After Teasing the Crazy Mermaid, He Actually Deceived Me into Marriage - Chapter 23

In front of the cave, Si Tang sat on a swing, gazing up at the moonlight.

Beneath the tree, fragmented shadows danced as the girl gently tapped her toes against the ground, swaying leisurely without hurry.

In the stillness of the deep night, the longing for home always peaked. Si Tang had no desire to live the life of a “cave dweller” forever, especially since she still carried unresolved obsessions.

Suddenly, a bitingly cold gust of wind swept through, making Si Tang shiver involuntarily. In the blink of an eye, Fan Yi appeared before her.

This fish-like being always came and went without a trace.

He seemed no different from usual, stepping forward under the clear moonlight, his captivating azure eyes unfathomably deep. When his gaze fell upon her, the corners of his lips curved into a gentle smile, yet the innate aura of intimidation he exuded still sent a shiver down one’s spine.

The rustling leaves around them stirred inexplicably, reminding Si Tang of the brief ten-second tremor at dusk. She suspected it was his doing.

Si Tang tightened her grip on the swing ropes beside her.

“Tang Tang.”

Fan Yi passed through the white barrier and walked behind her. With a light touch of his fingertip, Si Tang felt the swing sway as if moved by an invisible current.

“What are you thinking about?” His voice was so gentle it made one let their guard down.

The wind brushed past her ears, and Si Tang instinctively narrowed her eyes, lifting her gaze once more to the half-crescent moon obscured by the tree’s shade.

“Fan Yi.” She hesitated, the words she couldn’t control wanting to spill out, yet at this moment, they felt too difficult to utter.

“What does Tang Tang want?” Fan Yi whispered from behind, his low, magnetic voice intoxicatingly alluring. “Whatever Tang Tang desires, I will give it to you.”

Perhaps it was the overly soft moonlight or his exceedingly gentle tone. Unconsciously, Si Tang blurted out the hidden intention buried deep in her heart.

“I want to go home, Fan Yi.”

The wind abruptly ceased.

The swing came to a halt, and the gentle moonlight, at some point, turned cold and ghastly pale.

A slender, jade-like hand suddenly reached out from behind. Before Si Tang could react, her neck was unexpectedly seized, and she was pressed forcefully into the man’s embrace a posture of complete coercion, enveloped and restrained.

The sudden turn of events was utterly without warning.

His azure eyes, gazing down at her from above, were cold and sharp, his entire being radiating a menacing aura, gloomy and bone-chilling.

“You want to leave?”

Fan Yi’s voice was as if frozen, all traces of gentleness long gone. The pressure on her neck was precisely controlled, the veins bulging on the back of his pale hand, betraying his restrained fury.

A suffocating sensation instantly overwhelmed Si Tang’s senses, yet it allowed her just enough room to breathe. She parted her lips, gasping for air, her hands clutching tightly at the hand gripping her neck, struggling desperately to break free. Her long eyelashes trembled incessantly a clear display of fear.

The shadows completely enveloped Si Tang. In the deep night, heavy with dew, his silver hair resembled pristine moonlight, stinging her eyes.

Fan Yi watched as the girl’s almond-shaped eyes, now reddened and tearful with fear, stared back at him. His hand trembled, and he abruptly released his grip on her.

Si Tang immediately clutched her neck, gasping for breath rapidly. In that moment, she had been genuinely terrified by Fan Yi’s demeanor.

She couldn’t understand what had gone wrong.

The deity lowered his snow-white lashes, his deep blue eyes fixed on her, his expression carrying a calm yet maddened intensity.

After a long pause, he murmured softly.

“Since Tang Tang wishes to leave so badly, how about I turn you into a specimen? That way, you can stay with me for a hundred years, even a million years. We’ll be friends forever.”

After saying this, he actually gave her an extremely light and slow smile.

Si Tang almost immediately recalled those rows of butterfly specimens, frozen at their most beautiful moments.

Si Tang was shocked, how did he have a yandere attribute?!

Did he misunderstand the meaning of the word “friend”?

Her heart still trembling with fear, Si Tang touched her own neck, her voice hoarse as she faced him and said, “You. have you misunderstood something? Friends should respect each other. Even if we are to be friends forever, you shouldn’t lock me on this island to keep you company.”

Si Tang really didn’t want all her previous efforts at gentle persuasion to go to waste; she wanted to change his extreme way of thinking.

Fan Yi stared at her for a long time, so long that Si Tang’s hair stood on end. He said calmly, “Then tell me, why not?”

His tranquil tone carried a destructive and perverse undertone.

Si Tang choked, almost unable to believe what she was hearing. Only then did she suddenly realize: the fish before her was, at his core, a complete madman.

Suddenly, a glimmer of insight flashed through Si Tang’s mind, like clouds parting to reveal the sky. She abruptly understood him not allowing her to leave the cave, using the excuse of his divine power being unstable, was likely just a pretext. He wouldn’t even let her leave the cave alone; he was selfishly treating her as his exclusive possession!

How could a deity understand emotions? He was merely keeping her by his side like a pet, a cat or a dog, for his own amusement.

The cruel truth made Si Tang tremble uncontrollably, and her eyes gradually filled with despair.

It was as if all the friendly and warm interactions they had shared before were nothing but an illusion he had never truly respected her.

“Fan Yi, I considered you a friend, but you selfishly want me to stay with you forever. What am I to you? A pet?” Si Tang’s trembling voice was full of disappointment.

Her unfamiliar gaze seemed to revert to how they were at the very beginning, like an icy arrow piercing through his chest, causing Fan Yi to feel a sudden pain in his heart.

But deities have no hearts, how could he feel pain?

“Not a pet, Tangtang.” His low, hoarse voice seemed to conceal some emotion.

As Fan Yi restrained himself, he suddenly felt a burning sensation at the center of his brow. He lightly touched the spot with his finger, then a look of confusion and complexity flashed in his eyes.

But Si Tang didn’t notice his condition.

“Then what are you doing? Locking me in the cave, setting up barriers? You could easily clear the dangers on this island, so why are you imprisoning me like this, not letting me leave?” Si Tang couldn’t help but accuse him.

“Tangtang, if you don’t like it, I won’t lock you in the cave anymore.” He lowered his hand, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly said, “If you wish, I can take you to see other places in the Atlantic.”

Si Tang looked up and met his clear, azure-blue eyes. For a moment, she even had the illusion that she was the one at fault, that she was the unforgivable one.

Yet, although his words showed a step back, they still implied that he would not let her return home.

“I just want to go home, Fan Yi.”

Si Tang’s listless and powerless appearance pained Fan Yi’s eyes.

He slowly lowered his eyelids, hiding the obscure emotions in his gaze. His crimson lips gradually tightened into a straight line. Like a child stubbornly clinging to a toy he couldn’t have, he insisted with obstinate determination,

“But it was you who said you wanted to be friends with me. Tangtang, you must stay with me forever.”

The deity’s voice was low and hoarse, like a somber vow.

Si Tang was completely enveloped in despair, looking at him with an expression that found him utterly unreasonable.

Seeing her guarded and unfamiliar gaze, Fan Yi’s lips tightened into a firm line. Then he suddenly said, “Tangtang, I once told you that everyone in this world has their own fate line some are insignificant, while others play a crucial role. Aren’t you curious about your own fate line?”