My people, the merfolk, were being hunted to extinction. To save them, I came ashore with a single purpose: to find Adrian, my childhood sweetheart, now one of the world's most brilliant scientists, and bind him to me once more. He still loved me. I could feel it in his touch, a desperate, all-consuming passion. For seven days and seven nights, he held me, refusing to let go, lost in a haze of what I thought was rediscovered love. I woke from a dream of bliss to a living nightmare. A searing pain, and the acrid smell of burning flesh as a bucket of acid was poured over my head. Adrian watched me scream, a cruel smile twisting his lips. "So, the immortal merfolk feel pain after all," he sneered. "But this? This is nothing. A pittance compared to the pain of losing my parents—a loss your kind inflicted on me." "This is just the beginning," he hissed, his voice a blade of ice. "You won't leave this place until you tell me where they are." For two years, he held me captive. I was forced to watch as he married another woman. He used the lives of my people as leverage, a chain I could never break. He would cut open my chest to retrieve my Heart-Pearl, using its life-giving essence to nourish his new bride. Adrian shackled my ankle to his bedpost, forcing me to stay awake all night, cleaning up the used condoms from his lovemaking. I had to listen to their passion while enduring my own agony, forced to dance on knives to lull his wife to sleep. When she became pregnant, he began to carve flesh from my body, feeding the mermaid meat to his wife as a supplement. He hated me to the very marrow of his bones. And yet, each time I hovered on the brink of death, it was he who would gently spoon medicine into my mouth. "You're only this defiant because you know I love you," he'd whisper, his torment a mirror of my own. "Be a good girl, Coralia. Just tell me where my parents are." I silently endured his contradictory love. But I wouldn't have to keep his secret for much longer. A mermaid who remains on land for three years without returning to the sea is doomed to die. And my deadline was in three days. … Three in the morning. The cellar door splintered open, kicked in with brutal force. I was hauled to my feet by my hair, and a series of stinging slaps snapped my head back and forth until my lip split and I tasted blood. Adrian’s personal assistant dragged me out by my legs, his voice a low growl of contempt. "The mistress is hurt, and you have the gall to sleep so soundly?" The salty sea air was thick with the scent of blood. A trail of it led directly to Adrian’s bedroom. He saw the bloody path I left on the floor and his brow furrowed in distaste. "Lilah's been injured. Go and heal her." I lifted my gaze, my eyes falling first on Lilah’s flushed, dewy face, then to her swollen belly— SLAP! The blow from Adrian sent my head ringing. He loomed over me, his voice dripping with venom. "I told you to heal her. Are your eyes even worthy of looking at her?" I immediately lowered my head. "I'm sorry." Slowly, I crawled to the bedside. Only then did I learn the cause of the commotion. Lilah had woken in the night to feed the piranhas and one had nipped her finger. Over the past few years, I had grown accustomed to Lilah’s various "illnesses." I had done this countless times. With a practiced, weary motion, I pulled aside the rags I wore as a shirt. My own sharp fingernails pierced the skin over my heart. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I fought back a cry, digging deep to extract the shimmering Heart-Pearl to heal Lilah. Through the haze of my pain, I heard Adrian’s cold voice. "It’s no use playing the victim, Coralia." In his eyes, this was just an act. Because a mermaid's blood could also heal. But my blood... my blood no longer had that power. Lilah awoke with a soft cough, and Adrian immediately rushed to her side, gathering her into his arms. "Does it still hurt?" Lilah bit her lip, her eyes darting to my open wound. "Darling, I don't know why, but ever since I got pregnant, the smell of blood just makes me want to vomit." At her words, Adrian kicked me away without a second thought. "Get out and stand guard!" I crawled out of the room, listening to the tender murmur of his voice behind me. "Lilah, my love, you haven't been sleeping well. Is the baby keeping you up? Let me listen." My heart, which I thought had turned to stone, clenched painfully. The wound on my chest, not yet healed, began to bleed anew. A maid appeared, dumping a bucket of foul-smelling, fishy water over me. Her face was a mask of disgust. "You filthy monster. Aren't you supposed to heal? Why are you still bleeding? You're disgusting!" She threw a mop at my head. It struck my temple, and I flinched from the sharp pain. "Clean this floor. If you don't, I'm telling Mr. Hayes!" For the rest of the night, I was on my hands and knees, mopping. Through the thin walls, I could hear the sounds of their entangled bodies, the soft moans of pleasure. A single tear escaped and traced a path through the grime on my cheek. Adrian's look of utter revulsion was burned into my mind. Soon, I thought. Soon I will be free. Even immortal mermaids can die. Three days left. … By the time the last drop of blood was scrubbed from the floor, my wound had finally sealed itself. A new day was dawning at the seaside manor. Adrian emerged from the bedroom, his neck dotted with fresh, red marks. His brow furrowed as he saw the blood-soaked mop. "Why was there so much blood?" I offered no defense, just bowed my head. "I'm sorry. I'll dispose of this filth immediately." Nearby, a maid was loudly trimming flowers in the garden, her voice carrying on the morning air. "You won't believe it, but that monster actually asked me how to make a man happy. Oh my god, is she trying to seduce Mr. Hayes?" "Heh, of course she is. The little tramp. Does she really think she could ever hope to be Mrs. Hayes? If it weren't for her, Mr. Hayes's parents would never have disappeared." I wanted to flee, but Adrian was faster. He kicked the mop aside and dragged me toward his laboratory. He strapped me into the electric chair, the one that could deliver up to a hundred thousand volts. My head swam with nausea. Adrian lounged in a nearby chair, crossing his legs and holding the remote. His face was a thundercloud. "I almost forgot. It's been a month since your last interrogation." "Tell me," he demanded, "where did they take my parents?" He hadn’t even pressed the button yet, but my hands were already clawing at the armrests, a frantic, reflexive terror. My fingers bled. "I don't know." The words had barely left my lips before a hundred thousand volts surged through me. My body convulsed in a blinding scream. A hot liquid gushed down my legs. The first jolt ended, but I was still twitching. Adrian shot out of his chair, his jaw clenched. "I'll ask you again." I coughed up a mouthful of blood. Every organ in my body screamed in agony. "I won't tell you." I couldn't. It was a secret that protected them. This time, Adrian didn't press the button. Instead, he had one of his assistants bring him a small pouch. Inside were the few Heart-Pearls I had managed to hide in a crack in the floorboards. My eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing?" "Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm about to do." A cruel smile played on his lips as he tossed one of the pearls to the floor and crushed it under his heel. My bloodcurdling shriek was music to his ears. "Was that your father's? Or your mother's?" he laughed. "I hear the only way to truly kill one of you is to shatter your Heart-Pearl. Otherwise, you just keep coming back." "You're a stubborn race… still not talking?" My fingernails had broken, exposing the raw bone beneath. Tears of blood streamed from my eyes. "Adrian, I hate you." His response was a kiss so brutal I thought he would bite through my tongue. His kiss, brutal as it was, sent a jolt of memory through me, a phantom echo of a time before the hate. My body was growing weaker by the day, and I had almost forgotten how deeply we once loved each other. The merfolk have always been drawn to humans, often taking human form to live and love among them. I was three when I first met Adrian. The first time he saw me, he looked up at his mother and asked, "Mommy, is this the bride you found for me?" She had laughed and tapped him gently on the head. Our families became inseparable. We were always together. Then, when I was fifteen, humans began to hunt and drive out the merfolk. We had to leave. But sometimes, I would sneak ashore to see him. When people asked who I was, I was about to say I was his sister. But he would always correct them, his voice serious and proud. "She's my girlfriend. And my future wife, Coralia." That was the moment my heart truly became his. Later, a pact was made between the leaders of the merfolk and a group of elite human scientists. The envoys for this transaction were my parents, and Adrian’s. And then, Adrian’s parents vanished. I was the prime suspect. He hated me. I knew that. But I couldn't tell him the truth. Years later, Adrian became a brilliant scientist himself. And I, for the sake of my people, had to get close to him again. So many times, I wanted to tell him everything. But I couldn't. It didn't matter. The waiting was almost over. Adrian's fingers trailed fire across my skin. Suddenly, he stopped, staring at the blood on his hands. I looked down and saw that all my old wounds—the places where he'd cut me for flesh and blood—were beginning to reopen. A numb smile touched my lips. "I'm dying, Adrian." It was as if I'd spoken a forbidden word. He went berserk, grabbing a bottle of pills and forcing them down my throat. His voice was like a glacier. "You don't get to die without my permission." He unlocked my shackles only to drag me to a basin of medicinal fluid, forcing my head under the surface. I held my breath, watching him through the stinging liquid. His eyes were bloodshot, his breathing ragged and heavy, as if he were the one suffocating. My face turned blue, my lungs burning. He held me under until the potent healing pills took effect and my wounds stopped bleeding. Only then did he yank me up by my hair. The moment I could breathe again, he shackled me once more. He chained me to the bedpost like a dog. Lilah, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire, curled up against him. Her gaze shifted to me, a strange and venomous light in her eyes. Her red lips formed the words silently, a private, vicious promise. "Coralia, I'm going to kill you." … In the twilight of a half-sleep, I felt a gentle hand stroking my hair. A tear fell from the person's eye, landing on my lips. It was salty. "Coralia, if none of this had ever happened… wouldn't that have been wonderful?" Adrian? Was he… crying? I struggled to open my eyes, but there was no one there. Adrian’s assistant was tugging on the rope tied to my shackle, dragging me out into the manor’s courtyard. Merfolk despise the sun, especially a dying one like me. Lilah smiled sweetly when she saw me. "Coralia, are you hungry?" Adrian was holding her. When I didn’t answer, he kicked me. The blow landed squarely on a wound that was about to burst open. Blood instantly soaked through the fabric of my clothes. Agitated, Adrian refused to even spare me a glance. He tossed the coat from his lounge chair over me. "Lilah can't stand the sight of blood. Cover yourself!" Lilah’s eyes flickered, and then she smiled again, tossing a chunk of raw meat and a handful of dirt-caked vegetables in front of me. Her voice was like honey. "Go on, Coralia. Eat." For some reason, I looked up at Adrian. Why did I ever think he felt sorry for me? I lowered my head and began to gnaw on a muddy cabbage leaf, my fingers digging into the earth in humiliation. Lilah’s concerned voice floated over. "Coralia, why aren't you eating the meat? You need to eat meat to be healthy." Without thinking, I tore off a piece. My sense of smell was nearly gone, a side effect of my body's decay. I couldn't tell what kind of meat it was. "Is it good? Mermaid meat is very nutritious, you know!" I froze, my hand halfway to my mouth. I stared at Lilah. Her smile widened, and a wave of nausea roiled in my stomach. "Ugh—" "Ah! My shoes!" The vomit had splattered on the heel of her shoe. The assistant, without needing to be told, grabbed me by the collar and slapped my tear-streaked face. Adrian, despite his obsessive cleanliness, knelt and began wiping Lilah’s shoe with his own handkerchief. He was so gentle, so meticulous. I remembered how, after he'd used my body for his own release, he wouldn’t even bother to clean me. His displeasure was a cold front. "Ungrateful bitch. If you don't want to eat it, we'll feed it to the dogs!" Lilah gave a weak, magnanimous smile. "Coralia's just not hungry. We shouldn't force her." "Why don't you let her sit with me while I paint? As a way to make up for it." Adrian sighed, a flicker of something like affection in his eyes. "You're too kind, you know that?" He shot me a cold glare, about to say more, but his phone rang. He whispered something loving to Lilah, then bent down and gently kissed her pregnant belly. A strange ache bloomed in my chest. After he left, Lilah's expression turned frigid. "I don't like being watched when I paint. Go wait in the basement." I said nothing and went. A maid tossed several small buckets at my feet. Her voice was a pinched, condescending whine. "Hey, the mistress needs red for her painting, and there's no red more beautiful than blood. Fill these three buckets. Now." A rusty razor blade was thrown at me. "Use this." I mumbled, "It's rusty." The maid spat on the floor. "What do you think you are, a princess? A monster that can't die doesn't deserve anything good." She crossed her arms, watching me. I picked up the blade without another word and sliced open my wrist. Hot, red blood dripped into the bucket. I didn't stop until my body was wracked with chills and my lips were blue, the three buckets finally full. I leaned against the wall, dazed. Two maids passed by, carrying laundry and gossiping. "The mistress's paintings are so beautiful. It's a shame the materials are so hard to find. She had to kill several mermaids just for a tiny bit of Heart-Pearl dust." "And some of the blood isn't pure. Monsters are just monsters, not like us humans." The hair on my body stood on end. I pushed myself up and staggered toward the courtyard. The first thing I heard was the high-pitched wail of agony. Lilah’s feet were surrounded by the mangled corpses of merfolk. She had her foot on a young mermaid’s tail as she carved out a translucent Heart-Pearl, only to crush it under her heel. I felt my own heart shatter with it. Lilah stood against the light and waved at me, a malicious curve to her lips. "Coralia, I just learned something today! Every Heart-Pearl is a different color!" "Unfortunately, I only want white ones. Why don't you help me? Dig out all of their Heart-Pearls—"
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393561", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel