Chapter 8

Truthfully, Camille's first reaction was actually relief.

So the claim that Ansel would die if he failed to grant her wishes had been a lie after all. She knew it. It had just been an excuse he had made up to stay by her side.

Then her gaze, devoid of even a shred of warmth, shifted to the little merfolk behind him.

If Ansel dared to have feelings for someone other than her, then… she'd simply get rid of her.

At the end of the day, a merfolk was just a fish without even a legal identity, and killing a fish carried zero legal consequences.

Camille waved her hand, signaling her bodyguards to move in. They pinned Lorie down, drove a knife through her tail to pin it to the floor, and began carving off her flesh.

Meanwhile, Camille handcuffed Ansel to a set of iron window bars.

Watching Lorie scream in agony, Ansel's eyes turned bloodshot. He went from barking at them to stop to screaming and cursing at them until finally, his voice broke into desperate pleas for mercy.

A single tear of blood slid down his cheek. But the more he behaved this way, the more determined Camille became to kill Lorie.

Stellan watched with undisguised malice as he yelled repeatedly, "It's not enough!"

Seeing the bodyguards keep shaving away at Lorie's tail until the bone was nearly exposed, Ansel let out an anguished roar. He thrashed around so frantically that the handcuffs scraped away a layer of his own skin and flesh, and only then did he finally wrench himself free.

But he didn't have time to feel the pain. He lunged forward, scooped Lorie up, ran straight to the window, and threw her into the ocean.

"Go! Otherwise, we'll both die here!"

Barely clinging to life, Lorie looked at him through tear-filled eyes before desperately swimming toward the depths of the sea.

Only after seeing her reach safety did Ansel, who had been forcing himself to hold on all this time, finally allow himself to pass out.

…

When Ansel woke up, he was lying in the familiar place he called "home".

Camille was holding his hands, with dark shadows under her eyes. She looked as if she'd stayed up all night to watch over him.

"Didn't you say you'd die if you didn't grant my wishes? So why are you still perfectly fine? Ansel Wells, how much longer are you going to keep lying to me? You're in love with me, and you just want to stay by my side, don't you?"

Ansel only found her utterly ridiculous.

Apparently, being covered in wounds was still considered "perfectly fine".

She'd been obsessed with winning Stellan back, yet now that she'd gotten exactly what she wanted, she was here asking whether he loved her or not.

It was truly absurd.

"No, I don't love you," Ansel rasped out. "I hate you!"

He didn't love her anymore. Not even a little bit.

But for once, Camille didn't take offense. Instead, her voice softened. "Ansel, I care about you, and that's why I got jealous when there was another woman next to you. You don't know this, but the second I saw you pass out, I realized how much my heart ached. That's when I finally understood that I love you, too."

Ansel couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Isn't Stellan the one you love?"

"I fell in love with both of you. Haven't you always said you'd grant 1,001 wishes for me? You didn't fulfill the last one, so I'll change it. I want you to stay by my side forever. Since you're a merman and can't marry me, just stay with me instead. I'll make sure you have everything you need for the rest of your life."

Ansel understood now. She wanted him to be her side piece.

But she'd gotten one thing wrong. He might not have agreed to grant her last wish, but she'd forced him to fulfill it anyway. His debt was paid, and they were even now.

"I'm going to pick out wedding dresses with Stellan in a little while. I'll come see you tonight. Don't worry. I have a surprise for you."

This time, Ansel nodded obediently. "Okay."

He'd finally learned how to lie like a human. He only hoped this would be the last time.