I sighed helplessly, no longer wanting to waste my breath on them. Justin had blamed me in my past life for using my singing to entice him and for making Ruby contract a strange illness from anger.

I had tried repeatedly to explain that there was something highly suspicious about Ruby's condition, but Justin refused to listen to me. He would inflict another wound on my tail whenever he saw Ruby weep.

I explained that my marriage to him was out of love, yet he remained certain that I was merely greedy for the Gunter family's wealth.

I withdrew my hand at that thought and instantly jumped into the sea. I could hear Diana crying out in despair as the water engulfed me.

In the end, Diana clung to the last shred of hope and relocated to the island.

I was resting upon a coral reef when I encountered Justin again. He regarded me coldly and asked mockingly, "Didn't you claim that my business had nothing to do with you? Why did you return to this part of the ocean, then?

"You ought to know that whatever scheme you're trying to pull won't work on me, Celeste. I'll never love you in this lifetime, so you'd better give up on that delusion immediately."

I fixed my gaze on his face, which bore the grayish hue of impending death. It had only been three days, yet his condition had grown much worse. He should have had roughly two years of life remaining if we were to base it on his symptoms when we previously met.

It was just that because he got involved with Ruby earlier in this lifetime, her venereal disease accelerated his illness. He likely had less than a year left now.

I was just about to warn him since Diana had taken good care of me in my past life, but Justin suddenly slashed his knife across my tail, sending an agonizing pain that caused me to collapse into the water.

He splashed a bucket of saltwater directly over my injury, completely disregarding the fact that I was bleeding heavily. "You still want to pretend that you have designs on me, huh? If you look at me with those disgusting eyes again, I'll gouge them right out of your head!"

I was trembling all over from the pain. I fixed my eyes on him and said in a trembling voice, "You're right. I shouldn't have been so presumptuous. You and Ruby are truly made for each other—no one could be a better fit."

Justin's expression eased slightly. "It's good that you get it. Ruby and I have already gotten our marriage certificate, so if you dare say anything out of line to my mother again, I'll make sure you pay for it, Celeste!"

I gently shook my head as I noticed the ruthlessness in his gaze, thinking that Justin remained completely unaware that his days were already numbered.

I was lying on the reef the following day, wrapping seaweed around the wound on my tail.

Justin suddenly arrived with Ruby in tow, and all of a sudden, Ruby overturned my clamshell onto the rocks. She then smirked maliciously and said, "I'm so sorry for accidentally kicking it over, Celeste. You won't hold it against me, right?"

Justin scoffed and threw a diamond necklace at me. "That should be enough to pay for that worthless clamshell of yours. You should just take it and get lost, Celeste. Stop being an eyesore to Ruby."

I shot him an indifferent glance, ignored the necklace on the ground, and turned to swim away.

Justin yelled at me with a voice filled with disdain. "How ungrateful of you!"

He then turned to Ruby and said, "You can rest assured that I won't let this kind of money-grubbing woman be an eyesore to you again, Ruby."

That clamshell actually contained the deep-sea elixir that I had spent ten years collecting. I had refined it from mermaid tears and rare ocean treasures, letting it sit on the shore to absorb the essence of the sun and moon.

It was meant to significantly ease Justin's cutaneous desiccation disorder, but now they had flipped it over without hesitation, completely destroying his final lifeline.

I intended to look for a different part of the ocean to live in since I didn't want to have anything more to do with them.

Yet that afternoon, Diana suddenly appeared and kneeled right before me. "You have to save Justin, Ms. Merrow! He's in big trouble! His skin suddenly split and tore open—he was rolling on the floor in agony before passing out completely!"

Diana sobbed uncontrollably and banged her head hard against the reef, causing blood to flow down along her forehead and quickly smearing her whole face.

"I'll personally guarantee the protection of these waters as long as you save him, and I'll never allow anyone to bring harm to the merfolk, Ms. Merrow!"

I was slightly moved as I caught sight of her graying hair and bloodied forehead, so I said, "I'll save him this time for your sake, but this is a one-time exception. After this, I will no longer care about his life or death."

Diana bowed her head repeatedly, her eyes filled with immense gratitude.

I saw Ruby bound tightly to a pillar as I entered the Gunter residence.

Upon spotting Ruby, Diana flew into a rage. She grabbed a nearby whip and, without saying anything, struck her with it. "You shameless tramp! Justin was doing perfectly fine! You're the one who shamelessly entangled yourself with him and wore his body out, causing him to fall into a coma!"

Ruby kept shaking her head, yelling, "It wasn't me! It was Celeste! She was jealous of my relationship with Justin, so she drugged him out of spite!"

"How dare you shift the blame onto someone else!" Diana, becoming even more furious, ordered her men to lock Ruby in the basement.

I paid no attention to their arguing and made my way into Justin's bedroom. He was lying quietly in bed, where the blood seeping from his split skin had turned the bedsheets red.

Upon realizing that the mermaid tears couldn't save him anymore, I had no choice but to take out a blade. I endured the sharp pain as I dug out one of the Sacred Heart Scales from my chest. I ground it into powder and mixed it with mermaid tears before feeding it into Justin's mouth.

It wasn't long before Justin's cracked, bleeding skin returned to normal; his shallow breathing finally evened out.

I stumbled out of the bedroom as the loss of blood left me greatly weakened. "He's out of danger for the moment."

Diana's eyes welled with tears at the sight. She tried to kneel before me to thank me, but I caught her before she could. "I hereby announce that whatever history I had with the Gunter family ends today, so please take care of yourself, Mrs. Gunter."

I turned and walked toward the door after saying that. I had completely severed any lingering connection between Justin and me from that moment forward.

That youth, who had once saved me on the shore years ago and won my heart, had long since died in my past life.

I intended to leave the island for good, but shortly after leaving the Gunter residence, I was intercepted by Justin's bodyguards, who suddenly tied me up. I found myself locked inside a glass tank after regaining consciousness. I couldn't help but widen my eyes in horror as I looked at the familiar setting before me.

Justin stood outside, his cracked skin appearing significantly healed, though his expression became even more sinister. "You filthy bitch! You're seriously courting death! How dare you drug me and incite my mother to move against Ruby!

"I truly underestimated how malicious you are! I'll make you repay this debt many times over, Celeste!"

I hadn't even had the chance to defend myself when the bodyguards brought over metal buckets and dumped the contents into the glass tank.

It was piranhas—the natural enemies of merfolks. They instantly swim toward me in a frenzy, their sharp teeth tearing into my flesh and turning the water crimson with blood.

That excruciating pain forced me to swim wildly around the tank to escape them.

Ruby burst into laughter outside the tank, her body shaking. "She looks so wretched right now, Justin!"

Justin nodded with a smile and led her by the hand into the adjacent room.

It wasn't long before the scandalous, indecent sounds of the two of them echoed from inside.

They happened to come out of the room when the bodyguards roughly hauled me from the bloody water.

Justin's skin along the neck began cracking and bleeding again. He took a cup from a bodyguard and swallowed a painkiller, then turned to look at me with contempt. "It's all your fault for screeching like a slaughtered pig and ruining the mood."

He then turned to Ruby, his tone instantly softening while saying, "I've had your favorite jewelry sets prepared for you as a way to make amends, Ruby."

Ruby snuggled bashfully into Justin's embrace, her eyes filled with spite as she glanced at me. "I've heard that nothing enchants the human heart quite like a mermaid's voice. You'd better watch out, Justin, lest her song completely captivate your soul."

Justin's face instantly hardened. He signaled the bodyguards to pin me down, completely ignoring my frantic struggles. He used his hands to roughly pry my mouth open and poured a bowl of scalding hot soup down my throat.

In that instant, a searing, unbearable pain burned through my throat.

I huddled on the ground in agony, unable to stop convulsing. I rasped as a sudden mouthful of blood leaked from the corner of my mouth, "Do you not fear the vengeance of the merfolk for treating me like this, Justin?"

Justin sneered, raising his foot and kicking me hard. "You ought to stop trying to fool me with that nonsense of yours! I don't know if I'll get what's coming to me, but every bit of pain you're feeling right now is retribution for what you did to Ruby!"

He coldly commanded the bodyguards, "Go rip the scales off her body, one after another."

I could feel the cold iron tongs clamping onto my scales as they ripped them off, sending searing pain through my whole body. I grew lightheaded from the agony as I constantly went in and out of consciousness.

Justin remained unmoved as he watched me struggle in agony.

Ruby simply took out her phone and started a live stream right in front of me. "Do you guys see this? Here's the mermaid who actually tried to seduce my husband! She's going to be taught a lesson today!"

In that instant, the viewer count on the live stream skyrocketed, with the comments section filled up with morbidly curious remarks.

"I never thought a mermaid would be a homewrecker. Is it true that a mermaid's tail is edible?"

"Can those scales be preserved as specimens?"

I lashed out with my tail, trying to slap the phone out of her hand.

Justin plunged a knife hard into my tail before I could even reach her hand. "You never learn, do you? How dare you still try to intimidate Ruby!"

He twisted the blade in my flesh and said, "You ought to know that my mother returned to the city and won't be back anytime soon, so no one will be able to save you this time, Celeste! You'd better remember this pain well! I'd like to see if you dare to try and get close to me again!"

Ruby suddenly chimed in, saying, "I heard that a mermaid's Sacred Heart Scale can cure any disease, Justin. Is that really true? I want one for myself…"

Justin's eyes immediately brightened. "I'll get it for you right away, honey."

I lay prone on the ground, shaking my head desperately; after all, merfolk possessed two Sacred Heart Scales, and since I had already given up one to save him, I would surely die if I were to lose this last one.

Justin remained indifferent. He took the iron tongs from the table and slowly walked toward me.

I jerked violently as he used the cold iron tongs to grab the scale on my chest and tore it off. I couldn't help but scream out loud as the agonizing pain erupted through my body.

Justin continued tearing off one scale after another since he was unable to locate the Sacred Heart Scale, causing blood to gush from the injuries and quickly pool on the ground.

He suddenly furrowed his brow, a brief look of reluctance appearing in his eyes.

"Do you feel sorry for her, Justin? If you've really caught feelings for Celeste, I won't blame you. I'll just step aside and let you two be together!" Ruby looked at Justin, her eyes bloodshot.

Justin grew flustered and, without a second thought, removed the final scale from my chest.

I let out a heart-wrenching scream from the searing pain.

Justin didn't even spare me a glance as he pulled Ruby into his embrace to comfort her. "What are you saying, honey? You've always been the only one in my heart. How can she ever compare to you? I'll do anything for you as long as you're not upset, Ruby."

Ruby snuggled into his embrace, a cruel glint passing through her eyes. "If that's the case, I want you to drain her blood right in front of me and then send her to the research institute. I'll believe that you actually mean it once you do that, Justin."

"I'll do whatever you want, Ruby," Justin said, nodding without the slightest hesitation.

I lay on the cold ground, my entire body trembling uncontrollably, while my eyes remained locked, dead on him. I noticed that Justin's face had already taken on a pallid, ashen color—an obvious sign that he wouldn't live through the day.

Just as the tip of his blade was about to sink into my chest, the door was suddenly kicked open with a thunderous crash, and a figure stormed in like a gale.

Upon catching sight of my wretched state—covered in blood with my scales ripped away—Diana nearly passed out. She then bellowed, "You freaking brute! What exactly have you done? Do you know that torturing and killing a merfolk carries a curse? You are going to destroy the Gunter family!"

Justin's face was brimming with contempt. "You're getting old and senile if you actually believe in this superstitious nonsense, Mom!"

He pointed at me as I lay dying on the floor. "I'm merely teaching that bitch a lesson since she made Ruby cry! You ought to know that the whole mermaid curse thing is nothing but a total hoax—"

He realized with horror that the skin all over his body was suddenly cracking open and leaking droplets of blood before he could finish speaking, sloughing off to expose bright red flesh and muscle. He collapsed flat on his back the very next second before he could even cry out.