At dawn, Livia woke up and stared blankly at the ceiling before slowly turning around.

She saw Triton’s face, sleeping with his arm wrapped around her waist. The light from the luminous beings wandering throughout the castle slid down the face of this breathtakingly beautiful man.

‘Why on earth…’

Livia stared at the man’s face, which glowed as smoothly as if carved from porcelain, then slumped back against her pillow with a confused expression.

Though she wasn’t sure what had captured this being’s heart, she could feel him increasingly keeping her close lately.

Things like bringing meals from land and finding her wherever she was to take her to his chambers made her feel this way.

She wondered if it was because of their intimacy, but thinking about it carefully, he had shown such signs before.

Like when he insisted on kissing her to help recover her voice, or how she would always wake up in his bed after collapsing upon returning from trials. At this point, she couldn’t help but have absurd suspicions.

‘…Could it be that he’s taken a liking to me?’

With all those beautiful goddesses and nymphs around, he chose her, who had been struggling and fighting to kill him…?

Even imagining it made her embarrassed, but his actions truly left Livia confused.

Like how he insisted on making her sleep in his bed, saying she shouldn’t leave his sight, or how he brought her gossamer nightgowns fit for goddesses, claiming her shabby clothes bothered him.

Moreover, the way he casually referred to Livia as ‘his human.’ She wondered if this was what they called the whims of gods.

‘I really can’t understand…’

An inexplicable confusion rolled in and out like gentle waves in the depths of Livia’s heart. The desire to step into the water to understand it clashed with the urge to run away.

However, she had a feeling that if she entered these waters, the result would be too overwhelming for her to handle.

After this internal struggle, Livia stopped there. Just this far…

She was afraid to explore further. While she could still manage at this depth, she felt that if she went just a bit deeper, she wouldn’t be able to escape the waters.

Quietly swallowing a sigh, Livia removed the heavy arm wrapped around her waist and slowly rose. As she put her feet on the floor, she noticed the pearl anklet fastened to her ankle.

There were 46 pearls, each smaller than her pinky nail. The string of pearls wrapped around her ankle twice due to their abundance. Two of them had turned dark gray, meaning there were 44 days remaining.

Though it felt like so much had happened, only 56 days had passed… It seemed the time spent in the underworld and during the trials had been distorted.

‘When I was wandering through the desert trial, it felt like 10 years had passed…’

It felt strange and awkward, but in a way, it was fortunate. Now that she had found a weakness to target Triton’s heart, if she could just pierce through that tough exterior and stab his heart with the golden dagger…

“……”

Suddenly, Livia’s expression hardened. A strange feeling that suddenly arose stopped her thoughts. She clenched and unclenched her fist at the eerie emotion creeping up from her feet.

…An unnecessary feeling. This uneasiness.

‘He’s a god. They said gods don’t die. So… I don’t need to feel guilty. Besides, he’s driven me to death several times too. And quite cruelly at that.’

As Livia tried to rationalize with herself, she startled and looked down at her waist. His hand that she had pushed away was once again holding her waist. As she stiffened, a strong force pulled her back deep into the bed.

“I told you to lie still today, promising I wouldn’t touch you.”

Triton lightly pulled the awkwardly stiff Livia to face him. He held her so tightly that his thick chest pressed against her cheeks and forehead.

She felt his cool temperature against her skin, which was warmer than that of ordinary people. Though he hadn’t embraced her tightly enough to suffocate her, her breathing grew slightly rapid with tension.

It felt as if this firm and massive embrace had washed over her like a wave and completely engulfed her. Feeling that struggling would only pull her in deeper, Livia carefully drew her head back while remaining tense. At this, Triton’s closed eyelids slowly lifted.

Despite the surrounding darkness, every strand of his silver eyelashes moving slowly up and down was clearly visible.

And what of the eyes hidden beneath? Like the luminous beings that glowed without light, a light also shimmered in his blue eyes. That cool gleam was more mysterious and enchanting than frightening, enough to momentarily entrance even the tension-frozen Livia.

Triton, who had been quietly gazing at her, suddenly let out a laugh.

Just suddenly, as if it were nothing… That languid and quiet laugh seeped coolly into the depths of Livia’s heart.

“Are you a stone? So stiff…”

Though it wasn’t particularly insulting, Livia, who had belatedly come to her senses, awkwardly widened her eyes. She was afraid he might detect her weak wavering. For some reason, she didn’t want him to discover anything about her.

Whether aware of this or not, Triton, facing Livia, pulled her closer without much concern.

The two bodies pressed completely together. Livia reflexively pushed him away with both hands. This naturally led to her hands touching his chest. Because of this, she could feel Triton’s strongly beating heart through the thin skin of her palms.

“You should sleep a bit more, Livia. You might not be able to sleep tomorrow.”

Triton whispered in Livia’s ear and closed his eyes again. She briefly felt his hands caressing her shoulders and back.

…In her life, had there ever been someone who held her this tightly and touched her all day long?

Even her family, whom Livia so loved and missed, had never embraced her in this way.

They were not a blood-related family, and her father and brothers had been extremely careful about touching Livia.

That’s why this closely pressed warmth was very unfamiliar and awkward to her. Although his cool skin wasn’t warm, the smooth and soft feeling of his skin was addictive. Moreover, since Livia had always had an unusually high body temperature and was sensitive to heat, this cool sensation actually felt quite pleasant.

Suddenly, she felt an urge to caress this skin beneath her hands. The urge soon became a longing, and the longing began to dominate and shake Livia. Her fingertips resting on his thick chest began to tremble slightly, as if wanting to move right away.

It was amusing. Unlike him, who freely embraced, caressed, licked, and tasted her body as he pleased, she found it difficult and awkward to even touch his body.

Why was that? Because she had never done it before? Because she felt that once she touched him, she would want to keep touching? What exactly was she afraid of…

Livia felt as if she heard drum sounds floating in her head. Whether it was a warning drum or her rapidly beating heart was unclear, but one thing was certain.

That this arrogant god’s tenderness, bestowed as mere amusement, would surely affect her.

Though Triton told her to sleep a bit more, she couldn’t easily fall asleep. Through her trembling palm, the very heart she had sworn to shatter someday continued to beat strongly, making its presence known.

However, as the warmth of their overlapping bodies gradually increased, her wide-open eyelids began to grow heavy. At some point, as she unconsciously buried her face seeking a deeper, more comfortable place, she thought she heard gentle laughter near her head. But since she was already caught in slumber, she didn’t raise her head.

When Livia, who had dozed off, opened her eyes again, it was when Triton’s subordinate Actius appeared in Triton’s chambers with some flowers and fruits, looking quite disheveled.

***

“I’ve brought the flowers from Lady Demeter that you mentioned.”

Actius, with dark circles under his eyes, staggered towards Triton’s feet and carefully set down the flowerpot. While stepping back, he tried his best not to look at the bed, but his passing glance caught sight of a woman’s bare legs.

‘Did he keep her by his side while sleeping today too?’

Though he surely wasn’t really sleeping, it bothered him that his lord kept that human woman constantly by his side.

The woman seemed to have just woken up, rising groggily. Her bright red hair, so unsuited to the sea, could be seen flowing down her bare shoulders and chest visible above the loosely draped clothes.

For Actius, who had never seen any woman other than Sion as a woman, he watched this without much interest until he suddenly remembered the message delivered by the moon goddess.

Please, beware of the red, my Triton.

Could that red the goddess spoke of possibly be this?

Though he wanted to laugh at himself for thinking how such a lowly human could possibly threaten the god of the sea, wasn’t it always humans who killed merpeople? While it was disgraceful to regard Lord Triton as a mere merperson, either way, there was no harm in being careful.

As his fairly reasonable suspicion arose, his eyes narrowed slightly. As he glared at the woman with sharp eyes, water bubbles suddenly rose before him.

“……!”

When Actius startled and turned his head, he saw Triton staring at him with a twisted smile.

“Did I say anyone could look?”

“…I apologize.”

Though he quickly bowed his head deeply, his back felt chilled. Unable to breathe from the pressure squeezing his neck, he pressed his head down deeply.

His master was generally merciful, but made no exceptions when it came to touching what was his. This was both the most important thing to be careful of as his servant, and the most reassuring thing as an ally.

Wait, then… Does this mean the master has now included that woman in the category of ‘his’?

This strange realization surprised Actius, but he didn’t dare raise his head to look at the woman again, as that would be too bold. The tension lingered briefly before dissipating.

Triton reached for the flowerpot Actius had placed on the floor. The red flower that had been holding its head high on the stem fell off and floated over to land on his palm.

“She said it was a precious flower, but she gave it up more easily than I expected.”

“…Easily?”

At Actius’s words that burst out as if grieved, Triton laughed. He had thought it was obtained easily since it was brought in just one night, but it seemed he had struggled quite a bit in the process.

It was said that if humans chewed Demeter’s flowers raw, their bodies would transform to be able to purify most poisons. While the flower wasn’t particularly useful to gods, it was apparently a precious treasure that humans desperately wanted to obtain.

He held the flower and pulled Livia into his embrace. Her small body nestled into him as they were made to fit together. Of course, she was staring at him stiffly as always, but it was a gaze that didn’t bother him at all.

“Ah, open up.”

She wasn’t the type to obey readily. As expected, she first shook her head in refusal and kept her lips tightly closed. Since he had anticipated all these reactions, her prickliness only seemed cute.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t open up. There’s fun in forcing it open.”

At his words whispered in her ear, Livia’s face instantly contorted. Triton restrained her as she tried to struggle and forcefully opened her mouth to push in the flower. He covered her mouth as she tried to spit it out and quietly whispered.

“It would be better to chew and swallow it quietly if you don’t want something else in your mouth. It’s good for you.”

Her eyes showed fear that he might have fed her something strange. She probably thought of something like Dionysus’s wine that excites the body. However, Triton had no intention of feeding such things to Livia in front of Actius.

While enjoying watching Livia chew the flower with an obviously forced expression, Triton belatedly noticed that Actius was still there.

“Why aren’t you leaving? Go rest now.”

“Actually, Lady Demeter had one more thing to convey to Lord Triton.”

Actius gently placed Demeter’s fruit on the floor while keeping his eyes fixed downward. Triton glanced at the fruit on the floor and asked.

“What is this?”

“The spring banquet will be held soon. Lady Demeter has sent an invitation to the banquet.”

At that moment, Livia, who had been diligently chewing the flower, sharply turned her head.