Waiting For Your Reincarnation Chapter 155

The goddess had promised to spare Iris, with a sly demeanor.

 

The sweet voice whispering that she would give him all of Zephyto in exchange for his care of her world was suspicious.

 

This being is not a god, but a demon.

 

At this point, Zephyto wasn’t even sure if this was real or a dream, but a part of him wondered what if this was a dream?

 

He could see Iris’s face one more time.

 

Even if it meant selling his soul, he was willing to do it. He looked at the goddess with her easy smile and spoke.

 

“Bring Iris back to life first. Until then, I’m not agreeing to anything you offer.”

 

“Is this…, is that the right way to put it? Well, whatever, fine, because first I need to know who you are… Wait a minute.”

 

The goddess walked over to him with a light as silk step, cupped his chin in her hands, and pressed their foreheads together.

 

Clear light radiated from where she touched him. Zephyto closed his eyes of his own accord as a spring breeze of energy enveloped his body.

 

The goddess closed her mouth for a moment, savoring the energy, then one corner of her mouth tilted upward.

 

“Ah…, I don’t even have to search my memory to recognize this one. I recognize you immediately.”

 

Her voice was as fresh and light as the wind in the forest. The goddess walked away from him, a look of understanding on her face. With each step or two she took backward, the glow on her forehead grew in size.

 

Finally, the light consumed Zephyto, the goddess, the forest where Iris’s tomb lay, and the sky before it vanished without a trace.

 

The light was so strong that Zephyto could not open his eyes easily.

 

“Now open your eyes. Is she the woman you’ve been looking for?”

 

He frowned at the sound of the goddess’s voice calling to him, and finally opened his eyes. In his colorless world, he saw a vast field full of greenery.

 

And in the center of the field stood Iris, looking at him with a face that looked like it could burst into tears at any moment.

 

‘Had she really come back to him?’

 

The world looked more beautiful than it had ever looked before.

 

Zephyto wanted to run to her right away, but he couldn’t keep his footing; he felt like his hands would crumble to sand if he touched her.

 

To him, she had always been like that. If this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up like this.

 

“How is this… Why am I back…”

 

“Iris.”

 

But the voice lingered in his ears, clear as the dawn air, as if he were not hallucinating. 

 

Iris looked at her body several times in disbelief. At the same time, Zephyto’s heart began to beat frantically.

 

“…Iris. Please answer me if it’s you.”

 

Iris answered his desperate question.

 

“Zephyto?”

 

“Are you sure it’s you, Iris?”

 

“Are you sure it’s you, Zephyto?”

 

“…….”

 

“If it is, then this time you come here first, because I’ll be waiting for you.”

 

Iris said, stretching her arms wide towards him. The moment he heard her words, it was as if the shackles that had been holding him captive were suddenly released.

 

Zephyto ran to her with all his might, and with both hands, he pressed her body against his and hugged her tightly.

 

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he felt the warmth of her embrace. Burying his nose in the nape of her neck, he breathed in deeply. 

 

After holding her for a moment as if he would never let her go again, he spoke carefully.

 

“I’m so sorry you had to go away like that…”

 

“I love you.”

 

The sudden declaration of love halted his every movement. Robbed of the opportunity to speak, he turned his head to look at her, forgetting to breathe.

 

He wondered if he had heard a vision.

 

But Iris was smiling, just like the girl he had met in the forest so long ago.

 

“I thought we might as well start with the story of the Nada.”

 

“…….”

 

“I closed my eyes as I watched the river, and I regretted it.”

 

His heart felt like it was being pulled out from under him. Zephyto reached out and gently rubbed her cheek, worried that she might be the only one swallowing her tears.

 

But she wasn’t crying. She seemed to be calmly organizing what she wanted to say.

 

His hands, which hadn’t trembled as he swept through Telene’s basement, trembled with nervousness now. Now that he was facing Iris, his old demeanor returned like a boomerang, hitting him in the chest.

 

‘What had Iris regretted in her last moments?’

 

‘That she had loved him?’

 

‘What would he do now that she was about to disappear again?’

 

He wished he could follow Iris and disappear from this world with her; to breathe without her was not to be human.

 

Then her small, soft palm touched Zephyto’s cheek. He closed his eyes and gently kissed her palm. Iris let out a ticklish, airy laugh and spoke.

 

“I wasn’t afraid of death because I knew that if I died, you would live, but…”

“…….”

 

“That’s the kind of regret you have when you think you’re going to die and you wish you’d held on to me more. Now that’s kind of funny, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put any pressure on you, I just thought…”

 

“No. You don’t have to be sorry at all.”

 

She gave him a look that said she didn’t expect him to say that. Pulling his hand away from her cheek, he removed the ring from her ring finger. He handed it back to her.

 

He wanted to keep his promise to her. When she saw the white ring, her eyes lit up like midday sun. She shook her head from side to side and pushed the ring back toward Zephyto.

 

He froze, holding the ring at her refusal.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“For what?”

 

“It’s not mine, it’s yours, and I lied to you because I wanted you to come back to me.”

 

Iris meekly admitted that she had lied.

 

He squeezed the ring on his palm hard. Iris had always assumed it wasn’t hers because it was bigger than she expected. But he hadn’t expected it to hold such deep meaning.

 

‘What had Iris gone through alone while Zephyto was in Telene?’

 

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he slipped the ring back on his ring finger and spoke.

 

“Me too…”

 

“…….”

 

“I missed you.”

 

“I really didn’t think you’d be waiting for me.”

 

He hugged Iris tightly once more. Then he buried his face in her shoulder and whispered in a voice so low only she could hear it.

 

“Me too. I love you, Iris.”

 

He spoke each word from his heart, as if he were pressing it down on a piece of paper. He couldn’t see her face, but her small hand tightened around Zephyto’s waist.

 

He repeated the word “I love you” over and over again, as if it were a burst of water.

 

“Look, since you have all the time in the world, why don’t you answer my proposal?”

 

Just then, the goddess who had been silently watching them spoke up.

 

Zephyto lifted his head slightly, watching her carefully. The goddess smiled innocently, like a bud just emerging, and waited for his response.

 

“Did you say that Iris can exist in your world?”

 

“Yes. As she is.”

 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

 

“Except that my world is not like this, um…, this world of humans. It’s a world of spirits.”

 

“Spirits?”

 

Zephyto raised an eyebrow at the puzzling word. As he muttered the word spirit to himself, the goddess’s rambling words suddenly made a little more sense.

 

Perhaps the world of spirits was the reason Iris, who had lost her life, was able to exist again.

 

The goddess continued, taking a step toward him, her eyes scanning the vast forest around her with a gentle smile.

 

“In exchange for my use of you as my special caretaker, you must pay a price.”

 

“What is that?”

 

“Your life here in the world of humans must end, which means you must die.”

 

At that moment, he felt Iris tug hard on his collar. She was staring at him, her eyes full of anxiety.

 

He’d been blind to her transparency before, but now he understood: she didn’t want his life to be sacrificed for hers.

 

Zephyto ran a hand through Iris’s luscious hair, his mind racing.

 

He wondered if he could continue to live this way, if this was what she wanted.

 

‘Does this life even mean anything anymore?’

 

It didn’t take long for the answers to come. Zephyto lifted his head, clasping Iris’s hand in his own.

 

“Kill me, and take me and Iris with you to the world you spoke of.”