Chapter 100
To Noxia Decan, Promeon was a divine being—something transcendent and mysterious that had endured alone for thousands of years.
Although the memories of the time when Promeon had been the same human and a familiar lover were preserved within Hermane’s soul, to Noxia—who had merely been reborn while containing her soul—the past felt infinitely distant.
Only now did Noxia keenly realize that whatever Promeon was at present, he had originally been the same kind of being as herself.
‘That’s right, you originally….’
Human joys and sorrows, physical desires, frank and blatant longings that had little to do with a lofty god. An approachable aura like a fresh young man rather than a wise transcendental who had lived for millennia.
‘You were originally this kind of person.’
Not the mysterious Duke Jade Ranone, nor an untouchable primordial hero, but exactly as Hermane remembered him—a human, gentle and lovable lover, Promeon.
Noxia stared at him blankly. The more she did, the more she pitied what he had lost as the price for stealing the divine relic, and without realizing it, her eyes stung.
“Hermane?”
Promeon’s face turned serious. He withdrew his smile and carefully examined her expression.
Even this was such a transparent and human reaction that Noxia’s sorrow deepened. She quietly bit her lip to hold back tears.
“Hermane, what’s wrong? Are you okay? If you were upset because I didn’t wake you, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He grew flustered. Seeing her look as though she might cry, he seemed to think he had overstepped.
It pained Noxia that he continued to call her Hermane.
She could not scold him, saying that it was not her name in this life, that he should not force the identity of a ghost upon her. Last night, Noxia had lost the right to say such things herself.
‘The reason I kissed you last night was because of the memories of Hermane inside me.’
If only the will of Noxia Decan had existed, she would not have yielded, no matter how intoxicated she had been by the dreamlike atmosphere of the rain.
It had not been a simple, impulsive lust. Last night, she had sincerely and desperately wanted Promeon. Not merely out of pity, but out of longing—as if she had desired this from the very beginning.
She was confused. Her present self wanted something entirely different, yet the memories and emotions of her past life pointed to the man standing before her.
Noxia gazed endlessly at Promeon. A pitiful being who had loved only her for over a thousand years, and who now called her by her past name.
<See? That’s why I told you to run away.>
A mournful hallucination echoed in her ears. For a moment, Noxia saw a woman with long silver hair draped like a ghost beyond Promeon’s shoulder.
<You broke again this time.>
The apparition shook her head sadly and crumbled away like grains of sand, vanishing without a trace.
“Hermane.”
Promeon called again in a desperate voice. He, who was powerful and merciless enough to burn someone to death with a mere glance, now looked at her pitifully like a puppy craving its master’s affection.
Noxia felt guilty at the thought that she had played a part in making him this way. Logically, she might excuse herself and say it was not her fault, but her heart was not so cold.
Guilt, pity, and the tenacious love engraved in the memories of her past life moved her once again.
The thought that she should not cross the line as she had yesterday clashed with the thought that the line had already been destroyed, so there was no reason to hesitate.
It felt shameless to behave this way toward her lover from a past life when she had someone she loved in this one. Yet she wondered what use ordinary moral principles were in a situation like this.
“It’s not because of you. You don’t need to apologize for crossing a line. If we’re counting that way, then I also….”
Noxia murmured softly and cupped Promeon’s cheek. He flinched at the warmth of her hand.
“I didn’t reject you.”
In her previous life, she had slapped Promeon—who had abducted her—resented him, and ultimately taken her own life before his eyes. But now—
“I have no intention of rejecting you now either.”
She kissed Promeon. Pressing their lips together, she slipped her soft tongue in and mingled breaths deeply as she had the night before.
It truly felt as though she was no longer Noxia Decan but Hermane. The boundary between this life and the past blurred, almost as if she had returned to the past.
Somewhere inside her, the being who still loved Elenon and longed for Karnen writhed in pain, but the soul of her past life—now holding the reins—did not stop the kiss.
At first, Promeon did not respond. He stiffened, as though suspecting he was being lured into some elaborate trap.
But when Hermane gently licked his lips and wrapped both arms around his waist, he succumbed to the irresistible temptation.
“Haah.”
He exhaled roughly. The firm muscles of his entire body trembled with arousal. As primitive stimulation combined with long-standing love, immense desire erupted.
Breaking free of his stiffness, Promeon wrapped his arms around Hermane’s waist and the back of her head, deepening the kiss further. His thick tongue swept through her mouth, and Hermane shuddered with her eyes closed.
All the while she tangled with her lover from a past life, Hermane felt as though some silver-haired woman was watching her silently. Yet, immersed in the heat that seemed to melt her entire body, she steadfastly ignored it.
Naturally, work was skipped. She had overslept to begin with, and after waking, had been too busy talking and kissing—there was simply no time.
Noxia Decan felt guilty about the sudden closure, but Hermane had little interest in such trivial, practical matters.
Even if the tea shop’s profits dropped a bit, it would not affect their livelihood.
She had a dependable lover who transcended human limits, and that lover had promised from the beginning that she would not need to work after bringing her here.
The reason Noxia Decan had asked Promeon to open a tea shop for her was not for survival, but because she did not want to feel completely cut off from others.
In her previous life, after being abducted by her former lover and confined in a castle no one visited, she had suffered such severe depression that she tried to take her own life.
She never wanted to repeat that loneliness. Promeon, too, did not want to see her bleeding to death before him again, so he had respected her wishes.
But that had been Noxia Decan’s opinion. Hermane thought differently.
As the soul of her past life—long suppressed by her present self—seized control within her, the values she had wanted to protect in this life gradually blurred, replaced by other beliefs, desires, and thoughts.
Hermane did not feel any need to interact with others. Rather, she felt aversion toward them.
Unlike herself, who had already died and belonged to the afterlife, they were wholly people of this era.
The only being she recognized as a true conversational partner was Promeon. In that respect, she was both different from and the same as Noxia.
“What do you want to do today? Since we’re resting anyway.”
Around sunset, Promeon asked gently. He and Hermane had spent the entire day lounging in the bedroom, talking and kissing for a long time.
“Hmm… I just want to walk around a bit. Let’s go outside.”
“Is there anything in particular you want to see?”
“As long as it’s a pretty view.”
Promeon carefully lifted Hermane as though handling a glass doll. She rested her head naturally against his neck.
Her hair was still sweet brown, her irises forest green. In every other outward aspect, she was Noxia Decan. But inside—
‘She’s changed.’
Even her manner of speech, her habits, her gaze had changed. All exactly like the Hermane of the first life that Promeon remembered.
‘…She’s come back.’
An intense ecstasy surged through Promeon. His heart beat so fast it felt as though his organs would burst from his chest.
This was a unification he had not achieved even in the previous life. Back then, Hermane’s memories and her present self had been thoroughly separate.
After abducting her and imprisoning her in a cozy castle accessible only to him, providing dazzling jewels and abundant food, Promeon had waited and waited for the familiar gaze of his lover to return.
But that moment had never come. In her previous life, she had died in dissonance—suffering in an ambiguous state, unable to harmonize the memories of her past life with her present self.
Was it because Promeon had desperately heeded the painful lessons of the past? Because in this life he held the leash far more loosely instead of confining her by force?
For the first time, Hermane’s memories and emotions seemed to have fully merged with her present self. No—rather, it appeared that the memories of her past life had suppressed her present self and locked it deep within her unconscious.
Promeon rejoiced. At last, the moment he had long awaited had arrived.
He had finally achieved the goal he sought even by storming paradise, disturbing his lover’s rest, and stealing her soul.
The submerged ego of Noxia Decan did not concern him. The one he loved had always been Hermane alone—even in the days when she diligently called herself Noxia.
“We should wash up first.”
He suggested with a bright smile. It was a smile that rose wholly from the heart, without the slightest pretense or calculation.
Promeon kissed Noxia’s—no, Hermane’s—chocolate-colored hair. It was flattened and tangled from lying in bed all day, but he did not mind.
“Why are you kissing there? It smells, so don’t.”
“So what? You’re always fragrant.”
“Goodness….”
At Promeon’s shameless reply, Hermane clicked her tongue at her lover’s cheesy remark. Promeon continued speaking with a smiling face.
“You’ve been stuck to me the whole time too. I sweated as well, you know?”
“You’re different. You… don’t smell unpleasant like other humans do.”
Hermane retorted. It was not merely favoritism toward her lover.
In truth, his body—closer to a god than a human—was far removed from such human and mundane uncleanliness as sweat or odor.
In fact, since her reincarnation, Hermane had never once seen Promeon brush his teeth or bathe. Yet his breath and natural scent were always fragrant.
