The Mermaid He Betrayed

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I am the purest-blooded elite mermaid. My tears turn into priceless pearls, and my heart's blood can bring the dead back to life.

When Ethan Hunt went bankrupt, drowned in debt, and was being hunted by his enemies, I pulled him from the edge of the cross-sea bridge where he stood drenched in blood, ready to end it all.

I thought he was useless, but my heart softened anyway. I forced myself to cry an entire bag of top-grade pearls to fill the hole of his debts.

When signing the master-servant agreement, I warned Ethan: "You're not worthy of me. You're just a dog I'm keeping, my accessory."

Ethan was the perfect loyal dog putting on my shoes, feeding me, handling everything personally.

When I said one, he never dared say two.

Even though I was different from others, he spoiled me into the most envied woman in the entire city.

Everyone said Ethan loved me like his own life. I believed it too.

Until he drained half my heart's blood to save a low-grade koi mate with genetic defects.

She was his first love, the one he couldn't have in his youth.

That same day, I dragged my weakened body into Lyra's hospital room and smashed everything she had related to Ethan.

I thought Ethan would kneel on the ground like before, begging for my forgiveness, worried about my pale face.

But that night, during my scale-shedding period when I was at my weakest and most vulnerable, he brought in a group of men to violate me repeatedly.

Ethan wrapped his arm around Lyra's waist, looking down at my disheveled state like I was garbage:

"Didn't Lyra speak the truth? You're cold-blooded by nature. What kind of mermaid throws pearls at people to attach herself to them?"

"Didn't you mock Lyra for being a low-grade mate? Well, now that you've been passed around by men and lost all your scales, you're just a defective product that can't see the light of day either!"

When I pushed open the hospital room door, Lyra was leaning in Ethan's arms, taking small sips of medicine brewed from my heart's blood.

They both stared at me in shock.

"Vesper, what are you doing here?"

Ethan frowned, but his hand gently pressed on Lyra's back, helping her breathe easier.

Lyra licked the blood-colored residue from the corner of her mouth and laughed: "Sorry, my body is too weak.

I borrowed Ethan for a bit, and borrowed some of your blood too. You don't mind, do you?"

I clutched the pregnancy test report I'd just gotten from the hospital, my mind exploding with a buzzing sound.

"Ethan, didn't you promise me that if I donated blood once, you'd send her abroad?"

Ethan looked up at me, his tone calm:

"Vesper, Lyra has genetic defects. Sending her abroad would be like killing her. I can't do something so heartless."

"So you were heartless enough to drain half my heart's blood on our tenth anniversary to be with your first love?"

I grabbed the fruit basket from the table and hurled it. Apples rolled everywhere.

I roared my questions:

"Ethan, when you were dirt poor and being stepped on by everyone, who supported you? Don't forget that you got where you are today because of whose tears and scales!"

Mentioning the past, all the grievances came flooding back like a torrent.

Back then, I was the hottest elite mate in the underground black market. All the powerful families in the capital wanted to claim me.

After following Ethan, I spent six full years in a narrow, damp basement.

When he made his comeback, many people bullied him for his past bankruptcy, deliberately forcing drinks on him at business dinners, even making him kneel.

I blocked for him time and time again, shielding him from malicious provocations, lowering myself, using my mermaid song to win him investments.

The young man's eyes reddened with emotion back then. In an era when mates had no human rights, he defied everyone's opinions to build me the city's most luxurious temperature-controlled pool.

He solemnly promised: "From now on, this is our secret love base. Only you have the privilege to enter! My life, Ethan Hunt's life, belongs to Vesper for all eternity!"

His eyes were so sincere and passionate then.

But now when I looked up, I saw only Ethan's annoyed expression:

"What's the point of rehashing old stories over and over? Lyra's body is weak, she can't be without me. And it's just a little blood. You have such strong recovery ability when did you become so selfish?"

I was selfish?

Tears welled up in my eyes, but because of extreme anger, I forced them back, refusing to let them turn into pearls.

Ethan froze, seeming to realize his words were too harsh. He sighed helplessly and walked over, reaching out to touch my hair.

"How could I possibly not want you? But Lyra is my first love. I can't bear to see her suffer."

"If you really don't like her, I promise that after she recovers, she'll never appear in front of you again, okay?"

His expression was sincere.

Exactly like the young man ten years ago when he begged me to save him.

My dormant heart wavered slightly. Just as I was about to speak, I inadvertently glimpsed the bright red contract totem beneath his shirt collar, at his collarbone.

It was a soul-binding mate contract.

Identical to the one showing on Lyra's neck.

I shoved Ethan away, asking in disbelief: "You signed a soul contract with her?"

Ethan froze, his brow furrowing slightly, but he still nodded.

Lyra suddenly threw off the covers crying and rushed to kneel before me: "Blame me if you want! I was the one who begged Mr. Hunt to sign it! I can't survive without a contract!"

"Silly girl, signing a contract isn't a one-person decision. How can I blame you?"

Ethan tenderly pulled Lyra up from the floor and held her tightly in his arms, then looked at me firmly:

"I was the one who initiated the contract with Lyra. Her body has flaws, she's different from you. Without a master's protection, she'd be bullied by other mates."

My lips parted as I watched the man I loved most protect another woman like a rare treasure.

Years ago, Ethan refused to sign a contract with me, using his rising career as an excuse, saying he was afraid people would use it as a weakness against him.

I understood how difficult things were for him and waited year after year.

I thought he just wasn't ready.

But now, to protect another woman, he could hand over his soul without hesitation, then turn and look at me with cold eyes.

The contract I'd begged him for countless times, he easily gave to someone else.

The tightly wound string in my heart finally snapped.

I removed the diamond ring from my ring finger and hurled it at Ethan. The sharp edge of the ring cut a bloody line across his face.

I ground my teeth viciously:

"Ethan, you violated our vows today cheating and giving the contract to someone else..."

"Since you won't give me an answer, I'll show you both my attitude with actions!"

Ethan touched the blood on his face, clearly thinking I was joking, and snorted dismissively:

"Enough, Vesper. Stop making a scene. I still need to accompany Lyra to the Vesper gala to give her face. Be good and go home. I'll come back tonight to explain."

I stared hard at their intimate backs, slowly tearing the pregnancy report in my pocket to pieces and throwing it in the trash.

Leaving the hospital, I called Kyle, the capital's golden boy:

"I'm allowing you to pursue me now, but I have one condition I need you to help me destroy someone!"

Even after ten years, I was still the object of every man's pursuit.

The most perfect elite mermaid in the eyes of the powerful.

With just one sentence, countless men scrambled to please me.

That very night, I received a bloody koi scale.

In the surveillance video, Lyra was surrounded by a group of men in black, pinned to the ground, as they forcibly plucked her most prized natal golden scale.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me!"

"Ethan will kill you all, kill every last one of you!"

Her furious curses turned into blood-curdling screams as the pliers came down.

"Why? Because you offended the golden boy's sweetheart."

The video faded to black amid mocking laughter.

At the same time, the villa door was kicked open.

Ethan, wearing a haute couture suit and originally holding roses to appease me, approached me with murderous intent.

"Still angry about what happened during the day?"

He originally wanted to control his temper. He tossed the flowers on the table, his voice carrying helplessness and condescension:

"You're an elite mate why get angry with a defective product?"

"I'm only with her because I pity her. If you don't like it, I won't let her appear in front of you anymore, okay?"

For once, he lowered his head, thinking this would appease me.

I laughed too, laughing until tears nearly came: "You're absolutely right a defective mate really isn't worth getting angry over!"

Ethan froze, seemingly not expecting me to be so agreeable.

I then threw the bloody golden scale in front of Ethan, smiling sweetly at him:

"Enjoy a good look at your poor little thing's natal scale."

Ethan's eyes widened as he stared at the bloody scale. When it registered, he grabbed my collar, his eyes bloodshot:

"Vesper, you actually dared to touch her? You're looking for death!"

I smiled provocatively, meeting his eyes without backing down: "I also have the video. Want to hear her screams? I said it before neither of you cheating bastards will have it easy!"

A crisp sound echoed through the entire living room.

My face burned with pain, the force whipping my head to the side, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of my mouth.

I covered my face, looking at Ethan in disbelief.

Since his comeback, countless low-grade mates had tried to climb into his bed.

The bold ones would provoke me directly to my face. In my volatile temper, I'd taught them lessons and ruined faces.

But Ethan had always turned a blind eye, even helping me hand over the knife.

This was the first time he'd raised his hand against me for another woman.

"You'd better start praying Lyra's okay, or I won't be polite to you!"

Ethan glared at me like I was an enemy, then stormed out angrily.

I stood there alone, the servants' sighing and mocking gazes hurting more than the slap on my face.

In just one night, news of rising business star Ethan Hunt storming the black market in a fury to save his beloved made it to the top of trending topics nationwide.

[Oh my god, isn't this just like the domineering CEO heroically saving the beauty in novels? I'm dying from this ship!]

[But isn't this unfair to Vesper? She stayed with Ethan for ten years.]

[If you can't manage your man, who else can you blame? Besides, wasn't she always proud of being Ethan's only sweetheart? Getting a slap in the face now, isn't she?]

However much I'd once prided myself on Ethan's favoritism, I was now equally humiliated.

The entire city knew that the once most noble elite mermaid had lost to a genetically defective reject.

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."

He carefully took my hand, draped a coat over me, gentle just like ten years ago.

I felt momentarily disoriented. My body's weakness made me unconsciously grip his sleeve.

"When we first met, you were so proud, refusing to lower your head even slightly. Back then I swore I'd never let you suffer any grievance in this lifetime."

He rambled on the whole way. The car played the songs we used to love, his eyes full of nostalgia for the past.

I leaned against the car window, watching the night scenery fly past outside, a ridiculous hope sprouting in my heart.

Maybe he was just temporarily confused by Lyra.

Maybe he still loved me.

The car stopped at the underground mate black market where I used to be kept.

Walking into the deepest private room, an overwhelmingly nauseating smell of aphrodisiacs rushed into my nostrils.

My head instantly became dizzy, the restlessness inside ignited by this smell.

I saw that in the dim lighting, many people seemed to be around, all staring at me and quietly laughing.

I tried to control my staggering steps, wanting to escape, but accidentally stumbled into Ethan's cold embrace.

"Vesper, you don't need to suppress your instincts."

"You've been holding back these past few days, right? Today your husband will fill you up all at once, okay?"

A seductive voice whispered in my ear.

The young man's innocent face from ten years ago appeared before me.

The drugs and instinct completely controlled my brain.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe. Just as I was about to touch his lips, a piercing mocking laugh rang out.

My spine instantly turned ice-cold, as if plunging into a frozen abyss.

There were more than just the two of us in this room!

"Everyone see that? What elite noble mermaid when she's in heat, she's just as cheap!"

Ethan's contemptuous voice exploded overhead. He violently pushed me away like discarding a dirty rag.

The black cloth behind was suddenly pulled back, harsh lights blazing on.

A group of pot-bellied, greedy-eyed men surrounded me, their gazes nakedly scanning my body.

Lyra sat on the central sofa, holding a phone livestreaming, the camera locked on me as she laughed provocatively and maliciously:

"Worthy of being an elite mate her heat is really different! Perfect for giving our nationwide audience an eye-opening experience!"

"Shut up!"

I rushed at her like a madwoman, shoving Lyra, trying to grab the phone.

But the next second, my hair was violently yanked by a tremendous force, my entire body pressed hard against the floor.

Before my eyes were a pair of expensive red-soled leather shoes.

Ethan's voice came from above, ice-cold and piercing, carrying a lofty judgment:

"You shouldn't have absolutely shouldn't have bullied Lyra. Today I'll let you know that without me, you're worth less than a low-grade mate!"

I gritted my teeth unwillingly, my hands supporting myself as I tried to stand.

Before I could steady myself, Ethan backhanded me with a heavy slap.

I flew out like a kite with a broken string, my stomach slamming hard into the edge of a hard marble table.

Pain.

Tearing pain.

Pain so intense that tears instantly welled up, but the moment they fell, they turned into muddy pearls, hitting the floor with crisp sounds.

I curled up on the ground, my whole body trembling violently, even breathing becoming torture.

The men's gazes fell on me, naked desire crawling over my entire body like maggots.

Some even started unbuckling their belts, walking toward me.

Ethan slowly walked up to me, looking down from above.

Those eyes once full of love were now cold as if looking at a corpse.

"Vesper, didn't you keep calling Lyra a defect?"

He crouched down, forcibly gripping my chin, his lips curled in a playful yet cruel smile. "So after being passed around by all these men, what does that make you? Guess whether you can still maintain your elite nobility?"

My stomach sent piercing pain. That terrifying feeling of life slipping away instantly drowned me.

I desperately gripped his suit sleeve, my nails nearly breaking:

"Ethan, I'm pregnant... you can't do this to me..."

He looked down at me, his eyes full of disgust and mockery:

"Vesper, to gain sympathy, you'd stoop to this kind of lie? You think I'd believe you? Disgusting!"

"I'm not lying... it's true..."

The pain in my stomach intensified wave after wave. Warm blood snaked down from the base of my thighs, staining my white dress red.

I couldn't hold on anymore. My hand clutching his sleeve fell limply as I collapsed to the floor.

"Vesper, stop pretending."

Ethan sneered, disgustedly brushing off his sleeve as he turned to leave. "If I'd known you were this kind of scheming liar, I'd never have touched you, even if it meant death. Have your fun with her, boys. Just leave her breathing."

The blood kept flowing, more and more, pooling into an alarmingly dark red puddle on the floor.

The heavy smell of blood overpowered the aphrodisiacs in the room.

He seemed to sense something was wrong and looked back in annoyance.

When his gaze touched the expanding crimson beneath me, his pupils suddenly contracted.