WTYTIAAN Chapter 219

Chapter 219

After Cornelia relayed the news of human nobles coming to capture mermaids to her tribe, she ran to the underwater prison.

Perhaps it was because her first imprisonment there was so deeply etched in her memory, or because she was adopted by Laura and her husband after her escape, which gave her almost a new life. Cornelia had a rather positive impression of the underwater prison.

She would come back to visit and even stay for a few days each time.

Because of this, the merfolk in the tribe had an even worse opinion of Cornelia. After all, the underwater prison was pitch black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Any mermaid would feel panic and unease in that environment, yet Cornelia felt at peace. What was this if not a freak?

Perhaps mixed-blood mermaids with human blood were just freaks.

The underwater prison was where mermaids who had committed serious offenses were held. No mermaid wanted to stay there, but Cornelia would run in even without having committed any crime.

Cornelia didn’t agree with this. Perhaps because she visited so often, she was very familiar with the underwater prison. Coming back here was like returning to her hometown. Even though it was so deep and dark that she couldn’t see anything, Cornelia still felt at ease.

At least when she was here, no mermaid would bother to come and cause her trouble, and Cornelia could have some quiet time.

This time, she would be staying underwater for a month, which was too long. Cornelia didn’t plan to stay in the tribe. Elsewhere, she would inevitably run into mermaids who would come looking for trouble. Cornelia’s first thought was the underwater prison.

Swimming into the underwater prison, she skillfully found a flat, large rock and lay down on it, spacing out in the familiar environment.

It had been a long time since she returned to the seabed. Cornelia didn’t feel nostalgia but rather a bit of melancholy.

The melancholy of parting. She had only been away from home, away from Mama Laura, Papa Laura, and Sister Bessie for a short while, but she already missed them.

Cornelia sighed, and she could feel the sorrow of parting that Mama Laura had talked about.

She turned over and freely stretched her fishtail in the embrace of the seawater. She chased her fishtail in circles for a while until she bumped into the nearby stone and stopped.

Cornelia held her face and imagined what her family was doing now, and finally got up.

Always sitting here would make her prone to overthinking, so Cornelia decided to continue what she had been doing before—exploring the underwater prison.

The underwater prison was vast and unfathomably deep. Initially, it wasn’t a prison but a forbidden area for the merfolk because it was too dark, and if there were any dangers hidden within, they would be difficult to detect. Therefore, it was designated as a forbidden area.

She didn’t know from which mermaid king it had been converted into a prison. Mermaids who had committed offenses would be confined here. Because of its unique environment, it was the best place for punishment, and it gradually evolved into a place where mermaids who had committed serious offenses would be confined for reflection.

Most mermaids who were locked up panicked, after all, darkness easily brings fear. It was so dark here that even the light of moonstones would be absorbed. Even when confined here, no mermaid was willing to delve deeper to explore what was at the end of the prison.

However, Cornelia wasn’t afraid of the darkness here. For her, darkness was precisely the waiting before dawn. So, after familiarizing herself with the space a bit outside, Cornelia ventured into the depths of the prison.

So far, she had explored a long distance inside, but she hadn’t reached the end yet.

Of course, maybe the darkness blurred Cornelia’s judgment of distance, but she still thought this prison was enormous.

Since she would be staying underwater for a month this time, Cornelia didn’t plan to waste time in meaningless fights with those mermaids. She still wanted to explore the depths of the prison, just to satisfy her curiosity.

Of course, this time she would bring something to check the time, a waterproof pocket watch (glowing version) that Cornelia had saved up for months to buy.

Mama Laura, Papa Laura, and Bessie were all waiting for her to come home. This time, she couldn’t miss the time. They had agreed on a month, and it would be a month.

Cornelia swam excitedly into the depths of the prison.

Outside, the mermaids who had gathered together once again were complaining discontentedly because their play area had been restricted.

“The elder is making such a fuss. What if we swim up and get discovered? We can still use our voices to bewitch those humans and make them perish in the sea.”

“Exactly, the elder must have underestimated us and thinks our songs can’t bewitch those humans.”

“Even if we can’t, the princess can. She’s the most talented mermaid at singing the Soul-Stealing Song among us.”

After a round of complaints, several mermaids looked at each other, seemingly seeing unspoken words on each other’s faces.

If the elder hadn’t specifically emphasized that they were not allowed to float to the sea surface, perhaps these mermaids wouldn’t have swum to the surface, since there wasn’t much to play with on the sea surface for them.

But the elder had specifically emphasized it, which was very tempting for these mermaids who were still in their rebellious phase.

Each of them wanted to try the feeling of bewitching people with their songs, wanted to tease the humans who were trying to capture mermaids, and wanted to show the adult mermaids the ‘muscles’ that they, the young ones, had not yet fully grown.

“Why don’t we go and take a look?”

Once the first mermaid suggested it, there were more and more voices echoing the suggestion. All the mermaids present unanimously agreed on this decision. They even looked for the mermaid princess who wasn’t present.

The mermaid princess hesitated a bit about this suggestion. As the third daughter of the mermaid king, she naturally knew the dangers the mermaid king had faced after being captured by humans and returning to the sea. If the mermaid king hadn’t happened to meet a naive human maid who was trusted by her master, he might not have been able to escape.

The mermaid princess didn’t want to experience what her father had experienced, so she wasn’t enthusiastic about the suggestion of going to the surface to join in the fun.

“Could it be that you listened to what that mixed-blood bastard said and got scared?”

The mermaid princess vehemently denied, “How is that possible!”

She thought of Cornelia, who she had always disliked, and also thought that this news was relayed by the mixed-blood mermaid she disliked the most. The mermaid princess’s fear of being captured by humans diminished a bit.

“Cornelia often goes ashore and lives in human homes,” a mermaid said softly. “She doesn’t seem afraid of humans at all.”

The mermaid princess was provoked. She hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth, “It’s just humans. Even that mixed-blood Cornelia isn’t afraid, so how could I be afraid!”

“Let’s go. We’ll go and see that so-called human noble. I don’t believe those guys can really capture mermaids!”

Several mermaids exchanged glances and chuckled secretly.

With the mermaid princess taking the lead, they would have someone to rely on even if they were discovered by their parents later.

Several young mermaids evaded the patrolling adult mermaids and quietly swam to the surface. The sea surface was calm at the moment, without any sign of ships.

“Where are the humans?” A mermaid frowned. “Could it be that the mixed-blood lied to us about the human noble wanting to capture mermaids?”

“Wouldn’t it be? Why would she lie to us?”

“Who knows? Maybe she wants to see us panicking?”

“Ah, that’s so detestable. She’s indeed a mixed-breed with cunning blood.”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

The mermaids searched around but didn’t see the shadow of any ships. They could only return to the tribe in embarrassment and were discovered by the patrolling mermaids, who brought them to the elder for a good scolding.

However, the mermaid princess also lost her fear of floating to the sea surface. When her companions weren’t around, she secretly floated to the surface a few more times, trying to do better than Cornelia—she wouldn’t be afraid of contacting humans either.

The mermaid princess thought this, but on her fourth time secretly floating to the surface, she encountered a large ship.

The decorations on it were extremely luxurious, with bright lights and vibrant colors. The mermaid princess had never seen such human trickery and was immediately attracted to it.

It’s a human ship!

Could this be the human noble that Cornelia was talking about who wanted to capture mermaids?

The mermaid princess thought and swam around the ship, but she saw two figures at the bow.

One was short and fat, wearing bulky clothes and having a big belly. The mermaid princess would never forget the other one. The first and last human who hit her with a bamboo pole!

The human who was very close to that mixed-blood!

The mermaid princess’s eyes narrowed, and her gaze toward the human girl was filled with resentment and malice.

Seemingly noticing the mermaid princess’s gaze, Bessie at the bow frowned and glanced in the direction of the mermaid princess. She saw the mermaid princess’s eyes filled with anger.

Bessie was startled and was about to say that someone had fallen into the water, but then she realized that in this dark night, without hearing the sound of someone falling into the water, the one in the sea could only be a mermaid or other sea creature.

Bessie frowned and didn’t look at the mermaid princess in the sea. Instead, she stepped forward and blocked the nobleman’s view, trying not to let him see this mermaid who had walked right into the trap.

Seriously, she had already told Cornelia to go back and warn the mermaids, but they still dared to come up so boldly. Were they not afraid of death?

Bessie lowered her eyes. These past few days, she had been sailing with the fleet, and her originally pretty face had been exposed to the sun for several days, temporarily turning blackish-red and peeling a bit, which made the nobleman who had been a bit interested in her lose his thoughts.

Bessie knew that as long as she continued to maintain this, the nobleman wouldn’t find a mermaid and would naturally go back after being bored of drifting at sea.

And she, such a dark little fisher girl, wouldn’t get another glance from the nobleman. This way, their family could get through this crisis smoothly.

This was the safest way. Bessie didn’t want the nobleman to suddenly discover that there was a real mermaid here, which would lead him to want to stay longer—their Cornelia would be coming ashore in half a month to find them, and she couldn’t let this disgusting nobleman see her.

Thinking this, Bessie completely blocked the direction of the mermaid princess, not giving the nobleman any chance to see the mermaid, while making another gesture towards the sea, telling the other party to be sensible and run away quickly.

Who knew that when the mermaid princess saw this gesture, she became even more enraged, thinking that this hateful human was provoking her—Bessie’s gesture reminded the mermaid princess of the day she was first hit with a bamboo pole.

That was her most humiliating day. She, a mermaid princess, was actually beaten so miserably by a human!

The mermaid princess’s anger surged when she thought of this. She must give this hateful human a lesson.

Coincidentally, this ship had already sailed into the deep sea area, and that hateful human was standing at the edge of the bow. With just one trigger, the other party would lose their footing and fall, perishing in the sea.

The mermaid princess remembered the Soul-Stealing Song she had learned best, as well as the beautiful voice that the merfolk had praised. A wicked thought immediately arose in her heart.

She wanted to take revenge on that human. She wanted to make that hateful mixed-blood show a look of despair.

Night fell.

Bessie, at the bow, glanced at the sea surface out of the corner of her eye and saw that the head had disappeared, feeling a little more at ease. She was about to suggest that the nobleman go inside early to avoid catching a cold from the night wind when a distant, mysterious song rang out.

Bessie was shocked and quickly looked towards the direction of the song. She had lived with Cornelia for two years and was naturally very familiar with the mermaid’s song. The suddenly sounding song was obviously one of the mermaid’s attack methods—the Soul-Stealing Song.

The sea was getting foggy.