Chapter 423: Larissa
I look at the unconscious sleeping prince.
I had to do this. He was struggling. Fighting. Screaming. The merfolk who brought him to me had to hold him down.
I reach out. I brush a strand of hair from his face. His skin is warm beneath my fingers. His breathing is steady. Slow.
He looks peaceful now.
He did not look peaceful before.
I sit beside him on the coral bed. The water is cool around us. The light filters down from the surface, soft and blue.
"I did not want it to be like this," I whisper.
But I love him. And when you love people—like the Devil said—you make decisions for them. Decisions they might not understand.
He will understand me, one day. This place will keep him safe. And happy. So unlike the human world and its dangers.
***
Daphne
[Host.]
I ignore the System and keep kissing my wife's neck.
[Host.]
I continue kissing my wife's neck.
[HOST.]
I pull back. I glare at the purple bird perched on the windowsill.
