Both of them submerged into the water while staring at each other.
However, a sharp pain suddenly struck their whole body and went straight to their mind.
"!!!" They widened their eyes.
Even though they had prepared, the pain going through their body was beyond their imagination. Even Noel opened his mouth, coughing the air out.
Anna, on the other hand, still held out while gritting her teeth. Her willpower wasn't at the level of a fifteen years old girl after all.
But to her surprise, Noel also endured the pain pretty well. Although his body was shaking, his expression gradually returned to normal.
At that moment, both of them stomped the ground and came to the surface to get some air.
"Haaaa!" They gasped for some air.
"Kh." Noel gritted his teeth. All the water covering his body was giving him pain. It felt like he was burned alive, but at the same time, it felt like his body was being twisted by an unknown force.
Tears were coming out of his eyes due to the pain, but Noel didn't let out a single sound. His consciousness became fuzzy, but Noel still managed to stay awake. Due to him opening his mouth, the water also flooded his mouth for a moment, causing the pain to enter his mouth as well.
There was nothing he could think in this pain, let alone doing anything. In the end, Noel closed his eyes to get used to the pain as soon as possible.
Looking at Noel's reaction, Anna couldn't help but smile.
She heard that when one was close to dying, their entire life would flash before them. Anna didn't know if it was due to the close to dying or she had experienced the same pain, there was a scene that appeared before her.
The image was about her lying down on the ground, writhing in pain.
"Aaaaahhhh!" Anna was screaming, her body was convulsing, and her voice was shaking. Her right arm had turned blue and her face had become pale.
Next to her was a green snake whose head was already crushed.
"Kh. I was poisoned by the Green Viper." Anna gritted her teeth. Her tears kept flowing and she continued gasping for air.
The poison continued to spread and the pain felt like she was being skinned alive. The sharp pain jolted her mind again and again.
This was the tenth day of her survival in the wilderness. She, who never saw the world, hadn't eaten anything during the past ten days.
So, the pain wasn't the only thing she had to face. The exhaustion, hunger, and dehydration also struck her at the same time, almost killing her.
"NO! I don't want to die!" She looked at the viper and started rolling her body to there.
"The Green Viper might be toxic, but it's said that the body is the antidote." Anna looked around to see whether she could cook it or not. But looking at the condition of her arm, she might die before she could do anything about it.
She looked at the disgusting viper corpse and faced two options: eat it or die.
Anna gritted her teeth and shouted, "I refuse to die!"
She grabbed the viper and opened her mouth, taking a huge bite of the viper body. The foul odor and the meat filled with skin and blood instantly filled her mouth.
"Ueee…" She vomited in an instant as she had never tasted something as disgusting as this one. She just wanted to throw up everything from the mouth and cleansed it with water. But it was impossible for her to do it.
In fact, if she didn't eat the viper, she would die. Not only she was in pain, but she had to endure the disgusting meat.
Facing the death itself, Anna had no other choice but to take another bite.
She wanted to throw up in an instant. Her expression was distorted and became blue. Her tears were overflowing.
"U—Mph!" She covered her mouth with her hand as if forcing her to swallow everything.
Everything gradually came down her throat. Her eyes had lost their focus and she was about to pass out.
Even then, she endured everything and tried to use her hand to reach for the bloody meat. She pinched the meat and stuffed it into her mouth.
She didn't know how many times she put a piece of meat into her mouth because the next thing she remembered, she had passed out.
She woke up a few hours later as the green viper corpse had disappeared.
Remembering that kind of memory made her awake. This pain was nothing to that pain and disgust.
If she had to choose, she would rather experience this pain a hundred times than enduring that disgusting moment once.
After recounting her past life, she took another glance at Noel who had fully immersed in the pain to get used to it.
With a small smile on her face, she also closed her eyes, thinking, 'Now that I think about it, why did I not hate you after everything you caused? Is it because I want you to be a tall tower for the kingdom?
'No, I don't think so.' Anna tried to recall something in her mind but to no avail. 'Still, thinking about that experience… The green viper's disappearance might be related to you… You were the one protecting me when I endured all that. Should I say you protected me or watched me?
'But well, I guess you were protecting me since due to that experience, my body developed a poison resistance that allowed me to do many things after that.
'But that experience is too brutal, right? Is it simply because you thought I killed your parents in our past lives?' Anna had gotten no answer. But she certainly held no hatred toward Noel as everything he caused her ended up benefiting her. There were also other things that he did that lessened that hatred.
'This is kind of ironic… In the past life, you were the one trying to lessen the hatred, while in this life, I'm the one trying to change you. Is it truly a coincidence?' Anna muttered in her mind as she gradually became immersed in strengthening her body.