Episode 29. Marriage with a Goddess
The northerners sometimes lamented Lacrahan's lack of interest in women.
It was understandable, as they needed a leader to rule them for generations to come. Lacrahan's youth had been a source of concern, but the elders of the north insisted on forcing him into marriage.
The onlookers were all shocked when Lacrahan suddenly approached a strange woman and kissed her. They wondered if this was really Lacrahan, who had always been reserved for women.
"Wow, man. We're in trouble."
Wyatt patted his head nervously, knowing the full significance of Lacrahan's actions.
A kiss with that woman would be an announcement of his enmity with the Emperor.
Soon, rumors would spread throughout the entire Periat Empire, not just the North. And now, when Princess Kelita was in the North, proposing marriage to Lacrahan!
In the midst of all this, it was clear as day that Lacrahan's act of kissing another woman would cause a huge backlash the moment Emperor Gerard heard about it.
It was also like publicly declaring a woman he didn't even know as his own.
There was no way Lacrahan wouldn't understand the significance of kissing everyone in the still-conservative imperial society.
Wyatt raised his head and looked up at Kelita's room.
A shadow hiding behind the curtains in the lit window met his eyes, turned around, and vanished.
"Damn it."
As Wyatt muttered a curse, the hail disappeared in an instant, turning into a thin drizzle.
"It stopped. Thank goodness."
"It almost was a disaster."
Compared to the hail, getting wet clothes and hair was nothing.
People gasped in relief.
Because Lacrahan had suddenly kissed a stranger, the people hadn't suspected that the change in weather was due to Bercheria.
There was no time to even think about it.
Just one person.
Except for Kelita.
“It’s Bercheria!”
Kelita ran out of the castle, pointing at Lacrahan and Bercheria and shouting.
“Look at that hair, look at those eyes! It rained just now when she came out! I thought something was wrong from the start. It can’t be. It can’t be!”
The people whispered, unable to adjust to the sight of the Princess, her hair disheveled and screaming.
“I should have noticed from the beginning. That woman was Bercheria! It’s undeniably Bercheria! Look!”
For the past few years, whenever she visited the north, people had praised Kelita’s neatness and elegance as an imperial Princess.
But now, she seemed completely different.
A delusional, rambling, crazy woman, nothing more, nothing less.
“What’s wrong with you all?”
Kelita shouted, and the bustling square fell silent.
“That woman is the weather goddess who starved people to death and caused war!”
But sometimes, rude words resonate more deeply.
Like now.
Kelita’s voice was enough to wake those distracted by the rain and hail.
“Don’t you believe me, a Princess? Don’t you know who I am? I'm Princess Kelita!”
Kelita shouted, pointing at Bercheria.
“Seize that weather goddess right now! Make her pay for all the sins she’s committed!”
It was a desperate longing she’d never felt before.
Even when she was trapped in a narrow tower, taking the medicine her mother gave her, even when a loneliness worse than death came over her, even when she had to endure the emptiness that felt like her strength had been stripped away and her soul had been ripped from her.
Bercheria never lost her reason.
Knowing that she couldn’t die, she tried to remember who she was and why she had to endure this pain until the very end.
But this wasn’t just about enduring the pain.
Thirst.
It felt like she had to unleash every ounce of strength from every nook and cranny of her being to feel refreshed.
All she could think of was to use the useless powers swirling within her, to find comfort before they exploded and destroyed her.
This feeling was precisely what it felt like to be consumed by a surge of power.
But Bercheria, already consumed by thirst, couldn't resist.
She couldn't even see the people being harmed.
At that moment, the thin thread connecting reason and instinct snapped.
Bercheria was certain that, whatever it was, her life from now on would go in the complete opposite direction from what she had anticipated.
In a sense, the end.
After her powers had run wild, she might simply remain a madwoman, temporarily imbued with the power of a god.
Perhaps that would be more comfortable.
She relaxed her body and closed her eyes, and an unfamiliar warmth seeped into her waist.
“...!”
Her mind, which had fallen into a distant place, returned to reality as if awakened from a slumber.
“Bercheria.”
The moment her name was called, Bercheria’s once clouded gaze cleared.
Lacrahan’s strength lifted her head, and her vision was filled with the serious gaze of the man.
“Don’t give up.”
Lacrahan whispered and pressed his lips between Bercheria’s parted lips.
The unfamiliar warmth met, and Bercheria’s scalding breath reached him.
“Haa.”
If her body had been heated to this degree, even a sane person’s brain would have been destroyed.
Lacrahan knew most poisons in the world, but he had never heard of something like this.
A poison that enters a person's body and causes them to boil at a high temperature.
'Is it, perhaps, a new substance?'
Lacrahan bit Bercheria's lips even deeper, allowing all the heat she had stored inside to escape. Bercheria remained locked in a kiss with Lacrahan for a long time, barely breathing.
The only silver lining was that Kelita was buying time for Bercheria to return to normal.
"Arrest that weather goddess immediately! Make her pay for all her sins!"
Kelita's voice boomed through the now-silent square.
As Bercheria's breathing calmed, Lacrahan slowly pulled away.
Everyone in the square was staring at him and Bercheria.
He turned his head away from his people and looked at Bercheria.
"Are you alright?"
She nodded weakly, as if completely exhausted.
It must be difficult.
If a body could heat up so intensely in an instant, not many could handle the force.
“Hold on a moment. It’ll be over soon.”
Lacrahan said, supporting her.
Then he turned to Kelita.
“Princess Kelita, you’re right.”
Since Bercheria’s divine essence was engraved on their bodies, he and she were inseparable.
Therefore, he had to find the best way.
It had to be a way to appease the Emperor, who would be furious upon hearing this news. He also had to make sure people wouldn’t treat Bercheria carelessly.
He also had to find an appropriate response to kissing her in front of everyone.
So Lacrahan said,
“This woman is Bercheria, the goddess of weather, and we’re going to get married soon.”
He was the first human to decide to marry a goddess.
“Before the prey returns, I should prepare a home for the child, right?”
A satisfied smile played on the woman’s lips as she looked down at Lacrahan’s castle.
“This time, I’ll build a stronger, taller home.”
As thunder and lightning poured down from the dark clouds, screams could be heard.
“Ahahaha.”
The woman took it as a side dish and laughed joyfully for the first time in a long while.
The screams of the weak humans were always a delight to hear, but the fact that the one who made them was Bercheria made her even happier.
“You have to experience it to know what a fool is like.”
“And old, mean people never let a single incident pass.”
“Who are you?”
The woman turned around in surprise at the sudden voice.
“...What are you?”
The red-haired man with a lizard on his shoulder smirked.
“Why are you so insensitive? Isn’t it a little awkward to ask who I am?”
The woman fanned herself and glared at him, covering her face.
Laurent clicked his tongue at the woman.
“That Princess. She was shaking even when she was drinking that little poison. Isn’t that pitiful?”
"I don't understand what you've been saying. You seem to think we know each other. Stop being so rude."
As the woman tried to pass Laurent and head toward the carriage, he suddenly stretched out his long leg to block her path.
The coachman flinched at the sight, and the woman raised her hand as if to bid him stay put.
“Hey, red-haired young man.”
“Speak, lady with the rat-eaten lips.”
Above her fan-covered face, veins rose on the woman’s forehead.
“I don’t know how you knew that child was Bercheria, but from now on, listen carefully to what I say.”
“I can hear you, Ma’am.”
Not only did the veins rise, but a fierce eyebrow crinkled in the center of the woman’s forehead.
“The affairs of Periat here are left to the Periat people themselves. If you want to interfere, return to Der'Ansis immediately, Prince Laurent.”
The woman lowered her voice to a growl, adding,
“Unless you want to lose another war and return home in tears.”
“...!”
Despite the threat that had been made without warning, Laurent suddenly burst into laughter.
“Wow, I was wondering how great a woman she was when you said she imprisoned Bercheria for life, but this is truly disappointing.”
“What?”
Laurent still looked down at the woman with a smiling face.
“What if I take Bercheria as my wife?”
“...What?”
“Then will I be a Periatian or a Deriansian?”
Laurent bent down to meet the woman’s eye level, then whispered with a seductive lift of her lips.
“The answer is the ruler of three continents.”
The woman’s eyes widened.
“What I mean is that I may or may not belong anywhere. So remember that flimsy threats won’t work, ma’am.”
“...!”
“That’s what I mean.”
Laurent lowered the woman’s fan with his hand, allowing her face to be fully visible to him.
His eyes had briefly cooled.
“If you touch Bercheria one more time, I will tear you to pieces and kill you. Do you understand?”
The sight of his fiery red eyes suddenly turning cold was quite eerie, sending goosebumps up the woman’s arms.
The northerners sometimes lamented Lacrahan's lack of interest in women.
It was understandable, as they needed a leader to rule them for generations to come. Lacrahan's youth had been a source of concern, but the elders of the north insisted on forcing him into marriage.
The onlookers were all shocked when Lacrahan suddenly approached a strange woman and kissed her. They wondered if this was really Lacrahan, who had always been reserved for women.
"Wow, man. We're in trouble."
Wyatt patted his head nervously, knowing the full significance of Lacrahan's actions.
A kiss with that woman would be an announcement of his enmity with the Emperor.
Soon, rumors would spread throughout the entire Periat Empire, not just the North. And now, when Princess Kelita was in the North, proposing marriage to Lacrahan!
In the midst of all this, it was clear as day that Lacrahan's act of kissing another woman would cause a huge backlash the moment Emperor Gerard heard about it.
It was also like publicly declaring a woman he didn't even know as his own.
There was no way Lacrahan wouldn't understand the significance of kissing everyone in the still-conservative imperial society.
Wyatt raised his head and looked up at Kelita's room.
A shadow hiding behind the curtains in the lit window met his eyes, turned around, and vanished.
"Damn it."
As Wyatt muttered a curse, the hail disappeared in an instant, turning into a thin drizzle.
"It stopped. Thank goodness."
"It almost was a disaster."
Compared to the hail, getting wet clothes and hair was nothing.
People gasped in relief.
Because Lacrahan had suddenly kissed a stranger, the people hadn't suspected that the change in weather was due to Bercheria.
There was no time to even think about it.
Just one person.
Except for Kelita.
“It’s Bercheria!”
Kelita ran out of the castle, pointing at Lacrahan and Bercheria and shouting.
“Look at that hair, look at those eyes! It rained just now when she came out! I thought something was wrong from the start. It can’t be. It can’t be!”
The people whispered, unable to adjust to the sight of the Princess, her hair disheveled and screaming.
“I should have noticed from the beginning. That woman was Bercheria! It’s undeniably Bercheria! Look!”
For the past few years, whenever she visited the north, people had praised Kelita’s neatness and elegance as an imperial Princess.
But now, she seemed completely different.
A delusional, rambling, crazy woman, nothing more, nothing less.
“What’s wrong with you all?”
Kelita shouted, and the bustling square fell silent.
“That woman is the weather goddess who starved people to death and caused war!”
But sometimes, rude words resonate more deeply.
Like now.
Kelita’s voice was enough to wake those distracted by the rain and hail.
“Don’t you believe me, a Princess? Don’t you know who I am? I'm Princess Kelita!”
Kelita shouted, pointing at Bercheria.
“Seize that weather goddess right now! Make her pay for all the sins she’s committed!”
***
It was a desperate longing she’d never felt before.
Even when she was trapped in a narrow tower, taking the medicine her mother gave her, even when a loneliness worse than death came over her, even when she had to endure the emptiness that felt like her strength had been stripped away and her soul had been ripped from her.
Bercheria never lost her reason.
Knowing that she couldn’t die, she tried to remember who she was and why she had to endure this pain until the very end.
But this wasn’t just about enduring the pain.
Thirst.
It felt like she had to unleash every ounce of strength from every nook and cranny of her being to feel refreshed.
All she could think of was to use the useless powers swirling within her, to find comfort before they exploded and destroyed her.
This feeling was precisely what it felt like to be consumed by a surge of power.
But Bercheria, already consumed by thirst, couldn't resist.
She couldn't even see the people being harmed.
At that moment, the thin thread connecting reason and instinct snapped.
Bercheria was certain that, whatever it was, her life from now on would go in the complete opposite direction from what she had anticipated.
In a sense, the end.
After her powers had run wild, she might simply remain a madwoman, temporarily imbued with the power of a god.
Perhaps that would be more comfortable.
She relaxed her body and closed her eyes, and an unfamiliar warmth seeped into her waist.
“...!”
Her mind, which had fallen into a distant place, returned to reality as if awakened from a slumber.
“Bercheria.”
The moment her name was called, Bercheria’s once clouded gaze cleared.
Lacrahan’s strength lifted her head, and her vision was filled with the serious gaze of the man.
“Don’t give up.”
Lacrahan whispered and pressed his lips between Bercheria’s parted lips.
The unfamiliar warmth met, and Bercheria’s scalding breath reached him.
“Haa.”
If her body had been heated to this degree, even a sane person’s brain would have been destroyed.
Lacrahan knew most poisons in the world, but he had never heard of something like this.
A poison that enters a person's body and causes them to boil at a high temperature.
'Is it, perhaps, a new substance?'
Lacrahan bit Bercheria's lips even deeper, allowing all the heat she had stored inside to escape. Bercheria remained locked in a kiss with Lacrahan for a long time, barely breathing.
The only silver lining was that Kelita was buying time for Bercheria to return to normal.
"Arrest that weather goddess immediately! Make her pay for all her sins!"
Kelita's voice boomed through the now-silent square.
As Bercheria's breathing calmed, Lacrahan slowly pulled away.
Everyone in the square was staring at him and Bercheria.
He turned his head away from his people and looked at Bercheria.
"Are you alright?"
She nodded weakly, as if completely exhausted.
It must be difficult.
If a body could heat up so intensely in an instant, not many could handle the force.
“Hold on a moment. It’ll be over soon.”
Lacrahan said, supporting her.
Then he turned to Kelita.
“Princess Kelita, you’re right.”
Since Bercheria’s divine essence was engraved on their bodies, he and she were inseparable.
Therefore, he had to find the best way.
It had to be a way to appease the Emperor, who would be furious upon hearing this news. He also had to make sure people wouldn’t treat Bercheria carelessly.
He also had to find an appropriate response to kissing her in front of everyone.
So Lacrahan said,
“This woman is Bercheria, the goddess of weather, and we’re going to get married soon.”
He was the first human to decide to marry a goddess.
***
“Before the prey returns, I should prepare a home for the child, right?”
A satisfied smile played on the woman’s lips as she looked down at Lacrahan’s castle.
“This time, I’ll build a stronger, taller home.”
As thunder and lightning poured down from the dark clouds, screams could be heard.
“Ahahaha.”
The woman took it as a side dish and laughed joyfully for the first time in a long while.
The screams of the weak humans were always a delight to hear, but the fact that the one who made them was Bercheria made her even happier.
“You have to experience it to know what a fool is like.”
“And old, mean people never let a single incident pass.”
“Who are you?”
The woman turned around in surprise at the sudden voice.
“...What are you?”
The red-haired man with a lizard on his shoulder smirked.
“Why are you so insensitive? Isn’t it a little awkward to ask who I am?”
The woman fanned herself and glared at him, covering her face.
Laurent clicked his tongue at the woman.
“That Princess. She was shaking even when she was drinking that little poison. Isn’t that pitiful?”
"I don't understand what you've been saying. You seem to think we know each other. Stop being so rude."
As the woman tried to pass Laurent and head toward the carriage, he suddenly stretched out his long leg to block her path.
The coachman flinched at the sight, and the woman raised her hand as if to bid him stay put.
“Hey, red-haired young man.”
“Speak, lady with the rat-eaten lips.”
Above her fan-covered face, veins rose on the woman’s forehead.
“I don’t know how you knew that child was Bercheria, but from now on, listen carefully to what I say.”
“I can hear you, Ma’am.”
Not only did the veins rise, but a fierce eyebrow crinkled in the center of the woman’s forehead.
“The affairs of Periat here are left to the Periat people themselves. If you want to interfere, return to Der'Ansis immediately, Prince Laurent.”
The woman lowered her voice to a growl, adding,
“Unless you want to lose another war and return home in tears.”
“...!”
Despite the threat that had been made without warning, Laurent suddenly burst into laughter.
“Wow, I was wondering how great a woman she was when you said she imprisoned Bercheria for life, but this is truly disappointing.”
“What?”
Laurent still looked down at the woman with a smiling face.
“What if I take Bercheria as my wife?”
“...What?”
“Then will I be a Periatian or a Deriansian?”
Laurent bent down to meet the woman’s eye level, then whispered with a seductive lift of her lips.
“The answer is the ruler of three continents.”
The woman’s eyes widened.
“What I mean is that I may or may not belong anywhere. So remember that flimsy threats won’t work, ma’am.”
“...!”
“That’s what I mean.”
Laurent lowered the woman’s fan with his hand, allowing her face to be fully visible to him.
His eyes had briefly cooled.
“If you touch Bercheria one more time, I will tear you to pieces and kill you. Do you understand?”
The sight of his fiery red eyes suddenly turning cold was quite eerie, sending goosebumps up the woman’s arms.
Comments
Post a Comment