathing heavily, and clutching at his heart.

"Young master, are you okay?" A voice came from behind the door.

"...No, it's nothing. J-just a nightmare is all." The youth replied as he realized it had only been a dream. "Just a bad dream...." He said, as if trying to convince himself.

"Why must my past life continue to haunt me?" He muttered as he grabbed his hair in frustration.

"I have already paid the price for my foolishness! I regretted everything once I realized what I had done...so why must this dream keep haunting me!? And why was the Hero there, as well?"

After pondering long and hard, he could not figure things out, and so he could only try and return to sleep.

-------

The next morning, Robin's group left early, before many of the villagers were up and about. Because of her previous late night, Robin was still somewhat tired.

However, even she was somewhat surprised when she woke up and realized she had fallen asleep in her seat. Her companions also had somewhat of an annoyingly cheerful grin on their faces for a while after that.

Christian's grin was the brightest. If Robin was a normal person, she might have been somewhat embarassed. But, this was Robin. Instead of allowing herself to be at the mercy of her companions' teasing, Robin easily turned the situation on its head by acting shameless.

She glanced around the room once. Then, she turned away from them, took out a pillow, and pretended to go back to sleep again.

Christian was dumbfounded. If it were before her fight with the goblins, he might have tried to wake Robin up. But he still remembered all too well that straight right upper cut to his jaw. Thus, he could only watch in despair as Robin went back to sleep.

Chelsea only chuckled. "Let the poor hero sleep a bit more." She pointes out. "I kept the hero up talking late into the night, after all."

"WHAT!?" Christian exclaimed. "Alone?!"

"Of course not! It takes 3 people for a good game of clarity, after all." Chelsea giggled. "If you're curious, you can ask Jasmine."

Christian looked to Jasmine with a pleading look on his face.

"Well, we spoke about a certain person's love chances~" Jasmine teased. "Do you want to hear about their future other half?"

Christian's expression froze as he failed to process the information. Love chance? was it about Robin's love chance!!? Christian sat back in his chair, like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Oh..I see..N-no thanks." He muttered as the thought kept echoing through his head.

That was, of course, as a man, Robin might marry someone someday. In fact, it was highly suspicious for Robin to put in such an effort to return. If it was simply to reunite with his older brother, there was no need for such urgency.

Thus, it was very likely that Robin already had a significant other back in his world. That being the case, having his love fortune told was probably looking for confirmation about future actions that he was contemplating taking. In which case, it was likely to currently be at the level of one-sided admiration.

For a Prince, Christian sure was intelligent in odd areas. But, luckily, he was completely wrong.

Jasmine was enjoying Christian's dumbfound, somewhat deflated expression, when Chelsea interrupted.

"Eh? but wasn't the question about Jasmine's love succe-" Chelsea was cut off by Jasmine's hand.

"Shush! You'll ruin it!" Jasmine hissed. But the damage was already undone. Christian's face went from the abyss of gloom to a beaming golden grin in less than three seconds.

Keith's shoulders vibrated violently as he struggled to keep from laughing.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of it before!" Christian exclaimed, relieved. Then he glanced at Jasmine, a smug grin on his face.

"Mom's pushing you that hard,huh?" He sighed.

"See? This is why I didn't want you to say anything. Now he'll be insufferable the whole trip!" Jasmine sniffed.

"I promised to keep Robin's information to myself. nothing was said about yours." Chelsea chuckled.

"Why of course...you didn't." Jasmine sighed in defeat. Upon going over her memories of the other day, she realized that Chelsea truly hadn't said anything about keeping Jasmine's personal info to herself.

"I also know that Christian actually likes-Mmmphmphmph"

"I am begging you, please do not say anything about that to anyone!" He said with a serious expression.

Chelsea's eyes rolled. Seriously, what was up with these two people? It's not like the things she was saying were anything bad, so why such a grand effort to hide things? She held up one finger.

He let go of her mouth so she could speak.

"One large medium rare wyvern steak is the price." She named her price.

"You've got a Deal!" Christian said, emphatically. He didn't even try to bargain, even if the price of wyvern meat was 2 gold coins per pound, as it was somewhat rare in the kingdom.

Robin could only pretend to remain asleep at that point, as waking up would be very awkward. Even so, Keith could easily tell that Robin was already awake, since her breathing was a bit uneven. His shoulders shook a bit more. But, thankfully, he allowed her to maintain her facade.