By the time you saw the sunlit surface of the sea again, it was still daytime.
Along the way, Adonis had been far too clingy, causing the tolerance you’d developed from finding a seemingly similar being to gradually diminish.

The sky was azure.
You tore the tentacle from your wrist and leaped out of the water.

Your smooth hair, tamed by the water, draped obediently over your shoulders, clinging affectionately to your back and waist.

Mermaids are inherently vain.
You loved your long hair the most, only regretting that after gaining the Mermaid bloodline, your hair was no longer black, but platinum-blond.

The sea surface beside you rippled.
Adonis writhed around from the side, his tall shoulders blocking your view from the front.

Only then did you notice that his hair was pure white, his irises large and a pale blue, almost like ice.
He was staring at you intently, almost greedily.

‘Weird, why is he so clingy?’

You moved around the obstacle in front of you, trying to figure out your current location.
There were no familiar islands to use as a reference.
It seemed you were some distance from your nest.

“Tch, which way do I go to get back?”
Your expression changed.
You turned and unceremoniously punched Adonis on the shoulder, starting to blame him.

“I can tell this is far from my home.”

Your pearl-white fist struck his dark skin.
Adonis’s mind buzzed with a bit of excitement, replaying the scene over and over.
His chest heaved, a little anxious.

He was good at reading expressions and heard the displeasure in your tone.
He swam a little to the south, then extended a tentacle out of the water, wanting to touch your hand.

This time, under the sunlight, you saw it very clearly.
The inner side of the black tentacle was fleshy pink, covered with pink suckers of all sizes.
Under your gaze, the suckers even contracted a few times.

“Ah!
Stay away from me!”

You waved your hand, swatting the tentacle away.
Your trypophobia was acting up again.
Seeing things in the deep sea was always a bit blurry.
Now that you saw it clearly, you were somewhat unwilling to be touched again.

Adonis didn’t understand why.
His face even showed a hint of grievance.
He opened his mouth and let out a somewhat hoarse sound, a bit like a puppy.

‘How ridiculous.
How long have we known each other?
He’s acting like I’m bullying him.’

You swam south first, your tail propelling you at full speed.
You paid no mind to the Squidward who was firmly attached to your tail.
When you swam at full speed, you even surpassed the speed of large creatures like orcas.

About two hours later, you finally saw the familiar reef.
You submerged and swam towards your cave.

But soon, your mood soured again.

A small half of your cave had been dug out and collapsed, merging with the original entrance to form one giant hole.

When Adonis saw the cave, he couldn’t quite meet your eyes.
Seeing his guilty expression, you could even imagine how you had been stolen from inside by two large tentacles.

Adonis had taken you away on purpose.

The corners of your mouth pressed into a thin line.
You glared at Adonis, pointed at your nest, then at Adonis, but you couldn’t communicate.

You went into the nest to look around.
There was basically nothing left.
Then you remembered that your conch and earrings were left in Adonis’s claustrophobic cave.
Your anger even partially turned into helplessness.

‘Forget it, I don’t want them anymore.’

You were left speechless, wanting only to drive Adonis out of your waters.
Understanding your intention, Adonis visibly panicked.

He had grown up alone since he was very young.
Even though no one had taught him, he somewhat understood that his courtship had been a failure.
He followed the beautiful Mermaid before him, wanting to make amends, even as her fingers, with their sharp nails extended, scratched his chest raw.

He followed her as she picked a new nest, waving his tentacles and rushing to do the work, cleaning the cave, laying down thick layers of seaweed.
Finally, he cautiously approached his object of affection, letting out short syllables from his throat to attract her attention, and pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile.

You looked at the brand-new cave, then at the Squidward with a stiff smile before you.
His smile revealed pearly white teeth, each one a bit sharp, directed at you without a trace of threat.

He concealed his dangerous nature so well that you only felt like you were bullying a fool.

But the fact that he had deliberately destroyed your nest was indisputable.
You chose to continue driving him away.

Finally, under your unforgiving supervision, Adonis left your territory, looking aggrieved.
He chose to linger in the nearby waters, seemingly looking for a new territory of his own.
You couldn’t be bothered with him anymore.

The moon was high in the sky.
You basked in the moonlight for the first time in a while.
The pure moonlight could be converted into a unique energy, a power that could help you repair your mermaid pearl.
You gathered the moonlight in your palm, and it gradually solidified into a visible ball of light.
You gently spat out your mermaid pearl and merged the two.

With a soft plop, a shadow fell, landing on the reef where you were and catching your attention.

It was a bat, about the size of a palm with its wings spread.

It seemed to be injured.
Its left wing membrane was shrunken.
Its eyes were exceptionally large, and its ears and the tip of its nose were a faint yellow.
Its whole body was covered in fluffy white fur without a single blemish.
The particularly endearing little bat was perking up its small ears, staring at you in a bit of a daze.

Your mermaid pearl, having absorbed enough energy, danced actively around you in the air.
The mermaid pearl had a little consciousness of its own.
It circled a few times over the cowering bat’s head.
It really couldn’t absorb any more, so it generously shared a little bit of its weak energy.

The little bat had a ruff of white fur around its neck.
You reached out a finger to touch it.
The next moment, a red halo of light shone in your vision, and a surging sense of power spread throughout your body.
Looking up, you saw that the giant full moon rising from the sea had, at some unknown point, turned blood-red.

A blood moon…

Everything around was illuminated in a particularly bizarre way.
The seawater rippled with red, carrying a hint of foreboding.

While you were shocked by the blood moon, the little white bat spread its wings again.
A red light surged in its eyes, and in an instant, it flew from before you high into the sky.

The little bat had received its master’s call and was flying persistently towards the ancient castle on the distant cliff.

Waves crashed against the broken walls.
An immense ancient castle stood on the steep cliff by the sea.
The master of the castle was a pure-blood vampire prince.

He had been napping in his red velvet-lined coffin for about a decade, until he was awakened in broad daylight by a song.

The song appeared twice, with a strange rhythm that bewitched the heart, but it was too brief.

He sent out bats to search, but there was no news for half a month.
Until another night when a blood moon appeared, a fluffy little white bat landed on his table, bringing good news.

“Well done.”
Lorken’s usually cold voice carried a hint of pleasure.

The goblet swirled with a rich red liquid, a faint, sweet, metallic scent wafting through the air.
The cup tilted, and the prince’s dinner dripped onto the luxurious table.

The little bat lowered its head and greedily licked up its reward.
The fur ruff you had touched was soaked in a patch of blood-red.

It was a new day.
You furtively poked your head out of the sea, observing the rising sun.
Last night’s blood moon had been too strange.

Compared to normal moonlight, the red moonlight carried a more surging power.
You didn’t need to exert much effort to absorb more energy than usual.
But when you had absorbed enough, to the point where every scale was filled with power, you still couldn’t stop the power emanating from the blood moon from rushing towards you.

You had a premonition that if you continued, your scales would explode.
You were scared for the first time, flipping over and diving into the lightless depths of the sea until dawn.

The sun was warm, and everything seemed normal, except for last night’s moon.

Until a rustling sound came from behind you.
You turned your head, nerves taut, and met Adonis’s questioning gaze.

His upper body was exposed to the air.
Seeing this, he copied you, immersing his body in the sea, also leaving only his eyes above the water to meet yours.

You felt as if your fear had been seen through, and you became a little angry out of embarrassment.

‘Copycat fish spirit!’

You got up in annoyance, gathered your strength, and slapped his head with your tail, whacking him into the sea like a game of whack-a-mole.

A moment later, it wasn’t Adonis’s head that emerged first, but his tentacles.
A tentacle held up a large tuna in front of you, shaking it placatingly.

“Hmph—”
You enjoyed this offering as if it were your due.

Once again full and satisfied, you tossed the remaining half of the fish into the sea, only for Adonis to scoop it up and, without any disgust, start eating it from where you had torn bites.

You rolled your eyes and began to groom yourself, mentally giving him another nickname: Tentacle Monster.

Before you had finished washing the blood from your hands, Adonis had finished eating.
Half a fish was barely enough to get stuck in his teeth.

In the clear seawater, your fingers were gently held by his hand.
He gave you a fawning smile, then lowered his head to help you clean your fingers.

Unlike the cool seawater during the day, a wet, warm tongue licked your fingertips, paying attention to every detail, even the crevices between your knuckles, careful not to let his sharp teeth touch your flesh.

A dark red tongue swept past, leaving behind glistening water stains.
He even planted a kiss on your fingertip with fawning intent, and let out a satisfied, hoarse sigh.

You were stunned by this intimate gesture, which was beyond your tolerance.

Adonis, not being rejected, was overjoyed.
He instantly twisted two thick tentacles, tentatively wrapping them around your soft, white waist.
He continued until he had finished licking, then looked at you with sparkling eyes.

And then you scratched his face.

“You pervert!”

You were exasperated.
The ambiguity of the tentacle monster’s reactions at this moment finally struck a nerve.

No wonder it stole you back to its nest, no wonder it appeared to be working hard, while letting you bully it.

It turned out that this mutant tentacle monster, who couldn’t speak your language, wanted to seduce you!