If I Throw Myself into His Sea - Episode 2.11

“No way.”

Irene asked back, as if in shock.

Pereian silently nodded.

“I see…”

Irene muttered in a meaningful tone. Her gaze, which had been solely focused on Pereian, was now directed at the floor.

Pereian observed Irene’s sudden change in behavior. Her cheeks, which had been flushed upon confirming the person who had come to see him, were now noticeably pale.

She anxiously clasped her hands together, squeezing them so hard it seemed painful, and she bit her lip until tiny droplets of blood formed on her tender skin.

‘It’s as if she’s terrified.’

Sensing something was amiss, Pereian closed the distance, and Irene flinched, her shoulders trembling.

Pereian was puzzled. If she were truly a princess of Epin, shouldn’t she feel delighted at the news of the delegation’s visit?

Originally, the person known as the princess of Epin was the only one to whom Pereian had sent a marriage proposal, but Irene was not that woman. However, Pereian detected no falsehood in Irene’s claim that she was a princess of Epin.

The magic that discerned lies had never malfunctioned before. Therefore, Irene’s claim must also be true.

‘Why is she so afraid?’

Everything related to Irene was incomprehensible. Pereian ruffled his hair as if disliking the complicated situation.

Even in the midst of this, Irene was still mulling over the news of the envoy.

“People from the mainland to this sea.”

Pereian, who had been strangely watching Irene as she acted as if she had lost her soul, sighed deeply. He snapped his fingers in front of Irene’s eyes, signaling her to focus on the conversation.

“It seems you’re not at all pleased with the visit of your homeland’s subjects.”

“……”

Irene was silent, as if struck to the core. Pereian bit his lip, frustrated.

“Wasn’t it you who conspired with the Epin royal family to switch the princess?”

“That’s…!”

Irene tried to say something in response to Pereian’s provocation, but she clutched at her neck as if a silencing spell had been activated.

“……Did you have to call me to this sea?”

Irene’s appeal, without answering the question, seemed rather presumptuous to Pereian. Her tearful voice and trembling gaze all seemed contrived.

Pereian snapped in a low voice, “Your royal family doesn’t even show the slightest courtesy. They send you to me instead of the princess, and then they just send a notice that they’ll come in ten days.”

“W-When are they coming?”

Irene’s face turned as pale as if poison had spread through her body, and her hands trembled finely. Pereian, unable to bear watching her fidget with the hem of her dress in anxiety, reached out and stopped her.

Irene looked at Pereian, who was holding her slender wrist, for a moment. Her anxiety only seemed to be growing, and she didn’t seem to be calming down at all.

“Pereian.”

Irene said, covering Pereian’s hand on her wrist with her remaining hand. Her voice was uncharacteristically subdued. Pereian frowned at the touch of her cold hand.

Before he could even think, ‘Was this woman’s hand always this cold?’

Irene continued, “Could you postpone it? With your authority……”

“Well,”

Pereian scoffed softly. It seemed Irene was afraid of facing the ones who had cast a silence spell on her.

‘Unfortunately, I have no intention of saving you.’

Pereian, who pushed away Irene’s cold hand, said with a colder demeanor than her hand,

“I have no official justification or personal reason to listen to your whining.”

“Please, just for a few days.”

“There will be no postponement of the schedule.”

From the notification that Epin would send an envoy to the notification that there would be no postponement. Irene stared at Pereian with pleading eyes at the two consecutive notifications.

“…Since when did we exchange favors?”

Pereian, who got up from his seat, muttered, avoiding her gaze. At the sudden movement, Irene also stood up to grab Pereian.

“Pereian, please.”

“Why? Are you ashamed to show yourself as the Queen of Deltia?”

“That’s not it. I’m just that the land people.”

Both of them sighed at the same time. One was a sigh mixed with annoyance and frustration, and the other was a sigh melted with despair and fear.

“Land, land. Well, you can pour out your whining to those land people.”

Pereian felt increasingly irritated as she spoke. He believed he had shown leniency simply by taking in a princess of unknown origin from Epin, making her his consort, and not pressing her further about her true identity.

So, if Irene Iphraim demanded more than that, it was overstepping and arrogant. At least, that’s how it seemed to him.

Irene still looked terrified. Pereian found Irene’s fearful face both pleasing and displeasing. It made him feel sick, as if it touched upon his own past of being afraid, of succumbing to power.

Having finished his business, Pereian took three steps to leave, then spoke again.

“Welcoming envoys is the Queen’s responsibility. If you’ve been given an undeserved position, at least do your job properly.”

His emotionless gaze swept over Irene. Irene, as if having lost her will, murmured in a hollow voice, “I hoped you might understand my situation, Pereian.”

Irene avoided Pereian’s gaze and lowered her eyes. She seemed to choose her words carefully, closing her lips tightly for a moment before slowly parting them.

“Because I heard about you at the banquet, I did.”

“Don’t misunderstand. That was never an intention to offer you my company.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment after Pereian’s cold words.

“…Yes. It was all my misunderstanding.”

Irene nodded briefly in response.

“And don’t try to use my past to gain sympathy.”

As if that nod wasn’t enough, Pereian drove the point home with another harsh word. It was a genuine feeling he had while talking to Irene. She was a woman who had never lived a life as painful as his, or as painful as Ruin’s on the mainland.

Da, Irene.

“Why are you making such a fearful face?”

Whatever the circumstances, Irene, who must have lived a smoother life than anyone as a princess, made Pereian think of Ruine, who was left on land, and it drove him crazy. He couldn’t even imagine how much more painful she would be.

“Don’t ever show such a disgusting face again.”

Pereian snapped resentfully. Irene’s eyes turned red in an instant. She was trying to hold back the rising tears, but even that seemed like hypocrisy to Pereian now.

“…So that’s how I look to you.”

Irene, who barely managed to finish her words, bowed to Pereian and turned away.

Irene walked away unsteadily and left the greenhouse. Her back looked more lonely than ever.

Irene, who came out of the Coral Palace’s greenhouse, walked without a destination. As she walked aimlessly, the pebbles densely laid on the floor caught her feet. The skin was grazed by the flowing pebbles and stung, but Irene had no energy to care about it.

She wanted to get as far away as possible from the greenhouse where she had faced Pereian. As long as she was in this palace, it was impossible to escape his territory, but Irene knew that Pereian was not the type to chase after her, so she wanted to avoid showing him her ugly appearance, such as her tearful, reddened eyes and the scratches on her feet, even for a moment.

Irene entered the Coral Palace and headed straight to her bedroom. Even the bedroom door, which was unusually difficult to open, was resentful.

‘It’s always like this when I go to the greenhouse.’

This was already the second time she had a falling out with Pereian in the greenhouse. Irene, who took a long sigh as if to catch her breath, leaned against the wall and slumped down.

‘I probably won’t be able to go to the greenhouse for a while.’

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