Ari (Child of the Beastman Goddess)

I was baffled, but still followed him to the portal. He brought me to their palace that was on a remote Island-he showed me his father’s throne and the room behind the throne. He said he wasn’t allowed to stay there, but he would sneak in every now and then if he wanted to be alone. He can also listen to his father during his meetings from that room and try to understand their agenda as if he was actually a part of the meeting.

We played there for some time and sneaked out after a few hours while there were no people around and returned straight to Nirvana. I was surprised that the time in their place was faster than the time in Nirvana, causing me to be away for only a minute as he promised. Since then, we have played in secret in the same manner.

I thought everything was going quite well, but it didn’t last long.

One day, while we were playing with shells and pearls and chatting nonstop inside the secret room, we suddenly overheard his father’s voice.

We had no choice but to keep quiet and listen to their meeting. We were both stunned upon hearing the agenda of their meeting. It was an emergency regarding an attack, they were planning for a long time-his father, Iravan, the ruler of the ocean, whose ranking was just below my father, was planning an attack on him.

Dylan was trembling and told me he didn’t know anything defensively. He asked me to stay still until we can sneak out safely and go back to Nirvana. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel, but felt that he was telling the truth. I remained silent and felt worried for my father.

I felt the cold sweat while listening to their words, but Dylan hugged me and covered my ears. We were both trembling, but he tried his best to calm down.

He managed to safely bring me back to Nirvana immediately after the meeting held by his father. Ayla saw us and she was frowning towards me. He asked for an audience with my mother so Ayla offered to accompany us while clinging to me tightly.

We were not allowed to enter the audience room and Ayla pulled me away without waiting for Dylan to finish his meeting with our mother. I couldn’t utter a single word to Ayla since it was sensitive information, but she was so frustrated knowing I met with Dylan again.

I had no idea what happened to Dylan after that day, because he no longer went back to Nirvana since then.

I was later informed that their race was punished due to the attempt to attack my father so I felt worried, but couldn’t ask anyone regarding his condition since it became a taboo to talk about their race for a period of time because our mother was extremely furious about the incident.

Father Lev didn’t have a grudge towards them, but he was sad about the incident.

“Father, what will happen to the son of the alpha of the Sirens?”

My father looked at me with furrowed eyebrows and asked, “Do you know him?”

“H-He… I… I heard about him from the servants. Ayla and I saw him once and asked us if we could guide him to the queen mother. The servants said that it was he who informed mother about the rebellion,” I lied, trying to hide the fact that we were acquainted.

He looked at me with disbelief and sighed.

“Yes, Dylan did a good job reporting about the incident so we became prepared before the situation became worse. He’s so loyal for his age. It’s a pity that he had such greedy parents. He didn’t even take any rewards from your mother and promised to be loyal until the end. He had to take over his father’s position at such a young age. Their immortality was taken back and the females in their race would perish,” my father explained.

I burst into tears in front of my father, causing him to panic.

“D-Did you get sad because of the story my dear?” he asked while trying to wipe my tears.

“Father, can I marry Dylan? He would be lonely if he didn’t have anyone beside him. It would be sad to see their race perish just because of the mistake of their previous ruler,” I declared.

“M-Marry? D-Did I hear it correctly?” my father asked.

“I want to send him my oath as a reward for his loyalty. I hope you won’t feel bad about it, Father. We can’t let him suffer due to the mistakes made by his parents,” I responded.

He looked annoyed, but he took a deep breath before asking, “Do you really mean it my dearest Daughter? You know that a promise made by Immortals can never be broken until our soul perishes one day.”

I nodded sincerely so he kissed my forehead in hesitation and took a pearl-like stone that emerged from my heart-it was the ‘Stone of Oath’ also known as the promise stone of an Immortal. He looked sad but he promised me that he would give it to Dylan as a reward for his honesty and loyalty. It would be up to him if he would take it or not.

The stone won’t perish until the other party takes it in and accepts it willingly. I couldn’t remember what happened after that day since my memories as Arie were blurry compared to my memories when I was still Arhi.

************************************

He worriedly asked me while pulling my hand away from my face to see my condition, “Arie… What’s wrong?”

I felt nauseous, but I responded, “I remembered clearly that your palace was on the island and that the time was similar to the land of the mortals. No… Wait… You have become mortal since the day my mother punished your race due to your father’s treason.”

He suddenly kissed my forehead and smiled while hugging me tightly as he whispered, “Your sister blessed us with a longer life and your Stone of Oath was also the reason why I still remained as an Immortal and turned the time of this place similar to Nirvana.”

I jolted and asked, “What do you mean? You really took in the stone?”

He pulled away briefly and nodded with a smile-the very same bright smile he had the day we first met. If I was still the same Arie, I would be extremely happy hearing those words while seeing his smile. However, I am now Ari, and the Arie he knew seemed like just a mere memory of a forgotten past. I don’t know how to react-I was so confused.

His smile instantly turned upside down upon seeing my reaction and asked, “Do you regret making that promise?”Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

I was extremely shaken about the sudden overwhelming memories. I couldn’t break an oath made by my previous self, but I had a far greater problem than that.

I remained silent because of confusion, then he suddenly snapped and cried, “D-Did you really regret your promise? Was I no longer in your heart?”

I suddenly felt a sting in my chest as if my heart was being stabbed by a hundred needles. I eagerly shook my head to calm him down because the more he felt betrayed, the more my heart would ache.

He was confused about my answer and looked worried seeing me in pain-the pain went away in an instant when he got distracted.

“I have… a greater mission t-tasked by the S-Supreme Being, w-will you be able to… to w-wait for my return?” I stuttered due to hesitation and the fear of hurting him.

“What mission might it be for you to leave me again after waiting for you for centuries?” he asked with a sad look on his face.

“I need to bring the balance of power in Nirvana and to prevent a greater calamity that was about to befall in this world,” I answered with conviction.