This was really strange, no matter how much she thought about it. With narrowed eyes, Livia stared into the void.

She was already familiar with the gods’ debauchery, so there was nothing surprising about it. In fact, she had somewhat prepared myself for it since he first laid hands on her. But what Livia found odd wasn’t that part.

“You don’t need to thank me, Livia.”

In fact, she found it strange that he stopped there.

He was a man who could take whatever he wanted. Wasn’t he someone who stood far above mere human kings?

The god was the ruler of beings beyond humans. Was that all? He even held the ‘right’ to torment Livia, just as Livia had the right to attack Triton.

But why? What kind of scheme was he hiding? What was he trying to disrupt within her?

Every action of the sea god left her bewildered. After such a kiss, he calmly laid her down beside him…

‘…A kiss?’

Startled by the word that popped into her mind, Livia hurriedly denied it.

No, no. That wasn’t a kiss.

How could such an act be considered a kiss? It was merely harassment. It was just Triton playing a cruel prank on her.

Livia recalled what had prodded between her legs. How shocked she had been when something hard and thick, as if it would pierce through her at any moment, poked at her entrance…

‘How could such a thing…’

She had heard stories of humans and gods making love, but now that she thought about it, they all seemed like lies. Humans couldn’t accommodate such things.

It might have been because she lacked experience. Although she grew up with male siblings, they were always so proper that they never showed Livia anything inappropriate. So she might have been more ignorant because of that, but no matter how much she thought about it, it was… it was not something a human could take in.

To thrust something akin to a blunt weapon at me. Truly an insane god.

The rumors of gods being promiscuous seemed all too true. He would readily er*ect his manhood and shamelessly thrust that desire upon Livia.

So she must not be swayed. Such acts meant nothing to promiscuous gods.

Hadn’t she been discarding human things one by one since she turned her back on life and embarked on a path of revenge? Purity and passion were no exception. It was a body she didn’t care if it rolled and broke until it became rags, so there was no reason to shrink from mere intercourse or coupling.

“Humans… are you embarrassed by this, Livia?”

No, not at all.

Not at all.

Livia closed her eyes, which had been glaring.

Completely unaware of how the blue light behind her was gazing at her.

***

“Hurry up!”

The voice piercing her ears made Livia’s eyes snap open. But she saw nothing. Only pitch-black darkness filled her vision.

What was this…? A dream?

Lying on her side with her arm as a pillow, Livia stayed still, assessing the situation. At that moment, with a splashing sound, the floor began to sway. Simultaneously, murmuring voices flooded her previously muffled ears.

…Voices of people?

Livia sprang up.

The splashing water sound intensified, and the rocking of the floor became more pronounced.

It didn’t feel like a dream; unlike being underwater, her body felt heavy. It was the very weight she felt when coming ashore.

Turning her head, she saw a thin line of light on one side of what she thought was complete darkness. It was a crack in the door.

She crawled on her knees toward the crack. Pressing her ear against the wooden door, the sounds outside became clearer.

Why am I here? I fell asleep in his chamber…

Blinking in confusion, a firefly-like light rose from beneath where Livia lay. It swirled around the spot a few times as if dancing, then formed letters.

“In this third trial, what will you gain, and what will you lose?”

It was his doing. The words “third trial” made all the awkward and bewildering things clear. She clung to the wooden door, tense.

What new torment awaited her outside this door? She was afraid, but she didn’t hesitate. After taking a short deep breath, she slowly opened the door.

***

“Sis, sister… what’s going to happen to us?”

Hearing the cries of a child smaller than herself, the girl bit her lip and stared beyond the bars. Men were running around busily, firing flaming arrows at the ship pursuing the kidnapped children.

…Even to a young girl, the situation seemed hopeless.

The child was only eight years old, and her younger sibling was just six. There wasn’t much she could say. All she could do was hold back her tears, but she hugged her sibling’s shoulder and tried to reassure them.

“What do you mean what’s going to happen? Dad will come to rescue us. Don’t you know how brave the men are? It’s fine. We’ll all be saved.”

Although the girl’s words were a lie, they carried hope. Because of this, a few of the other kidnapped children sighed with relief, clinging to the false hope. It was a boy named Roak, who had helped in their kidnapping, that shattered that hope.

“That’s funny. You’re all as good as dead now. Do you really think those people will return you to the island?”

The girl, Nadis, who was hugging her sibling, glared at Roak.

Roak, who had lured the children out by suggesting they play with fire, was the troublemaker of the island. His mother had died right after he was born, and he was raised by a drunken fisherman father, causing trouble everywhere as if there was no tomorrow.

After his father fell off a cliff and died a few months ago, the village chief took care of him, but there was no hope for reforming Roak. Eventually, he even lured the children out at night and sold them to pirates.

“Why on earth did you do this?”

“Why did I do this? Ask that old man in the village chief’s place when you’re dead! It’s all because he tried to send me off the island!”

The boy laughed harshly and banged on the iron bars. According to the original plan, he was supposed to escape, but he seemed resentful that he was caught along with them.

“You scoundrel!”

“How could you…?”

“Mom, Dad…!”

“Waaah!”

Finally, the children who had been holding back their tears burst into sobs. As about a dozen children cried out together, a short pirate at the front of the deck ran over and banged on the iron bars with a club.

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll throw you into the sea one by one!”

“Eek!”

“Hic… hic…”

The pirate, who was panting, ran back to the stern at the captain’s call. The frightened children clamped their mouths shut and trembled. Some even wet themselves.

“Sis, sis…”

Nadis, holding her sibling, felt her hands trembling too. She gritted her teeth to endure it, but she was just as scared. Clenching her teeth and holding back her tears, Nadis grasped her sibling’s hand tightly and whispered.

“It’s okay… The god of the sea will protect us.”

Her eyes, gazing at the black sea, were desperate.

“Nonsense.”

Roak, trembling in the corner, spat out curses as if to vent his frustrations, but the girl remained unshaken. She was young and innocent, and her belief was absolute because of that innocence.

Then it happened.

“Intruder!”

A sharp cry echoed across the deck.

***

What kind of trial is this?

When she stepped outside, there was only the black, rolling night sea. There was no stench of rotten flesh, no leeches gnawing at flesh and bones, just the black sea.

Livia looked around with a bewildered expression. She was on a large ship with a massive sail. From the loud shouts echoing below the swaying deck, it seemed to be a galley rowed by many people.

The place where she had awakened appeared to be a small storeroom at the stern. The noise was coming from the central deck. Livia cautiously peeked around the stern, hiding herself. She saw men in pairs, cursing loudly as they fired flaming longbows.

“Damn it! The wind is too strong!”

“Sh*t, this isn’t just a headwind or a whirlwind, why is the wind acting up like this?”

“Don’t stop shooting! They’re catching up to us!”

The galley seemed to be fleeing frantically as if being pursued. They were firing flaming arrows backward, but the wind kept them from traveling far, causing them to plunge into the sea. In contrast, the arrows fired from behind were landing dangerously close to the galley.

“Captain, at this rate, we’ll suffer more damage!”

“We already lost one ship; we can’t afford to lose more here!”

“Ah, those persistent island bastards!”

The captain spat on the floor and then gulped down the liquor from the bottle he was holding.