Cheat Awakening

"Ahem, where am I?"

A groan escaped Myne's lips as he slowly opened his eyes, wincing in pain. His head throbbed like it had been hammered repeatedly hundreds of times, it was very heavy and dizzying, and he could hardly focus on anything. Every attempt to focus felt futile, his vision blurry and swimming. Clearly, he wasn't in good shape.

Although Myne wanted to get up and assess his current situation, the dizziness quickly overpowered him, forcing him to drift back into unconsciousness.

Five hours later…

"Velvet!" With a jolt, Myne again opened his eyes and exclaimed while panting heavily. But soon a look of confusion appeared on his face as he looked at the familiar wall in front of him. His eyes darted around the room and found that he was sitting on his own bed in his home, a frown furrowing his brow deeper instead of relaxing his features.

"Did I again come into the dream world?" Myne muttered, eyeing his hands. They weren't the small hands of a child he imagined but the normal ones. He whipped his head around and paused as his gaze landed on the portrait hanging directly above the bed.

It depicted a young man, a bright smile gracing his features, beaming proudly as he held the hands of two beautiful brides, standing on a raised platform, receiving adoration from a crowd below.

"Have I really come back home? But how did this happen? Who saved me? I vividly remembered plummeting from the observatory after destroying the tower core, then I saw a bright light before everything faded to black... But if I am in a dream, then there is no way I have my wedding portrait in the bedroom.

I remember Sylphy mentioning that mother-in-law prepared two such portraits, but I was trapped in Alban's dimension before she sent that to us and I can see it. Yet here it is," Myne pondered aloud, his confusion, however, the more he thought, the more lost he became. He slowly rose from the bed and peered out the window.

The sky was cloaked in darkness, not the unsettling darkness of the Alban dimension but a normal one. He could discern faint light, the moon and stars shimmering above, confirming it was just an ordinary night.

"How long am I in a coma?" Myne mumbled, pulling out the demonic watch Gal had gifted him. After several minutes of deciphering, he concluded it was roughly three in the morning.

After that, Myne took out his clothes from his inventory and wore them since he was lying on the bed naked. He then tiptoed out of the bedroom without making a sound. The entire house was eerily silent; now, even if someone dropped a pin, it would make enough sound to echo throughout the entire house.

"If it were before trapping into Alban's dimension, this kind of silence with a dark background should be more than enough to force me to run back to the bedroom and hide in the quilt," Myne quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood. He bypassed the second room without investigating and headed straight for the living room but found no one there.

However, he noticed many minor changes in the room; the original couch had been replaced, as had the floor mat. There was also a rocking chair, which wasn't there before, now occupied a corner.

Myne checked the quality of the couch and found it to be very high, and many times more comfortable than the previous one, nodding his head with satisfaction.

"Now, even if Aisha threatens to kick me out of the bedroom, I can say with my head held high that I don't care. But then again, there's a high chance of getting beaten if I really said that," Myne chuckled while wondering what kind of expression Aisha had when she saw him after such a long time.

"I hope she's doing well. What should I say when I face her later? Will she beat me to death because of making her worry so much? Maybe I should have asked Gal if she knows any kind of magic that can reduce pain..." Musing like this, Myne gently opened the main door and walked out of the house. The cold night wind greeted him as he stepped outside, indicating that winter wasn't far off.

Maybe I should have worn something warm before coming out...

Woof?!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Myne hadn't even had time to take a clear breath when suddenly a shadow rushed toward him with astonishing speed, and before he could react, he found himself sprawled on the ground with something very heavy on his chest and then thing's wet tongue started cleaning his face.

WOOF-WOOF!

"Okay, okay, I understand you're happy, but please don't make noise, otherwise you'll wake everyone up, Tad," Myne gently grabbed Tad's mouth, who was barking incessantly in excitement, and spoke softly. To his surprise, he had hardly calmed Tad down when two more shadows, larger than Tad, jumped on him and started giving him another round of the face wash with their saliva.

This time, Myne was overwhelmed by Tad and his parent's affection. Although he wanted to stop them, they clearly weren't having it. It took him quite a bit of effort to coax them to calm down.

"It seems like you guys have missed me a lot, didn't you? I also miss you a lot, however... has Aisha and others forgotten to take care of you properly while I was away? Why do you all look as if you have been having a hard time and haven't been eating properly? You guys seem to have lost a lot of weight," Myne asked with a frown while gently stroking three of them one by one.

Unless there is some problem, otherwise with Aisha's character who doted on Ted and his parents to death, he didn't believe that she didn't take good care of them in his absence.

Tad quickly shook his head at Myne's question, indicating that Aisha had been taking good care of them. However, since Myne couldn't communicate with them like he does with Waffle, he decided to let the matter go and ask others later.

After that, Myne played with Tad and his parents, telling them about his situation, how he got trapped in a perverted demon dimension, imprisoned in dreams, etc. Since he knew they could understand every word he spoke, he had long confirmed this after observing Tad. Their intelligence was on par with that of any normal person; the only thing missing was their ability to speak like Waffle.

"That's enough for now. Don't stay awake all night. Here, eat something first, then head back to bed. You guys don't look as fierce as before.

It seems I have some work to do to get you back in top shape," An hour later, after Myne finished his story, he put down some delicious food in front of Ted and his parents, and since he still had quite a bit of food supplies in reserve, which clearly weren't needed now since he already got out of that damn shit hole.

Leaving them to it, Myne wandered aimlessly around the house until he reached his clan building. It seemed to be facing some difficulty. Construction had halted midway, leaving it unfinished. Judging by the surroundings, he could tell that it had been a while since someone had come here to work.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised after all. I only gave them a small amount of money at the start, yet they managed to build it halfway without any further funds before abandoning the work... Seems like my father-in-law is not as cheap as I thought... Nah, it can't be him. It is more likely either Lewis's work or my sweet mother-in-law helping us behind the back.

That old geezer wouldn't never spend his own money on me."

"I must thank my kind mother-in-law properly later. But, sigh, there is still a lot of money I need to invest in it, and thanks to that damn Alban who ruined all my original plans, now I have to waste some more time thinking about them from the start. Now I wish I were more powerful, then I could just empty out that gold mine. But there's no point dwelling on it now." Myne regretfully shook his head.

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"I hope Gal and Belial will be fine. Can I even be able to see her again? She might be missing me now," Myne muttered emotionally, a heavy heart weighing him down as he gazed at the wedding ring Gal had given him, his eyes filled with worry.

"Sigh, worrying won't change anything. Since the contract remained unbroken, she should be alright… I should ask Fenrir what happened after I passed out, but first, I need to go back and formulate some proper answers to coax everyone. They will surely bombard me with questions after seeing me, and... I also have to find Velvet..."

Myne paused as he thought about the last moment when she fell on the ground with a big hole in her heart, and his body couldn't help but tremble. Tears slowly fell from the corners of his eyes. Helplessness gnawed at him, but he knew he had to compose himself and focus on calming his turbulent emotions.