Chapter 106
In truth, it was not just the makeup. Her posture, her stride, and the look in her eyes had changed, making her seem like a completely different person. But most people wouldn’t scrutinize the details closely enough to pinpoint exactly what had changed.
“Let’s go now.”
“Yes.”
The door opened.
As she stepped into the light that poured in, Siren felt a sense of freedom.
“The carriage is ready, Your Grace.”
“Thank you, Jin.”
“Please, step inside.”
Jin offered his hand, and once she boarded, Bispar followed shortly after.
“I’ll be providing close protection. Even if the infected attack, don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
Come to think of it, she had rarely expressed gratitude when she was Aquafuran.
Why was that? She should have treated those around her with more kindness.
“I’m tired….”
“Want to sleep for a bit? I’ll lend you my lap as a pillow. If Nasnir finds out, she’ll go crazy, though. Let’s keep it a secret.”
Bispar patted his thigh.
On the road to the seaside Siren Wilkeron had longed so desperately to see.
Unable to resist the wave of sleepiness, Siren slumped forward.
And in her dreams, once again, the story of Aquafuran unfolded.
‘Ah… is this a festival?’
It must have rained earlier; puddles were scattered here and there. As Siren stood still, staring at her reflection in the water, she caught sight of a woman with blue eyes.
Her hair, also blue, grew paler towards the ends, resembling the foamy crest of a wave.
“Aquafuran, come quickly!”
“The play is about to start!”
Voices called out to her from a distance.
Without realizing it, Siren walked toward them.
Towards the place overflowing with radiant light.
“Aquafuran really loves plays.”
“Well. Because plays contain life.”
“Life?”
The unseen figures sounded curious as they echoed her words.
Siren smiled faintly and murmured in reply.
“I find your lives to be precious and dear. I love them.”
“I want to live like you do, too.”
Ah, that’s right.
She longed for a finite life.
A life that could burn brilliantly precisely because it was brief.
“Aquafuran, do you wish to become human?”
“Yes. Even though I wasn’t born as one.”
Her lips moved on their own. She poured out the words she had spoken back then.
‘Yes, I wanted to become human.’
She was curious.
To say she ran away just to escape from Yasamin… Well, how should she put it? That didn’t quite seem like her nature.
If anything, she would have fought. She wasn’t the type to simply abandon and flee.
Then why had she done it?
“Being eternally reborn within the cycle of reincarnation is, in a way, also immortality.”
The festival night waned.
As she sat in a quiet place, gazing at the flickering lights, someone approached.
Without even turning around, Siren spoke to herself.
With an air that suggested she didn’t care whether the other person listened or not.
“Do you know how a god becomes human?”
“I don’t. And I don’t care to know.”
“You have to cast off your own divinity. Then you’ll be cursed. If you’re cursed, you can become human.”
“Stop saying nonsense.”
Yasamin growled roughly, embracing her from behind.
Feeling the tremble in those arms, Siren couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart.
But ‘Aquafuran’ did not.
She merely found it bothersome.
Shrugging off the arms that held her, she gazed up at the moon.
To abandon one’s own divinity.
To do that, she had to leave the place where she was born.
No one had told her this, yet as a god, she instinctively understood. It was one of the fundamental truths that made up the world.
Gods could read such truths, and naturally, they understood them.
At that moment, Aquafuran made her decision.
She would become human.
“Gasp.”
“Oh, perfect timing. You’re awake, Your Majesty.”
She sucked in a sharp breath as she opened her eyes, finding Bispar smiling at her.
As she barely managed to sit up, the sound of waves filled her ears.
It was like being immersed, completely soaked in it.
“We’ve arrived… at the sea?”
“Yeah. Look over there.”
Bispar pulled back the curtain that had been shielding them from the harsh sunlight, gesturing with his chin.
Siren frowned at the sudden flood of light but then widened her eyes at the vast blue expanse filling her vision.
The sea.
For Siren, it was a first.
For Aquafuran, it was a long-overdue return.
Born from a small spring, she had no parents—but before her lay nature itself, which was the closest thing to one.
“Ah, the king is approaching.”
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