The cave was located deep in the ocean.

The pressure was high enough to crush bodies, and the floor was boiling hot….

It was hidden beneath the pillar of an underwater volcano. No wonder even Triton’s trusted subordinates couldn’t easily find it. If Dugong hadn’t accidentally discovered suspicious traces while searching for pearls, it might have remained buried until now.

“No matter how I thought about it, finding a waist ornament used by castle nymphs in such a place was very strange. And sure enough…!”

Dugong spoke energetically beside Triton as he led the way. His head was held so high that you could see his whiskers trembling as they fluttered in the currents.

Always so dramatic.

Watching his colleague take such joy in a small achievement, Actius shook his head and let out a small laugh. Though he wanted to tease him seeing how proud he was, he decided to let him enjoy this moment of satisfaction since it was his first achievement in 100 years.

Echidna who used Hecate’s sorcery.

The witch who returned alive from the underworld….

Triton and his subordinates arrived at the cave where Echidna was presumed to be hiding. The cave, immersed in quiet darkness, was suspicious in how it felt devoid of any life force and eerily empty. Perhaps what makes the darkness at the bottom frightening is how difficult it is to guess what it conceals.

Triton’s eyes narrowed in front of the cave. Actius and Dugong, gripping their weapons tightly, entered the cave first as if to guard him. Triton’s lips twisted as he quietly watched them.

“…We’re too late.”

True to his words, a scream burst from Dugong who had entered first.

“Ahhh! She’s gone! No, no, why isn’t she here?!”

Dugong roared as if wronged, having entered to boast about his achievement in 100 years. Actius and his subordinates who were examining the interior also looked at Triton, who had entered the cave a step behind them, and spoke with apparent confusion.

“…We’ve searched the cave thoroughly but she’s not here. It seems she noticed and fled.”

“She left in a hurry. Looking at how she couldn’t erase all traces before disappearing.”

“Her instincts are remarkable. How she knew…”

“That’s how she’s managed to survive until now…. She couldn’t have gone far. Track her down, Actius.”

“Yes sir!”

Actius left the cave without delay. His subordinates who had been waiting spread out in all directions at his command.

Triton carefully examined the cave where Echidna had been. Though they hadn’t caught her, finding traces of her presence wasn’t a bad harvest. Triton knelt on one knee and examined the magical traces remaining on the cave floor.

Red magical circles emanating malevolent energy….

A sticky mixture of all kinds of blood had seeped into the floor without mixing with the seawater. What kind of spell was it for? As Triton carefully examined the inside of the intricately drawn magical circles, his eyes suddenly caught several red threads buried in the floor.

‘This is….’

No, looking closely, these weren’t threads but red hair.

Could it be. A cold wind crept into Triton’s heart as he thought of someone, but it didn’t last long. As soon as he held the hair and examined it closely, he immediately noticed it wasn’t the hair of the person he was thinking of.

This hair belonged to someone long dead, and the color was slightly different from Livia’s hair.

If Livia’s hair was the color of flames burning under the sunset, this was blood-red like a ripe pomegranate.

If Livia’s abundant hair was warm and brave like flames, this was just like cold, congealed blood.

Livia’s rich hair might seem ordinary at first glance, but the more closely you looked at it, the more you saw it was a conceptual and enchanting red that no one could easily copy or imitate.

How could such a crude thing be compared to that color? They were completely different. It was laughable that he had mistaken it even for a moment.

Then whose hair was this….

Triton’s eyes shone a bit more clearly as he examined the inner cave. Of course, magic wasn’t his domain, and he had never wanted to know about it. However, he knew one perfect ally who would likely know about these things well.

“Dugong.”

“Yes, Lord Triton!”

“I need to go somewhere. So make sure you investigate every corner of this place thoroughly.”

“I will investigate down to the last piece of moss!”

Dugong answered with firm determination. Triton scraped up part of the magical circle, trapped it in a water droplet, and left the cave.

Amphitrite’s castle was quite far from this sea, so he needed to hurry.

***

‘This can’t be.’

Livia stared at the woman before her with shocked eyes and unconsciously stumbled backward. Though she quickly glanced around, even the sharks that had been constantly following her were nowhere to be seen.

Hiding her tension, Livia spoke to Echidna.

“How did you get in here?”

“Oh, my child. It wasn’t easy. If he hadn’t found my cave, I probably wouldn’t have dared come here… Ironically, thanks to him emptying this place, I could enter the castle.”

The witch in the form of a young nymph burst into giggles.

No matter whose shell she wore, the core inside was Echidna.

After laughing for a while with a voice like scratching at one’s throat, the witch raised her eyes filled with madness to stare at Livia.

As her eyes swept over Livia’s tense form from head to toe, a sinister energy gathered in them before Echidna smiled with curved eyes.

“You’re wearing pretty clothes, Livia.”

Echidna spoke with excited demeanor as if she was very pleased with it.

“And wearing precious jewels on your ankle too.”

Her snake-like gleaming gaze fell on the pearls tied to Livia’s ankle.

“I told you to stab Triton’s heart, but you’ve taken his heart instead?”

Livia’s expression hardened at Echidna’s words. Echidna, who had been cheerfully spouting nonsense, approached Livia with light dancing steps.

“Whether you stab his heart or take it, anything is fine. As long as it leads to his destruction!!!”

“Nonsense. He doesn’t love me.”

Though Livia hurriedly denied it, her voice seemed not to reach the mad witch.

“Ah! Foolish Triton, stupid Triton! You’ve finally fallen in love with a human!”

Ahaha, Echidna laughed loudly as she spun around and around in place, dancing.

Unlike the laughter that rang out as if she was truly joyful, Echidna’s eyes weren’t laughing at all. Livia frowned and stepped back at that chilling discrepancy.

Echidna, who had been dancing around the huge bedroom like a fluttering ray, suddenly stopped.

She whirled her head to look at Livia, suddenly split her mouth in a long smile, and rushed at Livia while shouting.

“You precious thing, you lovely thing! You’ll really kill the sea god!”

Though Livia pushed her away in shock, black smoke that extended like a snake’s tail instantly wrapped around and pressed in on her.

“Ugh, let, go…! Kugh!”

Livia, who had reflexively tried to draw out the golden dagger in her wrist, hesitated.

The wound site had felt oddly hot for a while, but when Echidna came closer, it hurt as if burned.

She could feel the dagger thrashing inside her arm as if trying to burst through her flesh to return to its owner. She had an intuition that it would be of no help in attacking that woman.

“Yes, how did you win his heart? Ah, it doesn’t matter. A sea god dying at the hands of his loved one, what revenge could be more delightful than that!”

Echidna giggled as if she had lost her mind.

She was clearly insane.

It was chilling how she thought and concluded things as she pleased. One shouldn’t deal with a mad woman. Moreover, a mad witch. What could be more dangerous than that?

‘…Someone like that won’t properly fulfill a contract. No matter how I think about it, it’s right to consider the contract with that woman void.’

Triton had said he would find and eliminate Echidna. If he dealt with Echidna now that she had entered his castle…. Perhaps as he said, she could be freed from the contract with the witch. But before that, one thing.

“Echidna, what exactly did you do to my sister?”

Echidna, who had been cackling, suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Livia.

At that moment, cracks appeared across Letis’s mask that she was wearing. Though that sight was incredibly grotesque, like flesh splitting and falling away, Livia didn’t avert her gaze.

Echidna said with a grin.

“Ah, your sister… I don’t know what method was used, but the one who killed my father who was guarding the underworld and took her away, you mean your sister?”

Echidna’s father? Then… could that old man have been Chrysaor?

Livia recalled the old man she had met in the underworld. Though he had seemed to be particularly close with Echidna, he had said he wasn’t sent by her.

‘Specifically, he said it was half right and half wrong.’

Then did that mean not that Echidna had sent him, but that he had been waiting there for Livia whom Echidna would send….

Echidna, who had been quietly observing Livia’s expression, spoke with a chilling laugh as if she had read her thoughts.

“Don’t worry. I’m not devastated by my father’s death, as I don’t have such great affection to be so attached to family like you people. Still, finding him when I had hidden him so carefully was truly remarkable. How did you do it?”

“……”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to answer anyway, so never mind. More importantly…. You asked what I did to your sister?”