chapter 16
Eric’s breathing gradually weakened.
Tu Nan drew out the Dagger, and blood gushed from the wound in the Prince’s chest.
The Mermaid said that she needed to smear the Prince’s blood on her legs to turn back into a Mermaid.
Tu Nan, her face cold, brought the glass bottle she had prepared to the wound on Eric’s chest and collected half a bottle of blood.
She put away the collected blood, unable to resist glancing once more at Eric lying on the bed.
He lay in a pool of blood, his eyes wide open, black pupils filling his sockets, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile hung at the corner of his mouth, making him look deeply unsettling.
Suppressing her discomfort, she pulled the quilt over and covered his head, hiding that eerie face, then quickly left Eric’s room and returned to her own.
Tu Nan washed her face, cleaned the bloodstains from her body, and braced herself against the sink, unable to help but doubt.
Was Eric really dead just like that?
Wasn’t it all a bit too easy?
Although everything had gone according to her plan, she still couldn’t relax. Eric’s last words echoed in her mind again and again.
She had personally ended the Prince with the Dagger; now all she had to do was wait for morning. Without a groom, the Wedding couldn’t be held.
Everything would proceed as she had anticipated.
Tu Nan took a deep breath and pulled out the blood she had just collected from her pocket, intending to inspect it more closely.
The moment she saw what was inside the bottle, her pupils contracted, and she instinctively dropped the bottle, smashing it hard against the wall.
With a crisp sound of shattering glass, the contents of the bottle scattered.
It wasn’t blood at all, but countless writhing maggots.
The maggots, no longer contained by the glass bottle, spread across the floor and the wall.
…
Tu Nan stared at the wriggling maggots, her unease growing stronger.
She gripped the Dagger and returned to Eric’s room.
The room was just as she had left it; no one had come, and Eric’s corpse still lay on the bed, showing no signs of having been moved.
Tu Nan lifted the quilt and saw that strange, bizarre face again.
Was it her imagination, or had the smile at Eric’s lips grown wider…?
But the Prince was undeniably, irrefutably dead.
No breath, no heartbeat.
She covered him with the quilt once more, returned to her own room, lay down on the bed, and closed her eyes.
Calm down.
When morning comes, everything will be answered.
*
Tu Nan thought she would be unable to sleep, but she actually drifted off.
She even had a dream.
In the dream, she left the Instance and returned to reality, finally able to sleep soundly and peacefully.
“Nan Nan, time to get up.”
“Grandmother, let me sleep a little longer…” Tu Nan mumbled, exhausted.
Suddenly, she jolted awake.
Her Grandmother had long since passed away; she was dreaming.
Tu Nan opened her eyes.
“Miss Ariel, you’re awake.”
A sweet voice sounded in her ear, and Tu Nan’s drowsiness vanished instantly.
The Maid stood beside her, holding a white lace dress, her face stretched into an exaggerated smile, showing two rows of neat teeth.
“Today is the Wedding day. The ceremony will be held by the sea. The Prince and Princess are waiting for you,” the Maid said, handing her the Bridesmaid Dress. “Please change and come downstairs with me.”
Tu Nan paused, looking up at the Maid.
The Maid’s smile looked a little stiff.
Eric was still alive, and she wasn’t surprised.
If the Prince could really die so easily, that would be the strange thing.
But she had clearly pierced his heart with that Dagger-so why was he still alive?
Tu Nan changed into the dress and followed the Maid to the seaside.
The area had already been arranged as a Wedding venue, filled with white flowers everywhere.
“Ariel, I’m so glad to see you,” Grace ran over and took her hand. “This dress looks beautiful on you.”
Tu Nan looked at Grace before her. She was wearing a lavish blue Wedding gown, a crown encrusted with jewels on her head, dazzling and radiant.
Yet an odd feeling welled up in Tu Nan’s heart.
Why was Grace’s Wedding dress blue?
Grace seemed to notice her confusion and smiled as she explained, “Eric’s country was born by the sea and worships the Sea God. Blue is their representative color. At every Wedding here, both the bride and groom wear blue.”
Before Tu Nan could think further, the musicians began to play. Someone shoved a basket full of petals into her hands, and she was pushed to follow behind Grace.
The guests on both sides wore smiles, murmuring words of blessing.
Eric, who had died by her hand last night, stood at the end of the aisle, a strange smile on his face, staring at her without blinking.
No, no, no!
She suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“What’s wrong, Ariel?” Grace turned back, asking in confusion.
The guests on both sides also turned their heads in unison to look at her.
Tu Nan looked at Grace’s seemingly innocent expression, then glanced around at the guests, and finally understood.
The Rule said: the princess is beautiful and kind, dressed in a white dress. In everyone’s eyes, she is a delicious Little Cake.
The first time she met Grace, Grace was wearing a white dress, so Tu Nan had assumed that the princess mentioned in the Rule referred to Grace.
But now, the one in the white dress was herself.
And Ariel was the Mermaid princess.
So the princess referred to in the Rule was herself!
At this Wedding, everyone was eyeing her hungrily, coveting her.
In their eyes, she was the delicious Little Cake!
“Ariel, what’s wrong?” Grace was still smiling in front of her, but now there was something strange in that smile that hadn’t been there before.
At some point, all the guests had stood up, and in unison, they spoke in her direction, “The Wedding is starting.”
The Wedding was beginning, and they would celebrate it in their own way.
And an essential part of any Wedding is to cut open the carefully made cake and share it together.
“Ariel, I told you…” Eric stepped forward, his handsome face gradually twisting, “You can’t escape…”
“From the moment I first saw you, you looked familiar…” A manic smile appeared on his face. “It wasn’t until that day on the ship that I finally remembered… The day I was shipwrecked, it was you who saved me.”
He threw his head back and laughed, looking utterly deranged.
“There really are Mermaids in this world! The Sea God actually sent me a Mermaid! You will be… my most perfect prey!”
The people around them moved closer to her, like robots programmed to act, following Eric’s words.
Eric watched with satisfaction as the girl before him grew paler and paler, his pride swelling. “So what if you know my secret? You can’t save anyone, nor can you change the ending.”
He fully expected Tu Nan to panic and cry in despair, but instead, she did not show the fear he anticipated.
On the contrary, she smiled.