Chapter 110
While Noxia Decan was being reunited with her lover in her current life, the man who had been her husband in a previous life was in an entirely different country.
Karnen Holby lay on her bed, tossing and turning. It was late, but sleep would not come. Ever since she had heard the news that Prince Elenon had been injured a few days ago, her mind had been restless, and she kept failing to sleep.
‘The articles said his condition was critical… Is it really that serious? Could he die like this?’
She had no personal affection for Elenon Hermeon. Still, he was the man her friend loved, and the thought that something might happen to him left her with an inexplicable sense of unease.
Karnen’s friend, Noxia Decan. Peleine’s companion, Hermane. Two who were the same yet different—or rather, in truth, one and the same being.
Where was that child now? Was she really with Promeon? There was no way to find out, no way to contact her, and the frustration weighed heavily. Though she retained her memories, her powers had been taken away; the former god of the past remained powerless today as always.
‘…Does she even know that the prince was injured?’
If Noxia was with Promeon, would that man even allow her to read the newspaper? Had he sealed her off from the outside world, binding her tightly so she would look only at him? It was a reasonable suspicion.
Knowing how Hermane’s reincarnation had died in the previous life, Karnen worried that this time as well, Promeon might be driving her toward an extreme choice.
‘Surely… that bastard must have learned something back then.’
But even if he had learned, he might have forgotten again. When one lives too long, guilt can fade, and the same mistakes may be repeated. It was entirely possible.
Karnen knew that better than anyone—how arrogant and complacent beings who believe they live forever can become. How those called immortal gods could be far more foolish than mortals who live their fleeting lives fiercely.
She herself was one of those foolish beings, so Karnen knew it all too well. The blunders she had made in the days when she was a so-called god were clearly etched into her tattered soul.
‘…It’s not as if anyone truly lives forever.’
There was no such thing as perfect eternity—only lifespans so long they were beyond reckoning.
Suppressing her wandering thoughts, Karnen squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could simply fall asleep like this without opening them again until morning.
“Peleine.”
That wish vanished in an instant. A low voice, soft as breathing, struck her ears like a bolt of lightning.
Karnen’s eyes flew open. In the bedroom where she had been alone just moments ago, now—
“……You.”
A presence like a winter night’s lake, appearing without the slightest sound, was gazing down at her quietly.
“Where is Noxia?”
They were not on terms where they could exchange soft, casual greetings. Without even a moment to settle the swirl of complicated emotions in her chest, Karnen hurriedly got out of bed and asked about the other’s whereabouts.
The eyes of the man who had been staring at her expressionlessly narrowed slightly. Promeon answered without resistance.
“She’s at a hospital in Tyros right now. With the second prince.”
“What?”
“The second prince of this country. Elenon Hermeon. He just woke up.”
Hearing his calm explanation, Karnen’s eyes widened. Is this really the Promeon I know?
“You really left her there? With Elenon Hermeon—alone?”
“Yes.”
“……Why?”
‘Why,’ you ask.”
“Aren’t you anxious? Does Noxia really have no feelings for the prince anymore? Or does she not have feelings, but still went to the hospital just because she was worried? Or has your own heart already cooled?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“What do you mean, that’s not it? What exactly isn’t?”
“It means it’s not true that she has no feelings for the prince, and it’s not true that my feelings have cooled.”
Promeon’s tone was flat and dry. Karnen studied him carefully with tense eyes. At her posture—like someone wary of a madman’s rampage—his previously impassive face twisted slightly.
“What, do I look like I’m barely holding myself back from going to the hospital right now and killing the prince?”
“Isn’t that the case?”
When Promeon coldly asked back, Karnen immediately retorted. The two stood rigid in the darkness, sharply sizing each other up. A brief silence passed, and it was Promeon who broke it first.
“No. I have no intention of killing the prince.”
Even after hearing his rough confession, Karnen did not relax. Fear mingled in her sharp gaze as she watched him.
“There are plenty of ways to ruin a person without killing them.”
“That’s true. You can turn someone’s life into hell without laying a hand on their life.”
Promeon nodded indifferently. In truth, he had the power to crush even the slightest annoyance as easily as stepping on an ant. If he willed it, there were countless ways.
“But if I turn the prince’s life into hell, she’ll be sad.”
A sudden, gentle sorrow spread across Promeon’s face—so deep like a bottomless abyss, so boundless like the sea, that even Karnen, watching him, felt her heart ache for no reason.
“I don’t want to see her cry again.”
“……After making her cry so much before?”
“Precisely because of that.”
“Can you keep holding back from now on, too?”
“If I must.”
“……What happened last autumn? You’re the one who erased her memories, right?”
“Yes. There was a group that ordered her kidnapping because she was dating the prince. I killed the trash who took the job. Even then, she got angry.”
“I’m sure you burned them to death right in front of her. Of course she’d be angry. She always hated things like that, even back then.”
“Yes, you’re right. She really hated things like that, even in the past.”
Promeon nodded obediently. Seeing his unexpectedly mild attitude, Karnen did not relax—if anything, her wariness only grew.
“It’s not like you didn’t know all that and still obsessed over her until now. So why are you suddenly admitting it so meekly?”
“Obsession, obsession…”
“Yes, obsession. You’re not trying to dress up your stalking as some pure, devoted love, are you?”
Karnen deliberately mocked him as sharply as she could. She still hated him that much—the man who had deceived and used her, trapping her in the cycle of reincarnation, and who had made himself just as miserable in the process.
If only he had shamelessly enjoyed a peaceful remainder of his life and then left this world at the end of a single lifetime—if only they had never met again—perhaps the resentment that had lost its place to go would have naturally faded.
But the ancient god, the king, and the hero—three who had once been closer than anyone—became entangled once more after an unimaginably long passage of time. Fate or ill fate clung stubbornly to them. A tiresome repetition.
“Let her go now. She’s no longer Hermane—she’s Noxia. Return the memories to the others, and let human problems be resolved by humans. Please.”
Karnen’s tone softened. Now she was truly pleading.
Promeon’s gaze as he looked at her was unfathomably deep. Karnen thought she might drown if she fell into that deep-sea blue light.
“……There’s something I need to confess to you.”
Promeon suddenly spoke. Karnen tensed again.
“This is something even Hermane doesn’t know yet.”
It was a truth he had not yet revealed even to the woman he had loved for thousands of years—a truth he had cowardly intended to hide until the end of her current life.
Promeon began to speak.
Noxia stayed in Elenon’s hospital room until dawn. The two lay side by side on the bed, facing each other, quietly sharing countless stories in gentle, low voices.
Promeon returned around daybreak. Just as he had disappeared without a trace, he appeared again without a trace.
Seeing Promeon, Noxia quickly got up from the bed and glanced at Elenon. She whispered in a tone tinged with apology.
“I can’t reveal myself in front of others right now. Once everyone’s memories return and things are more or less settled, I’ll come back.”
“I understand, Noxia. No matter how long it takes, it doesn’t matter.”
As long as you come back to me.
Elenon swallowed the rest of his words—not out of shyness, but fear.
Even as he steadfastly kept his gaze on Noxia, he couldn’t help but be aware of Promeon standing stiffly across the room like a plaster statue.
The fact that the man he had known as a noble from the north turned out to be a being straight out of myth was still hard to accept.
But giving up and accepting it was far easier than stubbornly insisting it was impossible.
All the strange events he had experienced until now served as clear proof that defied common sense.
After realizing that the refined and elegant young lord Ranon was actually an ancient hero who could burn people to death with a mere glance, Elenon had become afraid of Promeon.
He recalled Promeon coming to his bedroom in the middle of the night last autumn to interrogate him about Noxia’s whereabouts. Thinking that the murderous intent he had felt back then was not a misunderstanding but real sent a chill down his spine.
Seeing Elenon stiffen after Promeon’s appearance, Noxia was pierced by guilt—toward her lover in this life, and toward her husband from a previous one.
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’
Remembering the love from her past life, she had fallen in love with another person in this one, and in the process had become a shameless woman who hurt them both.
If only she hadn’t remembered her past life. Or if only she had fallen in love with Jade Ranon in this life.
But the one person she chose for the first and last time in this life was not Jade Ranon, but Elenon Hermeon.
The instinctive attraction she had felt toward the former at first was nothing more than the lingering residue of unfinished feelings from her past life; it could not grow into true love in a new life.
In the end, the one she longed for was the prince of this era. She could no longer keep both men in her heart and inflict pain on everyone.
Noxia gave Elenon a faint smile, then turned toward Promeon, hoping that this would be the last time she showed her back to the prince like this.
She took the hand Promeon extended, and the two of them melted away in an instant, disappearing.
