It was some deep night.

When I opened my eyes while half-asleep, a shadow kneeling by my bedside was pressing his lips to my hair that he had carefully grasped.

The moment our eyes met, those frozen blue eyes were so striking that the scene from that day remained etched in my memory for a long time.

“Perhaps my heart has been flowing toward you since then. Unconsciously, I didn’t want to let you go, so I never asked.”

“……”

Seeing Cail’s silent expression, I burst into a small laugh and asked.

“Judging by that expression, you really were planning to run away the moment I asked?”

“……I felt embarrassed and humiliated. That night, I was presumptuously imitating your fiancé.”

Though my question was playful, his answer was quite serious.

“That afternoon, I saw your fiancé kiss your hand while escorting you. I was envious. So I overstepped my bounds and acted inappropriately.”

I slowly stopped smiling and stared at him intently.

‘Come to think of it……’

Suddenly, I remembered what he had confessed to me not long ago.

“I…… have always envied that man.”

“Every time I saw that man who had everything…… That man was worthy of standing by your side, but compared to him, I seemed so inadequate, so I……”

Perhaps Cail had been comparing himself to Niel since then, considering himself insufficient.

After staring at Cail for a moment, I extended my hand to him.

He hesitated for a moment.

“Are you going to keep me waiting?”

When I asked with my eyes gently curved, he finally understood my intention, let out a soft groan, and approached me.

At this, my eyes curved even more deeply.

His large palm, calloused in places, carefully held my hand.

Then he pressed his rough lips down upon it.

Though his gesture was very simple, an intense heat rose like a brand where his lips touched the back of my hand.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Feeling the pounding of my heart, I left my hand in his for quite some time.

Only when my arm began to feel numb did Cail’s lips part from it.

I felt a slight disappointment, but didn’t show it as I lowered my hand.

Then I said to him.

“Thank you, Cail. For saving my life. For allowing me to be able to tell you that I like you like this.”

“It wasn’t just me. Niel Alpenhayer and Yupheon Arne. Without those men, I couldn’t have saved you alone.”

“Yes, I know. But still, thank you.”

The reason I specifically thanked him again was because I didn’t want him to feel guilty about saving me.

I pondered the finally revealed secret of my resurrection.

Niel, who crossed dimensions to bring my physical body.

Yuphe, who breathed the breath of god he had stolen by killing a deity into my body to infuse my soul.

And Cail, who made a contract with the dragon to hold onto my soul.

The reason these three men did such an impossible thing was only one:

“Yes. I do like you. For quite a long time now.”

“Much, much more than you think, that’s how much I love you.”

“To me, you were the only purpose. You were everything in this life.”

The voices of the three men who said they loved me passed through my mind one by one.

‘How can that be? How can they do that even while sacrificing themselves?’

Their love was so overwhelming that it made me dizzy.

Then suddenly, I realized that the secret of my resurrection wasn’t completely solved yet.

“But I’m curious about something. You guys saved me, but why did I become Jella Irene, the black market apothecary?”

“All preparations for your resurrection were completed. We successfully combined your soul with your physical body that Niel Alpenhayer brought from another dimension.”

As I tilted my head in question, Cail explained in that pleasant, low, and calm voice of his.

“But there was a problem. You didn’t open your eyes. So we borrowed the blood of an ancient dragon.”

“Ancient dragon’s blood?”

“Helasio thought there might have been some imperfection because Yupheon Arne, who breathed the breath of god into you, was half-human. So that part was supplemented with the blood of an ancient dragon.”

According to ancient texts, Helasio was a dragon who had lived since the time when ancient gods existed. So it wasn’t strange that his blood flowed with mysterious power comparable to that of gods.

“Then is that why my eyes turned red…?”

“Although I never saw the original eyes your body had, I heard that your body was influenced by Helasio’s blood and changed to a color similar to Helasio’s.”

“……I see.”

Cail then explained in detail how I was resurrected.

After intense discussion, the three men decided to take my body to the Great Temple. The imperial palace had too many watching eyes, and the north was an unfamiliar space for me.

So deep inside the Great Temple, I awoke in this body under the devoted care of the three men.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember my past as the last emperor of Shunaibel, but there was no major problem in living a new life.

The ‘real problem’ that befell me was that I began to dream of becoming like the priests who healed people.

Having no holy power, I wanted to become an apothecary, but the three men opposed it. Because…

“Your body was resurrected against the laws of nature, but unlike others, it’s the breath of god that maintains your life. For that reason, if you try to maintain more than one life, there will inevitably be side effects.”

“By maintaining more than one life, do you mean…?”

“……Yes, that’s right. Everything from practicing medicine, making medicine to save patients, to even trivial things like preparing food.”

“……”

“I’m sorry, Jella.”

Cail apologized awkwardly to me as I remained silent from shock.

I let out a deep sigh and waved my hand.

“No, Cail. That’s not your fault.”

A body where practicing medicine kills patients, making medicine turns into poison, and preparing food causes illness. It’s depressing, but in exchange, I was given life once more…

“So, you opposed me becoming an apothecary because everything I make would turn into poison?”

“Yes. This created conflict between you and the three of us, and then one day you suddenly disappeared. Leaving only a letter saying you would never give up on your dream and would return after succeeding.”

So in other words, I ran away from home.

Anyway, because of that incident, the already not-so-good relationship between the three men deteriorated to extremes as they blamed each other.

That was 3 years ago when I disappeared from the three men’s sight.

“That coincides with when I was working in Tenes’s black market.”

The three men searched everywhere for me but couldn’t find me, and then a few months ago, I reappeared before them with the name Jella Irene.

“Helasio explained that you probably regained the memories of your past life due to some shock and lost the memories in between.”

“By shock… I think it was probably that. Having pneumonia while being an incompetent apothecary who couldn’t even make cold medicine.”

So I wasn’t possessing the body of a dead apothecary.

I was resurrected in Kim Ga-eul’s body, my body from the first cycle, through their sacrifice, and was given a new life with the name Jella Irene.

Having finally understood all the situations that had been veiled until now, I nodded.

“I see. Then with this body, I can’t become a perfect apothecary after all.”

I had wanted to become the most excellent apothecary in Yetrisha and live a successful commoner’s life, but sadly, there was a fundamental obstacle in my body.

“Well.”

But at this moment, Cail spoke to me in his usual low and straight voice.

“But haven’t you still excellently achieved what you set out to do despite that?”

“Huh…?”

As my eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected point, he smiled gently and said.

“I find that aspect of you quite admirable.”