When she stopped with her eyes wide open, Theodore hesitated momentarily before walking slightly ahead.

“…It’s nothing. Never mind.”

He looked like he wanted to say something. After that, Theodore remained silent.

* * *

After a short walk with Theodore in the glass greenhouse, she returned to her room before sunset.

What had Theodore been about to say? She felt he suddenly became reticent. Since he mentioned newspapers while discussing the waltz, he probably wanted to tell her something about Kian’s fiancée.

She wanted to press him for details, but there must have been a reason he held back. Theodore wasn’t like Kian, who had that nasty habit of making people curious for his own amusement.

Also, if what he had been about to say was something she didn’t want to hear, her already terrible mood might plummet even further. So she lacked the courage to ask.

After finishing the unusually short walk, she returned to her room.

Even after returning, Vivianne spent a long time at the window, staring at the carriage driveway. The sunset faded and twilight began to settle, but Kian still hadn’t returned.

When would Kian come back? Would he not come today either?

She felt weak, perhaps from lack of sleep. Or maybe it was just her mood.

Her head felt foggy and her body heavy.

Matilda brought dinner, but she declined, saying she would go to bed early.

Vivianne took a warm bath and retired earlier than usual.

* * *

Vivianne woke up groaning in bed.

‘It hurts.’

As soon as she woke, she sensed something was wrong with her body. Her entire body burned hot and was drenched in cold sweat. Her soles, in particular, felt scorching hot.

‘…Could it be today?’

Vivianne gazed out the window seemingly entranced. Outside, pitch-black darkness had already settled. The moon in the sky appeared fuller than ever.

“A full moon.”

She murmured, seemingly mesmerized.

This was her first full moon since coming to land.

Before drinking the witch’s potion, the witch had warned Vivianne about certain precautions.

Until she became completely human, she might occasionally revert to her original state. Hot soles would be the first symptom, and her entire body would ache. The night of the full moon would be particularly dangerous.

If that condition persisted, she would return to her mermaid form.

The potion was incomplete, and this was a kind of side effect. The witch had told her to swim in seawater under moonlight. She would temporarily return to being a mermaid, but if she cooled her soles in seawater, she would become human again. After that, she would be fine for a while. The witch had reassured her and provided specific instructions.

So this was happening now. The sensation in her soles was definitely not normal. If she just lay here groaning, she would revert to her mermaid form.

‘I need to get up.’

Vivianne forced her aching body to move and placed both feet on the floor.

Standing on the ground made her feet even hotter and more painful… it was maddening.

The burning sensation with each step made it difficult to move, but she had to hurry.

If she turned into a mermaid here, it would be disastrous.

Suddenly, she remembered Annabel’s words: mermaids could never be happy on land.

Humans would keep mermaids captive in glass tanks or ponds, she had said.

They didn’t love mermaids—they only imprisoned and possessed them.

How could she have come this far?

And after arriving, how had she managed to reach Kian? With what feelings was she enduring all this now? She absolutely could not return to her mermaid form. If she did, she would fail to fulfill the contract. Vivianne would turn into sea foam.

‘I must get to the sea before anyone discovers me. I need to immerse myself.’

She needed to hurry.

As she staggered out of the room, Vivianne suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.

Leaning against the wall, she painfully made her way back and opened the wardrobe door.

Despite being in agony, she knew she couldn’t go out barefoot in just her negligee, considering the return journey.

She grabbed a shawl to wrap around herself and put on the low-heeled shoes Kian had recently given her before leaving the room.

* * *

In the deep night, only the sound of breaking waves could be heard on the coral beach.

Splash-, whoosh-. Splash-, whoosh-.

The familiar sound, like a heartbeat, calmed her mind. The deserted white sand beach had a lonely atmosphere.

Enduring the burning sensation in her soles, Vivianne reached the beach and stood there for a moment, looking up at the full moon.

“…Beautiful.”

The large moon remained stunning. Even in the pitch-black void, it retained its brilliant light, solitary yet radiant.

Once a month. The night of the full moon.

She recalled the happy times when, as a mermaid, she would come to land to see Kian.

This beach hadn’t changed much. Except for having legs instead of a tail, and Kian’s absence. Everything else remained the same.

She had first seen Kian from behind those rocks over there. Under the bright moonlight, she would hunch her shoulders and hide her body, fearing her identity might be discovered.

How strange. It was her first full moon on land, yet Kian wasn’t here. Given how much pain she was in, perhaps it was fortunate he wasn’t around.

She had longed for land so desperately. Yet now she was returning to the sea, even if temporarily. It felt odd.

It’s okay.

I’ll come back anyway.

There was no time to indulge in sentimentality.

She quietly placed the shawl draped over her shoulders on the white sand. Then she neatly removed her shoes and set them beside it.

These were traces of humanity she would wear again when returning to land.

Would Kian wait for her?

He might not. Waiting had mostly been her role.

No, would he wait after all? Vivianne couldn’t be certain.

When she saw him waiting at unexpected moments, her heart would seem to drop, then fill with overwhelming emotion. Like the full moon, he would give her a heart full of light, but as time passed, that light would diminish, leaving her feeling empty.

Would it disappear, devoured by darkness? Just when she would sink into distant fear, he would begin to wax again, like a lie.

Because he was a man whose true shape was unknowable like the moon, she yearned for him even more.

“I’ll be back, Kian.”

Her lonely farewell scattered over the waves. Vivianne endured the burning sensation in her soles as she walked into the sea, one step at a time.

Her body gradually became wet and submerged in the splashing seawater. Before she knew it, in the blink of an eye, her legs disappeared and her body became free.

‘…My tail!’

A tail had formed where her legs had been. It was still luscious, with beautiful scales. A blue tail containing mysterious light like the scattered reflections underwater.

Vivianne swished it gently for the first time in a long while. The sensation of heavy water currents wrapping around her fins—she was definitely better at tail dancing than waltzing.

She wanted to show it off but couldn’t. Still, it was the kind of dance that didn’t feel lonely even when performed alone. Her tail quivered with delight.

She had always resented the very existence of her tail. But upon meeting it again, the sensation was welcome, like reuniting with an old friend.

Yes. This is the rock.

Reaching the familiar rock, Vivianne hid behind it like she used to. There was no Kian to spy on, but it was fun, like playing hide-and-seek.

‘So refreshing.’

Feeling her soles gradually cooling, Vivianne cut through the water downward, deeper and deeper.

* * *

Kian returned to the mansion only after his surroundings had grown dark.

Remembering work he hadn’t finished in the morning, he went straight to his office. After reviewing some backed-up documents, he briefly dozed off on the long sofa. When he opened his eyes, it was still dark outside.

He picked up the documents again, then noticed the pastry bag he had bought. Earlier, on the way back to Larson, he had stopped the carriage and sent his aide to fill a bag with sweets.

Unlike his usual self.

Why had he bought such things?

Since he bought them, he should deliver them. But his nap had derailed his plans. He considered giving them to her through Matilda when morning came, but suddenly grew curious about the woman’s well-being.

Would she still be awake?

If she was awake, would she be waiting for his footsteps like that day? Such was his wicked curiosity.

So he headed to the fourth floor of the main building. If she was sleeping, Kian planned to retire to his own bedroom.

Reaching the fourth floor, Kian walked inside and noticed a door slightly ajar.

How careless. He had clearly instructed her to lock the door before sleeping. Had she been so exhausted that she forgot to lock it? He opened the door, intending to scold her.

“……”

What greeted him was a completely empty room, as if no one had ever been there.