The Fallen Sea Queen Was Their God

Beneath the ten-thousand-meter deep sea, theFour Kings of the Sea Realmsrule over a barrier-enclosed ocean kingdom. Their queen,Isa, is in truth the only daughter ofNereon the Sea God. Four hundred years ago, she concealed her divine identity. With her sealed godly power, she rewrote the fates of the Four Kings, and forged a sacred sea oath with them: to share crown, throne, and soul. She once believed those years of living and dying side by side would outweigh any lie. That was untilViola, the Saint of Tides, returned after a hundred years of claimed disappearance. She gained the kings' trust with a stolen Saint Conch Seal, then used cursed wounds and forged evidence fabricated byVale the Sorcererto accuse Isa of attempting to murder her. The Four Kings chose to trust a single silk scarf stained with residual curse, over the lover who had stood by them for four centuries. They publicly demanded theCrystal Tearbound to Isa's heart, bestowed all her treasures upon Viola, and finally stripped her of her title as Sea Queen. Gravely wounded, she was cast into an abyssal deep-pressure cell. Meanwhile, in a hidden apothecary unseen by all, Viola was using the stolen Crystal Tear to heal her true lover, Vale. Everyone pressed Isa to bow in submission. Only her royal guardNornstood by her unfailingly. After begging the Four Kings in vain for a cure, he had no choice but to accept Vale's terms: to venture deep into theTrench of the Fallenand retrieve the Bone Key of the Sinking Tide, in exchange for a single vial of Tide-Restoring Elixir. While retrieving the key, Norn was besieged by sea serpents and mortally poisoned. Yet he dragged himself back to the kingdom, tested the elixir on himself first, then pressed it gently to Isa's lips. He never knew Vale had never intended to cure his poison, nor to save Isa at all. The moment the elixir touched her lips, the brief relief gave way to a horrifictransformation: Isa grew black-silver scales, a long sea serpent tail, and sharp c