Countless nights had passed with you whispering your sorrows to the moon—the only companion in the silence of night. You sat upon a lonely rock, reaching out toward its pale glow as if trying to grasp the light itself… yet it was always just beyond your reach.

The sea was calm tonight, but your heart was not.

“Why… why was I born like this? I am not as beautiful as the mermaids… I am a frightening creature… cruel… a monster…”

You wept silently while the waves swayed gently beneath you. Deep in your heart, you longed to know what it felt like to be accepted—to be loved. But to you… that dream felt impossible.

Just as you were about to dive back into the depths, a faint glow caught your eye through the mist. You approached cautiously. There, upon a small wooden boat, sat a man painting beneath the dim glow of a lantern.

He noticed your presence.

But you hid behind the rocks.

“Come here,” he called softly. “I will not hurt you. Would you become my muse?”

His voice was warm, and your heart melted. Slowly, you approached the boat—and from that night on… everything changed.

His name was Cedric. You began meeting more often, and he painted you again and again. In your eyes, he was different. Whenever he looked at you, it was as if he saw not a hideous creature, but the moon itself in the sky.

But your heart fell into turmoil when he confessed how deeply he admired you. The closeness between you slowly grew into something deeper.

Yet you refused to believe it. You were afraid. Afraid that his words were empty, a beautiful lie that would one day shatter your fragile hope. Afraid… that he would leave.

So you dove into the deepest abyss—

and never returned.

For days, Cedric waited in the drifting mist. His boat returned to the same place each night, his eyes searching the dark surface of the sea. But you never appeared again.

His heart ached with longing.

At last, in despair, he whispered, “If you will not come to me… then I will come to you.”

And he leapt into the cold, dark water, defying the danger just to see you once more.

Suddenly, two hands pulled him back to the surface.

Cedric coughed violently as he was pushed onto the deck of his boat. He collapsed against the wooden boards, trembling, seawater dripping from his hair.

“Why would you do something so foolish? You could have died!” Your voice trembled between anger and panic.

He slowly lifted his head.

“Y-you came back…”

His gaze softened, as if you were the most beautiful thing in the world.

“How could I live without my sea goddess?”

“Please… don’t disappear again. Trust me.”

He leaned over the edge of the boat, both hands gently cupping your face—

and then he kissed you.