The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 07

Chapter 7

“Hm? What did you say, Blake?”

Naturally, Blake gently lifted me up from where I was hanging onto his leg.

His touch was surprisingly gentle, and I stared at him blankly for a moment.
(Of course, I was still doing an absolutely perfect job pretending to be an ordinary stuffed toy.)

“This isn’t your gift, so no.”

“Ah… O-Okay then.”

Apparently she hadn’t expected that answer at all, because Lea awkwardly stepped back.

Then, curiosity getting the better of her, she suddenly leaned forward again and asked:

“Then what is this teddy bear? There’s no way it belongs to you, Blake.”

“……”

“…?”

The longer no answer came back, the more Lea’s expression changed.

Her brows drew together suspiciously, then she smiled as if reassuring herself that couldn’t possibly be true.

“Come on~ No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like something that suits you at all.”

“Doesn’t it?”

Blake answered indifferently while staring directly at me.

“Yeah. Be honest. Who were you planning to give it to?”

Well… she had a point.

Compared to Blake’s reputation as the greatest sword in all of Cassdonia, I was just a tiny, shabby teddy bear.

Anyone who saw me in his hands would never believe I actually belonged to him.

‘He’s probably going to call me trash.’

Even Rain had basically called me a piece of trash earlier.

Even though I knew this wasn’t my real form anyway, I still felt strangely upset and stared blankly into the air with tense eyes.

Meanwhile, those violet eyes slowly swept over me.

Almost as if he were examining my expression.

Eventually, his lazy gaze shifted back toward Lea.

“I’m not giving it to anyone. It’s mine.”

The calm answer pierced straight into my ears.

My heart-pounding life!

Being carried out of a banquet hall by a handsome human man was far more exciting than anything I’d ever imagined.

‘Lea’s expression earlier was incredible.’

She’d looked at him like she’d just witnessed a complete lunatic.

But honestly… was it okay for Blake to look like that in front of the person he had a crush on?

The carriage rattled along a flat road lined on both sides with tall plane trees.

I was currently on my way to the Leblanc estate, where Blake lived.

Together with the gloomy-looking handsome man sitting beside me!

I’d dreamed about situations like this from novels before, but I’d never imagined I’d experience them as a teddy bear.

Haah… life really never makes anything easy. What a long day this has been.

For a moment, my chest tightened with anxiety over my situation.

But I wasn’t the kind of witch to get discouraged so easily!

“Come to think of it, isn’t this actually pretty lucky? I get to ride comfortably in a carriage with a gorgeous man and sleep in a cozy mansion.”

“…What are you babbling about?”

“There are way more exhausting and painful things in the world than this. If you get overly disappointed or overly excited about every little thing, you waste too much energy.”

Rattle.

Blake, who’d seemed to be silently listening to me, shot me an irritated glance and abruptly opened the carriage window.

“Waaah, it’s cool!”

But the moment the refreshing wind blew inside, I excitedly scooted right up against him—

—and he immediately shut the window again with a horrified expression.

Tch. I just wanted a little fresh air.

Since entering the carriage, Blake hadn’t really said much of anything.

It was almost like he had absolutely no curiosity about me.

Normally, after hearing someone claim they were a witch, people would have endless questions and suspicions.

I wouldn’t have minded him interrogating me at all.

‘At the very least, I’ve learned Blake has a very unusual personality.’

I frowned slightly while observing his dark profile.

He felt completely different from ordinary young men who dreamed of brilliant youth and hopeful futures.

Would “old man trapped in a young body” be the right way to describe him?

“Blake. What should I call you?”

“Don’t call me.”

“How about old man?”

“……”

His dark brows twitched uncomfortably.

Hmm. Guess he didn’t like that one.

Then let’s think of another nickname.

Something that suited his handsome face, blunt personality, and gloomy atmosphere…

“Ah! How about Rude Dragon?”

This time he genuinely frowned around the eyes as if hearing such a ridiculous nickname for the first time.

I was quoting Max, who used to say Blake had the temperament of a black dragon.

Guess that one didn’t work either.

“…Then Charger!”

“……”

“Oh, do people here not use that word? The reason I called you that is actually related to why I followed you. My depleted magic recovers really quickly when I stay near you. You’re basically a magical charging device. Plus, your handsome face is very healing for my tired eyes, so it works on multiple levels. What do you think? Don’t you like it?”

“Be quiet.”

At the clear order to stop talking, I pouted.

“But I need something to call you.”

“Stop being annoying and just call me Blake. At least until you die.”

“Then I really can call you Blake?!”

I shouted happily, and Blake simply closed his eyes without answering.

I never expected we’d get close this quickly.

Back in the witch world, it was an unspoken rule to use nicknames until you became close enough to exchange real names.

A witch’s true name carried power, after all, so using it carelessly was considered rude.

Back then, Max used to call me “Drunkard of the West.”

Now that I’d grown more accustomed to that culture, Blake allowing me to use his real name made me genuinely happy.

“Great! Then Blake, I’ll allow you to use my name too. Call me Vivian!”

“……”

Again, no answer came.

But I was gradually getting used to that too.

Blake was the type of person who revealed his thoughts even without speaking.

Even though he acted like he was ignoring me, the fact that he didn’t outright refuse probably meant he accepted it.

“Blake Leblanc. Since we’ve officially introduced ourselves and decided what to call each other, let’s get along well!”

I stretched out my fluffy paw for a handshake, but he didn’t move at all, eyes still closed as if asleep.

Still, I was perfectly capable of handling things myself.

So I placed my stubby paw directly on top of his large hand.

The instant our hands touched, energy began surging through my entire body.

“Yep. I definitely should’ve called you a fast charger.”

“Take your hand off.”

“Okay.”

After observing him like that for about an hour, a black mansion slowly came into view at the end of a road lit by orange streetlamps.

‘…Is this the castle of a black dragon? Why is it so dark?’

It felt completely different from Holloway Castle, which was practically blinding with flashy golden decorations.

This place was a giant rectangular estate without a single soft edge anywhere, surrounded by sharp iron spikes covering the gates.

Whoever designed this place had the worst taste imaginable.

There’s no dream or hope here at all…

As if announcing our arrival, the carriage gradually slowed to a stop within the overwhelming darkness.

With a strange creaking noise, the gates opened and the carriage halted before the entrance.

“We’ve arrived, Young Master.”

The carriage door opened, and Blake lightly grabbed one of my arms before stepping down.

Without the slightest hesitation, he strode into the mansion that looked like some underground dungeon no one could ever escape from.

Dangling helplessly from his hand, I was eventually brought into a room—

—and casually tossed onto a sofa.

Then, without giving me a single warning or instruction, he immediately turned around and left the room.

…Huh?

“Blake!”

Bang.

Suddenly abandoned alone, I blinked blankly inside the dark room.

Several hours passed just like that.

“Yaaawn… Well, at least resting is nice.”

I sprawled comfortably across the sofa as though it were my own home, completely neglected.

“What a strange charger.”

If you make a deal with someone, shouldn’t you immediately demand they prove themselves and remove the curse?

That’s how it usually works in novels.

If it were me, I definitely would’ve pressured the other person to try immediately.

But Blake showed no sign of returning.

‘Didn’t he want to sleep?’

Even though he’d willingly given me a chance, he clearly didn’t seem interested in me at all.

Had years of insomnia and curses exhausted him so completely that he’d lost both hope and the will to live?

Still… he must’ve brought me here because some tiny part of him wanted to cling to hope.

‘If that’s true, couldn’t he trust me just a little more?’

I desperately wanted to grab the socially awkward, quiet Blake and chatter endlessly at him.

But since that didn’t seem possible right now…

‘Then I’ll just find something I can do myself!’

Maybe I should get used to this room while waiting for Blake to come back—

The thought had barely crossed my mind when a light knock suddenly sounded outside the door.

Knock knock.

Ooh! Is that Blake?

Excited, I was about to run toward the door—

—when a sudden realization stopped me cold.

Wait a second.

Why would Blake knock before entering his own room?

That made absolutely no sense.

“Uh, then…”

Who was it?

The realization flashed through my mind for only a moment.

“Brother, are you there?”

After the youthful voice called out, silence lingered briefly—

—and then the door slowly creaked open.