Getting inside his room at the inn, Corvin's mind was crowded and he wanted to sleep fast. Changing his clothes and laying down on the bed, he quickly fell asleep while thinking about today.
*****
When he opened his eyes again, Corvin was sitting at a table. Looking around, he could figure out he was in a restaurant of some kind, but it was different to the ones he was used to in the Empire. The restaurant had some decorations and familiar writings he couldn't read, and soon he understood why.
He was shaking his foot up and down in stress and anxiety as he was looking down at the table. Of course, his body was moving on it's own and Corvin had no control over it just like the other dreams. In front of him, on the black glass table, there was an empty plate with only leftover scraps on it.
'Oh, one of those dreams again? It's been a while...'
His thoughts were stopped by a flock of blonde hair that entered his vision.
Lifting his head, he saw Lily in her mid twenties, taking a seat in front of him with a friendly smile on her face.
"Can I sit here?", asked Lily.
He nodded as an answer. His face was already looking down at the table again, but his foot had slowed down a bit.
"I heard the problems at the meeting. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine.", he answered without lifting his face.
Lily stared at the dishonest man for a while before speaking once again.
"You are worrying about others' fundings, aren't you?"
He clenched his fists on the table.
"I will take that silence as a yes."
"..."
"You are worrying over nothing, you should know that."
He got up, paid for his food and left the restaurant while ignoring Lily who was trying to speak to him. Lily quickly started to follow him as he was walking on the street.
"No one will be angry or disappointed at you if you ask for more time."
"..."
"Everyone knows it is a really hard project and they all trust you. That's why you still have funding."
"Don't talk about it like it is nothing! After all those years of working, I have to scrap half of the project! There are countless young people who were refused and projects put on hold because of the funding issue. And yet, the only project that saw an increase in funding and the second most expensive one in the history of this place has to practically start over again! How can I handle that?! How can I sleep, knowing that my failure means there were others like me whose dreams were crushed for nothing, just because of my own incompetence!"
Lily bitterly smiled at the man kind man that couldn't be kind to himself. Seeing the bubbling emotions in his eyes, she tried to search for words that would help him and his fragile mind.
"Stop blaming yourself. We all know it wasn't your fault. Everyone had a part to do, and we all failed together."
"I am the head of the project. If I can't even notice something like this, then the project is better off without an idiot like me."
Lily pushed him towards a bench on the sidewalk. Holding him in place from his shoulders, she sat on his lap and shouted at his face.
"I said stop blaming yourself!"
He averted his gaze and muttered.
"See... Even you are angry at me."
"Of course I am! Even when everyone tells you that it's okay, and there are no problems with you, you still keep putting yourself down for no reason! We all know how hard you are working! We all know how hard it was for you last year, and we all know how complicated the project is!"
"If you know that, then you also know why I can't afford to fail right? But, I did. That's why-"
"As I said! It wasn't your fault! You keep worrying about trampling over someone else's hard work, but you always trample over your own! Why do you value yourself the least?! Why is it the team's work when it is successful but your fault when it fails?! You do know you aren't the only one working on it, right?"
"But-"
"There are no 'but's! You keep overworking yourself to help others before starting to worry about your own work, and then claim you do nothing at all! Even if your own project failed this one time, there are countless others that were saved because of you getting out of your way to help them! If you ask the scientists and engineers here if there is anyone who should get the most help, all of them will say that it is you!"
"..."
"Look at me and listen, okay?"
Lily held his face and forcefully turned it towards herself.
"Everyone knows how hard you are working, and everyone knows how much you help others. This single failure doesn't mean you are leeching from others and it doesn't mean you are incompetent. If you ask me, you are the most competent person I have ever met in my life. So, stop putting yourself down. Do you understand?"
"Ye-Yesh. I thoo undershtand. Kan you leth go oph my faish nouv?"
Lily took her hand away with a blush and got up from his lap.
"It's fine if you understand. If you ever start putting yourself down like now, talk to me and I will fix your stupid once again, okay? I will always listen to you. I will leave you alone to think now.", she said as she smiled at him before walking away.
He stood still, looking at her back slowly get smaller as she walked further away. Tears almost rolled down from his eyes and his heart was beating wildly. It felt like it was trying to get out of his chest and give itself to the woman whose back he was staring at. Her smiling face, too beautiful to be described by words, engraved itself into his mind. His face was as red as someone's face could become. His legs were frozen and he could still feel her warmth from them.
He lowered his red face, this time not from stress, but from embarrassment and covered his red face with his hands in an attempt to hide it from the couple of curious eyes that were staring at what was happening in the streets.
"I used to like her a bit but... now I have fallen completely, haven't I?", he muttered.
He got up and started slowly walking towards somewhere as Corvin's vision darkened and the dream ended.
*****
Corvin slowly got up from the bed. He was sweaty and needed to take a bath. He realized that he was crying, and he knew it was because of his dream, but he couldn't remember the dream no matter how hard he tried to.
He entered the bath at the inn and washed himself. The whole time, he was absentminded. He was thinking about the dream he forgot about. It felt too important to forget, and he wanted to remember it. After getting out of the bath and then the inn, he decided to take a stroll to relax his mind as usual while he was thinking about the dream.
That's when, he bumped into someone.
An incredibly beautiful girl with shiny and voluminous dark blue hair and gem like light blue eyes that contrasted her slightly tanned skin with a feminine body that would entice most men.