Chapter 5

Galen slowly swam two circles inside the jar. Each flick of his tail sent gentle ripples through the water, and the seawater began to go down at a visible rate, the surface steadily dropping. In just a short while, the seawater in the jar was almost completely gone.

He finally stilled and lifted his head a little. His throat bobbed, and he spat out something the size of a fist. It was pure white, faintly translucent, and gleamed with a crystalline sheen—a solid lump of salt.

Lunara's eyes bulged out. This was how merfolk made salt? But… it came out of his mouth. Could that even be eaten?

The thought had barely crossed her mind when she remembered the bland, tasteless meat from earlier. Right on cue, her stomach growled.

Whatever. Regardless of how it was made, having salt was better than having no salt.

Lunara immediately reached out. "Give me the salt."

Galen didn't move. He simply looked down at her, his violet eyes devoid of emotion, and his voice calm but firm. "Give me the drop of blood first. Then I'll give it to you."

He had seen her give her blood to Cyril and made that oath to the Beast God for Kieran. That being said, he had been deceived too many times to trust her words anymore.

Lunara knew he wouldn't easily trust her words. Gritting her teeth, she took off the necklace again and sliced open the barely scabbed wound on her finger. Blood welled up once more.

She dripped it onto the scorpion mark on Galen's chest. The deep purple mark faded, like ink washed thin by water. Its edges softened, and a faint pink haze spread outward.

Galen's lashes were trembling. His eyes seemed to be filled with sparks of light.

He kept staring at the lightened mark on his chest, his throat so tight he couldn't make a sound. His hand lifted instinctively, but it hovered midair, as if he didn't dare touch it—didn't dare believe the unexpected turn of events was indeed reality.

Lunara had really given him a drop of her blood. Just nine more drops… and he would be completely free.

His fingers hovered at the edge of the mark, his eyes brightening for a split second—only to dim again. Even though he'd just received one drop, he still needed nine more. After a long pause, he finally snapped out of his daze and handed over the salt lump.

Lunara reached out, only to brush her wounded finger against the lump of salt. The searing pain that shot through her finger made her gasp. Her hand trembled, and the salt fell out of her grasp.

Before the ball of salt could hit the ground, Galen reacted in time to catch it.

Lunara's eyes reddened from the pain. Without thinking, she brought her injured finger to her lips and gently licked it. She had cut deeper this time, and the salt made her finger throb sharply. It was still trembling now.

She looked around for something she could use as a bandage, but after sweeping her gaze across the cave, she found nothing but dry grass and animal hides. There wasn't a single piece of cloth in sight.

But of course, this world was still a primitive society that relied on hide for clothing. Fabric didn't even exist yet.

Out of nowhere, she felt aggrieved, and her nose prickled. It was the original Lunara who caused this mess. Not only did she have to shoulder the consequences, but she had to cut herself to give her blood away, and she couldn't even find a piece of cloth to bandage her wound.

But she didn't want to cry in front of these villains. Taking a deep breath, she forced the tears back and waved her hand. "All of you, go out. I'm tired. I want to sleep."

Kieran saw the redness at the corners of her eyes and the way she pressed her lips together. His gaze flickered, but in the end, he only curled his lips and turned to leave.

This spoiled and pampered female had cut her finger twice now—even more deeply the second time—just to give them her blood, yet not once did she lash out at them. Just what was she plotting?

Galen placed the ball of salt into the small clay jar usually used for storing salt. His tail transformed into legs, and he walked out of the cave.

All was silent in the cave again. Curled up among the animal hides on the bed, Lunara clutched her injured finger and quietly wiped away her tears. She stared up at the rocky ceiling, the dull sting in her fingertip lingering. The grievance in her chest rose and fell like a tide.

She knew full well that they despised her. Getting lashed with salt-soaked whips, having one's scales forcibly torn off…

Every single act was a torturous memory carved deep into their bones—but none of it had anything to do with her.

Lunara was just an unlucky transmigrator, stuck cleaning up someone else's mess. Yet, she had to bear all of their overwhelming resentment. She couldn't even find a proper bandage after cutting her finger…

Just then, the necklace around her neck suddenly grew hot. It felt like a burning lump of coal pressed against her skin, the heat seeping deep into her bones.

Alarmed, she instinctively touched the necklace, and the blood still on her fingertip brushed against the sharp edge of the pendant.

A tremor seemed to run through the necklace. At the very next second, it felt as if an invisible force yanked her consciousness right out of her body. Her vision was swallowed by a vast expanse of white mist.

Where was she?

Lunara tried to move, only to realize she was inside some kind of fog-covered space. The white fog flowed all around her, and she couldn't see the horizon.

She tried to use her consciousness to measure the space. It was about 50 square feet, fairly small and unusually still.

"Is this a pocket dimension?"

Lunara's mind jolted, excitement surging through her.

The necklace Caius had given her… actually contained a pocket dimension? Did she activate it with her blood just now?

Now that she had this dimension, it made things a lot easier for her.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became, so much so that she forgot about the pain in her finger.

After looking around the space to make sure there was nothing dangerous inside, she tried to withdraw from it.

When she came back to her senses, she found herself lying on the bed of grass. The necklace had cooled, as if it had all been an illusion.

Lunara quickly grabbed the necklace and examined it carefully. The blood on its tip had already dried. She couldn't see anything that would seem unusual.

After taking a deep breath, she focused and tried to store one of the folded animal hides nearby in her dimension. The moment the thought formed, the hide vanished. She tried to get it back out, and the hide fell neatly onto the grass the moment she had that thought.

It really worked!

Lunara almost laughed out loud. She had to quickly cover her mouth. There was absolutely no way she could let those villains find out about the pocket dimension.

If she ended up dissolving their beastmate bonds before finding Caius, the pocket dimension might give her a chance at survival.

She immediately got to work, quickly selecting a few animal hides, a pile of wild fruits, and part of the salt Galen had just made, storing them inside the dimension.

Of course, she didn't dare take everything, just some of the better things she could find. That way, even if something seemed to be missing, the males would just assume they had miscounted and wouldn't get suspicious.

Once that was done, Lunara dusted off her hands, feeling a lot more at ease.

After everything that had happened—the bleeding, the shock, and the stress—she was completely exhausted.

She spread out the remaining hides over the grass bed, curled up, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she found Caius, successfully dissolved all the beastmate bonds, and even ended up with several handsome, docile males of her own…

At that moment, a tall figure silently entered the cave. He stood over Lunara and looked down at her while she slept.

Then, slowly, he bent down… and abruptly clamped his hand around her slender, pale throat.