Amphitrite’s cool gaze as she posed the question was quite sharp, but underlying it was infinite trust and faith in Triton.

Despite having such fulfilled eyes toward her child, the mother said she didn’t understand love. Perhaps the love she spoke of was different from the affection one feels for blood relatives or the tender feelings one has for companions.

Like the heart of that mermaid who gave her voice to a witch and obtained legs just to be by his side for a moment, it must be such an intense feeling that one would burn themselves even without receiving the same feelings in return.

‘Love?’

Triton quietly rolled the single word his mother had thrown out around in his mouth.

Love. Love. Love….

Though the word that wrapped softly around his tongue felt very unfamiliar, it wasn’t awkward. Revenge, joy, delight, hatred…. What difference was there between these and this thing called love?

It was just one of the common emotions felt by anyone with a soul, and part of the poison coating Eros’s arrowheads. A very powerful poison that even Eros, the owner of the arrows, couldn’t neutralize.

Triton recalled stories of gods who had fallen in love.

Among them, who had truly loved?

Zeus’s love was too easy, Poseidon’s love was persistent, and Hades’s love was violent. Yet they called these different forms of action ‘love.’

Yes. Even such seemingly frivolous raw emotions were love.

Love….

Triton rolled that word on his tongue once more, adding another name to it.

Livia.

The two words that blended softly melted into Triton’s mouth as if becoming one. It wasn’t awkward. It had a not unpleasant sound.

Then am I in love with that woman?

Well… is that what this is? There were too many questionable parts to affirm it, and too many unclear corners to deny it.

Livia, what are you to me?

Simply a temptress who makes me feel lust? Or a challenger of my trials who happened to roll in?

Whatever she was, there was no doubt that Livia’s existence had sprouted like a splinter in one corner of his heart.

However, conversely, if he imagined her looking at him with love-struck eyes like other humans….

Light flashed like lightning in Triton’s mind.

A silent thunderstorm passed through him.

Over his slowly closing and opening vision, Livia’s recent image remained like an afterimage.

“It’s a wonderful taste, Triton.”

That moment when those eyes that had always been busy glaring at him fiercely curved brilliantly…. That moment when they spent meaningless time sharing heat all night and filling each other’s hungry stomachs with fruit.

At that time, you smiled at me. For the first time. With wide-open eyes containing me, you even sent a playful glance for a moment. Like ordinary humans dealing with lovers, you burst into laughter in my arms.

How did I feel then…. It was quite good, I think.

A strange fullness welled up as if something great had been achieved just from one laugh.

An urgency that he alone should see this made him anxious.

Those eyes should contain only me, that body temperature should be felt only by me, and exchanging that saliva should be with me alone.

Livia’s hair fluttering in the wind was more dazzling than the blazing sun, and that laughter ringing through the moistureless air was clear and enchanting like a harp performance.

On land, among soil and air and sunlight, the woman shone more beautifully and revealed her enchanting self.

However, Triton found this extremely irritating.

The sea should have been what made her shine the most. He hoped that what Livia missed most would be the sea.

You should have been happy by my side, and sad by my side. Making you laugh or cry should have been my role alone.

Yes.

A deep and intense possessiveness that he had never felt before boiled in Triton’s heart.

Though his face showed a gentle smile, inside he was riddled with dirty and sticky desire and possessiveness, considering how to block off everything around her.

Indeed, he needed to drag her into the sea.

There were too many gods who could reach her outside the water. Then how many humans must there be.

If this pathetic ecstasy, this unfamiliar and unreasonable desire is love….

If this sticky, violent, persistent and willing heart is love.

Yes, I would not be remiss in daring to call it love for you.

Though I can’t be certain yet…. But why is certainty needed?

If I want her by my side, I just need to keep her there, and if I don’t want to show her to anyone else, I just need to confine her by my side.

And so, as I keep her by my side until I tire of her, perhaps there will come a moment when I become certain.

It wouldn’t be too late to draw conclusions then.

His vision became clear as if a lighthouse had been erected in his foggy mind. Everything became lucid, like watching the western sky gradually brighten.

I will possess that woman.

I will remove anything that might interfere with that and possess her completely. Since she’s such a lovely thing that has caught my eye, I’ll cherish her until I tire of her.

No, even if I someday tire of that woman, she was mine. Even if I grew tired of her, the mere thought of another god or human standing beside Livia was intolerable.

So before he could tire of her, he thought he should make her immortal so she couldn’t escape even through death.

Even if he had to steal the nectar and ambrosia that the Olympian gods try so hard to hide… perhaps, even if he had to sacrifice something for it….

As his thoughts stretched that far, Triton belatedly realized he had fallen into too deep contemplation in front of his mother.

When he raised his head to look at the goddess, Amphitrite was gazing at him with a quiet smile.

He noticed that many meanings were contained in the tip of his mother’s seductively curved lips.

“Seeing how you, who was always certain about everything, have no answer, it seems there’s no room for doubt anymore.”

The goddess muttered in a calm voice as if this was what she had expected, not surprised at all. However, undisguised concern showed in her eyes as she gazed at Triton.

“People often say gods are great and humans are foolish, but that is wrong.”

“……”

“Gods merely appear great because they have few occasions to make mistakes, and humans merely appear foolish because they have much to lose even from small mistakes, making them hasty.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, Mother.”

“I’m saying that gods can be just as foolish, my son.”

Triton stared at the goddess with an amused face. Wasn’t foolishness something said only of humans who make mistakes? He was not one to ruin things with small mistakes.

“If humans have hastiness, gods have the trap of arrogance.”

Amphitrite added with a smile, as if she could clearly see what Triton was thinking.

“Why do you think the mermaid who loved a human died? Was it because she sacrificed herself for the human as is widely known?”

Amphitrite’s gentle voice suddenly turned cold.

“No. That beautiful mermaid was weak. She who had only received love from everyone met someone who didn’t love her for the first time. What was that single rejection that she became frustrated and gave up on her future? She didn’t have the courage to face the worst ending that her noble love would meet.”

Triton quietly gazed at Amphitrite, trying to grasp her intentions. When he showed through silence that he was listening attentively to her words, she quietly continued.

“I would have been different, Triton.”

Amphitrite’s eyes sank darkly as she stared into space.

“I would have made that human mine somehow. No matter what methods I had to use, I would have surely made him mine and kept him by my side. Made him mine, completely mine!”

Fierce thunder raged in the goddess’s eyes.

The blackened sea surges greedily, swallowing islands and ships. As if nothing loved could be let go, as if only satisfied when everything was put into its belly.

Her eyes turned to the magical circle Triton had brought. Though her glinting eyes were fierce, her lips curved up leisurely.

“That is a spell that will lead to self-destruction unless you stab the heart of the one you love.”

“…Self-destruction?”

“Like the mermaid did, if she cannot stab your heart, that child will eventually turn to sea foam.”

Triton’s eyes twitched at Amphitrite’s words. He knew his heart had to be split, but he hadn’t thought that if that failed, Livia would turn to sea foam.

It was a much more vicious spell than he had thought.

“Triton, I don’t want you to embrace the bones of the human you hold in your heart after they die, or to become immortal yet not truly alive. We are different from those promiscuous ones up there. We want only one companion for life. That is a trait and curse engraved in our blood and flesh.”

Triton also agreed with Amphitrite’s words.

How else could it be explained that no one had wanted him for such a long time? And that his body, which had not stirred for such a long time, grew hot only for one….

“No rock can block the waves. The same goes for fate and destiny. Your soul has already chosen its companion, and no one can stop that. Never let go of what you want.”

Amphitrite declared fiercely.

Triton’s eyes sank heavily as if inheriting her gaze.

Smirking, he lightly waved his hand and turned the stone engraved with the witch’s spell to powder. Even with such a wicked spell cast, Echidna’s end would be little different from this.

Amphitrite was right. He needed to make his human more thoroughly and perfectly his own.

Not just that fragrant and soft flesh, but also that strong soul and fierce spirit.

‘Completely mine….’

To make you completely mine, what acts might I be capable of?

Could I perhaps even tear out my own heart and offer it to you? For my small and beautiful human who no longer appears shabby?

…Yes, if it comes to that.

Then I would have to acknowledge it.

That this sticky and dirty emotion is certainly love too.