If I Throw Myself into His Sea - Episode 2.5

Sipri frowned as if he was fed up with Henelia, but Irene didn’t have the energy to react. Pereian didn’t smile at Henelia Delute. Without a smile, he treated her with the same temperature as he treated Irene.

“…He doesn’t even smile in front of his lover.”

“Excuse me? Who’s in love with whom?”

Sipri, startled by her mumbling, corrected Irene’s statement.

“She’s a royal he keeps alive because he can’t kill her.”

No matter how gorgeously she was adorned, she couldn’t hide the childishness that flowed from her appearance. No matter how old she was, she seemed to be around the same age as Pereian and Irene.

Irene guessed the woman’s identity. If she was a royal he kept alive and around the same age, she was probably the late king’s child.

Ian had said since they were talking through conch shells that he didn’t have a full-blooded sister.

“Ah.”

Only then did Irene realize that Henelia was Pereian’s half-sister, and she blushed with embarrassment.

“I, I heard that Pereian had a woman he loved.”

“Ah, that.” Sipri replied nonchalantly.

“What’s the point of loving her? He’s never even properly met her.”

“He’s never met her?”

“I heard she’s a land woman.”

Sipri, who had replied indifferently as if uninterested in others’ love, took Irene’s hand and pulled her along. The bustling crowd had already entered, and before long, only the Queen and King remained to enter.

“Never mind that, shall we head in too?”

Whether it was because they were delayed by pushing Henelia away, Pereian gestured to Sipri with a troubled look. It was a signal for them to enter first with the Queen.

“The princess’s appearance in the photos is different.”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“How bland.”

As Irene passed by her side, Henelia spat out the words as if for her to hear.

She seemed to have immediately noticed that the Epin royal family’s direct daughter and Irene’s face were different.

Irene was somewhat intrigued by Pereian’s silence, as he had visited the Coral Palace not long-ago regarding matters related to the princess’s identity, and she had expected him to tell the truth. Because that conversation was so memorable, Irene listened a little more intently.

“…Get away.”

Pereian’s voice, as if pushing away his half-sister, was heard from behind. Sipri clicked his tongue as if he had foreseen this situation.

It was an unusual sight, both within Deltia and on the mainland, for the King and Queen to enter separately without taking each other as partners.

The members of the influential families, who had been buzzing sickeningly, finally quieted down only after Pereian and Irene sat in the royal seats.

Originally, royal banquets had unique royal seats where the royal descendants sat. Or, the brothers of the former king or the monarch would fill the seats in a row.

However, the case of Pereian Richard, a lord born of a concubine, was different. He eradicated the royal bloodline, and the surviving princesses were busy fleeing to the fringes of the undersea kingdom through marriage.

A married princess became a member of her husband’s family and could not ascend to the throne, and they generally did not even attend the banquets held after Pereian’s accession.

Therefore, only the king and queen would sit in the royal seats at the current banquet. In addition, Henelia, who had been a member of the former royal family, attended the banquet, but she now had to sit in Delute’s seat.

Pereian and Irene, sitting side by side, did not even exchange glances as they looked at the crowd. Pereian seemed dissatisfied with the banquet, and Irene seemed frozen at her first banquet.

“Um, Pereian…”

With her head held high, Irene slowly moved her lips to speak to Pereian.

“Sister.”

“Yes?”

“That woman is my half-sister. I thought you might misunderstand.” Pereian pointed to Henelia, who was far away, chatting with influential nobles. He pretended not to be, but his voice betrayed his tension.

Irene had already heard about it from Sipri, so she didn’t react much. No, she never even thought that Pereian would explain it to her directly.

“Ah, Sipri told me, so I knew.” Pereian frowned at her nonchalant reply.

‘I didn’t expect this kind of reaction.’

The day he rejected the queen because there was someone else, he mulled over that resigned expression and thought. Irene Iphraim seemed to misunderstand the relationship between Henelia and himself.

He hated being associated in that way so much that he wanted to explain, and as soon as he sat down, he brought it up.

‘Sipri beat me to it.’

He felt strangely empty. The queen, who seemed to have grown closer to Sipri lately, and the queen, who had already been guided by him. All of it bothered him.

Pereian shifted his gaze to Henelia and the group of nobles. As if aware of the hostile gazes, several heads of families who had been chatting amiably with Henelia walked towards the throne where Pereian was.

“Lord Pereian.”

A middle-aged man, the leader of the group, approached the monarch. He bowed his head in respect. Irene, sitting next to him, looked at him at the address of ‘Pereian’ instead of ‘Your Majesty.’

Unless they were close friends like Sipri, vassals could not casually utter the monarch’s name. Especially not at such a banquet.

Their mentioning Pereian’s name was in itself an expression that they did not consider him the monarch of Deltia. The intention to insult was clear, but he had to endure and overlook even this provocation.

Currently, the public sentiment in Deltia was leaning towards the nobles of the late king’s faction rather than the monarch. He had stabilized the throne, which was already precarious due to scandals, with the marriage to Epin, but if he killed the late king’s faction as he pleased, he might not be able to keep the throne.

Pereian knew the power of rebellion better than anyone else because he had become king through rebellion. The throne could be overturned at any time, and he could die like the late king at any time.

Therefore, he had to avoid conflict with the influential families of Deltia as much as possible. It was not the time to draw his sword. He should not shed any more blood.

Not yet, not in this unstable state, he had no choice but to endure.

‘Not yet, that’s right.’

If he maintained the undersea kingdom’s security and trade as steadily as he was doing now, if the day came when he had consolidated his power, then he would kill them, no matter what.

He vowed to himself. Pereian nodded, suppressing his anger, biting his lip. The middle-aged man, looking displeased with the lukewarm response, now glanced at Irene.

Unlike when he treated Pereian, he greeted her with a bright smile.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you, Princess of Epin.”

The middle-aged man extended his hand. Pereian sneered at the sight of him consistently calling her the Princess of Epin, not the Queen of the undersea kingdom.

Irene, who had been subtly observing his rough fingertips, worn by time, slowly rose. She placed her hand over the middle-aged man’s hand and greeted him.

“…Nice to meet you.”

“How is life in Deltia?”

The middle-aged man, looking as if he was checking Pereian, continued with a worried tone.

“This old man is concerned that the bloodshed in the undersea palace might harm the princess.”

It was a blatant mockery of Pereian’s scandal. The snickers of the other nobles standing behind him followed. Pereian scoffed at the sight of his subject, who did not show him respect, being so friendly only to Irene. It was an attempt to belittle him, the ruler, and to cozy up to the royal family of the land, but the woman seemed oblivious.

Pereian was simply displeased with Irene, who didn’t even recognize the middle-aged man in front of her as a sly old fox, and who still flinched at his every sigh. Irene’s lips were about to open. However, before she could utter any response, Pereian rose from his seat and preemptively spoke to the middle-aged man.

“Did you just say blood?”

Pereian reached out to Irene, who was holding hands with the middle-aged man. The woman’s slender wrist was caught in Pereian’s hand.

Pereian pulled Irene behind him as if to hide her, and continued in a chilling tone,

“…I wonder if it’s not the blood that an aging lord might cough up in his illness.”

Having finished speaking, he rose abruptly from his seat. He didn’t want to stay in this place any longer, nor did he have the confidence to do so. He felt the queen’s bewildered gaze following him, but Pereian easily brushed off the hand he had been holding and turned his back.

“…This is why I hate banquets.”

There was nothing as tedious as silently guarding a seat like a solitary island in a noisy crowd.

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