CH 29

“Y-You can’t do that!”

Ariel shouted as though she was about to cry, but even that was like the clear sound of a bell.

Ophelia quietly listened to the conversation between the two, but she suddenly wondered.

“But Sante, what kind of punishment is that?”

“Ah, it’s a punishment for mermaids. But since you’re hearing it for the first time, I know it’s a bit strange.”

The punishment itself was indescribably cruel. After getting the death penalty, they would be tied to a pillar so that they would never be able to have a peaceful rest. It was a punishment reserved for the sinners who had committed the most brutal crimes.

And it meant that her crime was tantamount to receiving this punishment.

“However, mermaids believe that no matter how crooked someone is, they must have at least one good side, that’s why they let it slide at first. They’re naïve creatures.”

“It’s not that we’re naïve, it’s just that you sirens don’t know any mercy!”

They both had a point. Ophelia seemed to figure out why mermaids often appeared in folktales as creatures that save humans.

And now, it made sense why Ariel sought out Ian even though she might be subjected to the highest punishment for mermaids.

‘Even now, you can also just simply give up Ian and escape.’

For not being able to do a simple thing, it was a characteristic that made mermaids easy to be taken advantage of.

Was that why Ariel gave Ophelia a scale?

Ophelia recalled the contents of the letter that the mermaid sent to Alei in her previous life.

In the letter, it was written that Ariel exchanged her voice to gain legs, and that if she couldn’t win Ian’s love, she would disperse and become seafoam.

To prevent this, Ariel’s sisters cut their hair and gave those to Alei in exchange for a dagger to stab Ian with so that Ariel could return to continue her life as a mermaid.

But Ariel couldn’t stab Ian. She chose to die in vain rather than to do that to the one she loved.

It was one of the things she wrote in the letter.

「 But how can I stab Ian? If I had to stab someone, then… 」

If Alei asked her to stab someone, Ophelia thought that it should have been herself.

‘So of course, I thought that Ariel sent the scale to kill me.’

Even though she knew that this was not just a mere dream, Ophelia felt uneasy.

Shouldn’t Ariel have hoped for Ophelia to become even more miserable?

But now that she had a second chance at life, perhaps the mermaid was trying to throw Ophelia back to that miserable reality?

She needed to confirm.

Ophelia slowly took off the ring from her fourth finger.

It was that the ring that Alei made, the one that blocked all the mana from flowing in Ophelia’s body.

“Ariel, please look at me for a second. It won’t even be long enough for you to count to eight.”

“W-What are you trying to do?”

“It’s not much. I just heard that mermaids are good at detecting magic. Don’t you feel anything familiar from me?”

“Something… familiar…?”

Ariel’s eyes, which had been wide, narrowed just then. A shallow ripple crossed the surface of the water.

“W-What kind of human are you? Why can I feel my mana on you?”

“…I guess my assumption was right.”

Ophelia answered simply.

Just as she expected, the abnormal mana collision within her body was caused by swallowing Ariel’s scale.

At the same time, this proved that the reason why she was here now was because of Ariel.

Then, there’s only one thing left.

What could she do to break off this spell?

Even if the mana had been blocked, she was still here.

Ariel was Ophelia’s only clue.

Ophelia slowly approached the protruding rock that Ariel was half hiding behind.

Ariel was sharply guarded against Ophelia, as though she was a cat with all its fur standing. But it didn’t seem like she was going to swim away.

Ariel also felt that—the fact that she was involved in something unusual right now.

If Ophelia had been a normal human, Ariel would have fled long ago, but after meeting Ophelia like this, a magical creature like her tended to break through unusual things head-on rather than escaping from it.

Magical creatures would always encounter unusual things as though they were a simple high tide, so they had also learned through experience that avoiding such unusual things would just create bigger problems later.

So she couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Ophelia leaned down and sat on the rock. With the human on the rock looking down at the mermaid who closely resembled herself, their gazes met.

“You asked why you could feel your mana from me, Ariel. If you promise to listen to me, I promise I’ll save that man.”

You’ve already given your heart—to him.

When Ophelia pointed to Ian, Ariel’s eyes shook.

“No matter how much you nurse him with extreme care, there will be many limitations as long as you’re a mermaid. If the night comes and he’s still here, his body temperature will drop. He’ll die. And I won’t be saving him then.”

“How… How can you be so cruel? Did he ever do something wrong against you?”

Something wrong? Yes.

The problem was that Ophelia was the only one who knew about it, and right now, Ian was innocent.

Ophelia answered dryly.

“Think as you please. I don’t need to explain my emotions and my actions to you.”

“You’re not close to sirens for no reason. I thought humans would at least be better than sirens.”

“That’s a compliment.”

Sante shrugged behind her. In any case, they were still waiting for Ariel’s answer.

“…Alright. I’ll do what you want, so save him.”

“Good answer.”

“What do you want to say? What the hell are you even—”

“Shh.”

Ophelia cut her off mid-sentence, raising an index finger above her lips.

The exhausted gaze that was mixed with solemnity stayed on Ariel.

Where should she start? Ophelia, who was still staring at the cat-like mermaid on high-alert, chose the words she would say. Then, she opened her lips.

“Ariel, I lived through a timeline where you had died.”

* * *

Ariel swam deeper into the sea. If she followed the currents that could be recognized even with her eyes closed, she’d be able to find the palace of the mermaids.

It was a palace that was built on a sunken island through the use of magic.

“Ariel! Did you have a good trip?”

“Welcome back, baby sister!”

Ariel’s older sisters, who were worried after sending Ariel to the surface, welcomed her back with open arms.

“Why are you so late? You said you’d be back soon. Didn’t you miss us?”

“You should have taken one seahorse with you to send us a message. It’s your birthday, but you went there and didn’t come back for a whole day.”

“Yeah, everyone was worried about you, but I’m glad you’re back safe. Did you have fun at the surface? What do you think? There’s really nothing much, right?”

“Yeah, nothing much.”

Truly.

Ariel tried hard to raise the corners of her lips. She wasn’t good at lying, so she hoped that this smile was believable.

In her head, the voice of the human she talked to a while ago kept ringing in her ears.

—Mermaids leave behind a scale when they die. Your sisters gave me yours.

A voice as quiet as the night sea, like the gentle wave of a waterfowl’s wings. It was as soft as light, something she couldn’t get rid of no matter how much she tried.

‘She was elegant.’

Her way of speaking, her voice, her gaze, her every action—everything resembled a rainbowfish’s tail fluttering in the currents.

And, she was like cold, hard coral.

She was a human who would suit the human man Ariel saved very much.

If the human man would find a mate, Ariel wanted to recommend her.

‘If I were him, I’d much prefer a human woman such as her rather than a mermaid like me.’

A woman with legs she didn’t have, beautiful clothes she never owned, a cold elegance that she couldn’t exude.

How could the two of them be so similar yet so different?

Ophelia said that after Ariel had died in that timeline, she received the scale. Then, she swallowed it and went back to the past.

That’s why she had Ariel’s mana within her.

This was exceedingly surprising to Ariel.

Even though she knew that the last scale of a mermaid was a tremendous object, she never knew that it could even turn back time.

‘Besides that, I can’t believe I died.’

It was a story that she didn’t want to believe, but she had no choice but to do so.

Within Ophelia, even though it was a much smaller amount, Ariel’s own mana was flowing.