Chapter 181: 180 Strange Dream (Part 2)

"What kind of strange question is that?"

The freckled prince, baffled and growing impatient, said:

"I'm my father's only son—where would I even have a sister? If you're wasting my time with questions like this… uh…"

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something, hesitated slightly, then glanced warily toward Li Ang.

"You… did you use some method to spy on me while I was asleep, to see what dreams I had?"

Dream?!"

Upon hearing the freckled prince's words, Li Ang and Emma both raised their eyebrows simultaneously and instinctively exchanged a glance.

"Prince Joshua, while the Clearance Bureau does have agents capable of entering dreams, our *branch* has no such personnel… but we cannot guarantee that none of the rebels possess such abilities."

After exchanging a glance with Li Ang and deciding this warranted deeper probing, Emma sat up straight, her expression grave:

"Prince Joshua, we suspect someone has invaded your dreams and attempted to harm or manipulate you through them. For your safety, you must tell us everything about the dream!"

"Uh… it was just a messy dream, completely illogical—do you really need to hear all that?"

"Yes! This could be vital intelligence!"

"This… alright…"

Intimidated by Emma's serious demeanor, the freckled prince hesitated briefly, then stammered out the full account:

"Just like your question—last night, I had almost the same dream. In it, I wasn't an only child; I had a sister, fourteen or fifteen years older than me. She was called… Wei… Wei something…"

"Veronika?"

"Yes! Her name was Veronika!"

Clapping his hands in surprise, the freckled prince paused slightly, then looked up at Li Ang, who had chimed in, his face filled with suspicion:

"How do you know the name of the person in my dream? And why does your voice sound a little… familiar…"

"We naturally know that name!"

Secretly pinching Li Ang's leg to signal him to stay quiet, Senior Emma frowned and replied:

"Because among the rebels, there is a woman named Veronika. Prince Joshua, we suspect she possesses an anomaly capable of entering dreams—and she has actively invaded yours!"

"So that's how it is…"

Hearing this, the freckled prince suddenly understood, then relaxed somewhat:

"That makes sense. No wonder I had such a bizarre dream—it was all controlled."

Bizarre?

Emma blinked, then immediately pressed:

"Prince Joshua, aside from having an extra sister, were there any other strange elements in the dream?"

"If you're asking about strange… the whole dream was strange!"

Frowning as he recalled, the freckled prince spoke with distaste:

"Under the rebels' manipulation, I looked like a clown in the dream.

Since childhood, my father constantly compared me to her, forcing me to emulate her in everything. My mother, whenever she got the chance, reminded me that she was the greatest threat to my succession, telling me not to trust her kindness, warning me she'd kill me for the throne.

Then… uh… then I was incredibly stupid in the dream.

Though our relationship was decent in childhood—I often played with her around the palace—I grew to oppose her in everything as I got older. She was plain, so I became extravagant; she was gentle, so I became harsh. I constantly caused her trouble. Later…"

As he actively recalled more details, the freckled prince's eyes gradually darkened with pain, and, as if recounting his own story, he spoke with visible anguish:

"Later… the kingdom was invaded. First, enemy warships blockaded all major deepwater ports. Then, a quarter of the main roads were blown up, over half the rest occupied—half the kingdom's transportation collapsed. Every day, airships dropped bombs overhead.

The army under the incompetent Ministry of Defense was utterly useless—crumbled at the first touch. Only the few new armies my sister and the Minister of Defense had formed offered any resistance.

But in numbers and weapons, they were vastly inferior. Though they held back several enemy assaults and stabilized the situation under Old Hill's command, I… my mother and some officials in the Finance Force kept sabotaging them…"

Recalling his clownish behavior in the dream, the freckled prince fell silent, then slammed his fist on the table, eyes blazing with fury:

"I did nothing right!

Then the new armies couldn't pay their soldiers, couldn't get ammunition or weapons. Though my sister's prestige kept them from disbanding, they eventually collapsed—most were trapped in Merino County.

Then the capital fell. Everyone fled. My mother and I got separated from the Finance Force and couldn't escape. Then… then my sister came back."

Here, the freckled prince paused slightly, his expression complex:

"At that moment, neither my father, my mother, nor my uncle came for me—but only she broke through the siege of Merino County, retook the capital, and found me in the underground bunker beneath the old district."

"I… I asked her why she came. She said she didn't want to—but I had to live. Father had only two children. I couldn't just die. I had to live, just in case."

"I didn't understand her meaning then. But later, when my father died of illness during our flight, and she was captured and executed after her resistance failed, her scattered troops and those unwilling to let the kingdom be fully swallowed began to rally around me, calling me the last robin of the royal house."

But I… the me in the dream was utterly useless. I couldn't resist like her. I only retreated further and further, barely preserving less than three counties by completely submitting to another kingdom and signing outrageously harsh treaties.

And to avoid total annihilation, I had to surrender a large quantity of precious minerals each year, plus nearly forty percent of the kingdom's revenue—almost as much as a major province of another kingdom. Yet even as I worked myself to exhaustion, the situation only grew worse…"

Having finished describing the "fate" of his dream-self as if feeling it himself, the freckled prince's eyes grew distant:

"Just as everything headed toward the worst outcome—the entire kingdom impoverished, overwhelmed, on the verge of total collapse—an old man with squinting, smiling eyes asked me if I wanted to change it all."

"Then he opened a door for me, saying if I walked through, I could undo my regrets—but at the cost of losing everything. The me in the dream, either utterly hopeless or feeling he had nothing left to lose, simply walked in…"

"…."

"And then?"

After waiting a moment without further response, Emma, who had been listening intently, couldn't help asking:

"What happened to the you in the dream after he went through the door?"

"After?"

The freckled prince blinked, dazed:

"After? Nothing. I woke up when morning came."