Echidna’s words disturbed Livia’s ears. Her eyes shone with such certainty that dismissing them as fabrications meant to confuse her proved difficult.

“Hecate, the great goddess of sorcery, seems to be planning to save your life in exchange for Triton’s tail. Ah, do you also know that mermaid tails contain the power of immortality? Being the tail of not just any mermaid but a god, I don’t need to tell you how extraordinary its effects would be, right?”

“…Such a thing couldn’t be possible with just a tail.”

Livia recalled the story of sirens who had been endlessly sacrificed for hundreds of years due to humans’ misguided greed. So the tale of the tail must also be false.

…No, it had to be false.

Echidna’s shrill voice penetrated Livia’s anxious heart.

“Oh? In a world where gods and merfolk exist, you say such mysterious power doesn’t exist? Hahaha! Then you must not know that without his tail, Triton cannot rule the sea!”

“What, what do you mean…”

“Though he’s powerful enough being the legitimate firstborn of Amphitrite and Poseidon, a sea god without a tail is nothing but a half-baked failure!”

Livia stepped back hesitantly at Echidna’s fierce intensity. Her eyes gleamed with madness. Her caustic tongue danced similar to the black snakes surrounding her.

“Congratulations, human! How remarkable! You proved his love without having to stab his heart! Oh my! Once the tail is cut off, it can never recover unlike the heart – what an incredible decision that must be! Go ahead and live an eternal life by eating his tail. Keep company with a sea god who’ll be ridiculed by other gods, becoming a half-being because of you!”

Echidna’s voice, bursting forth like an accusation, shook Livia’s soul. Though she shook her head in denial, the witch’s triumphant face contradicted Livia’s rejection.

“No. No… No!”

“He will become a god who is not respected despite being a god, and his great power will become worthless all for one mere human like you! To save just you, to take just you as his companion!”

“Stop lying! Triton wouldn’t do that. He is… a god far greater than your words!”

Seemingly pleased by Livia’s struggle, Echidna stretched her wrinkled mouth into a long grin.

“You fool! If you can’t believe my words, ask him directly. Ask him with a Styx oath!”

Echidna, who had shouted explosively, lunged viciously at Livia, who trembled with a pale face.

Just as Echidna’s snake-transformed hand was about to bite Livia’s nape, Livia quickly came to her senses and struck away Echidna’s hand, instead wrapping around her neck and throwing her to the ground.

Not knowing where such incredible strength came from, Livia grabbed Echidna’s neck with both hands and squeezed with all her might, her eyes reddened.

She wanted to stop that evil mouth from babbling, to extinguish the light in those hollow eyes that confused her. As her hands full of malice and k*lling intent mercilessly pressed down on Echidna’s neck, Echidna whispered with a face reddened from burst blood vessels.

“If I… die… you will… also… die…”

“That’s also a lie…!”

“We are… connected… by blood…. By a contract… that won’t break… even in death….”

“Lies. Lies! LIES!!! Then why did you attack me? You tried to kill me!”

Despite Livia’s words and the crushing pressure that threatened to break her neck, Echidna just laughed. Like the metallic sound a cornered mouse makes in darkness just before death, an eerie giggle flowed from the witch’s mouth.

“Because… if you die… Triton will… fall apart…!”

It appeared grotesque how the witch welcomed even death for that purpose.

Was this how she herself had looked when willing to throw away anything for revenge? Was she this horrific and ugly?

How did Triton come to love someone like her? When she hadn’t done anything for him, nor could do anything… How… to the extent of giving up everything of his.

When Livia’s hands choking Echidna’s neck loosened, one of Echidna’s snakes grabbed Livia’s ankle and pulled her back.

As Livia’s body swayed, Echidna didn’t miss the opportunity to break free from her grip.

“Kheek! Kek! Ah, you vicious girl! How can a mere human have such strength…!”

Echidna retreated backward almost crawling while muttering curses resembling a fit. Now that human woman seemed to have transcended the category of ‘human.’ Well, how could someone who had traveled between life and death and survived the deep sea be just an ordinary human?

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have placed more restrictions on that thing….’

Echidna spat out regrets while looking around for an escape route from the corner of her eye.

The lake god she had counted on helplessly lost to the hellhound’s flames summoned from the underworld, rendering him useless.

She had been lucky to kidnap Livia using Regis, who had gone berserk when told that Livia Horn had killed his daughter, but that marked the limit. This lower god’s capabilities would clearly end here.

One of the snakes crawling on the ground discovered a narrow gap under a rock. Though impossible with a human body, she might escape somehow by transforming into a ray.

It was impossible to kill Livia here anyway. Then she should at least shake her up as much as possible.

“Shall I tell you how to avoid sacrificing him?”

Livia glared at Echidna with distorted eyes. Just as she prepared to snap at her to stop if this was another trick, Echidna’s lips moved again.

“It’s for you to die by your own hand.”

Echidna’s words pierced Livia’s heart. A cold ice blade stabbed through her rapidly beating chest. Toward Livia who stood frozen still, Echidna offered her final words of persuasion.

“If you take your own life, I too will gladly disappear from this world. For me, it’s satisfying enough if Triton experiences the pain of losing love.”

Just then, Mumu roared roughly at Regis’s counterattack behind Livia’s back. In that instant when Livia flinched in surprise, Echidna’s body transformed into a flat ray.

Though Echidna launched herself toward the rock crevice predicting her escape would succeed, her prediction proved wrong.

Crack!

Because a massive trident that had flown from somewhere pierced through the black ray’s body.

Kuuugh!!!

The witch’s scream, comparable to being torn apart, echoed sharply through the sea like a slash. Startled Livia lifted her head to look at the sky, and a god descended through the sky surrounded by rock walls.

“Livia.”

Leading a massive black and white shark behind him, with his silvery-blue hair shimmering and swaying like waves, he approached. The one and only god who possessed both the darkness and brilliance of this sea.

‘…Triton.’

The great god of the sea, and the only man I love….

“Though he’s powerful enough being the legitimate firstborn of Amphitrite and Poseidon, a sea god without a tail is nothing but a half-baked failure!”

Livia tightly closed her heated eyes and leaned her forehead against the god’s embrace that enveloped her body.

A hot turbulence rose in Livia’s heart that had been picturing a peaceful future.

***

Triton’s generals took away the restrained Echidna and Regis.

They reported noticing her kidnapping from the moment Livia disappeared with Audike in the coral garden of the golden castle.

Though Triton had removed Livia’s restraints, he hadn’t withdrawn surveillance, so they had been watching her from all around the golden castle.

It was also extremely fortunate that saltwater as concentrated as poison had pooled where Livia had disappeared. Triton immediately searched all the deep-sea lakes and quickly found where Livia was.

Nevertheless, it occurred after Echidna and Livia had their confrontation, so Triton blamed himself for not responding faster.

“I’m sorry, Livia. I didn’t think she would use the lake god.”

After learning that Echidna had secretly entered the golden castle and met Livia, he had strengthened the barriers inside the golden castle.

The castle that had allowed sea creatures to freely come and go changed to only permit those who were authorized. He even placed invisible barriers so that once fish or jellyfish entered the castle, they couldn’t leave again.

However, the lake’s master had seeped through the ground and dragged Livia underground. Triton added barriers extending underground while grinding his teeth, but he couldn’t stand how pathetic he felt.

“Are you hurt anywhere? I’m sorry, Livia. I was too complacent.”

“I’m not hurt anywhere. You saw it yourself. I gave that woman a good beating. Look how weakened Echidna has become. I took down her snakes with my bare hands.”

Livia spoke words to reassure him while recalling how surprisingly easily she had dealt with her then. The sensation of taking down Echidna’s snakes one by one remained vivid in her fingertips.

…Was Echidna really weakened? Or had she become stronger without realizing it?

Looking lovingly at such a Livia, Triton lifted her up in his arms and whispered.

“Because you’re my companion. You’ll become even stronger from now on. You must become stronger to stay with me for thousands and tens of thousands of years.”

His words stirred Livia’s heart. Even if she tried to deny it, Echidna’s words kept returning to her.

“Congratulations, human! How remarkable! You proved his love without having to stab his heart! Oh my! Once the tail is cut off, it can never recover unlike the heart – what an incredible decision that must be! Go ahead and live an eternal life by eating his tail. Keep company with a sea god who’ll be ridiculed by other gods, becoming a half-being because of you!”

Could her words be true?

Though she had denied it to Echidna, part of her heart thought that being Triton, he might well make such a choice.

It was meaningless to guess his heart and doubt his actions based solely on her own thoughts. Though facing the truth frightened her, some truths could only be learned through the other person.

“…Triton, did you decide to cut off your tail for me?”

Livia gathered her courage and demanded the truth from him.