CHAPTER 59…………………….
When Lunaris raised her hand to signal for calm, Taearn exhaled the breath she had been holding in her puffed-up chest.
“Go on, then. Spit it out. What crisis is your clan facing?”
“The Holy Ground was attacked.”
“What….”
The drawing room erupted into murmurs. Seeing the divine beasts so visibly agitated, Seran added:
“To be precise, it was nearly attacked. Thanks to someone’s sacrifice, it was barely prevented.”
On the day Sordim was struck by the mermaid’s poison, Seran had diverted the village well’s waterway into the sea. The poison that seeped into the sea must have dissipated aimlessly with the rolling waves until it disappeared.
“We can’t know when it’ll be attacked again.”
Tehinra, who had been listening intently to Seran’s account, voiced her doubts.
“If it’s preparation against an attack, wouldn’t it make more sense to borrow the aid of the Holy Knights? What do you plan to do, bringing along a powerless child?”
“What if my spirit-beasts are injured? I was hoping to ask her to treat them.”
“Hm….”
The reasoning made sense, but something about it didn’t sit right.
After all, Seran wasn’t one to cherish his spirit-beasts. To him, they were consumables—nothing more, nothing less. And now he was calling for a physician just in case they were hurt?
It was nothing short of contradictory.
There must be another reason.
Tehinra narrowed her eyes and stared at Seran.
“What are you looking at?”
“Your ugly face.”
But no matter how hard she stared, she couldn’t read Seran’s expression. Wasn’t that just the kind of creature he was? One who didn’t know joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.
The longer she locked eyes with him, the more Tehinra’s straining gaze began to ache.
But lowering her eyes first—her towering pride would never allow it.
Damned sea serpent bastard.
Just as her parched eyes began to water, the drawing room door burst open.
“Ow! Ahhh!”
Linnegrim came tumbling in. Behind her, one of Ibnis’s attendants rushed forward to help her up.
“Lady Linnegrim, are you all right?!”
“I’m fine, I just rushed in too quickly….”
Half leaning on Ethan, Linnegrim straightened and brushed her tangled hair back.
“My apologies for barging in like this.”
“No need, Linnegrim. Your timing is perfect.”
Tehinra stroked Linnegrim’s hair. Truly, she was impossible not to adore.
“May I speak with Lord Seran for a moment?”
The moment she finished speaking, Seran rose from his seat. He approached Linnegrim with a radiant smile.
“Of course, Linnegrim.”
“That lunatic….”
Watching the nauseating act, Taearn even pretended to gag. No wonder—Tehinra herself had goosebumps running down her spine.
There was no way she could just watch Linnegrim leave alone with that sea serpent. Tehinra glared at Seran and stood firmly by Linnegrim’s side.
“Linnegrim, I’ll go with you.”
But Linnegrim’s expression was odd. Rather than welcoming the offer, her face showed clear discomfort.
“Lady Tehinra, it’s all right. I’ll talk things over with Lord Seran. Thank you for worrying about me.”
Linnegrim gave Tehinra, whose lips had parted as if to object, a polite bow before tugging at Seran’s sleeve.
“Let’s go, Lord Seran.”
“Linnegrim, slow down. What if you trip again in your haste?”
“And whose fault would that be…!”
Taearn was on the verge of fainting. Seran—that Seran—was smiling. With gentle concern in his voice.
“…Idiot. Shut your mouth already.”
Even as she scolded her brother, Tehinra remained rooted to the spot, eyes fixed for a long time on Seran’s retreating back.
“Linnegrim. Where exactly are we going?”
Where else? Until we find a place with no one around, of course.
When we reached the inner palace gardens, I let go of Seran’s sleeve and whirled around.
“What on earth did you say? Why is there suddenly a rumor that I’m going to the Eastern Sea?!”
Seran tilted his head, feigning innocence as if he knew nothing. My jaw nearly dropped.
“But Linnegrim, didn’t you say you wanted to see the sea?”
“Well, yes!”
“And you said you liked the sea.”
“Yes!”
“Then shouldn’t you go? I don’t see the problem. Besides, once it’s revealed that you turned a blind eye to the presence of a monster in the palace, you’ll be exiled anyway, won’t you?”
“…What?”
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard him. But Seran continued smoothly, as if his outrageous statement were nothing.
“You yourself said it, Linnegrim. I’ll be fine since I’m the Dreki clan’s divine beast, but you’ll be dismissed.”
“…Are you threatening me?”
“Of course not. I’m merely sharing my wish.”
Your wish, my foot! It was a threat, plain as day. If I didn’t go to the Eastern Sea, he’d expose me for hiding the monster’s existence. What else could he mean?
“Wow. Just wow…. You realize I could report Sordim’s location first, right?”
“But you won’t, will you?”
“Urgh….”
I couldn’t even come up with a rebuttal. He was right. If I reported Sordim, that child would surely lose his life—or Seran would tear the palace apart trying to protect him.
“I never imagined my goodwill would be repaid like this….”
“I’d like it if you stayed by Sordim’s side for a long time.”
“Even if that means I get dismissed?”
“I can provide as much wealth as you’d like.”
That’s not the issue….
Betrayal burned in my chest, leaving me speechless, while Seran’s lips curled into a graceful smile.
“When the Founding Festival ends, how about coming with me to the Eastern Sea?”
His gentle voice and soft tone didn’t fool me; it was still a threat disguised as an invitation.
“…I’ll think about it a little more.”
Five days left. I had to make a decision before then.
Now I stand before the lake.
Dawn of the fourth day before the decisive one. My eyes, shadowed from a sleepless night, searched for clarity amidst the storm of thoughts.
Will I let Seran drag me to the Eastern Sea, or confess everything to the other divine beasts and seek their help?
But in the latter case, I feared disappointing those who’d shown me kindness.
[A monster in the palace? And you even treated it?]
[I’m disappointed in you, Linnegrim.]
“…Am I a fool?”
I probably was.
Deciding to help a monster had been foolish from the start. No matter that he was once human—he was a monster now.
And only a fool would keep checking on Sordim after being betrayed so thoroughly by Seran.
I wanted nothing more than to look away from everything related to Seran.
“But what am I supposed to do about worrying!”
That child! Barely a month since his transformation, still confused and under crushing stress—what kind of adult could ignore that?
After wrestling with my thoughts, I finally plunged into the water. Not because I’d caved to Seran’s threats. Just because I was worried about poor Sordim.
–Is something wrong? You don’t look well.
“Something’s… definitely wrong….”
Something huge. And all because of Seran, the one Sordim adored so much.
But I couldn’t burden the child with that, so I forced a smile.
“Let’s check your wounds, shall we?”
I examined Sordim’s tail. Undoing the bandages, I looked at the spot where the scales had peeled away….
“…What is this?”
–What is it?
“The wound….”
It was gone. As if it had never existed, perfectly healed.
“How could this be? There’s no way it healed in a single day….”
Was I dreaming? Otherwise, how could it have become spotless overnight?
Stunned, I traced my fingers along Sordim’s tail. He grinned.
–Hehe. Just like yesterday, it feels nice. Your hands are warm, Teacher Linnegrim.
“…Warm?”
But my body heat should’ve been leeched away by the cold water. There was no way he could feel warmth. Yet Sordim insisted.
Could it be…?
I felt in my pocket and touched the fist-sized stone. The healing stone imbued with Taearn’s power. Its divine energy must have acted on Sordim.
“But Sordim is a monster….”
Divine and demonic power couldn’t mix.
–I told you, I’m not a monster!
“But, but….”
–What do you mean ‘but’! I’m human!
Splash! His angry tail smacked my arm, but I hardly noticed.
It felt like I’d stumbled upon the key. Something that could overturn everything.
How had I missed it? The answer was in what Sordim had been saying all along!
Sordim was…
“Human.”
Seran wanted to take me to the Eastern Sea to help Sordim, believing I had knowledge of creatures.
But what if the premise was false?
What if Sordim wasn’t a monster at all, but still human?
Sordim had been struck by mermaid poison and transformed into a mer-like form.
But what if he hadn’t become a mermaid, just suffered a transformation of his body’s structure?
That would mean his cells and tissues were still human.
And indeed, I’d never once felt any demonic energy from him, despite my sensitivity to magic. Even Ethan, a Sword Master, had jumped into the lake without sensing Sordim’s presence.
Not only that—the bestiary said mermaids bore a magic stone, the monster’s core, on their foreheads. Yet Sordim’s smooth brow showed no such thing.
And most decisively, there was what Luce had said—the story of a human turned mermaid.
That mermaid had reverted to human form after death.
Meaning, when the host died, the virus perished as well. A virus that altered the human body.
The mermaid’s poison didn’t create mermaids.
It caused the human body to look like one.
They said the poison killed humans, with only a few survivors becoming mermaids—but the truth was different. Survivors merely suffered long-term mutations. They weren’t true mermaids.
“…Sordim.”
–You’ve been muttering to yourself again…. You’re scaring me….
“I need something from you. Can you give it to me?”
–W-what is it?
It was only a hypothesis for now, but one worth studying.
“Nothing much… just a cup of your blood. Oh, and some scales too.”
