Seventh Chapter 716: A First Taste of Dreams

She had a head of auburn hair, with bangs parted to one side, revealing half of her forehead. Her features looked very soft, giving off a gentle and moving feeling of a woman from a waterside town. But in this situation, the more beautiful she was, the more bizarre she seemed – weren't female ghosts supposed to be gentle and ethereal?

Moreover, the robe she was wearing was a bit too old. Not only was the stitching rough, but the cuffs and hem were tattered, as if it had been picked up from a junkyard.

"I... I heard you go out and wanted to check if you had closed the door properly. When I turned around, I saw... saw someone suddenly standing behind me!" Jie Luo's face was bloodless, clearly terrified.

The woman seemed to notice the commotion and looked towards the door, her expression changing instantly.

Roland subconsciously clenched his fist, ready to meet her attack.

Unexpectedly, her next words surprised him greatly. "Roland... Your Majesty?"

What?

Your Majesty?

"Uh, you are..." he asked tentatively.

"I'm Phyllis, Your Majesty. What's going on?" The confusion and incomprehension in the woman's eyes were no less than his own.

Phyllis? A series of questions flashed through Roland's mind. The God's Punishment Witch guarding the castle hall? Why was she brought into the dream world? Could it be that this world was turning from closed to open? Where was Anna? Why hadn't she appeared?

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Jie Luo noticed something was wrong. "Your Majesty? What is this... Are you role-playing?"

"Ahem, she's... a distant relative of mine," Roland suddenly realized that this wasn't the time for falèng. "As for Your Majesty, it's just a joke. She grew up with me, so she can call me anything she wants."

"Relative?" Seeing that it wasn't a lone ghost, the little girl's courage quickly returned to normal, and her skepticism grew sharply. "You just asked who she was."

"Did I?" he said, without changing his expression. "I only saw a coward screaming like a ghost, almost wetting her pants."

Jie Luo's cheeks flushed red. "Y-you're lying!"

"Wasn't that scream you? She was already in the house, but you were doing your homework in your bedroom and didn't notice."

"Sorry, I... I didn't mean to scare you," the stranger also demonstrated an understanding that impressed Roland. "When His Majesty left, I happened to go to another room. When I came out to say hello, you screamed and ran out."

"I guess that's how it is. She asked what was going on because she was scared by you—" Roland delivered the final blow. "If you saw a kid screaming loudly as soon as you opened the door, I'd be confused too."

"I... I..." Jie Luo was speechless. The scream was a fact she couldn't deny, and she wasn't in the habit of lying, so she was caught in a dilemma, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Hmm... He seemed to have gone too far. He bent down and touched the little girl's head. "Anyway, it's a misunderstanding. Go back to studying."

In this adult's game of wits, you can't win, Roland thought without guilt. Consider it a rite of passage. A life without being deceived by adults is incomplete.

He thought Jie Luo would sob and run into her bedroom, but he didn't expect her to sniffle loudly, take back her tears, and then kick him hard in the leg. "Uncle, you're an idiot!" Then, she angrily returned to her room.

He couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. Although the process was slightly different from what he had expected, the result was still the same.

"Pfft," the woman who called herself Phyllis couldn't help but laugh. "It seems that here, you are not an omnipotent mortal king."

"But here, I am the master of the world," Roland gestured for her to enter. "Let's talk in my room. I have many questions to ask you."

...

Half an hour later, he was finally convinced that she was indeed Phyllis.

She spoke in detail about the events that happened in Taquila, what she had seen and heard in the castle, and even her experience of disguising herself as Handmaid Number Seventy-Six, "Black Money". She even recounted things that he didn't know very well himself, and was able to correlate everything perfectly.

At least this ruled out the possibility that she was a consciousness that had been born in this world on its own – she couldn't have done this well just by reading his memories.

The body that Phyllis possessed now was the form she had when she underwent soul extraction.

Then the next question was obvious.

Why did she enter the dream world?

"I'm not sure..." Phyllis shook her head. "It was very late. The First Army had just finished their shift change. I was going to cut off body control and use deep sleep to quickly recover my energy. I didn't expect to open my eyes and be here." She paused. "You call this place... the dream world?"

"That's right, a world that only operates when I dream. But I don't know if that rule still applies." There was no need to hide anything at this point. The top priority was to find out why she was connected to the dream – even though he had long understood that this complex world didn't exist in his mind, seeing an outsider suddenly intrude still felt... shocking. After all, one thing was certain: the dream world was constructed according to his memories, which was equivalent to someone entering his memories without permission.

Roland unfolded the utility ladder behind the door and placed it next to the bed. "Perhaps we can do a test to find out why you came to the dream world."

"What is this?" Phyllis asked in surprise.

"When I fall from the top of it, the dream will end. You can try it first to see if you can return to the real world. Then I'll end the dream. If we can both leave successfully, wait for me in the hall. I'll be down immediately," Roland explained.

"Wait... Your Majesty," Phyllis suddenly reached out and grabbed him.

This action surprised him. If this were in Neverwinter, it would undoubtedly be a sign of disrespect. Could it be that she had forgotten the customs of the past few hundred years because she had suddenly arrived in an unfamiliar environment?

"Can you... pinch me?" she asked softly.

"What?" Roland was stunned.

"Please use as much strength as you can, okay?" Phyllis rolled up her sleeve and offered her fair arm to him.

"Pain won't wake you up from a dream. I've already confirmed that."

"I just want to feel it... Please."

Feel it? Thinking of Agatha's description of the God's Punishment Witches, Roland understood her intentions. After a moment of silence, he reached out his right hand and twisted her wrist forcefully.

Phyllis clenched her teeth and let out a moan of unparalleled satisfaction from her throat, as if a traveler who had been thirsty for a long time had suddenly drunk sweet nectar. Her whole body trembled.

After a long time, she finally opened her eyes and exhaled.

"Thank the gods, I can feel pain again!" Phyllis was like a different person at this moment, her eyes shining as she looked at Roland.

"You can do that yourself," he said, shrugging.

"It's not the same, Your Majesty," she shook her head and suddenly knelt down. "Perhaps this world is just a dream to you, but I am willing to give everything for it—maybe I will never be able to return here after I leave. At least now, can we make this dream last a little longer?"