Triton rushed to the Golden Castle without delay.

In his urgency, he couldn’t control his strength and had no time to think about waves. With each of his steps, the sea churned, and the waves rose beyond all limits.

Small islands and reefs shattered and tossed about under the sudden storm’s waves. Rain clouds, drawn in by the swirling winds, scattered damp droplets. The weather, which had been bright and beautiful just half a day ago, completely reversed in an instant.

Even sirens and sea nymphs hurriedly sought safety and hid themselves from the ominous currents. Sailors who had ventured out on their boats thinking it was a fine day did the same. Worry clouded their faces as they scrambled back to land.

Though the sea was known to be unpredictable, such a sudden reversal rarely occurred…

“The sea god must be angry. These waves are unusually fierce.”

Fishermen who had barely made it to shore wiped cold sweat from their brows as they stared at the gray sea.

The underwater currents threatened just as much as the waves that clawed menacingly toward the sky. The swirling, raging currents caused not only small fish but even massive whales and sharks to tread cautiously. At the center of these rough currents stood, of course, the Golden Castle.

“I-I’m so sorry!”

Audike, summoned before Triton, lay flat on the ground with a pale face, begging forgiveness. She was the only one he had permitted to remain by Livia’s side.

He had left her there because she was the only one in the sea with whom Livia felt comfortable, despite not being qualified for the position.

She had received much in return. Though she hadn’t specifically asked for them, she hadn’t refused the rare treasures bestowed by the sea god.

Audike’s throat tightened with bitter self-reproach.

Triton had asked just one thing of Audike through Phorkys: to never take her eyes off Livia to ensure nothing happened to her… Just that one thing.

“She said she was going to lie down in the Healing Spring, and I couldn’t bring myself to follow her there. I had no idea something would happen there!”

Audike banged her forehead against the floor and bit her lip. If something had happened to Livia, she would be heartbroken, regardless of whatever punishment Triton might inflict.

‘Already twice…’

That was the number of times Livia had disappeared while with her. The first time, Echidna had kidnapped Livia, but now, who could have taken her?

She felt terrified that something might have happened to Livia.

Nothing should have happened to Livia. She hoped that Livia was just playing a mischievous prank by hiding somewhere, or that she had gotten lost and was wandering around. If anything had happened to her, even slightly…

“I-I waited and waited, but she didn’t return, so I asked Phorkys to check the spring…”

Audike glanced up at the man standing before her. She could read nothing from the face of this beautiful, majestic man with his radiant glow.

That made him all the more frightening. It felt like being thrown into pitch-black darkness.

A deep darkness where one could not predict what might lurk. Everything terrifying and horrible imaginable seemed to watch her with murderous intent from within that darkness.

“…The Healing Spring.”

A twisted smile played on his lips as he muttered, seemingly reciting to himself.

He quietly looked down at the blue-haired nymph prostrated on the floor before walking past her. The formless emotion boiling from the bottom of his heart urged him to destroy something, anything.

It whispered to him to cruelly execute this nymph who had been negligent in her duties, but he painfully ignored that urge.

If doing so would help him find Livia, he would have done it without hesitation, but this wasn’t a situation where sacrificing someone would help find her.

Rather, this nymph was the last person to see Livia, so hastily punishing her would be foolish.

Moreover, as the nymph had said, the Healing Spring wasn’t a place just anyone could enter freely, so strictly speaking, Livia’s disappearance wasn’t her fault.

‘Then, Livia, how did you disappear?’

The location of Livia’s disappearance seemed too perfect. A remote place where no one except Triton could freely enter.

‘If Livia came here deliberately…’

Triton forcibly suppressed the suspicion that threatened to rise as he descended to the underground where the spring was located. Had the spiral staircase ever felt this long before?

He entered the cave housing the Healing Spring with a pale face. Seeing the spring with its hot steam rising made him feel strange.

Livia had disappeared from the place where he had first embraced her. Triton still vividly remembered the ecstasy and climax he had felt that day. The place remained the same, the memory stayed clear, but the person had vanished without a trace. Everything they had shared together seemed an illusion, suddenly gone.

Triton carefully examined the cave with flashing eyes.

A woman who suddenly disappeared from a place no one visits, taking advantage of his absence…

At that moment, the last remnant of foolish emotion in his heart disappeared. All the circumstances appeared clearly in his mind.

“Don’t force me to live. Even if I survive through your sacrifice, I won’t be happy at all! I don’t like this, Triton. Please… let’s find another way. Okay?”

She had disappeared of her own accord.

“You’re the one being forceful. I said no. I don’t want to. I told you I can’t accept it! That living on through your sacrifice would be disgusting and repulsive!”

To prevent his sacrifice, vehemently refusing to survive through his sacrifice…

After saying they should find another way, she left him like this…

She must have tried to prevent his sacrifice in her own way rather than waiting for him to find a solution.

“…Or you didn’t trust me, Livia.”

Was I that ridiculous to you? Did my weakness, which I showed only to you, fail to give you trust in me?

“Ha.”

His self-mocking laugh grew louder. Triton’s voice burst out roughly as he ran his hands over his grotesquely contorted face.

“Livia!!!”

D*mn you, Livia! D*mn you!!!

He didn’t know how many times that woman had betrayed him. The sense of betrayal he felt this time grew so intense that it felt like his entire body, not just the back of his head, was throbbing.

He had believed that the look in her eyes toward him was genuine. What was her true heart? No, did she really love me at all? If she loved me, why didn’t she trust me and wait?

The irritation that rose at the mere thought made him feel nauseous. No. Even if you ran away because you couldn’t trust me, you couldn’t have faked the look in your eyes when you gazed at me.

Surely you wouldn’t have deceived me to that extent.

D*mn it, his desire to believe in Livia even at this moment was both ridiculous and pitiful.

“Every time I think I’ve caught you, you slip away like a loach, don’t you?”

This is why you keep driving me crazy…

A bitter taste rose from deep in his throat. Triton laughed hysterically, then suddenly wiped all expression from his face.

He had no time to leisurely contemplate Livia’s betrayal. What mattered was capturing her again before she fled too far…

If I find you this time, I will chain your neck, not your ankle. No matter how much you cry and scream, I will never listen.

You too must pay dearly for your betrayal at least once.

“Now… let’s see if someone helped my wife escape.”

Muttering like a madman, Triton closed his eyes and gathered the water droplets that had permeated throughout the spring’s cave.

Water had no eyes or ears, so it couldn’t witness or hear anything, but it could certainly store the temperature, humidity, and smells of that time.

The moisture gradually gathered to form one large droplet. Triton placed it on his palm and slowly absorbed it into himself.

The water’s memory began to seep into him. As he examined the stored memory like reading a book, Triton’s eyes suddenly flew open.

His expressionless mouth twisted roughly, and once again a fierce voice flowed from Triton’s lips.

“Ha… D*mn you, Livia.”

…A unique smell of fire that couldn’t be found anywhere on earth.

“No matter how desperate you were, not that b*stard.”

It was the scent of the underworld.