Chapter 103
‘May you shine for a long time.’
That night, as she slept, Siren dreamed once more.
A dream about Aquafuran.
And the more it continued, the more changes occurred within her.
Like a small bud gradually unfurling, a flower slowly blooming.
Her wounded heart, once a parched and cracked land, was slowly transforming into a fertile ground of life.
“Nuna. Do you remember me now?”
And the one who noticed Siren’s change before anyone else was none other than Chris.
The circlet that Aquafuran had cherished so dearly. The sapphire embedded within it. The spirit born from the gemstone.
This pure spirit was conceived solely within Aquafuran’s affection and knew nothing but her.
Like a dam bursting and releasing a rushing torrent, Siren writhed within her memories. Unable to withstand the rapid changes overtaking her, she spent the entire day sleeping.
Her thoughts were meaningless, dissolving like foam, yet her mind kept spinning, over and over.
‘Siren’ and ‘Aquafuran’ overlapped, then separated, then overlapped again.
Amidst it all, Chris’s question pulled the confused Siren back to reality.
“…Yes, I remember.”
“You didn’t abandon me, right? You just dropped me by accident, right?”
The morning sunlight cast a glow over the boy’s face. Gazing quietly at his tear-streaked eyes, she hugged Chris tightly and told him a gentle lie.
“Yes, I dropped you. I’m sorry.”
“I knew it! Yasamin kept saying you abandoned me… that you threw me away because I was a nuisance, but I knew that wasn’t true!”
No, Yasamin’s guess was correct.
Back when she was Aquafuran, she had no intention of taking the spirit-infused gemstone to the north. She had feared that reading the spirit’s energy would lead the beasts to pursue her.
That the wounded beast would eventually track her down…
“I finally have a name now! The one you gave me, Chris—I love it!”
“I’m the one who named you.”
“Uh-huh, I just wanted to make sure you knew…!”
The boy carefully observed her expression.
It was a familiar sight.
Everyone who had known Aquafuran had been like this.
Clinging to her, desperate not to be abandoned. Cutting away parts of themselves just to fit her expectations. Watching her moods anxiously.
‘So after living that way back then, in this life, I’ve become the one doing it?’
If that was the case, then this was a fitting punishment. This life of hers.
As she stroked the head of the boy who refused to let go of her, Siren slowly began to sing.
A song from a now-forgotten mythic age.
At the melody, Chris narrowed his eyes with a contented expression.
When the song finally ended, Chris suddenly lifted his head.
“Wait, then what about that woman? She felt really similar to you.”
“Ah.”
“I almost mistook her for you.”
“That person… is my descendant.”
Her memories had not fully returned yet, so she couldn’t be certain. But most likely, that was the answer.
Aquafuran had once married a human and bore offspring. Those descendants must have flourished, giving rise to future generations.
Since she was of her bloodline, it was only natural that the Water Raksha would favor her.
“Jin, could you call that person for me?”
“As you wish.”
Though she was a descendant from a thousand years later, she had no direct connection to the present-day Siren. Even so, leaving her felt strangely unsettling.
Because the years she had lived as ‘Siren Wilkeron’ remained far more vivid.
It was difficult to act as recklessly as she had in the past.
“You called for me, Your Grace.”
Before long, a woman arrived to see her.
“Come in. I called you because I wanted to have a conversation. What is your name?”
“Ananta.”
“How did you happen to be at the royal palace that day?”
Siren, having asked Pamilla to prepare an array of delicious treats, invited Ananta to partake in them.
Ananta had a remarkably composed nature, but there was a cautious wariness in her demeanor.
Not knowing the reason she had been summoned, she hesitated to speak.
But such an attitude was, in fact, commendable.
“I went to help my younger sibling. She works as a lady-in-waiting and said she was busy because of the wedding…”
“I see. Your sibling doesn’t have blue eyes, does she?”
“No, I was the only one taken.”
Once Larisa left, another lady-in-waiting would be needed.
Wouldn’t this girl be a good choice?
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