"Wait." She frowns. Why did he not say a word about Ai? She points at the child. "What about him?"
"You have fifteen days to draw a true name for him." Noras gives her a solemn look. "No god will help you in this task. You must find a way on your own. If you fail, he will be executed."
"That's not fair," Ari shouts. "Fifteen days are too less and…"
"If you don't want to accept that, then both of you will be executed now." Noras tells her sternly, "A nameless creature is too dangerous for this world. Letting it live so far is already mercy."
Ari gnashes her teeth in rage. What's wrong with these gods? Letting Ai live is mercy? She finally understands why Amara wanted to kill all the gods.
"Accept it." Kresi whispers to her, "I promised that I will help you."
Ari swallows. Fifteen days. Learning magic is so difficult. Her new body might be able to channel ehr, but who knows what kind of tricks these gods are playing? It's not like she has a choice now. "Fine, fine. I accept your offer. I will draw a true name for this nameless child within fifteen days."
"This trial is over," Noras announces. He glances at Ari who is clearly not satisfied with the decision. It's not like he expects her to understand. Noras is about to leave when Kresi stands up abruptly.
"God Noras." She states with a clear voice, "Allow me to live here."
Noras releases his breath. There's clear dissatisfaction among the other gods except for one god, Cina. After everything that happened, they don't want Kresi to stay in their world.
Adira feels the same. Kresi knows who Jase's reincarnation is. Things will become complicated if she decides to interfere in Damin's life. It is one of the reasons why information regarding reincarnations like this are not revealed to mortals. Also, he's worried that Ari might be uneasy around the reincarnation of his first wife in the future. He thinks about Tristan. If Tristan's reincarnation appeared like Kresi, he would be uneasy. Ari must be hiding her uneasiness.
"Are you sure, Kresi?" Noras narrows his eyes. She must have changed her mind after talking to Ari. This Renasir's wisdom is rather questionable. "This is an opportunity to leave this world and begin anew at some other world. If you stay here, you will reenter the reincarnation cycle."
"I want to make amends to the people I have hurt." Kresi meets his eyes and declares, "I might be free from the debts formally, but my heart isn't released. This child lost his name because of me. With my memories of Amara and Kresi, I want to help the Renasir. Please give me one more chance."
One more chance... Can he trust this troublemaker? No, it's three troublemakers now. He already said that Kresi could stay if she wanted to. At that time, he was sure that she wouldn't stay. He should have watched his mouth. Noras agrees to let her stay here. "Fine! Remember that you are a mortal. Your body is not the same as your previous body. After your death, you will reenter the reincarnation cycle like anybody else. You won't remember your past life as Kresi or Amara. I hope that you don't make the same mistakes again."
Far away from the palace of God Noras, Naughty lets out a weak sigh. He leans against the tree and stares at the Torsha flower in his hand. The scent of Torsha is strong and intoxicating. The spirits are usually addicted to it. The gods are no exception. However, Naughty is already addicted to someone else. The scent of Torsha is too weak compared to it.
"You have done well."
Not looking at the woman in front of him, he tears the white petals of the flower one by one. "I knew that you led me to her because you wanted me to help her."
"Thanks to that, you were able to get rid of the last bits of bad karma that you owed her." She sits on the ground and picks up the white petal. If Ari hadn't met Ai, things would have been different. The trial wouldn't have gone this way. After receiving her sins back, Kresi wouldn't have changed. Aren and Gabriel wouldn't have released her from the debt. The gods would have punished Kresi and killed Ai. "This world takes care of its Karma cycle on its own. Their system is lazy and unfair. Being the only face of Karma and not being able to interfere was rather annoying. If Ari hadn't been born in your world, I wouldn't be able to take any action."
She wanted to get recognized as a god here. The gods of Iravan haven't realized it yet. From now on, even the gods have to go through karma cycles in a clean and systematic way. Naughty pouts at her. "What about me?"
He's been played since the beginning.
She chuckles. Karma places her finger under his chin and lifts his head. "What do you want me to do to you?"
"Let me be with you." He stares into her dark eyes. "Marry me."
"What if I say no?" She smirks. Her dark eyes twinkle mischievously. After realizing that he was tricked by her, she thought that he wouldn't want to be with her anymore.
"I will do something bad again, my vicious beauty." He has even changed his name and abandoned his world because of her. "Then, you have to come back to me again."
There's no doubt that she will appear whenever there's some unfinished Karma.
Karma guffaws. There's rarely anyone who is this keen to meet her. "Do you know that even I can't escape Karma?"
After chasing her for so many years, he has realized that she is quite different than the worldly gods like him and the gods of Iravan. "What does that mean?"
"Because I tricked you, I guess that I am at your mercy." She winks at him. "Naughty, Naughty, what do you want to do to me?"
Naughty widens his eyes, surprised. At his mercy?
"I also promised you that I would accept you after your karma is cleansed." Karma bends her head and bites his lower lip softly. "Once you are tied to me, there's no escaping me whether I turn bad or good. Do you still want to be with me?"
So, she already knew about the deal between him and Ari.
When Ari said that she would help him get a rope that would help him tie Karma to him, he was tempted. However, he also knew that tying someone to him when she didn't want him was a cruel thing that he would have done to both of them. Even gods couldn't force someone to love like this. "Karma, I don't want to run behind you. From now on, I want to run by your side. So, you will never be alone in this infinite world."
Karma smiles and gives her hand to him. "Once you hold it, I won't let ever let go."
Though she's strong, there are uncertainties in her eyes. Karma is never liked anywhere. People usually remember her when they want someone to pay for their bad crimes. In some way, she's hated for her justice. In any case, the arrival of Karma is never seen as a happy occasion. He also used to be the same. But he was able to understand her after following her for so long. She's impartial and partial at the same time. At other times, she's merciless. He has also seen her kindness. She's rarely recognized. That's why she must have thought that he was only obsessed with her.
Naughty holds her hand tightly. "My vicious beauty, it's me who will never let go of this hand. I am not going to let you have any second thoughts about me. I will work hard to become a better person. So that you will never regret letting me hold your hand today."
Her heart races for the first time. Karma curls her toes. She kept giving him a chance to turn around and leave, but he still continued to follow her around. He even waited for her to come back. She questions him with a low voice, "Naughty, Naughty, do you really love someone like me?"
She's seeing him for the first time. Now, she won't look away. He beams at her. "This rope is stronger than any rope in the world, my vicious beauty. It is connected from the heart to the heart. Now, you are tied to me."
Karma watches him in silence for a long moment, making him feel nervous. He wonders if he had said anything wrong. Isn't this the moment when they kiss and make love?
"Alright." Karma pulls him toward her. "Let's go."
His eyes become bright. "My vicious beauty, where are we doing?"
"You said that you want to run beside me." She gives him a sly smile when he opens his mouth wide in shock. "What did you think that we will do?"
"But, but…" He did say that he wanted to run beside her…"My vicious beauty..."
Karma drags him along with her with a teasing smile on her face. Can she not tell what is going inside his mind? Since he's being like this, she might give him treats on the way.