The blonde nymph who had disappeared at the mention of needing clothes returned. She hesitated upon seeing the shark at the headboard but soon approached Livia as if nothing was wrong. Then, with a seemingly apologetic face, she handed Livia a rough piece of cloth.

“This is all I could find at the moment, is that… alright?”

Though it was a rag made of patched-up old cloth that was almost embarrassing to call clothing, Livia accepted it without much concern. Without this, she would have to wear clothes roughly made from curtains or sheet fragments like last time, and this seemed better since it at least had the form of proper clothing.

“Thank you.”

The nymph seemed rather flustered by Livia’s straightforward thanks. Livia left the hesitating nymph and went behind the bed. Just as she removed the sheet wrapped around her body and was about to put on the clothes—

“Ahhh! H-help me!”

Startled by the urgent scream, she rushed out to find the blonde nymph running away screaming, with Sympho chasing after her.

Karrrrr!

The shark’s wide-split mouth released bubbles that sounded like a roar. The nymph’s terrified screams echoed sharply through the corridor. When Livia rushed outside in surprise, she could see the fleeing nymph’s tail with Sympho pursuing behind. She briefly considered whether to chase after them but it was already awkward as they had disappeared far away.

“…Surely that shark wouldn’t eat a nymph who works in the palace?”

After staring for a while in the direction they had disappeared, Livia shook her head in resignation. Moving made her suddenly feel very hungry. Turning back, Livia glanced at the table where the food was placed. It seemed a waste to throw away food that had obviously been brought from land with much effort. And it wasn’t like the food itself had done anything wrong.

Livia picked up the spoon that had fallen to the floor and approached the table. The tomato stew with chicken looked quite appetizing. Without hesitation, she scooped up a large spoonful and brought it to her mouth. The moment she swallowed it, Livia’s expression contorted.

“Hng…!”

It felt like swallowing blades rather than food. A stinging pain spread throughout her narrow throat. Livia urgently clutched her throat while coughing, but there was nothing she could spit out. With her face twisted in pain, Livia quickly stirred the stew with her spoon to examine it. Now she could see things that had been hidden under other ingredients settled at the bottom.

‘…Broken porcelain fragments?’

Startled, Livia looked down at the floor where the bowl had fallen earlier. Though the blonde nymph had cleaned the floor, tiny fragments could still be seen scattered about. As Livia picked up one of them, another scream came from outside, and the black shark suddenly leaped up past the window.

Grrrr….

Tiny water droplets burst from both sides of the shark’s angrily stretched mouth. Livia’s eyes widened urgently as she looked up at the shark.

“Are you, what are you holding in your mouth—ack!”

Every time she spoke, the pain felt like it would tear her throat, as if there was a wound inside. While clutching her aching neck with a grimaced face as she looked at Sympho, the shark spat out the nymph it had been holding in its mouth.

“Ahhh!”

The nymph who fell to the floor with a thud shrieked and curled up her body. Her trembling limbs were covered in wounds from the shark’s teeth. The nymph sobbed and clung to Livia’s feet, begging.

“P-please save me! Save me! Please save me! The sh-shark is trying to eat me…!”

“That shark… doesn’t eat nymphs or humans…”

At least not in front of Livia.

Pain shot through her throat with every word she spoke. Livia explained with difficulty through her pain-contorted face, but the blonde nymph seemed to pay no attention to Livia’s expression as she burst out shouting.

“Lies! Th-that thing was about to swallow me whole…!”

“It just… caught you, ugh! And brought you… here…”

“No! No! That thing was definitely trying to eat me! That’s why I got scared and r-ran away!”

Isn’t that even stranger?

If it had really meant to eat her, it could have swallowed her in one gulp by now and still had room for more. The fact that it brought her here without killing her suggested there must be another reason….

As Livia looked at Sympho as if asking for the reason, the shark that had been baring its teeth angrily suddenly struck the plate on the table with its tail. With a crash, the bowl fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. The red stew that had been in the bowl splattered across the floor like bloodstains.

“Eek…!”

The nymph who had been glancing at the sharp sound and the mess on the floor started hiccupping while staying curled up. Her face, filled with fear, showed traces of both faint terror and dim anger.

‘Fear…. Fear indeed.’

Livia rubbed her painful neck and slowly lowered herself to meet the nymph’s eyes. The startled nymph glared at Livia with wary eyes. Her wet eyes still held deep hostility. Meeting those fierce eyes, Livia could roughly guess what had happened.

“…Did you put porcelain fragments in the food?”

“No! I mean, it wasn’t on purpose, I just accidentally spilled some while cleaning, but… I didn’t mean to…”

So, it wasn’t intentional, but she knew the fragments had fallen in and didn’t remove them…?

The black shark that had been circling above their heads suddenly thrust its huge head forward from behind Livia. The nymph burst into tears with a piercing scream as she fell backward.

“I-it’s true! It’s true! Why aren’t you stopping that ferocious shark anyway? What are you doing! Stop it!”

The nymph’s gills trembled as she panted for breath. Seeing that reminded Livia naturally of Audike. Livia spat out the blood rising in her throat before asking.

“By the way, where’s Audike and why did you come instead? Usually Audike comes.”

“A-Audike had an upset stomach and didn’t come today. The main palace needs a high-ranking nymph, so I c-came instead of Audike.”

Livia quietly looked down at the nymph sprawled on the floor. Though she was still trembling all over because of the black shark standing behind Livia, the hostility in her eyes as she looked at Livia remained unchanged.

She seemed to really dislike her. Given what she did to the food, that much was clear. Livia rubbed her still-stinging throat once more.

She wasn’t sure whether to be thankful she only took one bite, or whether even one bite was too much, but she felt disgusted.

This was the enemy’s cradle, and she had entered it defenseless. Though there were nymphs who showed her kindness, there would be many more who disliked her, like this nymph before her. If she let this blatant attack slide, they would likely continue to look down on her. However, Livia had neither the right nor the power to punish this nymph. But she did have spite and venom.

“What’s your name?”

“…Pardon?”

“I asked what your name is.”

The nymph stared at Livia with uneasy eyes at her question. When she just stared without answering as if wondering why she would ask such a thing, Sympho slowly thrust its head forward again from behind Livia’s shoulder. Recognizing the implicit threat, the nymph reluctantly opened her mouth with a sour expression.

“…It’s Letis.”

“Letis. Yes, Letis. Tell me how this shark came to attack you.”

“I-I don’t know. It just suddenly…!”

Karrr!

As the shark opened its mouth wide in anger, Letis shut her mouth tight and turned her head away sharply. This was entirely expected. Livia let out a dry laugh and said to Letis.

“You didn’t accidentally spill bowl fragments into the food, you put them in deliberately, didn’t you?”

The startled nymph immediately shook her head, but shut her mouth tight at the shark’s threat. An unexpected witness was threatening her from close by. After gnawing on her lips for a while, Letis finally bowed her head and said,

“…I told you earlier! I just spilled a little!”

Considering that what had felt rough under the spoon wasn’t beans or nuts but all bowl fragments, it was certainly not just a little spill. Livia smirked and picked up the spoon from the floor. She gathered a spoonful of the scattered stew and held it out to Letis, saying,

“Let’s end this fairly with one bite each.”

“…What did you say?”

“I took a much bigger bite than this. This spoonful isn’t even much since it fell, so just eat it without arguing.”

Letis glared at Livia with wide eyes, her body trembling. It was amusing how she looked at her as if staring at something horrific.

“Are you crazy? I-I never thought you’d actually eat it! Who would be stupid enough to just eat that right away…!”

Livia shoved the spoon right into Letis’s mouth as she was spouting nonsense. Just as Letis’s eyes bulged and she was about to struggle, Livia grabbed her hair and twisted her head.

Reflexively, her throat bobbed heavily as Letis’s face contorted in pain.

“Urgh! Kuhh…! Cough!”

The nymph’s pale face turned bright red. As she continued coughing repeatedly, she seemed to realize that coughing only made her throat hurt more, and she glared at Livia while clearing her throat.

“You, crazy! H-how dare you…!”

“When someone does something horrible to me, I always pay them back in kind.”

The woman maintained her dignity despite wearing rags. She calmly gazed at Letis with green eyes that gleamed coldly through her disheveled red hair as she spoke. Her voice, neither too cold nor filled with boiling anger but utterly serene, rather pierced the nymph’s ears sharply.

“I hope you remember that well, Letis.”

Letis jumped to her feet, grinding her teeth with a pale face.

“You filthy human…”

As she was spitting out curses that had little impact, the black shark approached with its jaws wide open above her. Letis screamed in shock and rushed outside hurriedly, while the black shark turned to look at Livia and gently swished its tail. As if asking to be praised….

“….What?”

What do you want me to do?

Krr!

Facing Livia who was being obtuse, the black shark thrust its head forward. Livia, who had been staring at the shark in disbelief, couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“You’re quite the funny one, aren’t you?”

Finally, when she pretended not to notice and rubbed the forehead marked with the conch seal, the shark stretched its mouth wide and released water bubbles.

Garrr, the bursting bubble sounds seemed just like laughter.