Silas offered a reassuring nod, and the very next instant...

A breathtaking, haunting melody from the deepest trenches of the sea echoed outward.

Thousands of currents reversed their trajectory, surging backward and entirely overpowering every treacherous merman in the water.

The Sirens lunged forward, hunting and capturing them one by one.

Held tightly against Silas’s chest, I whispered softly.

"Where will they take them?"

"Those who dare wage war against the ocean will be stripped of its protection for eternity. They will be banished, never to step foot into these waters again."

Milo was among them, pinned down by the Sirens and dragged into the darkest depths of the ocean floor.

Silas’s chant continued to resonate. As he glided past the gathering of Sirens, thousands of the creatures erupted from the water, bowing their heads in absolute submission to him.

He carried me back to the safety of the dry land.

My physical strength entirely depleted, the moment my feet touched the ground, darkness claimed me, and I fainted.

Everything was finally over.

15

Silas was currently kneeling obediently on a wooden washboard.

As punishment for hiding the fact that he was a Siren.

Sirens were the absolute kings of the deep ocean, and compared to the domesticated mermen kept by humans, they were notoriously ruthless and savage.

Just looking at him filled me with exasperation, yet he still had the audacity to try and defend himself.

I raised the rolling pin and gave his shoulder a sharp swat.

"Still trying to talk your way out of it? Milo explicitly stated he witnessed you hunting and devouring an entire shark."

Silas had been kneeling perfectly still, but upon hearing those words, he aggressively rolled up his sleeves, ready to start a physical altercation.

"Where do you think you're going!"

"To track down that snitch of a fish and beat him to a pulp."

"Get back here and kneel properly."

"Since you've been with me, how many times have you snuck out to eat?"

"Ten? Twenty?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a heavy sigh.

To think I actually believed he survived solely on sea water and seaweed because he didn't care for pearls. It was all an elaborate pity play designed to win my affection.

Yet, Silas looked up at me with those wide, shimmering blue eyes, a display so disarming it instantly softened my heart.

Fearing that if I let him kneel there any longer, I would completely surrender to his charms and let him off the hook, I left him to his punishment and went to bed alone.

Returning to my room and lying on the mattress, however, sleep completely eluded me as I tossed and turned.

The mere thought of how he had concealed such a massive secret from me—while I lived in blissful ignorance at home, my lover could have been plunged into a violent war for oceanic supremacy at any moment—filled me with intense residual terror.

Before long, Silas quietly slipped into the bed.

He wrapped his arms around me from behind, holding me close.

"Liam, my treasure, please do not despise me."

"I have been searching for you for over a decade. I was simply too impatient, too desperate to have you... I never meant to deceive you maliciously."

I brushed his arms away.

"You absolute liar. Searching for me for over a decade? What a ridiculous story!"

That night, keeping me securely within his embrace, Silas recounted the tale of a Siren searching for his master.

16

Thirteen years ago, thousands of miles beneath the surface of the sea from Rhine Harbor, a violent rebellion erupted within the Siren monarchy.

The reigning King of the Ocean was violently dragged from his throne.

Along with his mate and offspring, not a single soul was spared.

Silas, however, managed to survive, the sole remaining prince among the King's eight sons.

Back then, he was merely an unremarkable, chubby little fish, swimming aimlessly until he inadvertently crossed into human territory.

He was captured by fishermen and displayed at the morning market, waiting to be gutted and sold.

And a young version of myself, on a rare outing with my parents through the market, instantly locked eyes with a chubby little fish boasting striking blue eyes inside a water tank.

Throwing a massive tantrum and crying until I threw myself onto the ground, I finally secured him.

According to Silas, he had narrowly escaped being butchered by the fishmonger, only to nearly be played to death by a human child.

He remained inside the custom aquarium I prepared for him, weathering out the most turbulent months of the ocean's rebellion in absolute safety.

As the weather gradually turned warmer, he began attempting to escape.

Sensing his desire for freedom, despite the intense ache in my heart, I chose a beautifully clear day to carry him to the shore and release him back into the wild.

My memory of that day remained exceptionally vivid.

Though that fish ate an immense amount of food, constantly looked at me with disdain, and rarely cared to play with me, on the day of his release, he turned back repeatedly, as if trying to engrave my features into his memory.

And I had stood on the shore, wiping away my tears while waving goodbye to him.

Following that day, Silas gathered his strength and bided his time, training himself within the harshest trenches of the deep sea.

Ultimately, thirteen years later, he executed a fatal strike that eliminated the usurper, reclaiming his rightful place as the true, legitimate King of the Ocean.

Once the dust had settled and his kingdom was secure, he organized his affairs and returned to Rhine Harbor without a single shred of hesitation.

Sinking into that glass tank, he waited quietly for our destinies to intertwine once more.

Silas’s voice was incredibly gentle, converting the harrowing trials of his past into a beautiful fairy tale, a dreamlike narrative that continued to unfold into our present reality.

I rolled over and wrapped my arms around him.

"How could you be so certain it was me? What if you had found the wrong person?"

The sovereign of the deep sea, who once roamed the boundless oceans and accepted the absolute submission of thousands of Sirens, had willingly abandoned it all to confine himself to a quiet life in a mundane harbor town for a simple human.

Silas gazed at my face with an unwavering, serene devotion, before whispering softly against my skin.

"I could never mistake you for anyone else, my love. My companion possesses dark hair, and your amber eyes hold the beautiful, rich color of the earth itself."

He pressed his lips against mine.

"The ocean is vast, stretching far beyond the land. I simply followed the currents, knowing that as long as I kept moving, a day would come when I would find my way back to you."

Epilogue

Silas and I, quite unexpectedly, came into possession of an egg.

On a particular morning when I woke up with my hair resembling a total bird's nest, I discovered it nestled directly beneath my body.

Startled half out of my wits, Silas, however, remained entirely unbothered.

"It only appears when the depth of our love is absolute. It is a gift to this world, and we must cherish it with everything we have."

Through a strict rotation of egg-sitting duties between Silas and myself.

Three months later, a little creature ruptured his shell and emerged into the warmth of the summer.

He possessed a majestic silver-white tail just like his Siren father, complemented by the dark hair and striking amber eyes he inherited from me.

In short, he was an incredibly beautiful, remarkably resilient little thing.

We bestowed upon him the name Luka, and from his infancy, he was an absolute sweetheart.

However, as the days bled into years, Luka gradually grew older.

The troublesome, chaotic nature of a young Siren began to manifest itself completely.

Because he was perfectly capable of causing mischief on both land and water, a continuous stream of complainants from both territories took turns arriving at my door to voice their grievances.

Zack, living next door, bore the brunt of the suffering.

"Liam! That child of yours has completely plucked every single feather off my rooster's backside again!"

Old Man Bobby approached with trembling steps, cradling his completely smooth jaw with tearful eyes.

"The beard I spent three whole years cultivating was entirely shaved off by Luka in his sleep."

A long queue of Sirens lined up outside my courtyard daily.

"The young prince kicked my backside again today, you and the King must grant me a formal apology..."

"The young prince was just spotted riding a manta ray out to sea for a joyride again..."

Gripping a feather duster tightly in my hand, I threw the courtyard door open and shouted toward the expanse of the ocean.

"Luka!"

Like a sudden whirlwind, an adult Siren with a brilliant silver-white tail came sneaking back, cradling a tiny little Siren in his arms.

Both of them were completely dripping with seawater, and Silas wore a deeply sheepish, placating grin.

Luka, executing a terrible attempt at covering their tracks, hopped over to my feet and twirled his fingers guiltily.

"Papa... Father absolutely did not take me out to hunt sharks today..."

Silas’s smile froze instantly.

Luka immediately corrected himself.

"Very well... Father was the one who ate it, Luka did not take a single bite..."

"Silence. Both of you, get inside this instant."

The father and son duo hung their heads in mutual dejection, enduring a lengthy lecture behind closed doors.

And within the quiet borders of Rhine Harbor, our little family continued to live out our lives, a existence filled with mundane chaos and absolute happiness.

THE END