Chapter 4

Next week was my scale-shedding period.

A mermaid's scale-shedding period is like a human woman's childbirth — excruciatingly painful, accompanied by intense mating urges.

Every time this happened, Ethan would take time off in advance to come home, staying by my side every moment, giving me the most expensive suppressants.

But this time, to punish me, he confiscated all my suppressants and even bribed the servants to secretly add catalyzing drugs to my drinking water.

That night, desire and skinning, bone-extracting pain came in waves like the tide.

I rolled on the bed, my hands grasping unconsciously in the air, Ethan's once-gentle face flashing frequently in my mind.

"Vesper, don't be afraid. I'm here."

Past whispers echoed in my ears, but reality was a cold, empty room.

I bit my lip until it bled, desperately banging my head against the nightstand, trying to use physical pain to suppress the restlessness inside.

I stumbled out of the room and desperately pleaded with the butler: "Give me a suppressant, just one!"

The butler looked at me coldly, his eyes full of disdain:

"Mr. Hunt said that since you hurt Miss Lyra's natal scale, you need to properly learn your place!"

"Only if you're willing to kneel and kowtow an apology to Miss Lyra and record a video will you get a suppressant."

My heart sank. The hand clutching the butler's trouser leg suddenly released.

The pain hit again. This time I clenched my teeth, my nails digging deep into my palms, stubbornly refusing to make another sound.

My phone screen lit up. Lyra had updated her social media.

She wore Ethan's oversized shirt, her neck covered in intimate kiss marks, lying contentedly in Ethan's arms, her eyes full of satisfaction.

Her hand gently wrapped around Ethan's neck as she faced the camera smugly, with the caption:

[Who understands the happiness of having your master stay by your side during a mate's heat? Thank you for Ethan's favoritism.]

Below were unanimous blessings and people from the social circle mocking me.

My heart completely died.

I curled up on the cold floor, staring at the ceiling. The physical pain wasn't half of what my heart felt.

In my daze, I had a dream.

I dreamed of the day Ethan had just paid off his debts. We were strolling on the street when I casually admired a wedding dress in a shop window.

Unfortunately, mates had low status. The law prohibited mates from wearing wedding dresses or legally marrying humans.

Yet the impoverished Ethan emptied his pockets of the few hundred dollars he had left and bought a cheap white veil, risking arrest by the patrol, and put the veil on me in the city's most crowded square.

He cupped my face, his eyes burning with love:

"I don't care about mate or human — I only know that what others have, my Vesper must have too!"

"In this life, I, Ethan Hunt, will marry no one but you! When I make money, I'll buy you the most expensive wedding dress in the world!"

My dormant heart felt like it would leap from my chest in that instant.

But heavy footsteps pulled me back to reality.

Looking up, I saw Ethan's cold face.

Seeing me disheveled and drenched in cold sweat, his brow furrowed slightly, a trace of barely noticeable heartache flashing in his eyes.

His cold fingers traced across my face. Controlled by the drugs, I instinctively sought that coolness, nuzzling his palm like a begging dog.

Seeing my docile appearance, satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

"Look at you — why be so stubborn? An apology is just one sentence. As long as you lower your head, I'll still spoil you like before."

Consciousness briefly cleared in that instant. I violently pushed him away and spat bloody saliva on his face.

"Want me to apologize to a homewrecker defect? Ethan, over my dead body!"

Ethan's eyes darkened instantly, the muscles in his face twitching.

He couldn't bear to hear me insult Lyra even once.

I thought he'd fly into a rage like a few days ago. But unexpectedly, he suddenly smiled, forcibly pulling me into his arms and gently patting my back:

"If you don't want to apologize, then don't. You're not wrong anyway — she really is a defect."

"You must be starving, right? Come, I'll take you somewhere nice."