"Sir William, may I ask you one thing," Helena asked.
"Of course," William replied.
"Is the man with the gold eyes Sir Cayn?"
Helena had been wondering who this man with the same demeanor as Sir Cayn that she had just seen was. But the man was no longer wearing a mask, and his eyes, which were originally blue, had changed to gold.
He also appeared with Tsana, who had been missing for three days. That strengthened Helena's suspicion about the man's identity being Sir Cayn.
William tossed a twig into the bonfire. "Yes, that's him."
Helena furrowed her brows, not clearly showing what she was thinking. However, she remembered the small box her father had given her before she entered the Nightmare Forest.
She had once heard a story about her family's ancestor from her paternal grandfather, and her grandfather had explained about the only person with gold-colored eyes in the entire continent in the past 800 years.
She couldn't help but think that gold eyes were extremely rare, and she had never heard of anyone possessing a pair of gold eyes throughout history besides the person her grandfather told her about.
But the identity of that gold-eyed person was extraordinary. Could Sir Cayn be a descendant of that gold-eyed person?
"But that's impossible."
"What's impossible?"
Unconsciously, Helena voiced her thoughts, which were heard by William.
Helena immediately straightened her back and shook her head. "Nothing, I didn't say anything."
William looked at Helena with raised eyebrows.
Then Helena quickly lay down and covered her body with the blanket she carried in her magic bag.
She pretended to yawn. "Yawn, I'm very sleepy. I'll sleep first."
William nodded. "Go ahead."
Then William's eyes shifted towards Aldis, who was still sitting by the same tree, sharpening his sword in silence.
He was sure the creature must have heard their conversation, but the creature chose not to be hostile and sat quietly.
William also didn't want to disturb him and provoke the anger of the creature known for its unstable emotions.
He finally followed Zephyr, Rolan, and Helena into the dream world.
He felt no need to fear Aldis's threat, because Aldis was the most loyal dog of the Singing Witch, and the Singing Witch herself had ordered the creature not to cause trouble.
That's why William could be calm.
★★★
Morning came so quickly, birds flew in the cool morning air and chirped as they perched on tree branches and cleaned their feathers.
Tsana blinked her eyes, trying to adjust to the light entering her vision.
She felt her body covered by something warm, and her back seemed to be leaning on something soft.
Tsana frowned, then she moved to get up, but she felt something restraining her stomach.
"Don't move," a deep and husky voice sounded from behind her ear.
Suddenly, Tsana remembered last night's event, where her curse became active, causing such immense pain.
However, she was relieved that last night's pain felt lighter than before. Perhaps because twenty percent of her curse had disappeared, the pain was slightly reduced.
Currently, Tsana was leaning against Cayn's chest, who was leaning against the large rock. The two looked at the view of the forest, still covered by a thin mist in front of them, and breathed in the fresh morning air.
"Sir Cayn, do you know?" Tsana spoke.
Cayn murmured softly in response. "Hmmm?"
"I saw you die in front of me."
Tsana felt Cayn's body freeze for a moment. Then Tsana turned, only to see Cayn staring at her with a face full of sadness.
"What is it, Sir Cayn?"
Cayn shook his head. "Did that happen before we entered the first time dimension?"
"Yes, it happened right at the moment the gate to the first dimension appeared. I saw you die in front of me, and also a giant blood-red eye in the sky. Sir Cayn, I know you are the Dragon's friend, and you were assigned to show me the way to the Dragon's location. But, I feel like you are hiding many things from me. Tell me, Sir Cayn..."
Cayn and Tsana looked at each other.
"You must know what is truly going on."
Cayn let out a heavy sigh, then his gold eyes looked down. "It truly happened... I really died at that moment, before we entered the first time dimension..."
Tsana's hand clenched on the ground.
"Then why did you deceive me at that time?"
The meaning of this word 'deceive' was when Cayn said that Tsana was just dreaming.
Cayn bowed his head. "I'm sorry."
Tsana sighed and finally chose to sit upright. She removed the blanket from her body and handed it to Cayn, then asked him to explain what that eye actually was.
Cayn explained. "That eye is a form of Heaven's punishment."
"What does that mean?"
Cayn seemed uneasy, as if reluctant to explain. "Because of my mistake in the past, I incurred Heaven's punishment. So I have to die 3 times when entering this forest, so that I can reach the Dragon's location."
Tsana frowned. "So even though you are the Dragon's friend, you still can't reach the Dragon's location if you don't receive Heaven's punishment?"
Cayn nodded hesitantly, as if unsure of his answer.
Tsana stood up and looked at Cayn with a cold expression that Cayn had never seen before in his life. "How long are you going to keep deceiving me, Sir Cayn? You know that I have the curse of immortality, so you took advantage of that to transfer a part of my curse to your own body so that you could come back to life after death."
Cayn shook his head. "No, it's not like that."
"You always hide many things from me and act so mysterious, even though you remember everything in the past. Are you playing games with me?"
Cayn held both of Tsana's hands and knelt before her. "No, it's not like that, I have the reasons for it."
Tsana pulled Cayn's hands away from hers. "I keep meeting people from my past, but I'm the only one who doesn't remember everything. I feel like I'm being played."
Cayn's eyes widened when he saw a tear stream from Tsana's eye. "Please just tell me what you're thinking; don't bear everything alone."
Cayn's eyes widened even further after hearing that.
Even at a time like this, Tsana was thinking more about him.
"What mistake did you make in the past? And why is the impact so huge? What was our relationship in the past? You know everything about this forest, and you are the only person who has been alive from the past for hundreds of years and still remembers everything. You are the person who knows the most about this forest like the back of your hand; you are the one who knows best how this forest was formed. Because you are the Dragon himself."
Cayn's body froze, and his breath hitched. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and his tongue was tied. He stared at Tsana with glazed eyes.
"How- could you know- my true identity?"