Chapter 107
Siren gazed at Yasamin with slight tension.
In those deep green eyes fixed upon her, scars that had yet to fully fade were clearly etched.
When she was ‘Siren,’ she hadn’t noticed. But now, she could see.
And because she could see, she hurt along with him.
“Welcome, Sei. You must be exhausted from the long journey.”
“No. You’ve had it much harder.”
The moment the carriage door opened, he swiftly lifted her into his arms and set her down.
As if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time, his impatience was evident.
The people standing nearby exchanged glances, their expressions bewildered.
“Hey, have you ever seen His Highness make that face?”
“Not once in my life.”
“He must truly be in love with Her Majesty.”
The murmuring voices reached them, but Yasamin paid no attention.
His entire focus was solely on her, meticulously scanning her from head to toe.
So slow and thorough, it was almost obsessive.
“You don’t seem to be hurt anywhere.”
“Not at all.”
“Did anyone trouble you?”
“No one. And even if they had, I could have put them in their place.”
“Oh, how reassuring.”
The man’s striking eyebrows lifted slightly.
Sensing the change in her, his eyes gleamed.
Siren gently pushed against Yasamin’s shoulder and lifted her gaze.
“Where should I go?”
“I’ve prepared an altar. Normally, it’s used for rain rituals, but there’s no harm in using it first.”
Where he pointed, a triangular altar stood.
The top was flat, just wide enough for about three people to stand upon.
Around it, southern warriors were controlling the crowd.
Beyond them, the sea shimmered under the breaking sunlight.
And in between—there were the people.
The starving, the weary, the suffering lives of the South.
“Ah…”
Ascending the high steps and looking down at them, Siren let out a soft sigh.
Even after arriving here, she had never seen the people directly.
She had only heard that the situation was dire.
But hearing and seeing were vastly different things.
The shocking sight was engraved into her blue eyes.
‘It was the sea I had longed to see.’
Yet she couldn’t even take in the glittering waves.
Her gaze was fixed only on the people, their faces yellowed with malnutrition, their ragged clothes dirt-streaked.
“Aquafuran…!”
“Aquafuran.”
“Please, grant us rain.”
“Rain…!”
Their wishes turned into cries, which soon became echoes.
Like a tempest, their desperate weeping surged, rising into choking sobs.
And then, Siren stretched out her hand.
First, the wind extended forth.
The breeze that had embraced the sea gathered its moisture and carried it skyward.
The sea, suddenly deprived of its water, thrashed in shock, waves crashing violently.
And the moisture-laden sky darkened at once.
A deep rumble echoed from the shadowed heavens, making the people lift their heads in alarm.
“What’s happening?”
“W-what is that?”
They didn’t know.
Never having seen rain before, they could only perceive the phenomenon unfolding above as something bizarre and fearsome.
The musicians began playing the ceremonial instruments.
Siren, after a brief glance at Yasamin watching her, slowly stepped forward.
Lifting a sheer cloth high above her, she danced in rhythm with the music.
Just like that day, long ago.
Just as when she had resolved to leave—only this time, she whispered to the world that she had returned.
‘On the day I cast off my divinity, I was cursed.’
And thus, she lost her radiant godhood and became a being with a finite life.
Why had she become a Siren in particular? She didn’t know.
But then again, such was the nature of curses.
She had to live among humans in a form that invited their hatred. Perhaps that was why.
‘Let the rain fall. I am no longer afraid.’
Rumble, crash!
Ah, the sky was splitting open.
Siren looked up at it in quiet reverence.
Drip.
A single drop of rain landed on her forehead.
Then, another.
And another…
“Water!!!”
“Water is really falling from the sky!”
“W-what is this? What’s happening?”
Swoooosh.
The astonished murmurs of the people were soon swallowed by the grand sound of the rain.
The downpour struck the earth with exuberance. The clouds that had begun over the sea gradually moved inland, scattering rain with all their might.
And Siren… did not avoid it. She let the rain drench her.
“Gasp, over there…!”
“W-what is that?!”
“A monster. Is it… a monster?”
Scales sprouted along her nape. An itch spread through her entire body as more and more scales surfaced on her arms and legs.
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