Living As the Villainess Queen

Chapter 106 – Lucid Dreaming (2)

She began to walk. It was the same feeling as if she was walking on land, though it was strange to hear splashing with every step she took. She raised her gaze towards the sky.

It was bright blue and cloudless like a clear, sunny day, but she soon realized that no matter where she looked, she could not locate the sun.

Unlike the last dream, this one lasted longer. Even after walking for miles, the surrounding landscape did not change.

If this is a lake, there should be a shore somewhere…

And yet the water continued on, without an end in sight. Eugene felt herself becoming weary. She soon stopped and looked down, the water sloshing around her feet at her sudden stillness.

Is it possible for a lake to be this shallow?

After staring at the surface for a few minutes, she realized something strange. Because she had focused only on the lack of sensation from the water, she did not think about what could be beneath. If the water is ankle-deep, her feet and the ground should be visible. But she could not see even the muddy floor.

Below her was only a dark, deep blue.

She squatted down to get a closer look, her face hovering just above the water level. The longer she gazed through the surface, a room began to materialize underneath. She tilted her head.

It looked familiar.

She closed her eyes for a moment, preparing to dive down when needed, but when she opened them, she blinked back in surprise upon recognizing the ceiling of the chambers she shared with the king.

“Huh?”

She turned her head from side to side. She was lying in bed in her chamber. The room illuminated brightly by the light of dawn.

“What a strange dream. And an even stranger way to wake up.”

She finally sat up. It was a long dream.

For the dream to continue on like that, it could not be an ordinary one. She thought she might have been lucidly dreaming, but now, she was uncertain. What she knew is that the dream must be somehow connected to the missing treasure.

Was it about the necklace? But it seemed wrong to her.

Her intuition told her that the king’s story was not true, but why would he lie to her?

Just in case, she closed her eyes and focused on her inner thoughts. She attempted to search for something to prove whether her doubts were warranted. Her eyebrows pursed together in concentration, but it was futile. She soon opened her eyes.

She could not find anything to support her suspicions.

“If I have that dream again next time, I’ll have to explore more carefully,” she muttered to herself in determination, before she finally hailed a maid nearby as she started her day.

“Your Highness, the baroness has arrived as you have summoned.” The Grand Chamberlain said as he informed the king.

Kasser stamped a document with his seal, before raising his head and nodded.

“Allow them in. I will speak with them privately, so clear the room.”

“As you command.”

All the royal councilmen filed out of the king’s council room, and Marianne was escorted in. Kasser rose from his seat to greet her. An unusual thing for a king to do, but Marianne was no normal subject.

During his childhood, she was once his caretaker and confidante, having helped shape him into the successful king he had become today. Now, she watched over Queen Jin, his wife.

As she approached him, he came around his desk and sat down on the sofa.

“Come on, sit down.” The king invited Marianne to a seat right next to him.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Marianne acquiesced.

Marianne was nervous to take the seat because she most likely would have to sit there for a long time, responding to whatever inquiries the king had. It has been quite some time since she had a private meeting with His Highness, as he often did not have any work for her.

“Marianne, is there anything you haven’t told me?” he asked, quickly getting to the point of their meeting.

“I do not understand what you mean, Your Highness.” Marianne said, confused by his question.

“About the queen’s memory.” He clarified.

“Your Highness, there is nothing I would dare hide from you,” she said aghast.

“Then you’re certain the queen did not regain any memories? Truly? Not even something seemingly insignificant?” he inquired further, but Marianne only denied his worries.

“None that I am aware of. If the queen chooses not to speak, then there is no way for me to know, but the last time I saw Her Majesty, she did not seem different,” she reassured him.

Kasser mulled over her answer in silence, as Marianne took the liberty to observe him. She gathered, from his expression, that something must have happened between them last night.

“Was something amiss?” she finally asked, and he turned to her, shook out of his thoughts.

“She told me she met with the president of the bank yesterday.”

“Yes. Her Highness could not remember if she had any private funds, so she requested the information from the bank and wanted to confirm it.” Marianne explained, and Kasser nodded.

“And other than that? Was there no other special incident?”

“There was that time we met with an information broker named Cage. According to the Commissioner, he would occasionally meet up with the queen. But even after meeting with the man, the queen told me she could not remember anything.” she further elaborated.

Marianne was not one to report every single detail that happened to the queen’s everyday life to the king. Nor did the king even demand to know such things. It was against his very nature to do so.

She’d like to think she wasn’t a very good spy, nor did she aim to even be one. That’s why Marianne strived to help the new queen in every possible way she could.

She had wished they would become closer to one another, and so she often acted as an intermediary between the couple a few times before.

The current agreement between Marianne and King Kasser largely involved the queen’s memory loss. If the queen had any signs of recovering her memory, Marianne would have informed the king immediately about it. She wanted to protect her from her memories, yes, but she was always loyal to the king.

“Your Highness.” she finally spoke up, breaking him from his reverie. Even though Marianne was not the king’s vassal, as his former caretaker, she would often give him advice when he seemed troubled.

“The loss of the queen’s memory is beyond even your own power,” she began, patting his hand comfortingly as she once did when he was young, “Her memory may return suddenly one morning, or maybe it won’t ever. But I ask you, until when will you continue to worry about it?” she asked him, seeing that the very thought still plagued the King’s mind heavily.

“In the meantime, I implore you to take this time to get to know her instead. Not just every night in her chambers. Take her to walks, eat together during meals, anything. Get to know her.” She urged him gently,“After all, it takes an effort between two people to complete a relationship,” she finished.

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