DKVM Ch 33

Chapter 33

When I tilted my head in confusion, Rahel’s mouth dropped open in embarrassment, as if she’d made a mistake.

“Isn’t that only for guys and girls?”

“…”

“We’re both girls, so why not?”

“…Anyway, we can’t.”

Rahel scrambled to her feet as if she was afraid I would grab her.

I whined, following closely behind Rahel as she left the room.

“Rahel, are you sure we’re not going to sleep together? For how many days? For real?”

I can’t even dream of staying at a rich girl’s house because Mr. Dias Hessen might come to scoop me up at any time!

This might be our first and last night!

‘It’s a shame to spend the night like this.’

But…

Rahel opened the door and looked at me for a moment.

“Good night.”

Soon after, she practically ran into her room.

I pouted my lips and stared at the door that Rahel had closed with a snap.

“No, if you’re going to do this, why did you ask me to stay at the villa?”

If she’s worried about bathing together, well, I can wash myself separately.

Sleeping over at a friend’s house is to have a slumber party, or to stay up all night talking and falling asleep with a friend!

For our noble princess, talking in the middle of the night was never acceptable, even among friends.

“Ch, Rahel is a dummy.”

I mumbled, not so loud so that Rahel could hear it, and went back to lie down in my bed.

‘Still, the bed is nice and fluffy.’

The bed was wide, the duvet and pillows smelling of sunshine.

It was an unfamiliar environment, but if I closed my eyes, I could fall asleep in no time.

ʥʟʏʋʊɸ ɟɡɕɲʀ…

…until I felt the forest again.

I scrambled out of bed and walked over to the window.

Beyond the window, in the distance, was a forest, covered in darkness.

As I stared into the darkness, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Who are you and why do you keep calling me?”

If someone saw this, they might think I was crazy.

But this was no longer a feeling, no longer a hallucination.

‘It’s calling me…’

But after a few moments of waiting, there was no answer.

It called to me when I pretended not to hear it, but when I answered, there was no response.

Suddenly, a fear I’d never thought of before stabbed me like an awl in my side.

‘What if…I’ve lost my mind?’

This wasn’t in the original work, so have I just gone crazy?

Thinking about it made me want to cry.

If that wasn’t it…

‘Is it a ghost? Or a demon…? I’m the only one who can hear its voice…!’

Suddenly, I remembered all the horror movies I had seen in my past life and the temperature of the large room I was alone in felt cold.

At the same time, my heart was beating fast and I started to get goosebumps.

The darkness in the room seemed to weigh me down and I felt suffocated.

The first face that popped into my mind as I felt the darkness of the room crushing me was…

“Dad…”

But Dad’s not here now.

I shuddered with the fear that was tightening my throat and ran out of the room, hugging my pillow.

Eventually, I found Rahel’s room.

She was probably already asleep, but I was too frightened to think about that.

*knock, knock*

“Rahel, are you sleep…?”

I trailed off, realizing that I might wake Rahel from her slumber.

The door opened and Rahel came out.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem to be sleeping.

“What is it?”

The face that was described as scary and sinister in the original story was just a dear, trusted friend.

At that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Rahel, I’m scared to sleep alone…can I sleep with you?”

My voice broke into tears as I let go of the tension I had been holding in fear.

Rahel looked at me quizzically, then tugged on my hand.

“Come in.”

It wasn’t until my hand was in her own warm grasp that I realized I was shaking.

Rahel didn’t ask me anything, even though she could have been annoyed or made fun of me.

She simply offered me a place in the bed without a word.

As I climbed into bed and lay down, Rahel turned on the lamp by the nightstand.

I stared at her in surprise.

“Why don’t you turn off the light?”

“I’m going to read a book and then go to sleep.”

Sitting next to me, Rahel picked up the book on the nightstand and opened it.

Then I realized something.

‘You turned on the light because you were worried that I would be scared.’

The moment I realized that, for some reason, my chest felt like it was being filled with cotton candy.

Suddenly, the fear that had been weighing me down earlier seemed like nothing.

I realized that the things I couldn’t say to my dad for fear of worrying him, I could say to this child.

“You know, Rahel.”

Instead of answering, Rahel turned her gaze from her book to look at me.

“I keep feeling like something is calling to me.”

“…Something is calling you?”

“Yeah. But I’m scared because it’s only me. I hope I’m not weird…?”

“You are weird, for sure.”

I was irritated by Rahel’s casual acceptance of me as weird in a serious situation.

The lack of playfulness on her face made me even more annoyed.

Her next words, however, had the same nonchalant sweetness as her usual demeanor.

“But it’s not because you are weird, but rather that you are special.”

“Special?”

“Well, they say that exorcists usually hear the voices of the dead and that there are some who hear the voices of spirits.”

“Ah! Yes, there are such people, aren’t there?”

In the original story, it’s never mentioned that Vivian has the qualities of an exorcist or an elementalist.

But after hearing Rahel’s story, I realized that maybe I wasn’t crazy and that there was something really special about me.

At the same time, it didn’t seem so scary anymore.

“I hope I don’t hear it when I’m sleeping, though.”

“Can you hear it now?”

“No. But… I’m afraid I’ll hear it again when things get quieter. Can you talk to me some more until I go to sleep?”

Rahel closed the book she was reading, but was silent for a while. She seemed to be searching for something to talk about.

But she couldn’t seem to find the right topic.

“…I don’t have anything to say.”

Well, it’s hard to talk nonstop.

‘Rahel’s not a talkative person to begin with.’

Just then, I realized I’d asked too much of Rahel.

Suddenly, a little humming sound began. It was Rahel singing.

My eyes went wide and I asked,

“What is that?”

“It’s a lullaby my mom used to sing to me, but I don’t remember the words.”

“I’ve never heard it before.”

“…Is it bad?”

“No! I like it, and you have a beautiful singing voice.”

Then Rahel frowned slightly.

“You really do say everything is pretty.”

“I say it’s pretty because it’s pretty.”

“You can’t see a voice, so how does that work with the word ‘pretty’?”

“Um… I can’t see it, but I can feel it. Your voice is pretty because it sounds like the leaves dancing in the summer forest when the wind blows.”

Rahel’s voice, like the wind, was cold and dispassionate at first, but then, like the leaves that willingly swayed in the breeze, it was sweet.

Rahel stared at me for a moment, then let out a small laugh, as if in defeat.

She seemed to like my remark about her voice.

At the sound of her laugh, my eyes slowly closed. I think it was from the tension.

Before I let my heavy eyelids fall, I mumbled, trying to shake off the sleepiness.

“…Thank you, Rahel.”

That is definitely what I wanted to say, deep in my heart.

There was a moment of peaceful silence, and then I heard Rahel’s voice through my fading consciousness.

She sang me a lullaby I didn’t know the words to.

Over and over, until I fell asleep.

“Good night.”

The dim light faded into the darkness.

With her whispered words, I drifted into a deep sleep.