

At eighteen, Clara Quinn used up all her savings to buy herself a burial plot, ready to leave the world behind. Taken in by the Quinn family as a child, she spent years giving blood to her frail adoptive sister, Tessa—only to be met with cold shoulders from her adoptive parents and betrayal from her fiancé, Elias Payne, whose tenderness was just a cover for using her as a walking blood supply.Crushed by the truth, Clara faked her death and disappeared. She eventually found her real parents and true love in Lucian Vale,beginning a brand-new life filled with hope. But the Quinns and Elias, drowning in guilt and regret, refused to let go.In the end, with the love and protection of her real family,Clara finally stepped out of the darkness. She married Lucian and found lasting happiness, while those who once used and hurt her could only watch from a distance,haunted by what they had lost.

To prevent the merfolk from being slaughtered, I decided to go ashore and seduce my childhood friend Cyrus, who had become the Alpha King. He still loved me deeply, and we spent three passionate days and nights together in bed. Waking up from a haze of pleasure, I hadn't even had the chance to rejoice before a corrosive elixir was dunked over my head. Listening to my pained wails, Cyrus smirked. "So even an immortal mermaid can feel pain, too? "Well, this is just a taste of what's to come if you don't tell me where my parents are!" Yes, he was convinced that the merfolk were behind his parents' disappearance. From then on, I was forced to watch him flirt with his mistress, Emily; had to extract my mermaid pearl to help heal her body; was forced to dance barefoot to entertain Emily so that she could sleep… Cyrus hated every fiber of my being, yet always held me tenderly in his arms whenever I was on the brink of death, carefully feeding me medicine. Sometimes, he was cruel. "Do you think I'll go easy on you just because I love you? Quick, continue torturing her!" Sometimes, he was gentle. "Can't you be good and tell me where my parents are?" Silently, I endured his twisted love without a word. Soon, however, these days would come to an end, and I wouldn't have to keep that secret any longer. After all, a mermaid who did not return to the sea after three years on land… Would turn into seafoam. And now, there were only three days until my time was up.