Chapter 3
In my daze, I felt someone hold me close, caressing my hair gently. Hot tears spilled onto my cheeks, making my heart
shudder.
“Marina, if all of this never happened… If only things were as they were…”
Was that Cyrus? Was he crying?
It took an eternity for me to open my eyes, but Cyrus was no longer there, only a guard that dragged me to the courtyard. The scorching sunlight beat down on me relentlessly, and I quickly felt dehydrated.
Cyrus and Emily were there in the courtyard, and seeing me, Emily made a show of looking concerned. “You haven’t eaten in a long time, right? Are you hungry?”
My throat was dry, and it hurt to even draw in a single breath, so I couldn’t respond to her immediately.
At Emily’s signal, a guard kicked me hard.
The kick landed right on an unhealed wound, and fresh blood stained my clothes again.
Cyrus seemed irritated. He frowned and threw his coat over me. “Enough! Heal your wound and stop playing the victim. You know that Emily faints at the sight of blood!”
A devious glint flashed through Emily’s eyes as she threw dirty meat and vegetables onto the ground in front of me. “You
must be hungry! Eat up!”
I turned to look at Cyrus, who only averted his gaze, as if he didn’t want to look at me for one second longer than was
necessary.
From the looks of it, that moment earlier, with him holding me and crying, must’ve been a dream. How could he possibly still hold any feelings toward me?
I slowly lowered my head and reached for the food on the ground, pitifully eating like a disgraced mutt.
Suddenly, Emily’s voice, underlined with malice, rang in my ears, “Why aren’t you eating the meat, Marina? I’m sure you need
the nutrition, right?”
Numbly, I placed the meat into my mouth. My sense of taste had long since been dulled from all the pain I suffered, so all I could feel was that the meat was slightly different from anything I’d ever eaten before.
“Is it good?” Emily smiled brightly. “They’re always in seawater, so I’m sure mermaid flesh is pretty tender, right?”
A piece of meat dropped from my mouth as I raised my head in shock, looking at Emily, as if I was processing what she just
told me.
Her smile only grew wider, relishing in my pain.
A wave of nausea rose up, and I collapsed to the ground.
Urgh!
“God, my shoes!”
I had thrown up all over Emily’s heels.
Without waiting for orders, the guards grabbed me by the hair and dragged me away, stuffing a rock into my mouth.
Cyrus held Emily in his arms, threw away her soiled shoes, and ordered a servant to fetch her a new pair.
He used to treat me like that too, in the past, but now all he had for me was hatred.
“What’s wrong, Marina? You should have expected this when you merfolk hurt us werewolves. Since you don’t want to eat,
