The Monster's Room - Chapter 48
“Ghost! It’s a ghost!”
“It’s the Knight of Death! Run! Aaaah!”
The entity known as the Knight of Death roamed the battlefield. The invaders who had mocked him had long been beheaded. Unable to find a place for his anger, he wandered, reaping the lives of those he encountered.
He wandered endlessly.
Endless.
Repeat.
A pale blue moon looked down on him.
Sink deeper into the nightmare.
By the command of the nightmare, the cycle began anew.
A long time ago, there was a child born into a noble family….
One more time.
A long time ago…
Keep going.
The monster was gradually breaking down, trapped in his horrific memories and being pulled deeper into the abyss. Ironically, these cracks offered Maríe a chance.
Watching closely, she reached out her hand.
Then, the dream changed.
* * *
Born as the son of a knight, having seen his father beheaded and failing to protect the honor of his mother and sister, a woman was thrown at his feet as a prisoner.
“If that girl doesn’t cry out, I’ll cut her head off.”
He noticed how oddly clear the invader’s voice sounded but dismissed his suspicion and approached the prisoner.
“It’s okay.”
Contrary to what he expected, the prisoner was calm.
“It’ll be okay.”
She comforted him, pressing her forehead against his.
The invaders, finding this amusing, laughed coarsely. He was taken aback by her forwardness, but then followed her lead, grasping her b****t and pressing his hips against her.
Strangely, the act felt familiar.
“Ah, there. A little deeper.”
“Ugh. Ah.”
“Haha.”
“Why are you laughing?”
At his question, the woman smiled shyly.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard such sounds.”
It was a puzzling statement, but he didn’t care. He was intoxicated by the warmth of her skin, moving his hips eagerly. He wished this moment could last forever, but it ended abruptly.
“No, don’t…!”
The invader cut the woman’s head.
He barely had time to process the shock before the invaders repeated the scenario with another prisoner. Yet, oddly, the prisoners didn’t fear him; they embraced him. It was baffling.
They held his hand even as they were beheaded.
“It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t okay.
“It will be okay.”
Such scenes played out repeatedly.
He became a knight, found hope, lost his nephew, died, started over, embraced her again, died, and started from the beginning once more. Women had their necks cut and died, or rather—
Because you lo▉.
Her.
Because you love her.
The voice invaded again. It was an unpleasant voice that aimed to reconstruct his existence. Yet, he did not reject it. After dozens or maybe hundreds of repetitions of embracing her and witnessing her decapitation, it was this voice alone that revealed who she was to him.
She persistently chased away the full moon.
After many attempts, she succeeded in changing the dream.
Whatever means she used, she managed to rescue his nephew and was tied to the stake instead. Although her neck wasn’t severed, she was in such a wretched state that death might have been preferable.
“Run.”
Even so, she spoke with clear eyes.
“This time, escape the nightmare.”
He knew those eyes.
He knew this delicate yet unbreakable person.
“Hurry.”
Her eyes grew urgent. The people who had once killed him were coming from afar. A crescent moon hung in the sky. Once it fully opened, he would again be swept into the nightmare. So running was the correct choice.
To escape the nightmare, the past, to shake off what was consuming him.
But.
“No.”
He refused that path.
Her startled, wide eyes amused him. So he laughed. The dark blue iron sprouted all over his body.
“Why…!”
“Because I don’t want to run away.”
His fingernails turned black. His sun-darkened skin turned pale, and soon, he wouldn’t even be able to speak due to the hole in his mouth. Therefore, he needed to convey this before then.
“Marie.”
He finally called her name.
“I ▉▉you.”
He managed to utter the word that kept fading in and out of his awareness.
His lover, who hadn’t cried even when her neck was being severed, shed tears. He approached her and gently wiped away those tears. His hand searched for Marie’s ring finger. Despite it being a dream, the emptiness there bothered him.
He slipped the ring back onto her finger, and as he did, he returned to his true self.
Ssshhh.
The knight who brings death, the Iron Horse Knight.
“Aaaagh!”
“Run, ugh…!”
Returning to his monstrous form, he quickly slaughtered the humans and rescued his lover from the stake.
And then,
“Are we really continuing this now?”
He produced his barbed manhood once more, just like before they were drawn into the deep nightmare. His lover’s incredulous expression was, as always, utterly lovely.
* * *
Marie’s se-ual desire had long been sated.
By intervening in the Iron Horse Knight’s dream, she had inadvertently had s-x with him countless times in his human form. Perhaps it was because she had only been doing it with monsters before.
Being with him in his human form made her feel like she was truly with another person, and she melted into the sensation.
