Wake up

When I looked back, the back had turned into a gurgling stream. The deep and shallow green plants were very pleasing to the eye, and the lush green forest could be vaguely seen not far away.

The red-haired young man stood at the gate of the castle. The soldiers guarding the castle, wearing armor, pushed open the gate made of gold and diamonds for him. They said in unison: "Lord Aureus, the princess has been waiting for you for a long time."

Yes, he is Aurelius, the knight who guards the princess.

The visitor's thoughts were interrupted for a moment, and a series of familiar scenes naturally emerged: he was the knight who guarded the castle and the strongest man in the kingdom. He grew up with the princess and they were childhood sweethearts.

"Where is the princess?"

The red-haired young man walked towards the gate, his coat gradually transformed into an exquisite and gorgeous armor, the soft red velvet cape rustled like a hunter, and the outline of his chin was smooth and clear.

"The princess is waiting for you in the room."

A soldier answered. Oreius nodded slightly and walked towards the stairs without stopping.

The flashy decorations, the extravagant chandeliers, and any expensive and exquisite things could not attract the knight's attention. The thought of seeing the object he had been protecting made even the calm knight feel excited. The rest of the things disappeared like mist blown away by the breeze, along with the fragmented images in his mind.

Now he is just a guard knight named Oreus.

This was a very subtle change, and even the owner himself did not notice it. He stepped onto the stairs and hurried to the bedroom on the second floor. He knocked on the door cautiously and seriously. The tightly closed door immediately opened, and a ball of warm and soft jade was thrown out. The princess threw herself into his arms, bringing with her a slightly drunken fragrance.

"Aureus! You are finally back!"

She was like a chirping oriole, looking at her hero with bright eyes. Oleis lowered his eyes and smiled at her, and gently touched her head: "Sorry to have kept you waiting, Princess."

"That's good to know. Did you bring me a gift?"

The little oriole coughed twice, put his hands behind his back, raised his head, and stared at him. His emerald green eyes were as bright as stars, making people love him deeply. The red-haired young man replied gently: "Of course, I hunted a green dragon for you and took back its dragon crystal. You said you wanted a crown made of it, didn't you?"

"Really? That's very kind of you! My birthday is next month, Oreius, and I want you to wear the crown for me!"

The princess cried out in joy, and rushed over to kiss him again and again on the face. Orelius protected his back to prevent him from falling, with a look of helplessness on his face.

"Your Majesty will be sad to hear what you say."

"Who made him always busy with official business? It's you who are the only one to accompany me."

The princess pouted and complained childishly about her father's busyness. Aurelius could only act as a trash can to listen to her. Since the death of the queen, the king who lost his lover has devoted himself to public affairs and entrusted the responsibility of taking care of his daughter to his knight. Over time, the knight became the most trusted person of the little princess.

When she wants to go out, the loyal knight will always be by her side, so that she is not afraid of danger; whenever she wants to cry, he will always accompany her silently. Even if she makes a willful request, the knight will do his best to meet it.

The princess buried herself in his arms, feeling the knight's warm palms caressing her hair, and her heart began to beat. She seemed to be drunk, and she would be intoxicated when she touched him. It was not until Aurelius spoke that the princess reluctantly moved away from his arms and pretended to be calm and peeked.

After not seeing each other for a while, the young man still looked handsome, and he looked at her with a smile in his eyes. She liked his face, his voice, and he liked to accompany her walking in the garden, patiently explaining to her the story of each plant. With just one word from her, the knight would go through fire and water to find the precious dragon for her.

Do you like me?

She was full of anxiety and hesitation. She looked straight at him. But Aurelius looked back at her without noticing, and only paid attention to the princess's hesitation.

"Your face is very red. Do you want me to call a doctor?"

"...Need not!"

It would be so embarrassing if she had a doctor to see her!

The princess's expression changed immediately and she angrily drove him out. The bewildered knight stood at the door, facing the closed bedroom door, wondering what he had done wrong.

He thought about it carefully and could only attribute it to the princess being in a bad mood today. After delivering the dragon crystal to the forge, he would go to the kitchen to see if there were any new snacks.

The red-haired young man made up his mind and went downstairs to the back of the castle. He walked through the garden, unaware that a girl was hiding in a room and peeking at him. When the knight disappeared, he reluctantly threw himself on the bed and rolled himself up into a ball.

Aurelius found the forge and knocked politely on the door. He kept a steady rhythm of knocking without getting in a hurry or responding. When the person inside could no longer bear it and shouted "Get in!" in a rough voice full of impatience, the knight opened the door and walked in.

The hot wind blew towards him, blowing up the knight's cape. The sound of iron hammering could be heard continuously, and the forger stood in front of the stove, hammering the material on the cutting board with one hand.

He was short but unusually strong, his naked upper body showing off his muscular body, which exploded with amazing power with every strike. His white beard, which reached down to his chest, was braided into an exquisite braid. The high temperature and hard work had soaked his body with sweat, which reflected a wet sheen under the red fire.

Hearing the footsteps of humans, the dwarf master instructed without turning his head: "Come and pump the bellows for me."

The strongest knight in the kingdom walked over with a good temper, squatted down and pumped the bellows for him. The whistling flames suddenly became more powerful, and the hot air made it hard to breathe, but it did not hinder the dwarf's actions.

He struck each part of the steel with exactly the same force until it formed the shape he wanted, then he placed the red-hot iron sheet into the cold water beside him, and a hot white mist emerged.

During this process, the dwarf finally gave the other party a look: "Did you bring the dragon crystal back?"

"Yes, a green dragon."

The knight stood up and activated the storage space in his armor. A huge dragon crystal appeared out of thin air. It was more like a multi-faceted, transparent gem than a magic crystal. However, ordinary gems would not have such a beautiful green color, which made it difficult for painters to describe it even with their best efforts.

The dwarf's eyes immediately glued to it. He admired this hard-earned treasure with his eyes full of love: "It is indeed worthy of being a dragon crystal. I heard that the Knights even destroyed a mountain when they conquered the green dragon this time?"

The knight was ashamed: "No, it just cracked a mountain range and formed a canyon. I am more worried about how to deal with the swamps and poisonous miasma that have been corroded by dragon blood. Fortunately, no one lives nearby, otherwise there might be accidental injuries."

The dwarf didn't take it seriously: "It's a barren place anyway, it will be fine after a hundred years. Just rest assured, leave this thing to me, I will definitely make you a birthday crown suitable for a princess!"

As he said this, the dwarf, who had been deeply influenced by humans, chuckled and even revealed a bit of gossip in his eyes: "You must have just come from the princess's place. How are you? The princess will soon become an adult, and I have high hopes for you."

Aurelius denied: "Don't talk nonsense, I only regard the princess as my sister."

"The princess doesn't look at you like a brother." The dwarf picked up the dragon crystal on the table and said jokingly, "It's no better than you continuing to be a knight. That means you will inherit a kingdom. Then I will have to call you His Majesty the King."

"...I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

The knight fled in panic. The dwarves' wild laughter could be heard from behind. The human's face flushed, and he sighed helplessly, wondering why these people were so gossipy. He really didn't have such thoughts.

He was about to go back to the hall when he suddenly felt a pain in his head and a figure vaguely appeared at the end of his sight. The other person was standing under a tree in the courtyard, his eyes fixed on his face.

“——”

Even though he couldn't see the face clearly, Oreius still realized what the other person was saying. But the voice turned into distorted and incomprehensible words. He just blinked, and the figure under the tree disappeared in an instant. The wind rustled through the ends of his hair, and the young man immediately walked under the tree and turned around, but found no trace of anyone.

Strange, am I too tired?

He was lost in thought. The maid who was drying the clothes found the knight and greeted him with a smile: "Lord Aurelius, why are you here? Aren't you going to see the princess?"

"I'll be right there."

Aurelius came back to his senses abruptly, smiled at the other party embarrassedly, collected his thoughts and walked towards the main building, only making a note of this incident in his mind.

The kingdom they were in was just a middle-class kingdom, peaceful and tranquil, and not at odds with the world. When there was no mission, the knight only needed to accompany the princess.

The little princess, who was loved by everyone, was easy to please. She only needed to attend her lessons every day and go out to play when she was bored. Sometimes, when she was interested, she would pester the knight to learn some self-defense skills. Orelius obeyed her wishes.

From the day he became a knight, the king gave the most talented young knight to his daughter. He accompanied her for ten years and also spent his own youth with her.

He is both a brother and a friend, a servant and a father.

Aurelius knew the little princess's thoughts very well, but he was helpless. No matter how he tried to persuade her, the little princess would always cover her ears and stare at him with a bullied look. The young man had no choice but to give up and brush the matter off.

That day, the little princess pestered him to go to the garden. After hesitating for a moment, the knight nodded and agreed.

He has been feeling uneasy lately.

He didn't know when it started, but he often saw strange figures.

Sometimes in the courtyard, sometimes in the hall, it was everywhere, snooping secretly, and then suddenly disappeared in the next second, leaving the knight alone in confusion.

These shadows kept approaching, at first they just stood far away, and then they got closer every day. Until one night, he suddenly woke up from his dream, the moonlight passed through the window and fell into the house, forming a human shadow on the ground. He slowly raised his eyes and saw a blurry black mass clinging to the window. Oleus almost drew his sword directly, and the man disappeared in the next second.

Sometimes he would suddenly smell an overly damp smell, as if a rainstorm or flood was coming, while the sun was still shining brightly overhead.

Sometimes he thought his own sword was a heavy, weathered longsword, but when he looked down, he saw that the sword given by the king was forged by the dwarf master himself, and was as bright as a mirror.

Sometimes he would see some strange scenes, such as a silver-haired young man sitting at a table, learning sacrificial rituals from a priest; a brown-haired boy being woken up early in the morning to run laps, accompanied by a blond knight in armor.

Even though he had never met these people before, Aurelius felt a strong sense of affinity for them.

All these made him suspect that he was cursed by a green dragon, after all, green dragons are best at poison and curses. But the priest's test results showed that everything was normal. The young man had to swallow all his doubts and act calm as usual. However, whenever he had free time, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

"Aureus? Aureus! If you ignore me, I will be angry!"

"Ah, I'm here. What's the matter, Princess?"

The knight suddenly came back to his senses and looked down at the girl in front of him. The princess, holding a wreath, stared at him for a long time, snorted, and reluctantly forgave her for not paying attention, motioning her to lower her head quickly.

"It's so rare for you to hang out with me, yet you're distracted."

"This needs to be clarified. Every time you invited me out, I accompanied you."

"This time it's different! I have something to tell you. Tomorrow is my birthday, Oreius, and I want to--"

The red-haired young man was about to bend down when his gaze suddenly froze. The confused girl was still urging him, but his eyes were already fixed on the girl's back.

The blurry figure was so close, suddenly appearing behind the princess in the bright afternoon sunlight, which made people think of the sudden arrival of the dead or the ominous god of death. Oreius did not even notice when the other party appeared, and his back was covered with cold sweat.

He smelled that damp and sticky smell again, which penetrated through his bones and soaked his limbs, forming invisible chains that locked every inch of his bones. He wanted to resist, but he was powerless. He watched helplessly as the figure passed the princess and moved closer and closer to him, almost touching his face.

Even so, he couldn't see what kind of face was under the hood. He only saw two golden dots faintly lit up inside, mumbling hoarsely, repeating those strange words. After repeating it for an unknown number of times, Oleus finally heard what the other party was saying.

"Wake up."

The strange golden color stared at him and spoke in a strange tone.

"Wake up."

“……!”

The red-haired young man sat up suddenly.

The man who was bending over to check on the other person's unconsciousness was unable to dodge and collided with him on the forehead. Mason's head buzzed as if it had hit a piece of iron.

This brother is really tough...

He hissed and covered his forehead in shock.

What happened? When did he get caught? And he even starred in a bloody fantasy romance drama?

The surroundings were still filled with thick white fog, and the humidity was shockingly high. Seeing Mason wake up, the person who woke him up was relieved. His face was deep, his golden hair was dazzling, and his eyes were as bright as flowing gold, which was particularly bright and dazzling in this foggy environment.

The unfortunate collision had no effect on the kind-hearted man, who asked with concern: "You finally woke up, is your head okay?"

"...I think it's fine, there's just one problem."

Mason asked dryly, "Who are you?"