To complete a powerful curse, sacrifices and offerings were needed. The stronger the offering and the greater the sacrifice, the more powerful the curse would become. Echidna was willingly making herself the sacrificial lamb to complete the curse.

Of course, she wasn’t the only sacrifice….

Echidna stared with dark, sunken eyes at the hair spread across the floor. The hair of a mermaid who failed to achieve love and ultimately became ‘sea foam’….

It had been given to the witch in the deep sea by some foolish, pitiful mermaid who wanted to abandon her beautiful tail and gain legs.

She had barely obtained it after searching the deepest depths of the sea. Though the decrepit old witch had struggled not to hand it over, she was no match for Echidna who had returned from the underworld.

Echidna looked down at her fingers, now only three remaining. One on her right hand, two on her left.

This wasn’t enough. With just this….

It seemed she would need more ‘sacrifices.’ Echidna, who had stopped abruptly, pulled up her hood. Her hunched elderly body shrank, and soon a black stingray floated up languidly.

Behind the stingray that had become so small it seemed pathetic, faded red hair placed on the ominous spell circle fluttered weakly.

***

He had gone into the ‘Spring of Rest’ in the underground cave of the palace just moments ago.

Spring of Rest? How leisurely.

A cold sneer crossed Livia’s face. When she roughly rubbed her tear-stained face with the back of her hand, her face flushed red. The stinging sensation made her irritable.

It was inexplicable why her body had become so sensitive when it had just been a dream. Just a dream that lasted only a few days!

Her body trembled slightly with each running step, and even those small vibrations made her whole body ache. Ignoring the pain, Livia hurried along.

The black snake was surely Echidna’s doing. If so, the black bottle the snake had left behind was likely poison that could harm Triton. The question was how to make him drink it.

She couldn’t just pour it into a glass, nor could she simply hand it to him asking him to try it. They weren’t close enough for such exchanges, and Livia wasn’t patient enough to wait for such a moment.

Then there was only one way.

Livia opened the bottle in front of the entrance to the underground cave where the Spring of Rest was located. A fragrant grape scent rose from the small bottle’s mouth. Too sweet a scent for poison.

Though momentarily puzzled, she didn’t dwell on it long. Without hesitation, she let the sweet poison flow into her own mouth. Then she immediately entered the underground cave.

The man was leisurely resting in the warm, steaming spring. Though he appeared to be sleeping with his eyes closed as he lay there, Livia didn’t believe it.

How keen and cunning was this man? He had sensed her presence even when she was hiding on the temple floor. Pretending not to know she was hiding, he shamelessly pleasured himself, then dragged her out and forced that hideous, massive organ into her mouth.

Even if he wore an innocent face, she mustn’t trust him. Even if he smiled kindly and pretended not to be an enemy, she mustn’t think of him as an ally.

Livia jumped into the spring with reddened eyes. The somewhat hot water overflowed and enveloped her. Her sensitized body screamed with stinging pain at the heat.

As Triton lazily opened his eyes at the splashing sound, Livia grabbed his neck with both hands. Livia’s eyes, full of rage, became wet.

Damn it! She hadn’t wanted to show tears, but they came unbidden. When Livia dug her nails into his neck with an irritated face, he reached out with a smile.

“Quite exhausted, aren’t you, Livia?”

His usually cool hands were warm from being submerged in the hot water. He caressed her tear-stained cheeks with those warm hands.

“Did those foolish scorpions trouble you? Or was it… the trials that wore your body down as you wished? I didn’t put in any monsters, so surely that couldn’t be it, right?”

Each time Triton spouted nonsense, she tightened her grip on his neck, but his face showed no impact. It was as expected. Perhaps this man had anticipated this much as well.

But he wouldn’t have expected what came next.

Livia moved her hands from choking his neck to wrapping around his nape. When she pulled with her insignificant strength, the man’s neck was drawn closer more easily than expected. One eyebrow raised in apparent curiosity. Livia pretended not to notice and lowered her eyes. At the same time, their wet lips overlapped.

Harder, even harder….

Livia pressed his lips firmly until they parted. His mouth opened easily without much effort. Livia split the slightly parted gap with her tongue tip and entered. Then she poured the black bottle’s potion she had been holding in her mouth into his.

Triton briefly furrowed his brow but showed no particular resistance. No, even if he had resisted, she held his neck tightly to ensure he wouldn’t pull away and pushed it in until the end.

Gulp.

When she finally heard the desired sound, Livia tried to separate their lips. But the situation reversed.

“…!”

Suddenly her nape was caught. A firm hand also encircled her waist, preventing her from struggling. Along with splashing water sounds, her lips were spread wide as if they would tear.

He thrust his tongue deep inside, stabbing at her throat as if performing a piston motion. As she trembled with a gasping sound, the next moment her lower lip was gently sucked.

Having somehow ended up on his lap, she struggled to push him away, causing hot water to splash in all directions. Simultaneously, she felt his er*ect organ between her spread legs.

Livia shuddered at the creepy sensation. Holding the trembling Livia tightly against him, he pulled her tongue with his firmly erected tongue tip and nibbled it finely. After sucking her lips until Livia was gasping for breath, Triton slowly separated their bodies. The way he licked his lips and savored the taste as if having eaten something delicious was incredibly shameless.

“You, dog….”

“Where did you get Dionysus’s wine?”

“…What?”

Hearing unexpected words, Livia frowned. Triton stroked beneath her reddened eyes and whispered.

“Didn’t you know what you fed me was the wine of pleasure and madness?”

“What are you….”

“Where did you get it? It doesn’t seem like you received it from Dionysus….”

When Livia remained frozen without answering, Triton found the answer himself.

“Echidna gave it to you, didn’t she?”

The woman tried to hide her confusion behind an expressionless face, but it was a futile attempt. Her slightly trembling green eyes were more honest than her false lips. Triton smiled quietly with a face that understood everything.

How naive, to accept whatever was given.

The exhausted expression on the woman’s face caught his attention. This woman’s hardships were both pitiful and lovely to see each time. Every time, she survived to the end with such a deathly face, admirably returning to his side. Even if that wasn’t her intention, Triton quite liked it.

She returns again and again. No matter how many times he kills her, no matter how many trials he gives her, to his side….

Through any storm and tempest, she survived desperately and pointed her blade at him.

Each time he saw her stubborn survival, Triton felt both the desire to completely crush Livia’s will and the wish that she would never realize her challenge could never succeed.

Do you truly believe you can harm me with your own hands? With these small, thin, dry hands…

Oh, foolish Livia. My pitiful, naive human.

Though he considered showing her how trivial these inadequate challenges were to him and breaking her, he would regret not being able to see her crawling back to him again.

And these soft lips and warm, supple flesh he had just tasted were far more to his liking than expected….

Triton traced the sensation on his tongue inside his mouth. That sensation mixed with the thick grape wine fragrance was sweet as if melting his mouth.

“So you fed this to me without even knowing what it was?”