Chapter 207

162 Part 2

Jang Ye Ri slowly opened her shaking lips.

“I would need to speak of the past a bit…”

She had to be nervous, as this was like a confession. She had denied her identity and ran away, and also had been raped by Jang Gi Hoo. The honorable Green Skin would probably look down on her. However, it was inevitable that Jang Ye Ri wanted to talk. She actually had thought about hiding her past, as he would not know if she kept it a secret. It had been a long time ago, and only a very few knew her past know.

Only Jang Ye Ri had to remain silent, but she continued to speak while looking at him. She did not soften her words or distorted her actions but remembered her life while talking about her thoughts behind her actions. It was not difficult to speak, but she feared his response. Unlike her usual confident self, Jang Ye Ri looked downward, and her story ended only after a long time.

“You would not have wanted me like this. I had cut off my horns and become human in this way. Can you accept me…?”

She did not want to tremble, but her voice shook. Jang Ye Ri slightly raised her eyes to see his mouth open.

“I do not care.”

“What…?”

“I do not care and will not deny your past. You had to do what you had to do, and I would have done the same. I should thank you instead of for telling me. It’s not humiliating, and your life has led you to this moment.”

“However…I have been among the filth.”

“I am the same. I do not care what you have done or what had happened to you. I respect you as you are now.”

Jang Ye Ri slowly looked up at Blood Dagger. He seemed sincere, but Jang Ye Ri screamed like she was at the end of her rope. She did not know why, but she wanted him to refuse her and tell her she was ruined. She thought being thrown away here would be asking for her mother’s forgiveness.

“I threw away my race and my mother. My mother always looked at me with cold eyes and told me that she hated me, no matter what you say!”

“Is that what you really remember?”

“……”

Jang Ye Ri could not answer his words, as her mother had never hugged her. While she had not pushed Jang Ye Ri away, her mother had always looked at Jang Ye Ri with cold and hateful eyes.

“Maternity is fierce in our race, and whether one wants it or not, it’s instinct. Mothers devote themselves to their children without caring for themselves. Not taking care of their children is worth than death for them.”

“……”

“If your mother really hated you, there has to be a reason.”

Jang Ye Ri closed her eyes as she suddenly remembered the old king’s words. He had told her that her mother had cried when she had been separated from her daughter. She had considered it as mere provocation…

But if it was true, thinking that her mother had not really hated her filled Jang Ye Ri’s heart with warmth. He may be wrong or was just consoling her, but Jang Ye Ri felt tears in her eyes.

“You’re lying.”

“It does not matter what you think. Maybe your mother wanted you to live among humans.”

“It’s a lie!”

“I’m just telling you what I know. Did your mother really hate you?”

Jang Ye Ri remembered faint memories of her mother holding her hand even while staring at her with cold eyes. Jang Ye Ri spoke with shudders, and if her mother had not really hated her…

If her mother had been trying to protect Jang Ye Ri, she wanted to know the meaning of those words. She was scared, but…

“Anai Totka.”

Jang Ye Ri opened her mouth. She could have found out the meaning but had been scared. She had thought that those words contained hate and just repeated it in her mind whenever she faced hardship. Jang Ye Ri did not ask him the meaning and just stared.

He opened his mouth.

“Go on living.”

“Go…on…living…”

Jang Ye Ri could not speak, and tears continued to fall out of her eyes. Those words had supported her when she had wished for death or wanted to run away. Jang Ye Ri had buried those words in her chest in her path for redemption and to achieve her goals thousands of times.

Her mother had always been speaking to her when she wanted to die, run away, felt tired and was alone to go on living.

Jang Ye Ri lowered her head and cried like a child after a long while.