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Chapter: 20
Outwardly, I pretended to be startled, but inwardly I clicked my tongue at Moremo’s pitiful state.
How can he conduct research in such an inhumane way and still be so shameless about it? No wonder he fell out with Pellion.
When Pellion found out about his plan, he must have tried to stop him. And Moremo would never have given up.
With no chance of reaching an agreement, Pellion must have stormed out of the Mage Tower.
He probably thought research would be impossible anyway, since he didn’t know I was here.
Unable to stop him forcefully, guilt must have gnawed at him later, driving him to come save me after I was abducted.
Seeing my shocked reaction, Moremo clicked his tongue.
“What a shame. I was hoping you’d be trembling in fear, shedding a few tears. I really wanted to see the moment your tears turned into pearls.”
So he even knows the secret of the pearls.
His obsession with mermaids was far from ordinary—his knowledge was thorough.
“H-how…?”
When I stammered in apparent confusion, he burst out laughing.
“Hahaha. When it comes to Hexwood, I probably know more than you do. Even things Pellion himself doesn’t know.”
Like what?
His rough hand seized my wrist and lifted it up.
“Everyone knows about the power of mermaid tears, but there’s another hidden truth to a mermaid’s power.”
Before I could ask what he meant, a sharp pain pricked my arm.
“You probably didn’t know this either.”
With a small dagger, he cut into my arm.
It didn’t hurt much, but the blade was so sharp that even a light slash sent blood flowing freely.
And what followed left me utterly shocked.
The drops of blood, just like my tears, turned into round pearls.
Unlike the ones I knew, these pearls were red.
He picked one up with his gloved hand and dropped it into a glass of water. The red pearl dissolved and disappeared, yet the water remained perfectly clear.
He then poured that water into a large flowerpot.
Instantly, the once-lush leaves began to wither, and before long, the plant shriveled up completely, its life extinguished.
While I stared in horror, he smiled in satisfaction.
“As you can see, mermaid blood becomes a superb poison—colorless and odorless.”
As I reeled from this newly revealed truth, he laughed wildly, like a madman.
“There is the drawback that it has to be blood flowing from a wound, but still, the effect is excellent.”
“W-what…?”
Faced with such horrifying information, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
“Hahaha! Now that’s the look of fear I was waiting for. Mermaid blood is a perfect poison—one without an antidote. Even Pellion doesn’t know this.”
The fact that the Mage Tower Master knew something even Pellion didn’t made his overwhelming ambition and hunger for research painfully clear.
“Oh, though I’m not sure whether mermaid tears can neutralize it. That would be worth testing too.”
As I struggled to recover from the shock, he continued explaining with unsettling kindness.
“We’ve confirmed that even with a mermaid’s magic power, there’s no resistance to drugs. Hmm. And it might not just be tears or blood—other body parts could possess special properties as well. We’ll have to examine them one by one. Shall we start with the eyes?”
Only then did I understand why he had called me a test subject.
The Mage Tower Master intended to extract everything about a mermaid’s power from me and claim it as his own.
Amazingly, he truly was a man driven mad by research, without even a trace of personal desire.
“No, starting with the eyes is too much. It would be better to begin by checking whether fingernails, toenails, or bits of flesh have any peculiar traits.”
A madman who didn’t see me as a person at all, who intended to experiment on me by force, regardless of my will.
Can I really hold on until Pellion arrives?
I had steeled myself for this, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t afraid.
“First, let’s see how much blood flows from a wound, whether all the blood turns into pearls, and whether all of those pearls contain poison. You’ll learn more about yourself too—so it’ll be a beneficial experience.”
Instead of lashing out at his nonsense, I tried to persuade him calmly.
“What if you accidentally touch the poison? You’d be in danger too. I absolutely won’t cry, so you won’t be able to get an antidote! Let me go!”
I was barely holding on to my sanity, but anxiety churned inside me, making my heart flutter violently.
“Threatening me by saying you won’t cry, in a situation like this. You’re quite provocative.”
I desperately hoped it would work.
“Well, even if you don’t cry, it doesn’t matter. Pain you can’t endure always brings physiological tears with it.”
He boasted that he’d done similar things before and had nothing to worry about, then suddenly hardened his expression.
“In a situation like this, instead of begging, you threaten me. Such a wicked child. I must have been too kind to you.”
A faint but unmistakable anger crept into his calm voice.
Only then did I lower my gaze, as if I had given up.
“…Are you going to kill me?”
In a trembling voice, I added,
“I—I want to live.”
“You should have cooperated with me from the start, then.”
Even as a child young enough to be his granddaughter pleaded pitifully, he looked thoroughly amused.
“There are so many experiments I want to try. Hmm, yes. Let’s start with this. I’ve always wondered whether this poison would work on a mermaid of the same bloodline.”
Holding a red pearl, he stepped closer.
It was obvious he intended to make me ingest the poison, and fear seized me.
At this rate, I might really die before Pellion arrives.
The Pellion of now wasn’t the same as the one from the future—was it foolish to have believed so blindly that he would come?
No. No. He will come. I’m sure of it.
If he truly cherished the Mage Tower, he wouldn’t have taken my words lightly.
I trusted his regret over failing to protect it once before, and for that, I had gambled my life.
Even if it was reckless, even if I went back to yesterday, I would make the same choice.
I had acted with that conviction—but now, just a little, I regretted it.
Wasn’t there another way?
Should I have asked someone else—at least Leonar—for help?
Damn it. I don’t want to regret choices I didn’t make.
Unlike my own previous life, which had collapsed in misery, Elodie’s radiant, sparkling face came to mind.
The pounding of my heart grew louder than before.
Was it rage, simply from thinking of her?
Or was my heart racing from tension and fear?
The wavering anxiety seemed to steady itself, syncing with the rhythm of my heartbeat, growing firmer instead.
I can’t give up my life until I get my revenge on them.
My resolve wasn’t weak enough to crumble from mere pain.
That’s right. I couldn’t collapse here.
Endure. No matter what, endure. As long as I don’t die, there will always be an opening—and when that happens, I can seize my chance.
I wasn’t dead yet. That meant the gamble hadn’t failed.
Perhaps from fear, my heart began to race faster. I could only hope that sound didn’t bring him pleasure.
“Now, you’re anesthetized, so it won’t hurt.”
I’ll endure it no matter what.
As long as I didn’t forget why I had returned alive—my resolve and determination—this level of torment was something I could withstand.
With that firm resolve, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Then—
What is this?
Something seemed to bloom deep within my chest.
That indescribable sensation vanished as fleetingly as snow melting in one’s hand, only to suddenly transform into a painful, formless force that asserted its presence.
The warmth of sunlight, the ticklish caress of a spring breeze—those sensations slowly spread, flowing throughout my entire body.
It felt as though all the blood in my body was draining away—no, as if old blood were being replaced by something new.
Unable to endure the unnameable sensation any longer, I snapped my eyes open.
A soft, radiant light was emanating from my body.
“Oh! It seems I’ve finally found the right material!”
The Mage Tower Master stared at my body, eyes bloodshot with excitement, as the strange phenomenon unfolded.
My once-rigid body suddenly brimmed with vitality, as if I had taken an antidote.
On a whim, I tried moving my fingers.
They moved—exactly as I willed them to.
