Livia’s eyes flew open again.

Familiar scenery appeared over her still unfocused, blurry eyes. As she squinted and adjusted to the view, she could see Triton’s bedroom where she had been confined all this time.

“Ugh…”

As she blinked her eyes with a confused expression, a firm hand brushed across Livia’s forehead. Startled, she turned her head to see an unbelievable face.

“T-Triton?”

As if responding to her trembling voice, Triton brushed her hair back from her forehead with a gentle expression and answered.

“Yes, Livia.”

…Am I still in a dream?

As if reading her confused expression, Triton kissed her cheek and earlobe while speaking.

“You were trying to shatter my barrier, so I rushed back, only to find you suffering from a nightmare. What kind of nightmare was it that made you call my name so desperately?”

When she maintained her suspicious gaze despite his words, he smiled and whispered in her ear.

“You were cursing me, calling me a bird b*stard…”

“What, that’s a lie…!”

“Yes, it is a lie.”

Chuckling in a low voice, he lifted Livia up and placed her on his lap while speaking.

“If you’re going to curse me anyway, don’t call me a bird creature – choose a sea creature instead, Livia. That makes more sense.”

The shower of kisses, the low voice offering silly jokes, and the cool touch caressing her cheeks and forehead made her realize she had escaped the dream.

Ah, this is real…

The real Triton, the living Triton.

“Triton!”

Relieved, Livia threw her arms around him. As her desperate hands gripped his broad shoulders tightly, Triton returned the embrace around her waist.

Livia pressed her cheeks and forehead frantically against his bare shoulders and chest while holding him tightly with her cold hands. At her movements, like a young bird burrowing into his embrace, Triton softly laughed and gently stroked her hair. Under his mild and gentle touch, Livia’s wildly beating heart gradually found its rhythm again.

…It was a dream. Yes, just a terrible nightmare. So it’s alright. It’s alright.

Making an effort to steady her breathing, Livia forcefully pulled away from Triton’s embrace that didn’t want to let go and faced him. After checking his face, she suddenly cried out in delayed shock.

“…You’re hurt?”

“Ah.”

Triton smiled while touching his jaw where black claw marks remained, as if it were nothing.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. It’ll disappear soon.”

The Titan’s claws that had climbed up from h*ll through the cliffs were poisonous. It was such a potent poison that even Triton would have difficulty immediately neutralizing a deep scratch. Though it was just a slight graze from letting his guard down, it held special meaning for Livia.

The fact that he could be hurt meant he could die too.

Though they said gods don’t die, the fact that they could be hurt wasn’t reassuring. If they were injured beyond recovery, couldn’t gods be in danger at any time? Even if they didn’t die, they might feel pain so severe they’d rather be dead…

“Even without Echidna’s dagger, you could be hurt…”

Triton, who had been quietly gazing at Livia, took her hand and placed it over his wound. When the rough surface of the wound touched her palm, Livia flinched and looked up at him.

“…Actually, I brought this on purpose, Livia. To show you.”

When she looked at him as if asking what he meant, he smiled lightly and said.

“It means you should take good care of this poor wounded husband of yours.”

Triton being dramatic? At this unbelievable sight, she made an incredulous face, and he pressed his forehead against hers while chuckling softly.

“What are you doing? Hurry and kiss me. To make my pain go away.”

The man begging for a kiss couldn’t wait for Livia, who seemed still half-asleep, and ended up pressing his lips to hers first.

As their lips met and melded together softly, Livia felt as if her blocked breath was finally flowing freely. As Triton’s clear, pure scent seeped deep inside her, her stuffy chest felt refreshingly cleared. At the same time, the lethargy that had been pathologically tormenting her also lightly disappeared.

In that moment, a sweet despair ran through Livia’s entire body with a tingling sensation.

‘I see… Without my knowing, this person has become my breath.’

Livia closed her eyes in despair.

Perhaps… perhaps Triton was taming her this way?

Making her unable to live without him, making her a human who couldn’t do anything without him.

It was a chilling assumption, but one with enough possibility.

But even if she had known beforehand, could she have avoided this? Could she have avoided this love pouring down like heavy rain, this absolute being’s affection that made it seem like she couldn’t exist without him?

No. While she might not have known before, Livia, who had already become intoxicated with Triton’s affection, had now become a fool who would forget even how to breathe properly without his love.

‘So, I must protect him.’

Livia held him tightly with her whole body. Like releasing held breath, she hastily swallowed the sweet breath flowing between his lips.

***

“You deliberately put me to sleep before leaving, didn’t you?”

As soon as she regained her senses, Livia glared at Triton and demanded answers. Regardless of her feelings for him, his treatment of her was not something she could tolerate.

While reclining among the colony of sea anemones like golden carpets and caressing her, Triton shrugged his shoulders and said.

“Since you wouldn’t behave, I tried forcing you to behave… Well, that failed.”

As he muttered this, his fingertips traced over her shoulders, elbows, and waist covered in bruises, clicking his tongue. Looking closely, there were places where bones were dislocated or broken.

Triton channeled healing power into his fingertips and gently caressed Livia’s body. As the blue power seeped into Livia’s battered body, her natural color returned as if nothing had happened.

“If you do that again…!”

“Then what, you’ll shatter your entire body? In that case, I won’t keep you confined so nicely…”

“Triton!”

Ignoring Livia’s voice as she was about to burst out in anger, he concentrated on healing various parts of her body. Seeing how she didn’t make a single sound of pain despite having full-body bruising, she was truly a woman incredibly insensitive to her own pain.

“And my anklet is gone too. Did you take that as well?”

“Yes, I didn’t think it would be necessary anymore.”

“Isn’t it so I can’t gauge the passage of time?”

Triton responded to her rather sharp retort with a bright smile. He just smiled silently while looking at her. That silence was surely meant as affirmation.

When Livia stared at him in disbelief, Triton patted her soft thigh while whispering.

“Time isn’t that important to us anymore, is there any need to be angry? You’ll be spending eternal time with me from now on.”

Though he spoke lightly, it wasn’t such a simple matter for Livia. There were still too many unresolved issues to think about it so casually. Echidna, the curse, the golden dagger, the contract, and Lete…

After hesitating, Livia opened her trembling lips.

“…I still have Echidna’s contract, Triton.”

Triton paused and silently looked at her as if telling her to continue. As his gaze on her was so gentle and affectionate, Livia opened her mouth a bit more.

“Echidna said she put a curse on you. No, on both you and me… I’m so anxious because I can’t figure out what she’s plotting.”

…And my brother Lete’s soul too.

She swallowed the last words, but Triton would have understood well enough. As he gently caressed her cheek, he whispered in an affectionate voice.

“Is that all that’s bothering you?”

Hesitating while her lips quivered, Livia gathered her courage and spilled her true feelings.

“I’m afraid of what might happen to you. What if… I end up hurting you by my own hands?”

Satisfied with her answer, Triton’s laughter echoed softly through the bedroom. While rubbing and caressing Livia’s cheek, he pulled her nape closer and kissed all over her face while whispering.

“Do I look that weak to you just because I came back with a few wounds, Livia? Weak enough to fall to someone like Echidna?”

“But…”

“But?”

Glaring at Triton who was mimicking her tone, Livia soon sighed and expressed the anxiety inside her.

“…Humans have something called intuition. Since we can’t see the future like gods or make grand prophecies, it’s an ability we developed – like being able to sense bad omens.”

“Interesting. And?”

Triton asked while tucking Livia’s disheveled hair behind her ear. Pausing her words for a moment and leaning into the hand caressing her cheek, Livia slowly opened her eyes and spoke.

“I just… keep feeling anxious, Triton.”

“A wife who feels anxious despite having a god as her husband… I must be quite lacking.”

Livia’s face instantly turned red at Triton’s embarrassing words. She glared at him, wanting to protest, but lost her words when she saw his face that was beyond composed and approaching shameless.

Why does he, a god, enjoy imitating humans so much? As she stared at him in confusion, unable to speak properly, he smiled brightly and held out his palm to Livia while speaking.

“So that’s why my wife couldn’t honestly tell me about receiving this from Echidna.”

Echidna’s necklace was lying on Triton’s palm.