Chapter 94
As time passed, the average height of humanity gradually increased, and although Promeon was still tall, he was no longer tall enough to be called a giant.
Even so, he still had a striking build and a striking appearance. Because he was breathtakingly beautiful.
Perhaps living eternally deepens one’s beauty—whatever the reason, even when he roamed the capital’s social circles pretending to be a northern young lord, his face was so handsome that he drew people’s admiring gazes all to himself.
If she blatantly carried such a man around at her side claiming him as her cousin, it was obvious that far too many troublesome things would happen. Noxia was firm.
“Transform yourself so it won’t get too noisy.”
“Alright.”
Promeon promised. He kept feeling a childish sort of joy at the fact that he had received recognition of his looks from Hermae, but he maintained a solemn expression so that no smile would slip out.
Several weeks later, when the weather grew truly hot and tourists and vacationers began swarming across the village by the sea, Noxia went to work for the first time with Promeon in tow.
Noxia was slightly startled when she saw Promeon step out of the room. She had already known that his appearance would change for the day, yet seeing his slightly altered looks in person still felt strange.
“How is it? It’s not too weird, is it?”
Promeon asked gently. His deep voice was the same, and there was no drastic change to his face.
However, he had become a little shorter, his eyes slightly softer, and his jet-black silk-like hair had turned into a blond mixed with ash-gray.
Noxia stared silently at Promeon’s hair. It was a blond entirely different from the two she remembered.
Elenon Hermeon had bright lemon-colored hair, and Karnen Holby’s hair was close to golden brown.
Noxia wondered whether Promeon had deliberately chosen that shade of blond. Changing his hair to a color completely different from his original black—so that when she looked at him, she wouldn’t be reminded of her former lover and friend.
“…It’s not weird.”
Noxia answered calmly, averting her gaze.
“Let’s go.”
The two left the house together. They walked side by side in silence, matching their steps. Like a married couple, like long-time lovers, or like friends who had grown awkward.
They arrived at the teahouse and prepared to open for business. After sweeping, wiping, and washing until it was time, Noxia opened the door and flipped the sign so that “Open” faced outward.
“You did all this cleaning by yourself until now?”
Promeon asked with a serious expression. Noxia let out a scoffing laugh, genuinely dumbfounded.
“How can you think this is a lot? What exactly do you take me for?”
Noxia Decan was not some precious young lady who had never so much as gotten a drop of water on her hands in her life. She hadn’t exactly grown up suffering, but from long ago she had been trained through various odd jobs, and by eighteen she was quite capable of living on her own.
From a certain age, she had helped the teachers at the orphanage with cleaning, laundry, and cooking, and she had even taken on the role of an assistant teacher caring for the children.
And once she moved up to the capital and began living alone, keeping her rented room tidy became entirely her responsibility. This level of cleaning was nothing.
“I was raised delicately enough not to lift a finger in my past life, not this one. In this life, I grew up in an orphanage.”
Noxia tossed the words out casually, but upon hearing them, Promeon turned deathly pale.
“…I just said it in passing. So don’t make that face.”
Noxia added awkwardly. She had forgotten how sensitive a subject her second life—where she had ended her own life—was to Promeon.
The guilt she had long suppressed and turned away from slowly began to resurface.
In her past life, Noxia had been hurt by Promeon, but she had also hurt him—by slitting her throat right before his eyes.
Noxia could simply escape through death, but Promeon had been left behind, unable to move on. Because of his cursed immortal body, he could neither follow his lover nor ever forget that memory.
Back then, her desire to escape had been so overwhelming that she hadn’t considered the feelings of the one left behind. Only now did she begin to think, little by little, about his pain.
‘…In this life too, if I die, what happens to you?’
Sometimes she wanted to ask out loud. You say you hope that in this life I’ll peacefully live out my natural lifespan—but if I die that way, what happens to you, left alone again?
Even if in this life Noxia somehow regained her eternal rest, as long as the immortal Promeon remained bound to this world, it would all return to the starting point.
‘If you can’t endure it again and come to the afterlife to kidnap me, it’ll just be the same cycle anyway.’
In the end, lifting the curse was the fundamental solution. But how?
“A customer’s coming.”
Promeon spoke calmly, as if he had never turned pale at all. The very next moment, the door opened and a customer entered.
“Welcome!”
Noxia turned with her professional smile in place. It was a familiar regular who came once or twice a week.
The customer, who had been about to greet her as usual, spotted Promeon standing beside Noxia and widened her eyes. Noxia inwardly flinched.
“Oh, this is my cousin, my older brother Jade. Like me, he lived abroad, but something came up recently, so he’s moved to Hermeon.”
Noxia introduced Promeon with the alias they had agreed on beforehand. In a way, it wasn’t even an alias. To both Promeon and Noxia, it was a very familiar name.
“I-I see. Hello….”
The young female customer greeted shyly, her cheeks red as apples. Promeon—no, Jade—responded with a gentle smile befitting a polite employee.
“Hello. I look forward to working with you.”
At that, the customer’s eyes turned dreamy, as if she had lost her senses. Noxia felt like holding her forehead and sighing.
‘Even after changing his appearance, it’s still this bad…!’
She should have told him to completely overhaul his facial features. Or maybe it would’ve been better not to bring him at all.
“I-I also look forward to it.”
The female customer squeaked. Before the poor woman fainted from hyperventilation, Noxia hurried to divert her attention.
“What would you like today? Shall I prepare the usual?”
“Y-Yes? Ah, yes, thank you. But today, please leave out the cream….”
As Noxia smoothly interjected, the customer stammered and rambled, sneaking glances at Promeon as she continued her order.
Promeon calmly arranged the teacups, while Noxia let out heavy sighs inwardly as she took the order.
The customer took her tea and cake to her usual corner seat. Even while holding a book in her hands, she kept casting sideways glances at Promeon.
‘Please, let someone else come quickly.’
Noxia prayed desperately inside. If more people came bustling in and out, wouldn’t their attention at least be divided? At the very least, it might physically block that customer’s line of sight.
Her wish was only half granted. Soon other customers began arriving one by one—and every single one of their gazes focused on Promeon, who was called Jade.
“Welcome. Would you like to order?”
“Ah, yes. But, um, who is that…?”
“He’s my cousin, my older brother Jade. He’ll be helping at the teahouse for a while.”
“I-I see. Nice to meet you.”
“I look forward to your patronage.”
As if they needed to look forward to anything. When Promeon flashed another dazzling smile and the new customer blushed, Noxia swallowed her sigh and grumbled inwardly.
The neighborhood uncle, women her age, little children swarming like chicks, and even the tourists who poured in during the afternoon—all of them had their eyes stolen by Promeon.
Most people simply widened their eyes or flushed, but a few bold ones approached him and bravely struck up conversations.
And Promeon responded to each customer kindly and diligently, just as an employee should—exactly as Noxia had instructed beforehand.
Noxia seriously hated her past self. Who would have thought that repeatedly teaching him that employees must be gentle to customers would have such a counterproductive effect?
‘This is driving me crazy. It’s not like these people are technically causing any trouble….’
If they had crossed the line and acted like nuisance customers flirting shamelessly, Noxia would have had a reason to throw them out.
But they merely sparkled their eyes at a handsome man rarely seen in such a rural village and attempted conversation. Not a single one behaved rudely, such as trying to touch him sneakily.
To think she was wishing someone would blatantly attempt harassment just to have an excuse to kick them out—Noxia felt self-loathing at her own disgusting thoughts.
‘…Yeah, I’m going crazy. I’m going crazy. I’ve already gone crazy.’
This was possessiveness she was too ashamed to admit.
‘Damn it.’
It was petty jealousy toward everyone who smiled at Promeon while looking at his face—and an indescribable desire to monopolize him.
Noxia dropped the dishcloth in her hand with a sharp smack and spoke to Promeon.
“Jade, I’m going to the restroom. Take the orders for a bit.”
“Okay.”
Until then, Promeon had been surrounded by three or four female students. He glanced at Noxia. Avoiding his gaze, she fled to the restroom.
Locking the door of the quaint restroom attached to the shop, Noxia covered her face with both hands and let out a sigh.
“Ah, what do I do….”
What should she do? What should she do? She could no longer ignore it—why she was so angry right now, why her chest felt tight whenever she saw Promeon smiling at other people.
This was why lingering feelings from a past life were frightening, and why reincarnation was such an inconvenient redundancy. To be agonizing like this over a man with whom, in this life, she had not even formed a lovers’ relationship, let alone a marital bond.
‘So annoying.’
It felt like this had happened once before. Back when she was still friends with Karnen, Rachel, and Daisy—before Rachel and Daisy forgot her, before she found out that Karnen was Pellene.
While they were all talking together about marriage, dating, and ideal types, the name Jade Ranon had come up, and even then Noxia had burned with jealousy.
At that time, she hadn’t even realized it was jealousy. Her mood had simply soured abruptly, and she had felt confused, unable to understand the reason herself.
