If I Throw Myself into His Sea - Episode 1.35

I was sorry. Pereian’s questions continued. I can’t be Irene Iphraim’s hope. I can’t be a happy future, nor a part of beautiful memories. I won’t be able to in the future either, and he was planning to give the woman an ugly married life, not even memories.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing. If you’ve calmed down, let’s go back.”

That didn’t mean he could reveal the identity of the Phantom Bell. That would only make things ambiguous between them.

Pereian mumbled and then stood Irene up.

After shaping the words as they were, he tried to put Irene on the horse.

“Ah…”

Irene let out a groan as if enduring pain. Her twisted foot looked uncomfortable. Her slender ankle was already swollen. Pereian sighed as if frustrated at the sight. He ran his hand through his hair several times and then extended a large hand towards the queen.

“Take it.”

It wasn’t a favor. He was just in a hurry because he had things to take care of back at the palace. Yet, Irene blushed.

“Kkiiiii!”

Just as he was about to grab her waist and hand and lift her onto the horse, a whale suddenly intervened between them. As if heated up by Pereian’s actions that excluded him, the whale grabbed the hem of Irene’s dress and pulled her towards him.

“You want me to ride on your back?”

When Irene, having noticed his intention, asked, the whale nodded vehemently. Inevitably, Pereian ended up on the horse, and Irene on the whale.

The journey back to the underwater kingdom was silent. Pereian saw no reason to engage in conversation with Irene, and Irene was choosing her words carefully. Breaking the silence that seemed would last forever, Irene slowly opened her mouth.

“This whale, Pereian summoned it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, it was with me until just before that.”

Pereian, who was driving the horse, stopped abruptly.

“I wasn’t trying to die, I was just looking at the sea with the whale.”

“You’re saying I made it dangerous by summoning it.”

“That’s not the point.”

Taking a deep breath and calming her nerves, Irene continued calmly. Her eyes were steady, but her voice still betrayed her tension.

“I thought you deliberately took me in to kill this child, to kill me.”

“……”

“Because, you hate me.”

Pereian listened to Irene’s words in silence, without any affirmation or denial.

“I guessed that you might have thought it would be better if I died.”

“……Okay.” “I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

Irene stroked the whale’s head for a moment and gazed at Pereian. Pereian hurriedly spurred his words on again and moved forward. He must have been embarrassed by the sudden apology.

The two passed through the general seabed area and entered Deltia’s area. Before long, the underwater palace came into view. Irene’s expression hardened as she was reminded of the day she first saw Pereian’s sea, when he had taken her down to the coral palace.

“That’s right. Hey, can I give it a name?”

Irene, who had been bothered by the fact that she hadn’t named the whale yet, cautiously spoke, and the whale nodded its head as if it had been waiting. Irene pondered for a moment. The groaning sound gradually grew longer, and eventually a sigh burst out.

“Sorry, I’m not good at naming things.”

The whale rubbed its fins as if to say it was okay. As the smooth skin gently brushed against her, a smile returned to Irene’s face.

“Then how about Michael?”

“Squeak……”

It was acting like everything was okay just a moment ago, but now that it didn’t like the name, the whale made it obvious that it was in a bad mood. Irene, who had no way of knowing that it was an exaggerated expression, flusteredly thought of another name.

“Pereian Junior?”

“Squeak.”

“Sorry……”

For the first time, the whale answered fiercely, refusing adamantly. Irene quickly withdrew her suggestion at the sight of its uncharacteristic firmness.

Pereian glared at Irene at the sudden mention of his name.

Irene was aware of it, but she didn’t bother to look back as she walked ahead.

“…Roop?”

“Squeak!”

“Do you like it? I took it from the name of a dear friend of mine.”

Irene whispered so that only the whale could hear, then placed her hand on the whale’s head. Only then, as if it had finally received a name it liked, did the whale circle around Irene while carrying her on its back. Irene smiled and stroked the whale, pleased by its joy.

Only Pereian continued to stare at her with a stiff expression.

As they approached the Coral Palace, Atina and Sipri could be seen waiting for Irene in the distance. Irene felt sorry for having worried them in such a short time.

Pereian, who seemed like he would leave immediately upon arriving at the Underwater Palace without going to the Coral Palace, also followed the whale on horseback. As they neared their destination, Irene, who had been hesitating and looking around, spoke first.

“Thank you for saving me.”

She had already apologized for misunderstanding, but she had been bothered by the fact that she hadn’t properly thanked him.

Irene swallowed hard.

“I didn’t do it for your sake.”

It was a harsh statement, but it wasn’t a lie. He had only saved her because her death would clearly have a negative impact on him as well. If that reason hadn’t existed, he didn’t even know how he would have acted.

“Don’t keep what I give you in your heart.”

“……”

“Don’t expect any favors, any kindness, anything at all.”

She hadn’t even said she would expect anything, but he stepped forward to draw the line first. It could have been taken well, but Pereian didn’t even allow that gap.

“…Okay.”

Irene paused for a moment, then nodded in response. Facing Pereian, who had once again sealed his lips shut, she added reassuringly as a final word.

“I have no intention of dying in this sea. I told you, I want you to let me live.”

Pereian looked unconvinced. Even knowing that the recent commotion was the work of a demon, he was reluctant to trust.

“I won’t… ask you to believe me anymore.”

With the Coral Palace in sight, Irene, preparing to get off the whale’s back, said with a relieved expression.

“I won’t cause you any more trouble than this.”

It was consideration, notification, and a result of being urged. Consideration that she didn’t want to make Pereian uncomfortable. Notification that she had no intention of dying in this sea, so he shouldn’t worry about that. And an answer to his coercion to live as if dead in this sea.

Having landed in the garden of the Coral Palace, Irene kissed the whale’s head and whispered a greeting. It was a thank you, and a formal greeting to see it again next time, but the whale wagged its tail.

Watching Irene, who turned her back on him and walked towards Sipri and Atina without looking back, Pereian felt complicated. The biggest emotion was annoyance.

Even on the way back to the Deep Sea Palace, he kept thinking about the moment Irene had headed towards the Coral Palace. She was a woman who had nothing in common with Deltia.

Pereian clearly remembered how she couldn’t adapt to the sea and kept blinking when she first fell into this ocean. The queen who had begged to be saved. Pereian had noticed at some point that Irene Iphraim’s eyes always held him, even though he was indifferent every time.

And now, that woman was heading to her palace without looking back. She ran on her injured feet towards the people of the underwater kingdom who formed her axis.

‘I feel so bad…….’

Witnessing the woman’s positive change right before his eyes was a disgusting experience. He muttered a curse in a small voice.

Returning to his office as a habit, he straightened his clothes in front of the door before taking a step. The sound of the door sliding open echoed with a creak. Pereian, who had rushed out to find Irene, noticed the disheveled carpet on the floor and slowly raised his head.

Then, he suddenly stopped and opened his mouth, greatly agitated. At the end of his gaze was the shadow of a woman.

“Why are you…….”

The woman, who had entered his office without the monarch’s permission, was sitting on his desk, reading a paper filled with writing.

“This woman?”

The paper in her hand was the result of the investigation into the mainland princess that he had received before. In the corner of the paper, of course, was a picture of Epin’s daughter, the one he had first proposed marriage to.

“Brother, can I slowly return?”

She threw the paper on the floor as if it were a nuisance and asked Pereian. Knowing that it wasn’t a question asking for an answer, Pereian simply stared at the woman without a word.

With a look of utmost amusement, the woman laughed.

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