His Favorite Poison Comes Back To Collect

I'm a mermaid who comes from the deep sea. In order to help alleviate Justin Gunter's cutaneous desiccation disorder, I decide to move to the shore and marry him.

Justin is cold and aloof toward me in front of everyone. But during late nights, he greedily accepts the tears of pleasure that flow down my cheeks while making love to me.

I thought Justin is the type who doesn't know how to proclaim his reliance on me. So, I'm willing to scour all the seas just for the rare treasures that are needed just so he can live life normally like everyone else.

But when Justin's first love, Ruby Lister, is afflicted with the same disease, he actually pins me down and instructs the doctor to carve my tail apart.

"I won't let anything bad happen to Ruby! Rumors claim that a mermaid's flesh can cure this disease! It's your turn to atone for your sins, Celeste!

"If it wasn't for you using your voice to seduce me, Ruby wouldn't have gotten so mad that she fell sick! You owe her this much, so you must be the one paying the price!"

I struggle against Justin's grasp, only for him to break my spine instead. Then, he locks me up in an empty glass tank.

While I'm suffering from intense pain brought to me by dehydration, I'm forced to watch Justin and Ruby sleep with each other.

My scales begin falling off one by one. That's how I die from the excruciating pain.

When I get reborn, Justin's mother sobs loudly while begging me to save him with my tears. But this time, my expression remains stony.

"The merfolk only saves those who are fated to meet them. Your son and I aren't bound by the threads of fate at all. You should prepare for his funeral instead of begging me to save him."

Celeste's Point-of-View

Justin Gunter pinned Ruby Lister against the reef, making love as if they were entirely alone. Ruby's moans came in waves, each louder than the last.

They were still the scumbag and slut who had no shame whatsoever, just like in my past life.

It was then that Justin's mother, Diana Harrison, dropped to her knees before me and begged. "I'm begging you, Ms. Merrow! Justin is my one and only son! You have to save him! If this disease of his can't be cured, his whole life will be ruined, Ms. Merrow!"

It could be said that the Gunter family had consulted numerous leading specialists to treat Justin's cutaneous desiccation disorder, but no one had been able to cure him, which ultimately led them to seek me out.

Justin suddenly came rushing toward me before I could even say anything, radiating a chilling presence. Ruby followed him, her face still bearing a lingering flush.

"You don't have to beg her, Mom! She's nothing but a fraud!" Justin barked as he pulled Diana to her feet and glared at me. "There's nothing seriously wrong with me. She made it all up! She just wants to get her hands on the Gunter family's fortune and force me to marry her!"

Justin never showed up at this moment in my past life, so there was only one possible explanation—he had also been reborn.

I thought of the agonizing pain from my past life, where my fish tail was sliced off and my backbone was snapped, making my breathing tremble instantly.

I lifted my gaze toward Justin, whose skin was so severely dried and cracked that blood was seeping out, and said, "You're absolutely right—there's no such thing as cutaneous desiccation disorder. You're merely suffering from an ordinary skin condition."

I then glanced at Ruby, who was standing behind him, and added, "You two look like a perfect match to me, so there's no need for you to waste your time on a fraud like me."

Upon hearing that, Diana shot a fierce glare at Ruby.

Justin didn't realize that his first love was completely at odds with her pure, innocent outward appearance. Ruby contracted some sort of strange disease, clearly brought on by her promiscuity.

Justin, however, trusted Ruby implicitly. He laid the blame for her sickness on me and used my life to make up for what he owed Ruby.

I was quite fortunate to be given a second chance at life, so I no longer wished to be bound to him in even the slightest way.

Upon noticing my cold and detached expression, Justin suddenly grabbed my wrist and asked, "What are you up to now, Celeste? I'm warning you—even without your so-called tricks, I can live perfectly fine. I will only love Ruby in this life, so you'd better not think you can deceive me again with your lies!"

I had ventured into the deep sea in search of rare treasures in my past life, just so he could live a normal life. He never knew how I treated him, though. He believed Ruby's claims when she caught a bizarre disease and ordered a doctor to slice open my fish tail to cure her.

Ruby's condition never improved, so he concluded that the idea of mermaids being able to cure cutaneous desiccation disorder was completely fraudulent.

He was convinced that all I wanted was to marry him and get my hands on his family fortune, so he ordered his men to snap my spine and lock me in a dry glass tank, leaving me to die in agonizing pain.

Justin's skin was already dull and bore a grayish-white hue at that moment, a clear indication that he was completely spent and at the end of his rope.

"Your business with Ruby has nothing to do with me," I stated flatly. I no longer had any desire to meddle in his disease or his relationship with Ruby.

Upon seeing how indifferent I was, Justin furrowed his brow. "Didn't you claim you'd sacrifice your own tail for my sake? How can you willingly give up your place as my wife to Ruby?"