Side Story 15

A world made of cheese stars, a world crafted solely from fragrance, a desert where the sand changed color with every step, and a world where toys came to life.

The worlds from the books Arbiyone had read—and worlds she’d never read about but had imagined at some point—passed by one after another, delighting her. Every world was packed with fascinating stories in every nook and cranny, and just when she felt she’d played enough, new amusements appeared.

She couldn’t even count how long she’d been playing. Arbiyone ran, flew, and tumbled to her heart’s content.

And beside her was her younger brother, Owen.

“This is fun! It’s so fun, Weni! Right?”

“Yes, Nuni.”

For Arbiyone, it was the first time since she was born that she’d gone so many places with her brother.

And it was the first time she’d ever seen him smile this much.

While bouncing across soft cushions that made music with every step, Arbiyone suddenly grew tired and plopped down. Then she tilted her head.

‘But doesn’t it feel like someone’s been watching for a while?’

It was strange. This was her dream, and according to Owen, Kion-nim had only let Owen into this place.

So who else could be here?

Another dream character?

She’d had enough adventures with dream characters for now. Taking advantage of the fact that there were no adults to scold her, Arbiyone flopped onto the floor and rolled around quickly.

Coincidentally, the world around her became a gigantic bed that seemed to stretch on forever.

“Weni, you’ll still play with me even after I wake up, right?”

After thinking hard, she finally asked, and Owen smiled shyly.

“Yes, Nuni.”

“You have to grow up quickly, okay? Then we can play chess and race together.”

“Yes, Nuni. Let’s play a lot together.”

As the two of them smiled at each other, she felt that gaze again from somewhere.

Arbiyone lifted her head and looked toward the ceiling.

And her eyes met a pair of turquoise eyes staring right back at her.

“Eeeek!”

Startled, Arbiyone screamed. At first it was only a single pair of turquoise eyes floating in the air, but as she stared, a toy soldier’s face formed around them. A body grew beneath it in an instant, and limbs took shape.

“What is that?!”

The floating toy soldier was only about twice the size of a real toy soldier. It flinched at Arbiyone’s scream and kept glancing furtively in their direction.

Turquoise eyes?

Owen frowned.

“Maeve?”

‘Our youngest, Maeve?’

Arbiyone sprang up from the bed. Dreams were convenient—she stayed balanced even atop the soft surface.

“Maeve? Is that you? Really?”

The toy soldier slid smoothly through the air toward them. Then it nodded and began to dance stiffly.

Bend, straighten. Wiggle, wiggle.

That awkward dance—bending and straightening its legs while wiggling its arms—was exactly what Maeve sometimes did when she was in a good mood.

Arbiyone burst into laughter.

“How did you get in!”

The toy soldier didn’t answer. It seemed that, like Maeve, this soldier couldn’t speak properly.

In a great mood, Arbiyone grabbed the toy soldier’s hand.

“Welcome! Let’s play together!”

The toy soldier nodded again.

Maybe because Arbiyone was ready to play again, the surroundings shifted from a bed into a place suited for adventure. A pitch-black universe spread out, filled with glowing stars and silver ship-like objects drifting about.

Swords appeared in the hands of the three children.

To fight the sky pirates who would be aboard those ships, the three of them shouted bravely and charged forward.

❖ ❖ ❖

“My, the little one has an unexpected talent.”

Kion-nim, sipping tea, spoke as if she were sighing.

About an hour had passed since Arbiyone fell asleep. As expected, Kion-nim had brought the sleeping Owen and laid him beside Arbiyone, and then Nerys, Cledwyn, Kion-nim, and Erval ended up having tea together.

Nerys insisted she couldn’t let go of her child’s hand because of her promise to Arbiyone, and Kion-nim respected that promise. So the four of them conversed comfortably within the sound-blocking magic barrier Kion-nim had created, a tea table set beside the bed.

“Which little one?” Cledwyn asked, defensive. “You’re not about to tell us something unexpected happened again, are you?”

“It is unexpected, but it’s nothing for you to get angry about, child of Pheros.”

Kion-nim smiled nonchalantly and shook her head.

“It’s about your youngest.”

“Our Maeve?”

“It seems she might have the talent of an Archmage. She barged into her sister’s dream on her own.”

Well, born to parents who had Ja’an, even if Maeve didn’t undergo Ja’an’s flowering herself, she would still have more magical power than others.

Kion-nim spoke cheerfully, as if she found it delightful, and pulled a teapot out of thin air.

The dancing teapot poured a silvery liquid into equally dancing teacups. Nerys and Cledwyn, familiar with that liquid, quietly accepted and drank. Erval’s green eyebrows rose slightly.

“No matter how talented, can a human interfere with a dragon’s magic?”

“Well, the dream itself belongs to little Elandria, doesn’t it? My magic only let little Pheros in. It’s an Elf’s power, so I got a bit of help from you, too. It seems the youngest was jealous, seeing her older sister and brother playing together by themselves.”

“Will this leave any trace,” Nerys asked carefully, “or cause any problems for Maeve?”

“Have you lived your life being deceived, child of Pheros? No problem. By the time little Elandria has played to her heart’s content, the extra power little Pheros brought in will be used up, and everyone will return to their original state when they wake.”

Kion-nim paused, then added as if remembering something.

“Though all three will be a bit excited for a while.”

This time, Nerys looked suspicious. Hadn’t Kion-nim said Arbiyone would be fine, too?

“When you say ‘a while,’ do you mean a while by the standards of a great dragon?”

“No. I helped you, and I’ve even been looking after you so your child can grow well, yet you doubt me? How insolent.”

Kion-nim looked mildly irritated, but only mildly. Cledwyn finally relaxed and snorted.

“We freed you from the Seal.”

“You’ll be saying that until the day you die, child of Pheros.”

But Cledwyn wasn’t wrong, either. In the end, Kion-nim smiled and glanced toward the children.

“In a dragon’s life, the time until those children grow and age is but a blink. I don’t know how many more times I’ll see them… but they are cute now.”

And everyone present knew she would come again.

❖ ❖ ❖

After thoroughly enjoying her dream adventure, Arbiyone slowly opened her eyes.

“Haaam.”

She stretched lazily and sat up.

Outside the window, it was still bright. Her mother was still holding the hand Arbiyone had been gripping.

‘Hmm. Was making Mom promise not to let go of my hand too babyish? I’m a full-fledged big sister, you know.’

Thinking that, Arbiyone let go.

Now it didn’t feel so unsettling anymore.

Her mother kissed her forehead and smiled warmly.

“Did you sleep well, my love?”

“Yes! Mom, I had a good dream.”

“Really? What kind of dream was it?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. It was just a good dream.”

Right after waking, she vaguely remembered, but when she tried to put it into words, it scattered like mist.

But that was fine. She was certain it had been a truly fun dream.

Then she remembered how she’d behaved over the past two days, and her cheeks heated with embarrassment.

Why had she been clinging to her mother like that?

Of course, she loved her mother and liked being close to her… but to show such a babyish side in front of her younger siblings!

How could any younger sibling acknowledge her as their leader now?

As Arbiyone rolled her eyes, lost in thought, Nerys watched her for a moment as if observing.

When she seemed fully back to her usual self, Nerys chuckled.

“As long as it was a good dream, that’s fine.”

“Hmmm…”

Just then, someone beside Arbiyone mumbled in their sleep.

Startled, Arbiyone turned her head—and saw Owen sleeping there.

She didn’t know why, but it wasn’t surprising.

Somehow, her brother felt more familiar than before she slept.

Arbiyone leaned over and hugged Owen.

“So cute.”

“You think your brother is cute?” Nerys asked, amused.

“Yes. Weni is good.”

Maybe it was time to wake up anyway. Owen opened his bleary eyes while his mother and sister were talking, then yawned wide.

“Did you sleep well, Weni?”

As their mother kissed Owen’s forehead too, Arbiyone watched with the generous heart of a big sister.

Honestly, if she had no younger siblings, all of her mother’s kisses would’ve been hers.

But sharing her mother’s kisses with her siblings was better than hoarding them alone.

Her big-sister heart grew so broad that Arbiyone felt like kissing Owen’s forehead herself.

When she hugged him and gave him a peck, Owen grinned.

“Nuna.”

“Ah!”

Arbiyone’s eyes widened.

“Weni pronounced it correctly!”

‘Well, it’s still closer to “Nun-nim,” but it’s way better than “Nuni.”’

Owen grinned again.

It was strange. Arbiyone had never seen Owen smile like this before.

Yet it felt familiar, as if she’d already seen it several times.

Nerys looked at the two children with a soft expression and said,

“The children are playing in the garden right now, and they said they’ll wash up and have tea soon. Since you’ve napped, shall we change clothes, wash up, and go have tea?”

“Yes!”

“Yees!”

The two answered one after the other.

Soon, the children’s nurses came in to help them get ready.

After they put on pretty clothes and had their hair combed, the children left the room in excitement.

Nerys couldn’t follow. She had official duties she hadn’t been able to handle lately because Arbiyone had been clinging to her.

After seeing the children off, she sat alone for a moment, relieved.

Then a knock-knock sound reached her ears.

In all of Amiteria, there was only one person who would announce his presence to the Empress like that.

Nerys smiled and looked toward the door.

As expected, her husband stood there.

“Are you at peace, Your Majesty?”

In a tone he used when he felt playful, Cledwyn asked as he bowed exaggeratedly.

Nerys stretched her arms out without a word, telling him to come here.

He obeyed easily.

Soon, wrapped tightly in her husband’s arms and lifted off her feet, Nerys laughed.

“Suddenly? I have a meeting later.”

“But not now, right, Your Majesty? Isn’t it in an hour?”

An hour is enough.

He tilted his chin toward the bed.

Nerys looked up at him suspiciously.

“Do you have the energy?”

“I’m always ready.”

“I’m tired.”

“Then you can just stay still.”

Still laughing like she couldn’t believe him, Nerys’s back met the bed.

A moment later, her lips were swallowed by his hot breath.

Leaving just enough time to roughly comb her hair and tidy her appearance for the meeting, the two of them stole a short stretch of time for themselves.

Before getting up, Nerys buried her face against Cledwyn’s chest and spoke languidly.

“This time, my heart really dropped.”

“It did.”

“This incident… maybe it was a hardship we should’ve anticipated. But as we raise the children, surprising problems will keep arising, won’t they?”

“Maybe this was the easiest problem to solve.”

“That’s realistic. This time it was solvable with a dragon’s magic and Weni’s power, but surely problems will arise where we can’t rely on help like that.”

“Right. At least Weni was dependable, but now they say he’s used up all his Elf power and will be like a normal child.”

“According to the records I’ve read, past Archmages caused accidents as they grew up. They said they couldn’t control their overflowing magical power, or something.”

“Hm. A truly dreadful prospect.”

Whether he was seriously considering it or not, Cledwyn’s hand stroked along his wife’s waist.

Nerys closed her eyes, thinking she wanted to fall asleep like this.

Then Cledwyn asked quietly,

“Are you happy?”

“Happy?”

Nerys opened her eyes.

A quiet bedroom. Warm sunlight. Laughter drifting in from outside. The banquet hall of this house was probably being thoroughly wrecked by wide-eyed little ones right about now.

But wasn’t this moment exactly what she’d wanted all her life?

So she could answer with certainty.

“I am happy.”

The couple met each other’s eyes and smiled together.

Side Story of The Price is Everything You Have – End

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(T/N: And there you have it!! Series is officially over! Once again, thank you guys for sticking with me from the start til the end! I really appreciate all of your comments and messages! See you in my next project!)

(T/N: Is it me, or did the Author forgot Ren? He only appeared once in the side stories. lol)