Chapter 90

Translator: Yonnee

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My tightly closed eyes flashed open. Then, the glare of the setting sun poured into my eyes. Underneath that sun, his vivid blue eyes appeared purple.

They were the same unreadable eyes, no different from the past.

"I did nothing but beg for your love! And yet you gave me only a shadow of affection. You persistently gave me nothing. Your every action felt like a silent challenge-'Even though I'm like this, will you still stay by my side?' You constantly tested me each moment that we were together."

As he listened to my words, his pupils quivered endlessly. Though I thought that my memories had already disappeared long ago, the moment I mentioned them, they all poured out as though a dam had collapsed.

I grabbed him by the collar. I was filled with the urge to put my hands on his throat and choke him.

"The woman you love has come here to the Empire. Then, shouldn't you go to her? Why are you doing this to me? Do you still want to subject me to guiding you even though we've both died and come back to life?"

As I was immersed in the past, my old way of speaking gradually shone through. It was Seohyun's habit, not Irene's.

At that moment, I saw it distinctly-the joy in his blue eyes.

"Let me go," I said.

"...No."

Ciel had been listening without a word until now, but he responded immediately this time. With irritation full force behind my eyes, I glared at him.

But he only answered this:

"You shouldn't look so pretty."

"...Hah."

The absurd remark made me scoff. Taking in a deep breath, I kicked him right on the shin.

"Ugh!"

But even though I must have hit him properly on the bone, he still wouldn't let me go. To be exact, he used his powers to lift me up.

Slightly tearing up, perhaps because of the kick, he spoke.

"Honey, I missed you."

"...Before anything else, I want to have a proper talk, Ciel."

"Yes, tell me anything. I'll listen to it all."

"We've both died. It's over. You are my ex-husband."

"......"

"So, don't call me that. I don't want to hear it."

"...What?"

With that, he disabled his abilities. We had been up in the air since a while ago, but my feet were now touching the ground. In the meantime, I tried to distance myself from him right away. I was already preparing to kick him in the shin once more, but the hands holding my waist loosened by themselves.

I took a step back from him. Regardless of that, however, he stared blankly in the air without looking at me. As he blinked dazedly, he uttered one word.

"Ex... husband?"

"Yes. Isn't it practically like divorce when your partner has died? No, to be more precise, the couple's relationship is effectively cut off!"

What was this emotion I was feeling now?

I thought I had learned various emotions through my family as I was living my second life here, but it seemed like there were still some that I didn't know. I couldn't properly capture what I was feeling at the moment, but I knew one thing for sure.

I felt relieved.

Perhaps the reason I still had lingering feelings was due to how I couldn't tell him how I felt before.

"Even though you're the one who proposed, you're also the one who first said that we should separate. There's nothing between us. Don't give my Dad a difficult time with your actions."

"...Seohyun."

"Stop calling the name of a person who no longer exists. Just what in the world are you doing?"

"Honey..."

"I am also no longer your wife. Don't call me that."

I wasn't particularly eager to answer him each time like this, but I wanted to take this opportunity to convey my words properly.

The relationship between me and you is already null and void. I have no intention of getting back together with you.

As though broken, his motions were stiff as he slowly lowered his head. And, he spoke ever so quietly that I couldn't hear him completely.

"...can't."

"What?"

When I asked because I couldn't hear, still with a lowered head, he raised his gaze to meet mine. Unlike his melancholic tone, his eyes burned strongly-like the blue flame representing the Leopardt Duchy.

"I will make you want me again."

"That will never happen."

But despite my firm answer, he spoke again.

"It's different from the past. I'll do everything I couldn't do back then."

"I don't want it anymore."

"Please, Seohyun."

"Stop calling me that name."

In the end, we were back to square one.

While we were somewhere in the middle of the mountain, the setting sun in the background was reaching the horizon quickly. As I became aware of the passage of time, I held back a frustrated sigh.

In order to go back home, I had two choices. One, to suffer through a hike down. Or two, to get some help from Ciel. I'd rather die again than pick the latter choice.

As we were repeating the same conversation now, I ignored him and was about to take a step forward. However, he suddenly called the wind once again and lifted me high up into the air.

BOOOOM-

And what followed was a deafening roar.

The cause of this was immediately apparent to me. The place where we were just now had been crushed by a ridiculously huge boulder.

"Irene!"

It was Morgan. Running fast towards our direction, he easily uprooted a large tree beside him and soon flung it at Ciel.

"So he's an idiotic physical type."

Murmuring in a low voice, Ciel carried me in his arms and flew far away. After setting me down again, he glared scathingly at Morgan.

"How dare you interrupt my conversation with my wife?"

That glint in his eyes-I was so very used to it. If I had the nickname 'mad dog', he was known as the 'psycho'.

It wasn't just once or twice that he had made a mess out of fellow Espers for reasons that made absolutely no sense to me.