CH 87

As Ophelia said that, she saw the mermaids’ eyes shaking.

Perhaps if this was another time, their suspicion towards Ophelia would take precedence over anything. However, as long as Ariel’s safety was at stake, the usually wise and cool-headed mermaids could not maintain their rationality.

Eventually, one of them spoke up.

“…We’ll go and bring our youngest here.”

It was the inevitable conclusion.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Ophelia finally met Ariel.

Looking thinner than she was when they last met, Ariel came up to the surface of the water, held by the arm by her sisters.

It’s true that Ariel looked a bit gaunt, but her innocent beauty still shone through. She did have an annoyed expression though.

“Just who are you making me meet at this hour anywa— Ophelia?”

“Long time no see, Ariel. How have you been?”

“No, I mean, never mind catching up with each other—what the hell are you doing here?! A lot of sharks pass by this area!”

The flustered Ariel circled around Ophelia.

The platform Ophelia had been standing on had turned into a chair she was now sitting on.

This was all thanks to the mercy of the third mermaid princess, who transformed the platform while they were waiting for Ariel to come.

“Are you all seriously being like this, Older Sisters? Dear god, a human has neither gills nor fins, yet you dragged her right in the smack middle of the ocean! You’re all being so mean!”

Ariel made a fuss about how dangerous it was in these parts of the ocean, but the very human who was caught up in this was just calm.

“Thank you for being angry on my behalf. I knew there were sharks. While waiting for you, I spotted some fins passing over the surface.”

“Oh my god… How can you be so calm? My older sisters won’t hesitate to make you shark food if they want!”

“I know mermaids aren’t fond of humans, and I know they’re only acting like this for you. It’s fine.”

Most importantly, she’s still alive, right?

When Ophelia said so with a smile on her lips, Ariel relaxed a bit after seeing her demeanor.

“If that’s how you put it, then I wouldn’t be angry either. But that doesn’t change the fact that my sisters did a bad thing. I’ll make sure to say something to them later.”

“I’d be happy if you did that for me.”

This experience of being led to the middle of the vast sea out of the blue was certainly not so pleasant.

“Even so, it’s all thanks to your older sisters that I can talk to you like this, so don’t be too hard on them.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it. Huu, I thought the one who came here to see me was the siren because it’s in the middle of the ocean.”

Ariel said this as she soothed her chest.

Just until a while ago, Ariel was still in the middle of her hunger strike.

“Youngest Princess, are you sure you don’t want to eat anything?”

“It’s been a few days already. The other Princesses will be worried.”

“An order has been proclaimed for Your Highness to eat.”

The colorful fishes there hovered around Ariel and implored her with desperate voices.

Each fish tried to persuade their master by pleading or acting cute.

“I told you already. I won’t eat until they give me the permission I want. Leave me alone.”

Unfortunately, Ariel was obstinate.

She hadn’t left the palace of the mermaid princesses for a few days now, ever since she had been caught meeting Sante.

The reason being, of course, how extreme her older sisters were.

“Ariel, how could you even think of going to the surface without your sisters?”

“I’ve told you time and again that you shouldn’t meet those sirens!”

“Why are you trying to leave the ocean when this is where you’re born and raised? Not a single mermaid who’s gone to land became happy!”

Of course, Ariel’s sisters loved Ariel. They desperately tried to stop Ariel, knowing that going to land was the same as suicide.

‘That’s why I was planning to secretly leave alone.’

Every time her sisters tried to dissuade her with such sorrowful expressions, Ariel grew upset.

Because she herself knew that the reasons for which they were dissuading her were perfectly sensible.

“Ariel, do you hate the ocean? If we let you go ashore, we may never see each other again.”

Even her oldest sister said these while the ends of her eyebrows drooped down.

“It’s not that I hate the ocean. It’s just nice being out of the water.”

Ariel still hadn’t changed her mind.

“Sister, while I was out of the water, I saw humans. They were having a party on a ship. The humans were using fire.”

They cooked their food over fire, and they were dressed in such clothes.

Their hair remained dry, and as much as the freedom she’s been deprived of underwater, they were as free as they could be.

“I want to live like that. I want to wear nice clothes and travel to so many places. I don’t think it’s wrong of me to want that.”

But every time she explained, the answer was still the same.

“No, Ariel. It’s wrong. Isn’t it the same as telling a fish to fly and a bird to swim?”

For a mermaid to dream of land? Absurd. A fish out of water was inevitably doomed to death.

Ariel’s older sisters continued to repeat this.

In the end, as they were unable to settle their differences, Ariel began a hunger strike.

When trying to get her older sisters’ permission, she had no other bargaining chip better than this, but this act also expressed just how much she wanted this.

‘That siren said he knows a mage who can take me to land.’

If only she could just get in touch with that mage, then she could still also live in the waters, too.

And maybe—just maybe—if it was really fated to be, then she’d also be able to meet that man again.

That faint glimmer of hope was the only thing holding Ariel back from ending this dream.

She had been starving herself for days.

And eventually, her older sisters raised the white flag.

“Ariel, if you really want to go to land, then you’ll have only one chance.”

“What chance?”

“There’s someone here who came to see you. Talk to them first, then we can talk about this again. Whether you still want this or if you don’t anymore.”

As Ariel’s sisters said this, they looked as tired and miserable as Ariel.

They were afraid that if she’d be able to use this opportunity well, then they might truly lose their beloved youngest sister forever.

“Ariel, whatever choice you make, know that we love you.”

Her sisters then led Ariel up to the surface.

And what awaited Ariel there was an unexpected person.

It was a human woman who strangely felt guilty towards Ariel, saying that Ariel had to die because of her.

This happened when they first met, but Ariel had a weird feeling about the human woman back then. And now that they had met again in the middle of the ocean, that feeling doubled in intensity.

What kind of human could sit on a chair made of water in the middle of the dark ocean without one single ray of light present?

Ariel’s mouth gaped wide open when she saw the human emerge from a siren’s wings where she had been hiding, but this sight right now was even more shocking than that.

And perhaps because the human had swallowed one of her scales, Ariel felt a strange connection with her.

Completely confused, Ariel asked.

“How on earth do my sisters know you?”

“I believe there’s a misunderstanding. To be more exact, I met your sisters only to come and meet you.”

“To meet me? But I— I told you back then, I can’t help you.”

“I know. I’m not here to ask you about that now.”

Ophelia lightly dismissed her worries.

It had concerned the magic that was within Ophelia’s body right now after she had swallowed a mermaid scale.

Ophelia hadn’t found a way to solve it yet, but she decided not to be too hasty here.

There was one reason.

Because a few days ago, Ophelia learned a little more about the magic behind a mermaid scale.

“A mermaid scale reflects the wishes of a mermaid, right? And the magic of the scale that continues to cling to me reflects my wishes.”

This made everything simpler.

“When I swallowed the scale, I thought that you wished for my death. But now I know it wasn’t.”

What Ariel wanted wasn’t Ophelia’s death.

Ophelia herself wished for everything that happened between her and Ian never transpired at all.

And that was actually how things were going right now. All because the mermaid scale had sent her back in time.

Of course, there were conditions attached for the spell to reach its completion.

“After I met you, I became sure of it.”

You wished for my happiness.

t/n: i… i was fine until that last sentence… and then the tears just started streaming down ㅠㅠ