“Not that way. Over there.”

David pointed casually toward the building on the opposite side. Achilles stopped in confusion, and David cursed inwardly.

Get out of here!

The thought of Achilles remaining constantly at Roa’s side made David’s blood boil. The fact that it was because of the laurel wreath he himself had placed on Achilles’s head made it all the more galling.

“Go on.”

At David’s urging, Achilles let out a long breath. He kept hesitating.

“Then who will protect Miss?”

David let out a short laugh at Achilles’s question. He found it absurd.

“Have you forgotten who’s standing in front of you right now? Know your place.”

“…… I apologize. I’ll go.”

Unable to refuse David’s command, Achilles left. Left alone, David pressed his ear to Roa’s door. His heart was pounding, and through it came a small sound.

Unngh!

That was enough to make David’s head spin.

David threw the door open and went inside to find Roa breathing in short, distressed gasps. Her face was damp with cold sweat and twisted in anguish.

Then a terrible word slipped from Roa’s lips.

“P, please don’t hit me. I’m scared. I’m sorry. Please.”

Hit? Who?

David’s eyes went wide. He pulled Roa into his arms without a moment’s hesitation.

“Roa! Roa! Please come back to me!”

David called her Roa.

Roa. His Roa.

The precious Roa no one else could ever touch.

Roa’s eyes flew open in an instant and she looked at David. She looked like she might stop breathing at any moment.

“Are you alright? What happened!”

At David’s question, Roa’s tears streamed down her face.

“Please forgive me. I’m sorry.”

David went still as ice. He had never heard her say something like that before.

Roa’s eyes were full of fear. She looked ready to faint again at any moment.

David’s chest tore itself to pieces.

“What’s wrong. Why are you……”

The shattered pieces of his heart beat wildly. David held Roa tight and stroked her back with desperate tenderness.

Pat, pat.

The way she had become a vast world and held him when he was suffering through nightmares. He prayed that this touch would reach her.

What on earth happened to her?

David held Roa close with his whole heart. And he spoke to her, still trapped in the nightmare.

“I’m here.”

His breath touched her furrowed face.

“I’ll become a world for you, or even a great star, and protect you.”

It was David’s most sincere truth. If she had become a world and held him, then David was ready to become a great star.

Roa, and only Roa, he would keep within his own heart.

David pressed a deep kiss to Roa’s forehead. Roa, somewhere between sleeping and waking, lay in his arms and shed countless tears.

※※※

Someone held me without any gap between us. They called my name, and the voice was full of grief. Perhaps more than my own screaming.

Who is it? Who is calling me like this?

I struggled to break free from that terrible world.

Get out! Get out of here!

Could I really escape from this?

In the middle of that doubt, David’s voice flowed into my ear.

“I’m here.”

David? The one holding me was David.

I had suspected as much. A subtly cool scent came from his arms. He used to have the fresh smell of mint on his breath.

I cried again. My chest heaved with feeling I couldn’t explain.

“I’ll become a world for you, or even a great star, and protect you.”

A great star?

Hearing those words, David’s arms suddenly felt as wide and boundless as the universe. His embrace felt more solid than all the armor I had wrapped around myself.

David…… ah, David.

I wanted to call his name, but my voice wouldn’t come. At least my cold body found a little warmth inside his arms.

David pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead, damp with cold sweat. The warmth of his lips made my body tremble for a moment.

I slowly opened my eyes. David’s face was completely undone. My vision was a little blurry, and I reached out my fingers toward his lips.

Then, contact.

The soft fullness of his lips pressed against my index finger. The same lips that had just touched my forehead.

“How strange.”

When I traced his lips with my finger, David’s blue eyes lit up like a lamp being switched on.

“Roa…… are you back? Don’t cry. It hurts my heart.”

David threw off the cold mask he had worn during their cold war and stroked my tear-soaked face. His hand was bare of gloves, but it didn’t feel unpleasant at all. The feeling filling me now was more than anything lost to energy.

This was a first. Energy, curses, the spirit of desire. None of it crossed my mind.

I was caught only on the sound of ‘Roa.’ It was the first time David had called me by my name rather than my title.

I startled and pressed both hands to my chest.

“Roa…… did you just say Roa?”

David flinched slightly at my question. His handsome face looked tense, like a boatman on a rocking vessel.

A moment later, David spoke carefully.

“In my heart, I’ve always called you Roa.”

“……”

“Because I wanted to. I’ve always carved it deep inside me.”

“I see.”

David didn’t miss my quiet voice. He looked at me with an aching expression.

“Yeah. Can you call me…… David?”

I had always used formal speech with him, even when I treated him carelessly in every other way. It was my way of saying let’s not get any closer than this.

David had perhaps sensed that from the very beginning.

I looked up at him with swollen eyes. My body was still held in David’s arms.

Ah, I’m trembling.

Not my body. My heart. That trembling feeling was about to burst. I exhaled deeply and wet my lips.

“David……”

I called his name in front of him for the first time. I didn’t even pause to wonder if it was alright. No, I couldn’t have. There was no room for it.

The David before my eyes simply shone like a star. The moment I saw that light, I couldn’t stop. I was someone sheltered under a great star.

I held my breath for a moment, then let it out fully.

“David!”

“Yeah.”

“David, David, David!”

“That’s me.”

I called his name like someone releasing a lifelong grief. I didn’t know why. My heart simply cried out for him on its own.

David pressed his forehead to mine with a moved expression. It felt different from a kiss.

I slowly closed my eyes. David spoke to me with fierce, direct honesty.

“Roa!”

The way my chest trembled at his voice. It seemed that somewhere along the way, Roa had become my real name.

I curved my lips upward. My cheeks kept turning red.

David stared at me intently, then claimed my lips in one swift motion.

“Ah!”

I let out a small sound. David pulled my waist close, traced my lips, and looked at me with smoldering eyes. Tongue met tongue, and breath was drawn in.

David’s mouth still tasted of mint. But unlike the kiss from long ago, this one carried a desperate, devoted feeling.

“Hah……”

When our lips parted for a moment, David steadied his breathing and spoke.

“My true desire is you, Roa. Only you.”

I placed my hand on his chest and trembled finely. It seemed to carry the meaning of don’t be upset about the women I’ve been bringing in.

I wore a bittersweet expression.

I rejected you. I hurt you even knowing everything about your situation.

What do I do. What should I do. How can I untangle this knotted relationship.

My mind was tangled with those thoughts, and David lifted me and gently laid me down on the bed. My body felt like a feather for a moment. I settled onto the soft blanket like a falling petal.

The sheer negligee shifted a little with the movement. I flushed with embarrassment.

David sent warm breath to me again. He turned his head and drew in the texture of my lips, tracing each contour.

Every nerve in my body felt fully awake. It was nothing like the first time, when I had seduced him recklessly.

Right now, he was…… not simply a beautiful, handsome sculpture. He was someone who made me tremble wildly every time our eyes met.

“Mmm!”

I accepted his kiss with passion and ran my hand along David’s firm arm. My body kept heating up.

“Mmm…… mm!”

An embarrassing sound escaped my lips. David explored my mouth roughly, then lifted his face. His full lips had grown moist.

I looked at him with puzzlement at his sudden stillness.

Why? Why, why?

David let out a deep sigh.

“I can’t. You’ll be drained.”

David said that with eyes full of burning desire, as though he might push aside my clothing at any moment.

Only then did I realize my body had grown weak from the energy being drawn away. I had even less strength than right after the nightmare, and couldn’t lift my arms. The energy had been pulled from a body already weakened in mind and spirit by the nightmare.