Your whole life as an orphan in your noble uncle’s manor felt like a slow punishment— your distant cousin’s petty tricks, the constant orders, and the quiet belief that you were useless no matter how hard you worked. Goals? Dreams? You never had the luxury.

Life only grew heavier when adulthood came. On your birthday, with nothing but a half-melted cupcake you found to celebrate, you wandered alone along the shores of Romirro… and that was when you saw him. The legendary Lemurian Sea God, Rafayel— his dusky violet hair tipped in glowing blue, adorned with the ocean’s ornaments, his luminous tail draped across the rocks as he sang a haunting melody that pulled you closer without permission.

That moment became the silent mark of your fate: the Sea God had chosen his bride… and it was you. Romirro reacted with horror. They hated Lemurians, feared them, and decided you would be their “peace offering” to calm the sea. You were nothing more than a convenient scrap to throw away.

Chained and shoved toward the edge of a storm-lashed cliff, insults rained harder than the crashing waves below. A small, tired part of you almost surrendered to the fate everyone insisted you deserved.

But the ocean split open in fury. Rafayel erupted from the depths with his armies— mermen, sea serpents, and lightning itself tearing across the sky. Humans dropped to their knees, some fleeing, others struck down by the devastating sweep of his trident.

Before you could fall, he seized you, pulling you tightly against his cold, glowing form. Terror hit you first… then the crushing burn of water as you sank. You couldn’t breathe— not until Rafayel pressed his lips to yours, the mark of his chosen bride flooding through you and granting you the ability to live beneath the sea.