The woman froze in surprise at the sight of his cherished pet octopus.

Watching her step back hesitantly almost tempted him to call the Kraken closer to frighten her even more.

However, since the Kraken, Sympho, and Neo were essentially natural enemies, they despised each other. Even now, Sympho, forced to linger near Triton, bared its fierce teeth as if ready to attack the Kraken at any moment.

Suppressing his disappointment, Triton descended the wave-formed stairs himself. For him, the sea was both earth and sky, making such a feat possible. As if he were walking on solid ground, he calmly approached her and bent down, observing her as she floundered in the water.

“You fled to hell to escape me, yet here you are, alive and well.”

Livia shuddered and glared at him, her face slightly flushed. She seemed to recall their last encounter.

Triton thought her reaction wasn’t bad. He vividly remembered the sensation of his fingers probing inside her; surely, she hadn’t forgotten either.

“I’ve never met a human like you who refuses to die.”

Triton extended his hand toward the woman glaring at him and softly warned her.

“But… next time, it would be wise not to die until I allow it, Livia Horn.”

Even after staring at Triton’s hand, Livia dared to ignore it.

She even turned her head away, refusing to take it, which made Dugong watching from afar cover his mouth with both hands in shock. His bushy beard trembled with surprise.

However, Triton didn’t particularly mind Livia’s defiance.

When has this human woman ever been easy for him? In fact, the more stubbornly Livia behaved, the better excuse it gave Triton to exert control, so it wasn’t necessarily bad for him.

Soon, he ascended the waves and sat back down. At the same time, chains of water formed around Livia, swiftly lifting her and placing her on Triton’s lap.

Livia’s eyes widened in disbelief, and she flopped around on Triton’s lap like a fish out of water.

“No, put me down…!”

“Shh, Livia. The execution isn’t over yet.”

He whispered as he pulled Livia closer, holding her waist tightly. Even the slightest touch made her small body flinch.

Reacting to the word ‘execution,’ Livia stiffened like a stone and looked in the direction he indicated. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted the men hanging from the wrecked end of the ship.

“Just wait a moment. That one is the last.”

Triton whispered gently as he pulled her stiffened waist closer. The way she flinched each time was amusing.

Her hips squirmed on his thigh, uncomfortable with the position. She seemed unaware of how provocatively her soft b*ttocks were rubbing against his firm thigh, showing no fear.

Triton felt a heat rising in his lower abdomen. His hardened member twitched upward, becoming rigid.

It was a curious thing. Even when worshippers of Dionysus, dressed in barely-there clothes, fawned over him at his feet, he hadn’t been moved. Yet, here he was, aroused by a mere squirming movement. What was it about this unremarkable woman that so easily inflamed his cold flesh?

Livia, who had been wriggling, seemed to sense something between her thighs and froze, glancing downward. Before her irreverent gaze could discover the thick column of his arousal, Triton raised his hand to catch her attention.

“Watch closely, Livia.”

Triton raised his hand toward the man hanging at the end of the ship. The old captain, realizing it was his turn, screamed.

A water arrow, silently created, shot toward the old captain. With a final cry, the pirate’s head was pierced, and he slid into the sea. The waiting Kraken snatched the falling corpse with its suction-cupped red tentacle, bringing it to its mouth.

A cheerful crunching sound of bones breaking echoed, and Livia, who had been frozen, grimaced and turned to Triton.

“How can you do such a terrible thing…”

Triton found Livia’s unyielding gaze truly intriguing.

Even men with big, muscular bodies would cower after a few trials, just narrowly escaping death. Yet, she never lost her spirit. Did surviving death only make her temperament worse?

“Why did you sink that ship? Was it just because they were human? For such a trivial reason?”

Triton smiled silently.

If death came simply because one was “merely” a certain kind of being, then he had endured far more on this side.

“Dugong,” he called.

Triton extended his hand toward Dugong, who was waiting at a distance. Dugong, stepping across the sea in a single stride, handed a small, blood-covered baby to Triton. Livia, who was sitting on his lap, instinctively took the baby into her arms.

The baby was extremely pale and silent, curled up and breathing faintly as if it didn’t know how to cry. Its body was covered with pieces of scales, a thin membrane as if it had just emerged from the womb, and a very fragile-looking translucent tail.

Livia gazed at the small life suddenly placed in her arms with trembling eyes.

“It’s a baby siren that lost its mother to humans,” Triton explained.

As his hand hovered over the baby’s face, a small droplet of water washed away the impurities clinging to the baby’s body.

“Just because it’s ‘merely’ a siren,” he added.

Triton’s words struck Livia’s heart. She felt something inside her crumble slightly, though she couldn’t quite identify what it was.

“You said you wanted revenge?” he asked.

The baby opened its eyes as Triton brushed its hair aside. Within its quivering, raised eyelids, water-colored eyes shimmered quietly. In those clear eyes, untouched by prejudice, both humans and gods were reflected side by side.

“But Livia,” he continued.

The baby, blinking its eyelids, smiled innocently. It wiggled its tiny hand and grabbed Livia’s rigid finger, making her heart drop with a thud.

“What would happen to this sea if you harmed me?” Triton asked.

Livia was taken aback by a question she had never considered.

They said gods couldn’t die. Everyone said so, and Echidna said so too. Therefore, she had never thought about what would happen to the sea governed by him, or even considered such a thought.

“That is…” she began.

“Of course, I won’t die,” Triton said, “but during the time I’m absent, what might happen to this sea… Have you ever thought about that?”

Livia looked down quietly at the baby bringing her finger to its tiny mouth. It wasn’t human, yet it couldn’t be called a monster either. This small, fragile being looked up at her.

This little one was what those pirates had “hunted.” So, who was the monster to this child?

…The answer was all too obvious.

“Or do the seas mean nothing to you humans, as always?” Triton asked.

Livia snapped her head up to look at him. Her eyes trembled as if she had been struck. The god, with a compassionate face, whispered as he caressed the cheek of the woman he had killed multiple times.

“Treating it like an ownerless warehouse or a dumping ground where anything can be discarded,” he said.

“No!” she shouted, startled.

The baby siren, clutching her finger, began to cry. The frightened child couldn’t even make a sound, trembling as it tried to endure its fear.

In that sight, Livia recalled her own childhood. Or could she even call it a childhood?

Between the smelly alleyways of a small port town, a tiny baby wrapped in dirty cloth had opened its eyes on the ground…

Startled by the barking of a dog, it opened its eyes but couldn’t make a sound out of fear. Thirsty and cold, yet unable to do anything, paralyzed by suffocating fear…

Her own pitiful and wretched self.

Livia carefully embraced the sobbing siren baby, who was hiccupping from holding its breath for so long. Even with her awkward touch, the baby quickly calmed down. Her fingertips, holding the small body, trembled slightly.

Triton watched the scene unfolding on his lap with a leisurely gaze.