Chapter 3

That said, Xir would just be a corpse when he arrived, but since they loved each other so much, Thea probably wouldn't mind.

And just as expected, Thea's eyes lit up, clearly convinced that she had stolen something I cared about.

She simply had no idea that Xir was nothing more than trash to me without his heart, and there was no point for me to keep him.

And if she liked him so much, she could have him.

On the other hand, Xir was still under the impression that I was just buying time, and snapped, "Don't think I'll fall in love with you in three days!"

I shrugged. "I don't need you to fall for me. I just need your heart."

Though I was myself convinced that I was being perfectly honest, neither of them believed me.

"Heh!" Xir snickered. "Is that not one and the same, woman? But since you're willing to let me go and treat my wounds, I don't mind being nice for three days."

As he finished and before I could react, Thea sniffed as she threw herself over Xir's shoulder, pouting miserably. "You won't fall for Lyra, would you? She has everything, but you're the only one I have."

Really?

It was true that I had everything at the beginning—loving parents, a life of luxury.

However, Thea had taken all of it from me since.

As soon as she showed up, I lost my room, while Father became a completely different man, and then I ended up disfigured.

Even if she wasn't biologically related to him, she still mattered more to him than me, his own daughter.

In fact, both of them acted as if my disfigurement was a perfectly reasonable sacrifice to save Thea.

I still remembered how after I was rushed to the hospital, Thea said it was boring and threw a tantrum for Father to take her to the amusement park.

Naturally, he was all too happy to do so, leaving me, a ten-year-old, alone at the hospital.

No one was there to take care of me even though I barely escaped death.

It was the nurse on duty who called Father because even she couldn't stand it. And being a teacher, his reputation mattered to him most of all, so he was suddenly the doting father again when the nurses were around.

However, as soon as they left, he was glaring at me in disgust as he snapped, "It's just a burn, how much can it hurt? You're just a child, but already such an attention seeker."

Those stinging words left me breathless.

He used to love and dote on me, while I was too young to understand why he changed so dramatically.

I was even convinced that he was upset that I didn't take good care of Thea, only to find out much later on he had only married my mother for her money.

That was why he maintained the disguise of a loving father when my mother was still alive, and bared his true colors once she died.

If my mother didn't make it very clear in her will that I wasthe one who would inherit all her fortune, that two-faced dirtbag would have handed everything to Thea gift-wrapped.

-

"That won't happen, Thea. You're the only one for me."

Xir's words yanked me back to reality and saw that they were cuddling again before I knew it.

Oh, such love.

I checked the time, and decided to interrupt them, "It's time to take your potion, Xir."

Xir's lips curled up in turn. "How obsessed can you be, Lyra? Still worried about the potion now? Are you going to tell us to use protection when I make love to Thea too?"

I raised a brow.

What?

Humans… could procreate with fish?

Shrugging, I said, "Probably not."

Xir chuckled, thinking that I was just lying out of stubbornness.

After all, he was convinced I'd do anything for him.