If I Throw Myself into His Sea - Episode 1.9

For instance, most undersea dwellers could not stay on land for long. Blessed by the deep sea, the undersea people could not adapt to land due to the effects of their long lives underwater.

In the past, a few undersea dwellers had ascended to land with the intent to conquer it, but the end result of that foolish choice was death.

On land, their bodies would dry out, their skin would flake off, and they would die gasping for breath. It was a natural order similar to how humans on land cannot breathe in the sea and their bodies swell and become food for fish.

However, just as Irene could survive perfectly well in the Undersea Nation with Pereian’s magic, undersea people could endure on land for a short while with special protective magic.

The status of those who could use such protective magic was limited to royalty, licensed mages, or major merchants.

So, it was as if only people who had never been to land lived in this village. Moreover, on the forehead where Pereian had inscribed magic through a kiss, a faint mark of magical script remained.

Since most people from undersea kingdoms didn’t go so far as to bring people from land into the sea, those who observed Irene as they came and went from the village entrance seemed mostly curious about that magical script.

Just as everyone was warily observing Irene, who seemed like an outsider, a child who was licking candy approached warmly and spoke to Irene.

“Unnie, what is that on your forehead?”

Irene, who hadn’t expected anyone to speak to her, was startled and lifted her head. Her lost violet gaze fell upon the child’s candy.

Everyone passing by held their breath, watching the child and Irene.

Irene looked around at the onlookers with a wary, anxious face. Even as this happened, the child, without any fear, took step after step closer to Irene.

Finally reaching within three spans of distance, the child gently took hold of Irene’s honey-colored hair and stroked it.

“It’s pretty.”

Her hair was tangled from running and walking so much since leaving Coral Palace and arriving here.

The child, unbothered, repeatedly brushed through it with her fern-like hands, tidying Irene’s hair.

“Wow, I’ve never seen hair this color before…”

The child marveled, calling Irene’s hair color, which everyone on land had criticized, simply beautiful.

Irene finally relaxed at the innocent face of the child she had never seen before. It felt as if the worries she had carried were being erased.

The child continued to talk to Irene endlessly. “Unnie, can you let me hear your voice too?”

Though she looked young, her actions were not rude. Rather, she seemed like a genius at drawing out the other’s reaction. At the child’s voice, urging a reply, Irene’s lips parted. Due to nervousness, her lips had become chapped by then.

“Th-thank you for the compliment.”

“Hehe.”

As she moistened her lips and offered her thanks, the child smiled brightly and hugged Irene.

Irene, who had never properly hugged anyone in her life, was experiencing her second embrace today alone.

This child did not treat Irene as a lowly illegitimate daughter from the mainland. Nor did they consider her a candidate for an unwanted political marriage.

Because of this, Irene could pat the child with a bit more ease.

As the child’s warmth spread through her skin, a pain bloomed in her chest.

Was it because she had received too much warmth, too suddenly, warmth she had never received in her life? She felt hungry.

Irene knew this was not a hunger that could be satisfied by a few spoonfuls of food, as her body filled easily.

Then, where did this hunger, like one who had starved for a very long time, originate? Its source was an emptiness of emotion. She was hungry. Not a hunger in her hollowed stomach, but a thirst in a heart that had been parched for years.

To fill that hunger, she held the child even tighter. It was warm. That warmth was filling her starved heart.

Just as she was getting used to the child’s warmth, the child’s mother, who had arrived late, pulled her child away from Irene. Her gaze, filled with questions, swept over Irene, then scanned her appearance.

“I’ve seen you somewhere before…”

Then, as if a thought suddenly struck her, she reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of news. A scrap of paper fluttered in her hand, containing news that the Queen of Deltia, who had left the palace, was being searched for.

“Oh, a land princess!”

With that shout, all eyes gathered nearby simultaneously fixed upon one person. With murmurs, they came forward one by one, surrounding Irene and peering at her. There was nowhere for Irene to escape. It was a complete encirclement.

The entire area filled with villagers in an instant. Seeing the throng of people, their cheeks flushed red as if watching a wondrous event, Irene recalled the relationship between her homeland, the Kingdom of Epin, and Deltia.

The Kingdom of Epin was the land nation closest to Deltia. While the Kingdom of Epin benefited from trade with Deltia, it simultaneously deemed their undersea life as barbaric.

Irene knew that land dwellers did not look upon the people of the undersea kingdom favorably. That was why she was afraid. Afraid that the people of the undersea kingdom might ostracize land dwellers. Afraid that if her identity as a land princess were revealed like this, hateful gazes would immediately pour down.

Though Ian had promised in her childhood that this sea would be kind to Irene, that belief had long been shattered by Ian and the attendants of the Coral Palace. So, she couldn’t help but worry.

If even these villagers turned cold, Irene would have to live as an unwelcome guest in the undersea kingdom forever. Irene’s worried eyes trembled slightly. As Irene watched them silently, the resident who had recognized her as a land princess and shouted cautiously approached and asked,

“You are the land princess, aren’t you?”

Though the tone carried a sense of distance, no hostility could be read. Rather, meeting her eyes and asking warmly felt quite kind.

“……Yes.”

The admission was finally spoken aloud. Her identity revealed so easily. Since the treatment of a foreigner was entirely up to the judgment of the residents, Irene held her breath and simply looked at the questioner before her.

‘Will they hate me?’

Would I, like Ian, avoid even things close by and express hatred?

My mind was in a daze with the overwhelming worries. The moment the villagers exchanged glances, choosing their answers, Irene couldn’t bear to see it and shut her eyes tightly. Contrary to the expectation that they would surely push her away, the villagers hesitantly offered Irene apologies.

“My child committed an offense against a distinguished person.”

The child’s mother, who had spoken to Irene, was the first to bow her head deeply. Then, the other villagers also bowed, repeatedly apologizing for not recognizing her.

The child who had been held by Irene clung to her mother’s arm, gazing at the entire scene with eyes that knew nothing of the world.

“It’s alright. I didn’t think it was rude.”

Although she had been anxious, fearing rejection, she had merely been surprised for a moment.

Her daily life on land had been too harsh to consider it rude. Irene had never received royal treatment, nor had she been guided through related education, so she had no standard for rudeness.

Her threshold wasn’t so low as to judge mere actions like these as rude. When she waved her hand to say it was alright, the villagers looked her over and began to ask questions again.

“Goodness, how did you end up all the way out here! You must have gotten lost?”

She must have looked like a lost child at first glance. Irene nodded and gave an awkward smile.

“Sister, are you someone important? I’m just Sally.”

From the context, it seemed the child she had held was named Sally. Her mother ruffled Sally’s hair, scolding her for asking such a random question.

“The child doesn’t know anything yet.”

“That’s fine too, really…”

Their tone was one of mutual awkwardness. Only the child was unaffected by the atmosphere, appearing affectionate and warm. The child, who had pulled away from their mother’s hand, ran off somewhere.

Surprised by the sudden action, they watched closely as the child gathered their peers from the village. Soon, the children approached Irene, playing a train game. Naturally, Sally was at the front.

The children who came close looked up at Irene, their cheeks flushing. They seemed eager to talk. Irene, taking in each of the children’s appearances, shyly opened her mouth.

“Will you call me Irene unnie?”

“Yes!”

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