The Mafia Boss's Mermaid

Rightful Punishment for a Traitor

THE DRIPPING WATER FROM the underwater cave filled my senses once more. I hugged my bare body to try to keep myself warm after being submerged in the icy depths of the ocean.

They brought me back here again. Are they truly dead set on their decision to punish me? The human land was vast, what if I never found the abductors of Kressa?

“Erina…” someone called out to me, their voice echoing in the narrow place.

I immediately looked at the entrance of the cave. A silver head emerged from the pool entrance, her face fierce, just like all the other mermaids when they saw me in my human form.

I stumbled to go near the pool, getting used to balancing myself with my newly acquired legs.

The coldness I felt was much more intense due to being submerged in the frigid water earlier.

“Karele?” It’s Kressa’s sister, Karele. But what is she doing here?

We’re not that close for her to visit me here.

"What brings you here?"

Is she here to avenge Kressa? I doubt she cared for her sister, but when given a chance to exploit my weakness, she could surely feign ignorance to take advantage of my situation–even when that meant she could humiliate herself.

Weakness is shunned in our pod. Although I have a lower status than our pod's queen, I'm still higher than the rest of the mermaids in the pod. However, having a high status does not necessarily equate to respect, which was why there are many mermaids who oppose me in our pod, because out of all the mermaids, someone weak like me inherited the ocean’s power.

“I heard you let the humans take my sister?” Her voice almost cracked, obvious that she was not used to speaking above water.

"I didn't! I…I…" I became silent. Even though I warned her, it was partially my fault for being inept.

If only I was as powerful as my mother, if only I could control my powers, then those humans wouldn't have captured Kressa.

"You what? You were just too incompetent that despite being so ‘special’, you got overpowered by the humans, is that right?" she emphasized the word special. I knew it, she was only here to rub my failure on my face.

When we were only little, all the mermaids my age showed evident jealousy toward my ability, and one of those mermaids was Karele.

“I never treated myself as someone special! I never even wished to be born with powers I can’t control!”

My head became fuzzy as tears welled up in my eyes. I can no longer contain all these emotions I’ve kept for years. The guilt. The humiliation. All of it dawned on me at the same time.

I kept my gaze glued to the floor to hide my face from Karele’s view. I don’t want to show any more of my weakness in front of a member of my pod. But Karele seemed to have noticed anyway.

“What’s with that reaction? You want me to pity you?” She jeered. “I wish everyone could see how low you have sunk, hahaha.”

Her chuckles filled the whole cave. A mermaid’s voice was supposed to enamor whoever heard it, but for some reason, Karele’s voice had the opposite effect on me.

“Why are you here for, revenge?” I asked.

“Something like that.” Karele lifted her body up from the pool. Despite looking uncomfortable, she still sat on the wet ground surrounding the entrance.

“How did you get here? I thought no one was allowed to visit me.”

Something’s not right. For whatever reason, I can’t shake off this foreboding feeling.

My instincts have always been right. Whatever Karele is here for wouldn’t lead to anything good.

“Really now?” She slithered toward me, dragging her body with ease on the wet, hard ground. A playful smirk played on her lips as she tauntingly stared at me. “What if I tell you that your mother was the one who sent me here?”

“Why would she send you here when she has her trusted aid?” My brows furrowed at what she had said. At the same time, my gut churned from the uneasy feeling.

“The queen ordered me to give you something. She said it’ll help you with your…predicament.” Her sharp claws scratched the karst ground beside my leg, disdain imminent on her face as her eyes went to my legs.

“Did she?”

“Yes, it’s in the water,” she said, her tone and expression not quite convincing.

I glanced at the entrance, two meters away from us. Nothing seemed to be there.

“What is it?”

It appeared that she had sensed my hesitation because of the look on her face. She rolled her eyes and darted back to the entrance, her body completely disappearing under the dark waters. After a few seconds, her head arose from the pool as she lifted a familiar artifact.

“That’s…how did you get that?”

Wide-eyed, I stared at the item in her hand. That’s the queen's trident, an artifact that only the queen of our pod was allowed to use. It was said that the trident contains a portion of the ocean’s power and whoever wields it gains a power similar to mine and my mother’s. However, it was useless in the hands of Mother so she hid it away from the pod.

She has no use for an item that can give her the power she already has after all.

“I told you, the queen gave it to me.”

“But why?” I can’t imagine why she’s carelessly handing that to Karele.

“The queen clearly opposes the idea of you going to the human land. The other elders were the only ones insisting that you go there. Obviously, they do not know the danger they’d be putting our pod once you fail.” She held out the trident, and for a moment, I thought she was handing it to me. “Now how do I use this thing?”

“I thought Mother told you to hand that to me?”

“Huh? Why would I do that?” She tried to act confused, “She told me to give you something, but not this trident.”

Something inside my chest started pounding rapidly.

“Then what is it?”

She smiled, pointing the trident at me. A blue light emerged from the tip of the trident. I’m not sure what it was, but my body started moving to avoid it.

I felt a sting on my right leg, red liquid running down from a long gash on my skin that her attack created.

I wasn’t nimble enough to avoid that blast of energy.

“So that’s how I use this!” Karele exclaimed. Once again, she aimed the trident at me. Determination to kill flared in her eyes as her lips stretched in a menacing smile.

“What are you doing? If that happens again, it will be considered as treason!”

“You’re no longer a mermaid, how can that be treason?” Once again, a streak of blue light emerged from the tip of the trident. “And besides, no one will know of this.”

This time, the injury I had sustained was far greater than before. I’m not as agile as when I was a mermaid, so instead of successfully evading it, I let it hit my left arm instead.

Blood oozed from the wound. It looked bad but I can still endure it. If she was powerful enough to wield the trident’s power, I would have had my arm cut off. But if this continues, I’ll definitely die.

I thought she was going to attack me again using the trident, but to my surprise, she slithered towards me. She’s even faster than me on dry land despite me being a human.

“This trident is draining me out.” She grabbed my feet and I fell to the karst ground. It looks like she ran out of energy to wield the trident’s power.

I tried kicking to loosen her grip on me but it was of no use. I can’t fight her in terms of strength with the situation I am currently in.

“Agh.”

Before she could successfully pull me into the water, I opened my mouth to sing a song. Please let this work.

“What? You can still do that?”

I can feel the ocean’s energy dancing around us. For a brief moment, I thought I saw the trident glow. But I have no time to dwell on it.

Karele attempted to stop me by pulling me into the water to muffle my voice, but the ocean current I had summoned had already arrived, taking me away from her grip.

She cursed in agualis tongue and tried to chase me, but the current was faster than any of the mermaids I knew. It pulled me upward, to the surface.

In the next few minutes, everything was a blur. Just when I was about to lose consciousness due to lack of oxygen, I finally reached the surface. I gasped for air, flailing my arms to stay afloat.

Eventually, I relaxed my body to save energy as I stayed afloat above water. Despite the heat from the sun, my teeth still chattered from the cold.

Even though I badly wanted to go to dry land, there were no signs of nearby shores. I’m in the middle of the ocean, I’m sure of it.

I wonder how long it will take for Mother—or Karele—to find me.

I sighed in resignation.

Time passed by and there was still no sign of any mermaids.

Earlier, I tried singing a song but nothing happened. It looks like I can’t use my abilities for now.

Just as I was about to lose hope, I heard the familiar sound of a human vessel wading through the ocean’s water.

It was a small version of a ship, coated in white. I believe that’s what they call a yacht.

“Help…help!” I tried calling out to them in their language, English.

Some mermaids may think that it was foolish of me to rely on a human for assistance, especially after some of them have kidnapped our kind. But at a time like this, I have no choice.

Whoever was on the small ship seemed to have noticed my call because it started to turn in my direction. There was one person aboard it and, based on their build, I could tell that it was a man.

I was desperate for warmth. I wanted to relieve myself of this feeling, of the coldness biting my skin. However, when the yacht stopped, and I could finally see the human on it, I seemed to have forgotten the chilliness for a brief moment.

The pounding in my chest was back again, but compared to earlier, this feeling was rather pleasant. My pupils dilated when our eyes met, his hazel eyes staring back into mine.

Somehow, he’s different from all the other humans I have met. There’s a unique scent coming off him. I was enamored, almost as if he had sung an enchantment song.

Then it dawned on me. The mermaids told me what this was.

“Such a handsome human. I can’t believe he’s my mate.”