Lakrahan’s hand, which had been reflexively flipping through the bookshelf, stopped in mid-air.

There was a sentence written there that he had never seen before in his life.

Lakrahan flipped the book over to double-check the cover.

“Edkins Family’s Miscellanea? Was there such a book?”

He reopened the page he had just been reading.

[The Edkins family lineage begins from one of the gods who descended to this land.]

The combination of the words “Edkins” and “god” was so unfamiliar that it felt jarring.

Lakrahan, as if entranced, sat down in the chair and turned to the next chapter.

[The Absolute God detached part of himself to create smaller gods and sent them to the human world, with one rule.

Do not fall in love with humans.

That was the one and only rule.

Yet, there was a god who broke that rule, and his name was Edkins.

He fell in love with a human woman, and that act invoked the wrath of the Absolute God.

Discovering everything, the Absolute God penalized them, separating the two.

Yet, there was no stopping those who had already fallen in love.

No matter how far apart they were thrown, crossing oceans, scaling mountains, facing death, they still found each other again.

Even if they were exiled to the farthest ends of the continent.

As if each was the other’s very life.

Finally, the Absolute God summoned Edkins back to the heavenly garden.

But by then, new life was already growing within the woman.

That was the first Edkins to take root in the human world.

Resembling his godly father with the attribute of ice but not quite a god himself, yet too extraordinary to be called merely human.

That was the Merk Edkins we know. The originator of the Edkins family.

Meanwhile, Edkins, trapped in the divine garden, created an object that would forever bind him and his woman together.

So they could recognize each other and be together in the next life, and the next.

After time passed, he managed to give it to his woman, avoiding the watchful eye of the Absolute God.]

“Hmm.”

Lakrahan ran his fingers along his sharp jawline.

The content of the book was both intriguing and fantastical.

Lakrahan turned another page and began reading the following content.

[In truth, there is no further record of what became of their love.

Only a certainty that it did not end happily.

The lack of an account was in itself sufficient speculation.

Afterward, all the gods returned to the divine garden, and the era of the three guardian gods and their awakened beings began on this continent.

Some even say that Edkins became one of the guardian gods of this land and each of its nations….]

Rising from the chair, Lakrahan walked to the bookshelf and took out another book.

He skimmed through the pages, recalling memories.

It was a book that compiled legends from the north.

His long finger stopped at a tale about lovers from a village near the border.

[A pair of lovers, in a forbidden relationship, hid their token of love in this small village, evading the eyes of the Absolute God.

If they meet again after several lifetimes, they will be forced to share what is most precious to them.

In order to reverse it, they must return here. Only then will they recall their past love and complete the love they could not in their previous life.]

“So, finding the hidden token confirms the love from a past life….”

Lakrahan’s deep eyes slowly dilated.

Loren was sitting by the river where he had parted with Bercheria, idly throwing small stones into the water.

“How long will I be like this?”

By his side was Velophai.

Her calm blue eyes and hair fluttered with the wind.

“Are you telling me to go watch Bercheria’s wedding now?”

Velophai stared intently at the grumbling Loren.
When Velophai first heard the order from the Absolute Deity to bring Bercheria to Deriansis, he had a hunch that this operation was bound to fail.

Firstly, he despised humans more than one could imagine.

In fact, humans had brought this upon themselves.

It was inconceivable to him that anyone could appreciate beings who indiscriminately dump waste into the sea, cause wanton slaughter, and destroy the order of the ocean.

So, he had put Loren, the only human who could communicate with him, in charge.

This was the second reason he had predicted failure.

This handsome prince, exceedingly popular among humans, was an excellent proxy for him. The chances were high that Bercheria would be smitten because he was visually appealing, and human women always clung to what they deemed good.

It meant that there would be no troublesome occurrences.

But then, with a light-hearted disposition, he returned to Feriat.

Unexpectedly, Loren fell for Bercheria.

What infuriated him the most was the fact that they tried to sell him off to Bercheria after transforming him into a lizard.

And that too by using a potion.

It was the first humiliation he had ever experienced in his life.

Of course, thanks to this opportunity, he came to know who the Awakener of Bercheria was this time around.