"I’ll be back," Thyrian said and I nodded. I knew he needed to catch up with his parents and talk about the kingdom.

I balanced myself and managed to stand on the ground, even though there was clearly heavy water pressure...I didn’t float.

Just then, a female mermaid bathed in light swam up. "How did you and Thyrian meet?" she cut to the chase, her cold eyes boring into mine as I gazed at her from head to toe.

"Are you one of his admirers?" I asked, and watched as her lips trembled.

"No!" she snapped, and I raised a brow, moving closer.

"Then who are you?" I asked, and her lips softened.

"I’m his fiancée. I was deemed to marry him since the very day he was born," she said proudly, raising her chin, and I couldn’t help but scoff, even though I was deep in thought.

Fiancée? In the original work, he had no fiancée... his parents had sold him off after some deliberation, all to protect him they said, but they actually just wanted to discard a weak soul and didn’t care who they sold him to. That’s aside.

"Then why are you marrying him?" I asked, and she gritted her teeth. I stepped back slightly to rest.

"Leave," I said flatly, but she stayed there, moving her fin.

"You took him away from me! Now void the contract and leave me with my fiancé!" she snapped, and I paused.

"Void the contract?" I muttered in sheer disbelief, then burst into maniacal laughter. "Are you even qualified to say that to me?" I said, and she swam closer.

"My father is the head warrior, so I am—" she said with a prideful smirk on her lips, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Stop being childish and go back," I said, clearly bored, and that made her frown. She bit her lip and swam toward me, a few inches away, her hot shaky breathing brushed my face.

"I can be your worst nightmare," she snapped, and my lashes blinked slowly. She must have thought I felt intimidated, but instead my fingers poked her chest and pushed her back.

"First of all, you are not qualified to stand this close to me."

"Second, if you were his fiancée, how come I am the one in his heart and standing by his side?"

"Third, I shouldn’t hear those words from you anymore. He belongs to me. He is not your fiancé," I snapped, watching as she swam back in panic, though she concealed it well, but I saw through everything.

"He’s not something you can own. He has a kind hearted soul that deserves all the love in this world. You can’t give that to him!" she yelled, and I folded my hands under my chest.

"And you can give that to him?" I asked, watching as her lips trembled. Of course, her so-called preaching words fumbled and could not escape her lips.

"Earlier you said he was yours! So why can I not claim him? Stop sprouting nonsense!" I said, and she glared at me. I noticed her hands trembling, she raised them to slap me, but Thyrian caught her wrist.

"What are you doing?" he asked coldly, and she trembled.

"I was going to touch my hair," she blurted out, but Thyrian knew better and grabbed her wrist tightly, making a hiss escape her lips. Then I gently tapped his chest.

"Let the girls handle their shit," I said coolly, and he smirked, letting her go and swimming back to sit on the bed.

Her eyes sparkled, thinking Thyrian had let her go so she could settle the score...mostly with me, but instead—

POW!

My hand cracked across her face. She swam backwards in shock, her cheeks turning red instantly.

"Thyrian, she slapped me!" she screamed, but Thyrian only stared at her and looked away, bored.

"Go back to your room," he said, not cold, but lukewarm. She gritted her teeth and turned to glare at me.

"Thyrian, how can you say that? I was slapped! Do something!" she yelled, and I clicked my tongue.

"So you want him to kiss your boots?" I asked, sneering. "Shoo," I said, and she frowned harder.

"I’ll make you pay! My father and the king must hear of this!" she yelled, but I laughed mockingly.

"A prideful mermaid who can’t actually fight for herself but insults others. How pathetic. You are clearly not on the same level as I am," I said, and watched as her eyes darkened with anger and shame.

She didn’t say a word and walked outside.

I licked my lips and my shoulders fell slightly. I turned to Thyrian. "Dealing with your admirers is tiring," I said, and he chuckled.

"You only met one, Raven. Would you be able to handle the rest?" he asked, stretching his hand toward me, and I moved closer, holding it. He gently pulled me and I sat down on him.

"Do you like my home?" he asked, and I nodded positively.

"I love it," I said, and he pecked my lips, then gently caressied my hair.

"That’s my woman," he said, and I couldn’t help but giggle.

"There’s a festival tonight. Do you want to attend? If you are tired, we can always skip it," Thyrian said, and my eyes immediately beamed. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Why would I skip a wild experience?

"No, I want to go," I said, and he smiled. Then I arched my brows. "What is the festival about?" I asked.

"Tide of First Light Festival. It’s the celebration of the ocean gods, blessing the kingdom with ’first light’ after a dark season," he said, and my eyes sparkled.

"Wow," I gasped, and Thyrian chuckled at my reaction.

It sounded fun!

My lips parted to say another word, but then the door was forcefully pushed open and the same mermaid from earlier pointed at me.

"Father, she’s the one!" she cursed.

I stood up in a flash of panic as the sudden entrance startled me, but Thyrian pulled me down and gently wrapped his arms around me.

"Speak!" he said, and the warrior’s lips parted.

"She hurt my daughter! She must pay!"