QT: I hijacked a harem system and now I'm ruining every plot(GL) Chapter 399: Cruel Hope

Chapter 398:

Lorelei

It hurts.

But I am accustod to pain. I have been accustod to pain for a very long ti.The wounds on my back are deep, angry, bleeding....they... will heal. They always heal.

I lean on my elbows, my tail trailing in the water of the small cave. The salt stings the cuts, but I do not flinch. I have stopped flinching years ago.

The egg is more active than usual.

Pulsing. Glowing. Thrumming with sothing that feels like anticipation.

I watch it.

Could it be?

No.

For many moons I have been waiting for the human.

I am tired now. But still, I wait.

For over a hundred full moons, I have waited. My anticipation was once eager,bright and hopeful, like sunlight on the water. Now it is only disappointnt. Heavy. Cold. Familiar.

I do not rember the mories of the forbidden waters. Not clearly. The mories are fragnts, shards of sothing broken. A laugh. A hand in mine. The feeling of being held.

I rember being happy.

The human made ... happy.

More than I can quantify.

I do not rember their face. I cannot see it when I close my eyes, no matter how hard I try. Their features have faded like footprints washed away by the tide.

But I rember their touch.

The warmth of their palm against my cheek. The gentle press of their lips on my forehead. The way they held like I was sothing precious, sothing worth protecting.

They loved .

I am certain of that much.

They loved .

One day, after falling ill, I ca back from the forbidden waters...I found myself with an egg.

I did not know how. I did not understand. The elders said it was punishnt. The elders said it was wrong.

They wanted to destroy it.

They wanted to kill my child.

I would not let them.

So I left. I swam away from my clan, from my family, from everything I had ever known. I took the egg and I did not look back.

They banished .

I did not care.

Let them call outcast. Let them whisper my na like a curse, like a warning, like a sha. I would rather be alone in the vast, hungry sea than stand among them while they plotted to destroy my child.

This is my baby.

My child.

My only fragnt.

My proof that what I felt...those fleeting monts in the forbidden waters, those fragnted mories that slip through my mind like water through fingers...was real.

I do not rember the human’s face.

I do not rember their na, their voice, the color of their eyes.

But I rember this. This warmth. This hope. This small, glowing proof that I was not dreaming. That I was not imagining the happiness, the love, the rightness of being held.

They loved .

I hold onto that.

I held onto that.

I still hold onto that.

They loved .

The way their fingers intertwined with mine. The way their thumb traced circles on the back of my hand.

They loved .

I flip my tail sadly, the movent slow and heavy. The action disturbs my healing wounds—the harpoon marks, still fresh, still bleeding. Pain flares through my back, sharp and bright.

I do not cry out.

I have stopped crying out years ago.

I shift again, leaning my head on my hands. The stone is cold beneath my elbows. The water is cold beneath my tail. Everything is cold.

It hurts.

Not the physical wounds.

My heart is tired.

*

There have been tales—whispers carried on the currents, stories told by elders to frighten young rfolk. Humans are wicked. Humans are ruthless. Humans are evil. They will use you and discard you. They will take what they want and leave nothing behind.

I did not believe it.

Not at first.

After all, in my fragnted mories, my human was not like that. So certainly they were not all bad. Even among rfolk, so are cruel. So are kind. Surely humans were the sa.

I was wrong.

When I first left the clan;young, hopeful, desperate—I searched the waters for humans.

The first humans tried to sell and my egg. They brought nets and cages and talked of prices. I escaped with my child, but barely.

The second humans tried to kill for my blood. They said it had magical properties. They said it could heal any wound, cure any sickness. How ludicrous.

The third humans stole my egg.

They took it while I slept. While I was weak. While I was trusting.

I found them, of course. I always found them.

After that—after the fourth, the fifth, the sixth attempt—my belief in humans was gone.

I beca what they feared.

Only then could I keep my child safe. Only then could I stop being prey.

I beca the predator.

I did not want to be this.

I did not choose to be this.

Now I wait.

This sea lane is often used by humans. It also leads to the forbidden waters, where I found happiness, where I found my human.

So my human must have passed through here. Must have sailed these waters.

It is why, moon after moon, I wait.

It is why, year after year, I search.

I do not have affection for the human anymore. Not the way I once did. The hope has faded. The longing has dulled.

But I need them.

If my baby is ever going to be born, I need them.

The egg cannot hatch alone. It needs the essence of both parents..the spark from both souls,or it will wither. It will fade. It will die.

Actually, my baby being alive is nothing short of a miracle. By every law of nature, every rule of magic, every expectation of my kind, they should have died years ago. The egg should have gone cold. The pulse should have stopped. The light should have faded.

But it has not.

My baby is still alive.

So that ans sothing.

That is why I still wait.

Moon after moon. Year after year.

Even when hope seems cruel.