"Elysia, this is the feeling of your hometown. You must like it!" Victor's voice was filled with innocence as he dug a castle in the sand, his childlike joy evident in every motion.
"Elysia, I suddenly want to build a palace like this," he continued, his eyes sparkling with hope. "Then you, me, and our children will live in it together. Will you be happy?"
I looked into his sincere eyes, and for a moment, I was shaken. My resolve to leave faltered, the vulnerability in his gaze tugging at something deep within me.
"Victor, I suddenly want to eat candied haws from the human world..." I whispered, the words slipping from my lips before I even realized it.
His face lit up, his joy uncontainable. "Okay, I'll get you whatever Elysia wants! You wait for me here..."
As soon as he left, the atmosphere shifted. A strong gust of wind swept across the beach, and suddenly, the sea bloomed with countless red spider lilies—enchanting, otherworldly flowers that only belonged to the underworld. The sight was mesmerizing and eerie.
From the sea, Seraphina emerged slowly, her steps deliberate, her gaze fixed on me with an air of superiority. She smiled, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"Did you see it?" she taunted. "Are you curious why the red spider lilies, which only grow in the underworld, would bloom on the sea?"
She paused dramatically, letting the question linger in the air. "These were all planted by Victor himself! Just because I said I wanted to see the red spider lilies forever, he used his blood as a guide to set up a barrier here and planted them one by one."
A cold laugh escaped her lips as she continued, "How ridiculous, right? You were just hesitating, weren't you? Just for a moment, you wondered if he truly loved you. But it's too late. He’s already changed his mind."
Her words were like daggers, each sentence digging deeper into my heart. On one hand, he had made an unswerving oath to me, but on the other, he was working tirelessly for another woman.
"Shocked, right? Why don’t you say anything?" Seraphina’s smile widened, her voice dripping with mockery. "Oh, I forgot... you’re mute now, aren’t you?"
She removed her clothes slowly, revealing the marks on her body, the traces of their affair—of their intimacy. "What should I do?" she continued, her voice laced with venom. "Your good husband seems to like my body very much."
Her smile was cruel. "He said that the sound of my passion is the only thing he truly enjoys. He said that being with you is like a pool of stagnant water, no matter how much passion you put in, it’s always boring."
I felt a wave of nausea rise in my chest. Her words felt like poison, each syllable a reminder of my own inadequacy.
"He also said that he’s slept with you for ten thousand years and never once felt the thrill of ecstasy."
Her gaze darkened as she took a step closer, her words cutting deeper. "You don’t know yet, do you? During the three days and three nights when you were unconscious, he copied Buddhist scriptures and lingered with me in the study every night."
She let out a satisfied laugh, her eyes gleaming with malice. "The whole underworld, the Sansheng Stone Naihe Bridge on the Azurebrook River, and even your bed—there are traces of our love everywhere."
I couldn’t speak. The anger surged within me, so powerful that I could feel the blood rising in my chest. My hands trembled as I gestured furiously, trying to communicate my frustration and pain.
"No matter how you are, you can't get on—" I spat out, my voice shaking with fury. "The rat in the gutter who can't get on the stage!"
Seraphina laughed loudly, her body shaking with mirth as if my words were nothing more than a game to her. "Elysia, you are so gullible!" she mocked, stepping closer with a triumphant grin.
"You are the one who can't get on the stage!" she sneered. "If you don’t believe me, look!"
With a flick of her hand, she cast a spell, and the Three-Life Stone appeared in the air, shimmering with dark energy. In front of me, the place where my and Victor’s names had once been engraved was now marked with "Seraphina and Victor."
The shock hit me like a physical blow. My name, my connection with him, had been erased. The handwriting on the stone—the same one I had copied from Victor for thousands of years—was now a painful mockery of everything I thought we had shared.
Her words were like arrows, sharp and cruel, piercing my heart. The warmth of a thousand years of love turned to nothing in an instant, shattered like illusory bubbles.
"Guess," Seraphina taunted, her voice dripping with malice. "Between you and me, who will he choose?"
The question hung in the air, mocking me, as if it were already answered. But before I could respond, Victor appeared, running toward me with a bag of candied haws in his hands, his face alight with excitement.
"Elysia, I just made it. Try it..." he said, breathless, his eyes full of hope.
Before he could finish, the sound of a stone crackling with energy interrupted him. He paused, his expression turning to one of urgency as he received a message.
"The people of the demon clan are entangled with me, help..." The words were brief, but they drained the color from his face.
"Elysia, there’s an emergency in the underworld," he said, his voice filled with anxiety. "I’ll go deal with it first."
I reached out and grabbed his hand, my grip tight, desperate. "What if I want you to stay?" I asked, my voice breaking as I tried to hold him back.
He pried my fingers apart one by one, his expression conflicted but firm. "Elysia, be good, I’ll be back soon."
But before I could respond, Seraphina appeared at my side, holding out a sound transmission stone.
"You left your beloved to accompany me," she said, her voice dripping with mockery. "Aren't you afraid she'll be jealous, angry, and leave?"
Victor’s face darkened as he turned to look at her, but she wasn’t done. "What are you afraid of?" Seraphina continued, her smile cold and triumphant. "She’s lost her singing voice and severed her ties with the mermaids. There’s no place for her in this world anymore."
Her words struck like a dagger to my chest. How could he say that? Wasn’t this the same Victor who, ten thousand years ago, had promised me, "Elysia, from now on, I am your home"?
Tears fell from my eyes and turned into stones on the ground, reflecting the storm that raged both outside and within. The sea swelled with fury, and the Gaze of the Frozen Veil deep in the ocean finally opened completely, a chilling symbol of the vast emptiness I felt.
Each step I took toward the glacier was resolute, a silent declaration of my decision to leave. I knew I couldn’t go back, not with the weight of betrayal hanging over me.
On the beach, a single conch lay abandoned in the sand, an echo of the past, a symbol of what we once shared. I didn’t look back.
