Chapter 182

After going through a hellish mixed doubles “rescue,” the Freckled Prince, who had been saved to the point of having a bruised nose and swollen face, passed out and woke up again. He couldn’t take it anymore, so he directly hugged his head with both hands, curled into a ball, lay on the ground, and whined in protest: “I… I’m at least a prince! The Clearing Bureau and the royal family have an agreement to… ensure our safety…”

“Prince Joshua, your words are truly heartless.”

After shaking his slightly sore wrist, Leon, who had enjoyed the rescue immensely, was astonished by this guy’s rigid sense of values. After being beaten so harshly, he still couldn’t forget that he was a prince. With a sincere expression, he bluffed: “We’re ensuring your safety right now. Don’t you feel much better after we’ve saved you for so long? You no longer have those strange feelings of being controlled or influenced, right?”

“…”

That feeling wasn’t there from the start! All I want is to know what happened with that dream!

Even though he wanted to tear these two damned Cleaners limb from limb in his heart, the Freckled Prince, who had received his first beating in life, was genuinely scared at the moment. Pouting, he nodded repeatedly: “It’s gone, all gone. I’ve never felt this good!”

Joshua’s skewed values didn’t mean he lacked intelligence; he naturally understood the hidden meaning in Leon’s words.

Feeling much better probably means no more beatings, but if there was no such feeling, it meant still being under control and needing further “salvation” until he felt better!

Alright then, I’m comfortable too.

Seeing this live hedgehog finally submit, Leon, who had been rescuing him for quite some time, was really tired of fighting. He then turned his head toward the tall beauty beside him and politely asked:

“Senior Emma, do you need to save him a few more times?”

“No more, I’ve vented my anger.”

After giving Leon a rather bright smile, Senior Emma reminded him:

“Leon, remember to treat his injuries before leaving, or the investigators from the bureau will come down hard on you.”

“Okay.”

After nodding in agreement, Leon took out the [Infected Blood Bandage]. Amidst the Freckled Prince’s struggles and screams, he forcibly pried apart the arms covering his head and wrapped the dirty bandage around his head twice.

As the health stolen from the kitchen fat chicken was rapidly injected, the Freckled Prince’s face, which was swollen like a pig’s head, took only about ten seconds to reduce the swelling and revealed his original appearance.

Finally… Is it over?

Realizing his face suddenly stopped hurting, the Freckled Prince quickly touched his face. When he discovered the swelling had gone down, he almost cried out of excitement.

Last night’s fall of the kingdom was tragic, but since it happened in a dream, the pain and regret didn’t hit as deeply. Once he woke up, he gradually recovered from the intense emotional turmoil.

But this beating just now was real pain! In all his years, except for a few minor bumps when he was little, he’d never been beaten so severely. Even his father, the king, had only slapped him once… Ah!

“Tsk, what are you flailing around for?”

Looking at the Freckled Prince who was knocked down again with a slap, full of confusion while covering his face, Leon couldn’t help but frown and said unhappily: “While treating your wounds, I accidentally healed yesterday’s slap too. Yesterday and today’s beatings were for different reasons, one thing is one thing, so I have to slap you again…

Get up! Put your hands down! Stand still! If I mess up this time, I’ll have to slap you again!”

“Alright, alright, stop here.”

Seeing the trembling Freckled Prince who lowered his hands, closed his eyes tightly, and waited for Leon to reapply the slap mark, Emma couldn’t help but shake her head. She went over, held Leon’s arm, and pulled the one who was really prepared to slap him again out of the room.

“Of course, it’s for you to get into less trouble!”

Looking at Leon, who seemed still not fully satisfied, Emma couldn’t help but say helplessly: “No wonder the director specially instructed me to hold you back before we came. You really are…

Leon, even though we found a decent excuse, this will definitely attract the attention of investigators from the General Bureau. He has already admitted that he’s fine, so you should stop. If you continue, there will be trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I thought of a reason before acting.”

Hearing this, Leon smiled and explained:

“Although I don’t have memories of this, his sister did say she agreed to my proposal, right? If that’s the case, I am his nominal brother-in-law.

A quarrel between a brother-in-law and a younger brother-in-law, lightly slapping each other a couple of times, and without using any anomalous items to hurt each other, this should clearly be considered a family dispute. Would the investigators from the General Bureau even bother with something like this?”

Is it possible to handle it this way? Hearing this, Emma was momentarily stunned and couldn’t help but laugh:

“You’re really… you’re clever!”

“I’m not clever, Senior, you’re the truly remarkable one.”

Thinking about Emma’s astonishingly stable emotions and calm, rational handling of emergencies, Leon sincerely praised:

“I’m just a bit more flexible in thinking, but in terms of getting things done, there’s still a lot I need to learn from you… By the way, Senior, your soul had a violent fluctuation earlier. Did you discover something?”

“Don’t keep calling me ‘Senior,’ it sounds so old-fashioned. I’m not much older than you, so from now on, just call me Emma directly.”

Correcting Leon’s address, Emma smiled happily and said: “As for discoveries, there indeed are some… Have you heard of the Nightmare King?”

“Nightmare King?”

“The Nightmare King is also called the Lord of Nightmares, controlling the nightmare aspect of the power of dreams, and is one of the true gods worshipped by the Nightmare Black Religion.

Since its true form exists only in the dreams of intelligent beings and never interferes with reality, even the General Bureau can’t do anything about it. It’s quite a troublesome character.”

After briefly explaining the situation of the Nightmare King, Emma thoughtfully added:

“Our kingdom’s royal family ancestors once fought against the Nightmare King and forcibly drove it away several times, thus suffering some curses from the Nightmare King.

As they grow older, every direct bloodline member of the royal family begins to frequently fall into nightmares, constantly reliving their most regretful moments in dreams. The older they get, the more regrets they accumulate, making the dreams more real and painful. The current old king is bedridden due to being tormented by such nightmares.

So if I’m not mistaken, Prince Joshua last night likely experienced an extremely painful nightmare, which caused him to lose control and act so crazily. That’s why he desperately wants to know what happened with that dream.

That’s also why I didn’t intend to hold it against him initially. After experiencing such terrifying dreams last night, it’s normal for his emotions to be unstable. Joshua has his own troubles.”

(End of Chapter)