North did not speak his wish aloud.
He never did.
The air around him simply changed, subtle at first, then undeniable, like winter deciding it had waited long enough. No light burst forth, no divine proclamation echoed, but every authority present felt it settle into place, quiet and absolute.
Yuria felt it before anyone else.
Her breath caught as something deep inside her stirred, not fear, not pain, but recognition, like a locked door suddenly remembering it was meant to open.
Her system activated.
Not with its usual polite chime, but with a low, resonant hum that vibrated through her bones.
[System Authority Recognized]
[External Command Detected]
[Permission Granted — Observation Mode]
Yuria froze, eyes unfocused, body still standing yet her awareness slipping sideways, pulled inward as translucent panels unfolded before her vision.
She did not speak.
She never did when the system showed her things that mattered.
So it's finally happening, she thought, heart racing as familiar yet dangerous excitement crept in
This is the scene… the one that was only hinted at in the novel, never fully explained, never resolved.
The interface shifted, symbols rearranging themselves into something sharper, colder.
[Target Locked]
[Erdaline — Status: Dream-State (Permanent)]
The world around Yuria faded.
She saw Erdaline.
Not the sleeping body on the bed, not the fragile girl wrapped in seals and prayers, but something deeper, something layered beneath layers, a soul folded in on itself like space refusing to lie flat.
The system scrolled.
[Detected Blessings]
— Divinity of Space (Active, Unstable)
— Divinity of Dream (Active, Recursive)
Yuria's pulse spiked.
Two blessings… no, not blessings, she corrected herself instantly
These are authorities!
Her vision zoomed further, data unraveling into concepts rather than numbers, and suddenly she understood why no healer, no god, no archangel could wake Erdaline.
Because Erdaline had never been awake.
Not once.
Every time she thought she had opened her eyes, every time she smiled, spoke, remembered, it had all happened inside nested dreams, dreams layered within space itself, looping gently, endlessly, mercifully.
The system flashed again.
[Curse Detected]
Yuria's throat went dry.
[Snow-White Curse — Origin: Supreme-Level]
[Condition: Life-force displaced]
[Source: Extra-Dimensional]
Her thoughts raced.
So that's it… her life doesn't belong here.
Erdaline's existence was anchored somewhere else, another world, another dimension, and only a supreme authority over space itself could drag that life-force across realities, pin it here, and force it to remain.
A curse disguised as mercy.
A prison built from kindness.
The system continued, cold and impartial.
[Curse Constraint]
— Can only be applied by an entity with authority exceeding Space Divinity
— Cannot be overridden by standard divine hierarchy
Yuria felt sick.
That's why Graviel's contract never mattered, she realized .
Because this curse doesn't recognize gods, angels, or ranks… it recognizes power.
Another alert flared, sharper than the rest.
[Warning]
[Unknown Divinity Detected]
Her vision blurred as the interface struggled to define what it was seeing, symbols warping, text fragmenting.
[Classification Failed]
[Authority Level: Unmeasurable]
Something moved within Erdaline's dream-space.
Not entering, not exiting, but overlapping, like a shadow cast by something that wasn't standing anywhere.
Yuria's heart pounded.
This wasn't in the novel, she thought wildly .
This wasn't supposed to happen yet.
Then the system changed.
Not glitched.
Changed.
The familiar layout dissolved, replaced by a single black screen, stark and absolute, one line of text written slowly, deliberately, as if whoever was on the other side enjoyed taking their time.
"Do you think death is stronger?
I'm stronger than him
Hehehe"
The words were not displayed.
They were felt.
Yuria gasped, pain lancing through her head as the voice echoed directly inside her thoughts, playful, amused, ancient beyond reason.
Her knees buckled.
[Contact Established]
[Authority Difference Detected]
[Forced Synchronization]
She tried to scream.
She couldn't.
The last thing Yuria felt before the world went dark was her system screaming warnings faster than she could read, power flooding into her uncontrollably.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
Then silence.
Her body collapsed backward.
North turned instantly, catching her before she hit the ground, his expression tightening for the first time since he had arrived.
"Yuria," he said sharply.
No response.
Raka swore under his breath. "That's new, is she my soon-to-be sister-in-law?."
Sol's gaze was locked on Yuria, sharp and wary. "She didn't faint from strain."
Senna's voice was low. "She was contacted."
Graviel felt it then, too late, too clear, dread flooding his chest as he stared at Erdaline's unmoving form.
"That presence," he whispered, "it's the same one."
North straightened slowly, holding Yuria with careful strength, eyes cold, focused, dangerous.
"So," he said quietly, "you're watching."
The seals around Erdaline trembled.
Somewhere beyond dream and space, something laughed softly, delighted, as if a long game had finally grown interesting.
And Erdaline, still dreaming, smiled for the first time without knowing why.
________________
Yuria did not fall into darkness ,Darkness fell into her.
Her body was gone, her breath was gone, even the feeling of time slipped away, yet her thoughts remained, floating in a place that felt too wide to be called a mind.
She stood barefoot on nothing.
Above her was a sky made of broken symbols, system windows stretched and twisted like torn pages, numbers melting into words, words losing meaning.
"So noisy," a voice echoed, amused, familiar in a way that made her chest ache.
Yuria tried to turn but there was no direction.
"Relax," the voice continued, almost kind, "you're not dying, that would be rude, you're just… listening"
Her system flickered to life again, weaker now, obedient
[Consciousness State: Forced Observation]
[Warning: Authority Overlap]
Yuria swallowed though she had no throat
This voice…
I've heard it before.
Not directly, never clearly, but in myths written like jokes, in prayers that ended with laughter, in footnotes that scholars pretended were errors.
A blurry figure appeared in front of her.
Not tall, not short, not even stable, black hair falling over his eyes like he forgot to care, his shape bending as if space itself was unsure how to hold him.
He waved.
"Ah, you can see me this time," he said, sounding genuinely impressed, "congratulations, that's a level-up reward".
Yuria's fear arrived late.
"You're… above the system," she said, unsure how she knew.
The figure tilted his head.
"Above, beside, behind," he shrugged, "systems are tools, I just knock when I feel polite".
Her system screamed silently
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
"Shhh," the blurry man whispered, tapping the air, and the errors froze mid-flicker.
"You're wondering why the angel's contract never worked," he said casually, as if reading a children's book, "contracts only bind things that agree to be bound"
His smile widened, soft and wrong
"I don't sign contracts," he added, "people make wishes".
" Contract is just a side dish."
Yuria's heart shook
"You're the one," she whispered, "the one who—"
He raised a finger.
"No names," he said lightly, "names make things smaller".
Then he leaned closer, close enough that the space between them folded inward.
"Also," he added, smiling, "I didn't come for you".
The world flipped
Yuria's consciousness was pushed aside, like a curtain pulled back.
And suddenly she was watching
Erdaline's dream was no longer quiet.
Snow fell upward, freezing midair, stars appeared beneath the ground, the horizon folded into itself like paper soaked in water
Erdaline walked calmly through it all, hands clasped, eyes gentle, unaware that the sky above her was cracking.
She had always been here.
She had never left.
The dream tried to stay kind.
A house appeared, then failed to finish forming, walls stretching too far, doors opening into memories that never happened.
Erdaline laughed softly.
"This place is strange today," she said, tilting her head, "did I do something wrong".
The blurry man stepped into the dream without entering it.
Reality bent around him like it was embarrassed .
"Oh no," he said cheerfully, "you've been perfect".
The snow turned black.
Space folded inward.
The dream screamed without sound
Erdaline finally looked up And for the first time, truly looked.
"You feel familiar," she said politely, smiling the way she always did
The man's laughter echoed everywhere and nowhere
"That's because," he replied gently, "you wished before you were dead".
The dream shattered
Not broke
Shattered
And far away, Yuria's system recorded one final line before going completely dark.
[Observation Terminated — Authority Superseded]
" Let's meet again next time oh! Daughter of the creator."