You're Real? (2)

The man chuckled. He put the guide book into the table before walking to Cyrus's chair. The General didn't make any move as he remained slumped on his seat.

The man settled on the armchair, sitting by the edge as he looked at the General's face from this angle. He poked the middle of Cyrus's forehead where both his brows were knitted together.

"You look very intimidating. It's a good thing no one's here or they would have fainted from fear."

"Why don't you faint?"

"Cause I find it cute rather than scary." Cyrus snorted in return which earned a laugh from the man. The two stayed like that for a moment longer, the man randomly poking his face while the General just let him do so.

After some time, the man spoke again. "Hmm...if you're really curious, how about a deal?" That seemed to pique the General's attention as he slowly looked up to the man.

"What kind of deal?"

"If you manage to find me beyond this dream then I'll answer one of your questions each day. How about it?"

"So you're real?" The man's hand halted for a bit, his gaze lingering on Cyrus's eyes.

"Of course. Do you think I'm some kind of illusion?"

"Considering that you only appear on my dreams nor did you appear on the book, I sort of expected it." The General shrugged, though now his problems got doubled. He has to find the man for answers and also avoid that marriage.

"Do you accept or not?"

"I accept. Then can I ask a question now?"

"Didn't you hear the terms? You have to find-"

"I heard it, but since I accepted it shouldn't you give me some sort of trial question as compensation?"

"Ha!" The man snorted, though he looked rather amused. He poked Cyrus on the forehead again, humming as he said "Sure, ask one question."

"Your name. What's your name?" He could see the man pause for a moment, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

"Why? You can't answer it?"

"No, just-" The man pursed his lips before continuing. "I was expecting you to ask something about the book."

"I'll ask about the book next time. Once I meet you properly."

"Hahaha..." The man laughed, he hopped off the armchair and stood in front of Cyrus. With his right hand held out, a small, but decent smile formed on his lips.

"My name is Licht Yerin, a pleasure to meet you."

Cyrus looked at the hand, he briefly stood up before stetching his right hand and shaking it.

"Cyrus Gharshen, nice to finally know you."

"Does this mean we're friends now?" The man asked, their hands still shaking each other.

"What made you think so?"

"Well, The first step in forming a relationship is through having a conversation. Small talk will suffice and once you get acquainted well enough then you can become friends. Isn't that how it's supposed to go?"

"I think you've jumped a whole ladder from last time to be considering that."

"My. I'm honered that you still remember-" Cyrus resisted the urge to clamp his mouth shut. "Though you should also remember that I wasn't the first one who jumped a whole bridge."

"Huh, wha-" Before the General could finish his question, the room shooked. Like last time, voices from outside also followed.

"Doctor is my nephew ok?" This time it was the Emperor's worried voice that greeted him first. It seems that he was still in the palace. And fortunately, only one doctor was attending him.

"The General fine, it seems that the impact of the book just rendered him unconscious for a bit."

"It's that darn book again! I told you we should ha-OUCH" Of course Derick was there, and of course he was yelling. The fact that he wasn't even yelling as loud as last time was probably because of the Emperor's presence. Still, he yelled nonetheless.

"You shouldn't have brought it from the start you dimwit. Why do you think I left it?!" Just as expected Yuno was there to scold Derick.

"It was cold as fuck so removed it from my inner pocket. How should I know that it was going to fly off and hit the General's head?!"

'So that's why he's been sneezing non-stop earlier.'

Slowly, the place was scattering into nothing once again. Only then did Cyrus realize that he still has no solution to his current problem whatsoever.

"The wedding. I couldn't cancel it. Wha-"

"Just say you prefer the first prince." The man-Licht, his mind supplied, calmly said as he retracted his hand.

"Huh?" Cyrus asked, dumbfounded. Why was he getting the first prince involved all of a sudden?

"Just say this, the third prince isn't my type, I'd prefer to marry the first prince of Yerin. I prefer tall guys with black long hair, golden eyes, a mole under their eye and someone who prefers to read. So change my partner to that of the first prince instead. Oh and don't worry about grandchildren, the imperial prince can take care of it."

Listening through all of that didn't manage to calm Cyrus one bit. In fact, it was even more of a disastrous plan compared to his. Before he can open his mouth and start asking questions, Licht was a step faster, grabbing Cyrus by the collar and dragging him close, very close to his face.

The background was slowly deteriorating, though he was too busy processing the fact that he was being kissed AGAIN, for the SECOND time, inside a dream.

'Forget about bridges, this is straight up jumping a building...'

Unlike the last kiss which was chaste and shallow, this time, those pale lips firmly pressed against his, gently and sometimes roughly. A hand wrapped around his shoulder pulling him closer.

"Go to Yerin as soon as possible. And I better not catch you looking at that portrait again-have it burned or else it wouldn't just end with your d*ck being cut off."

He motioned to the abandoned guidebook on the table. "I have many ways."

Cyrus gulped, maybe he should make his own guide someday too. One that would make him avoid all the problems of the world. He should probably do that, someday.