Never Saved You

Ironically enough, that was the moment that Ariel had covered her eyes.

When the feathers that had blocked her sight, Ariel’s attention was instantly captured by Ophelia, and she forgot to hang onto the reef.

Sante, on the other hand, had the unconscious Ian hovering under one of his hands.

“Ah!”

Belatedly noticing that Sante disappeared, Ariel had exclaimed then, but he had already flown off.

And the only ones left on the shore were two women who both had red hair and had similar features.

“Hello, Ariel.”

Finally, Ophelia met Ariel face to face. She had only heard of her all this time.

Meeting the monster under her bed wasn’t as terrible as she imagined.

* * *

Back in Ophelia’s room, the translucent curtains fluttered.

“Ophelia.”

He called out a name naturally, in a way that he hadn’t done in his entire life.

Alei frowned.

He was holding a dark green feather in one hand.

It was a moment ago when Alei came to visit Ophelia.

—Ophelia, are you here? I’m coming in.

He carefully stepped into the room, purposefully calling out to her first.

But despite his actions, the room was empty.

He heard that Ophelia was working in her room, so he sought her out.

‘You’re never there every time I look for you.’

They couldn’t meet whenever he looked for her, and this made him want to search for her more.

Should he blame his luck that he was too busy?

Even right now, the reason he felt uneasy wasn’t the fact that she was absent.

It was the dark green feather in his hand.

If it was this size and color, the answer was obvious.

‘Sante.’

It was easy to connect the dots.

He had wanted to talk to Ophelia about her mana, but because of this, Alei’s mood soured.

No, it might be more accurate to say that his mood had gone rotten.

‘It couldn’t be helped either way.’

Alei brushed off his mixed emotions and put down the feather.

He didn’t forget to close the wide open windows and pick up the documents scattered by the wind.

Perhaps because they were near the coast, but the wind was strong. It wouldn’t be strange that some of the papers had fallen to the ground.

When he reached down, he saw a familiar handwriting on the page.

An aesthetically pleasing script that members of the Imperial family would use, slanted at an angle to the right.

The vertical strokes at a certain angle gave off an elegant feeling. It was just like her.

A straightforward, elegant, untethered person.

Would it be too much of a grand wish for such a person to pay attention to him?

‘Since when did I start caring about that?’

What a foolish thought.

Alei decided to just focus more on magic research next time.

‘Ophelia wouldn’t care about me anyway.’

The moment he thought about it, he felt incredibly foolish.

Alei placed the papers he collected on the desk, a frown on his face as he opened the door.

Then, his eyes widened.

“…Alei?”

Could his name sound so beautiful? It was a pronunciation that lilted softly, enough to make him doubt his own ears. There was a clear look of welcome in her eyes.

And without realizing it, he also called the name of the person before him.

“…Ophelia.”

Why did she meet him only at times when he didn’t want to show himself to her the most?

But he couldn’t stop the corners of his lips. If it’s an affliction, then it’s an affliction.

Alei opened his lips, unconsciously smiling.

“Where did you go?”

“The beach. This is actually great. There’s someone I need to show to you. Sante, will you come here?”

As soon as she finished speaking, Alei lost his smile the moment he saw the one who approached as Ophelia called him.

No, to be exact, there were two people approaching.

A man with short blond hair who had a captivating atmosphere around him, and another man of a similar build.

At first glance, he looked like a servant due to his shabby outfit, but…

The powerful and intensive—yet nauseating at the same time—surge of mana revealed his identity.

“Hiya Dian.”

It was obvious no matter how he looked at it. He was Sante, the owner of the feather that Ophelia gave him yesterday.

Unlike Alei who frowned a lot, Sante smiled broadly.

Gesturing to the hovering man controlled by his hand, Sante spoke up.

“Ophelia asked me to treat this man, but I can’t use healing magic on others.”

The creases on Alei’s forehead grew deeper.

“Who is this man that you’re asking me for treatment for the first time?”

“He’s the Grand Duke of Ronen. He was shipwrecked.”

Ophelia answered his question. Alei was astonished, and his eyes flashed.

“Grand Duke Ronen? Is it really him?”

“He has black hair. Do you need more proof?”

“So what we talked about on the coast happened to the Grand Duke?”

Ophelia had told him that should the current be changed, it would be enough to cause a shipwreck.

Alei was even more so in disbelief this time, but Ophelia calmly affirmed his suspicions.

“I don’t know for sure, but perhaps.”

Alei stared at Ophelia for a long time, as though she was a troublemaker who was caught stealing candy. Then, he sighed.

“I’ll heal him first. I can’t let him die. But you have to explain properly afterwards—just what the hell is going on here.”

“Of course.”

Ophelia answered without raising a brow.

When Alei looked at her once more, he was convinced.

‘If there’s really a god in those temples that people believe in…’

It’s clear that this god hated him.

* * *

A few moments ago, at the beach—

Ophelia grabbed Ariel.

She had tried to swim away the moment she saw Ophelia.

“Unfortunately, Princess, you can’t escape.”

“Siren! Untie this!”

“Apologies, but that’ll be hard. My lady over here wants a conversation.”

And she failed to swim away because of Sante’s intervention.

So, rather than a meeting, this was more of a detainment.

‘We really met.’

The youngest mermaid princess, Ariel.

Ophelia had to catch her breath for a while as she stood in front of her.

Seeing a face that not even her dreams could show to her aroused a strange feeling within her.

Fiery hair that was just like hers. Eyes as clear as glass beads that reflected the azure ocean.

Her pale skin, which remained soaked, was translucent under the sun, and what could be felt from her was both perplexity and confusion.

She had never seen such a slender figure, and even if she was soaked like this, Ophelia thought that she would look good in clothes.

And Ophelia knew one word that would simply fit such a being.

“You’re lovely.”

“…You kidnapped someone but I guess you really lost your mind. What kind of greeting is that?”

Of course, they weren’t in good enough terms for Ophelia to have said that, so the answer to this compliment was sharp.

However, even as she was flustered, her voice resembled a harp’s tune. Ophelia had the thought that it really wasn’t surprising that humans would become so entranced by mermaids just like in the folktales.

She was someone you would have no choice but to love, and it would be more strange not to love her.

It was an odd notion.

Even more so because Ophelia, who had never been loved, was the one who was dwelling on this.

It was a truly strange feeling.

Ophelia was looking at Ariel for the first time, for a while forgetting what she was supposed to do, just like the boy who discovered a pearl inside a shell.

Of course, this did not last for a long time.

The mermaid before her was growing impatient because she couldn’t hide herself right away.

Ariel looked at Ophelia, her brows furrowed as she completely expressed her puzzlement, and then she carefully opened her lips to speak.

“I… I know you. You’re the person who came to the shore earlier. You looked at that man and just went back.”

“That’s right.”

“How can you just go back after seeing someone who’s in need of help? If it weren’t for me, that human would have died!”

“You were there though, right? So he didn’t die.”

“Did you know I was there from the start?”

Ophelia didn’t deny it. Ariel realized how underhanded this trap was, and she looked even more dumbfounded.

“Oh my gosh… You know my name, and you’re with the head of the sirens… Just what kind of human are you?”

“I’ve also been very curious about that, but she wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Sante, who hovered down at about the level of a tree, laughed heartily.

“Isn’t it interesting that this human has more secrets than us?”

“’Interesting’?! I’m not someone who has no restrictions like you! I can’t believe a human saw me. If my sisters find out about this, I’ll receive a terrible punishment!”

“Then why don’t I give you the chance to escape, hm? But if you do, Princess, this man might get punished instead.”