Even though I recognized this with my head, maybe because the situation itself was too surreal, I blurted out in a casual tone to the man who spoke comfortably.
The man’s brow furrowed momentarily, then soon he tilted his head with a spin and a smile.
“A peculiar human. Not overpowered by my aura. Are you a fool?”
“All my life, I’ve only heard that I’m a genius.”
“You seem rather foolish for a genius. I’ve never seen a human jump into the water to save a water spirit, only to die.”
“What… save?”
As I snorted, the man hmmed in contemplation, tapping his lips a few times with his long index finger.
There was a moment of silence as he seemed to organize his words. Then, the man slowly continued.
“Spirits can’t live in places where there are no beings that believe in us. The spirits that fell into the place where you originally lived could only disappear. Because there are no beings in your world that believe in spirits.”
His monotonous voice continued with a diligent explanation.
“When I tried to move dimensions, a water spirit fell into the channel I opened and drifted into your world. You happened to be standing near the channel I opened, and were influenced by my aura. You saw that child, and foolishly jumped in to save it. To put it simply, it’s like jumping into water to save a fish.”
A fish…?
“What did I see?”
“A spirit. A water spirit.”
“A spirit, like… a fairy?”
“No, quite different. But if we’re going by the knowledge of the world you were in, yes, you could consider it similar to a fairy.”
Suddenly, there was a small round table and chairs. In the man’s hand was a teacup.
As if he would wait for me to understand, the man sat on the chair and elegantly sipped his tea.
…So I died trying to save a fishlike fairy living in the water. From birth to death, the string of fate is quite consistent.
I thought it would be incredibly unfair and empty to die out of the blue after living on the edge, but it wasn’t really so.
It seems there’s no lingering attachment to a loveless world.
As long as I’m dead, it’d be nice if that fairy was safe.
“So, did the child safely return?”
The man’s teasipping motion abruptly halted. He stared at me, seemingly taken aback.
“Thanks to you.”
“That’s good. Then it’s fine.”
I was smiling. It was only after seeing my reflection in the man’s jewellike eyes that I realized I was smiling.
Whether it was a fairy or a person didn’t matter. If I saved one life, then that was a noble enough life.
After a long silence, the man opened his mouth.
“… In human books, there’s a lot of writing about how the king of the spirits treats the spirits under him like disposable objects, but it’s absolutely not like that.”
A small, blue fishlike creature circled around the man as if it were dear to him.
“These are like my children who have been with me for thousands and tens of thousands of years. You recognized the existence of my child and had ‘faith’ by jumping in without hesitation to save them. Because of this, my child was able to avoid extinction.”
The man’s eyes, which had been cold as if all emotions had been dulled, seemed to harbor a brief warmth.
His proud head, which would have never bowed in front of anyone, slightly lowered.
“I sincerely thank you. It’s a real pity that you lost your life in the process.”
“Well, it wasn’t really a life worth missing.”
“There’s no such thing as a life that can be discarded. We are beings who give back as much as we receive. Since you lost your life trying to save my child, it is only fair that the repayment is also life. I want to grant you life again, as a being loved by us.”
Love. It was an alien word. I’d never experienced it, nor had I dared to desire it.
I repeated numbly, with a sunken expression.
“Life…?”
“Yes, life. However, you will soon lose all memories of your past life.”
I thought I had just managed to escape from the mire, and now I have to start again from the quagmire.
My life, which had been riddled with sorrow, did not find the prospect of a new life particularly appealing.
Yet still.
Yet still, because You are so high and mighty. If I, who had never prayed even once, could only pray for just one thing.
“Hey, I am truly grateful for your love… um… could you also allow me to experience the love of a family…?”
If that couldn’t happen, it would be much happier to just not be reborn. Swallowing the bitter afterthought, I hesitated and asked,
“There would be no need for that.”
The man stroked my head with an unusually warm smile that didn’t suit him.
The peculiar feeling of warmth coming from the cool hand that stroked me was rather strange.
“Let’s meet again soon, my beloved child.”
Even as I lost consciousness under his gentle touch, the phrase ‘beloved child’, which I had wanted to hear so much, seemed to leave a faint smile on my lips.
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]“Uh… ugh…!”
I’ve pooped!
“Uh… awooo…”
Can someone take a look here!
The crying, which was no different from a newly born chick, came from my mouth.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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