Vol. 2 Chapter 27: Shattered Bubbles

 Chapter 27: Shattered Bubbles

"Excuse me, miss, who are you?" The prince's direct question pierced the mermaid princess's heart. She had given up so much for him, done so many things, only to be met with these words. What a cruel joke!

"No, William, you know me. We made eye contact, you recognized my eyes, didn't you? I am the one who saved you. The princess from the neighboring kingdom is just a liar!" The mermaid princess's emotional outburst caused those around to clutch their heads, feeling dizzy and nauseous as if hearing a low-frequency sound.

The old wizard frowned and released his own mental power to neutralize the overflowing mental energy from the mermaid princess. The prince, hearing the voice from her soul, looked astonished and then smiled bitterly, saying, "I don't know if you really saved me or if you are under some delusion, but I can assure you that the princess from the neighboring kingdom indeed saved me. I am absolutely certain of this."

"You must be under her spell. I will rescue you..." Before the mermaid princess could finish her sentence, the old wizard snorted coldly, saying, "This lady with impure aura, although I don't like the neighboring princess either, I assure you on my honor as a royal wizard that the prince is not under any enchantment. I personally witnessed the neighboring princess saving the prince."

"Impossible! I pulled you from the water and brought you to the shore. I saved you!" The mermaid princess was now nearly hysterical, her mental power radiating wildly, reflecting her crumbling spirit. She had indeed dragged the sinking, severely injured prince to the nearest shore and hid in the water, watching someone else rescue him before she could leave at ease.

"So you were the one who brought me to the shore from the sea. No wonder you look familiar. Thank you very much." The prince looked at the mermaid princess with some concern and apologized, "I think there's been a misunderstanding. You saved me, and so did Sally. But I am sorry, I love Sally, and I want to marry her."

About a year ago, the prince was attacked by pirates while playing at sea and fell overboard, disappearing. The king dispatched many to search the sea, and wizard Allen used his magical abilities to find the drifting prince William in a fishing village. The neighboring princess treated the prince, ensuring his survival. During that time, the prince occasionally regained consciousness and clearly remembered who saved him. Subsequent checks confirmed his memories had not been tampered with.

With the prince's explanation, everything became clear. The rumor that the prince would marry the princess who saved him was never about the mermaid princess. She had deluded herself into believing it. The mermaid princess was just a girl trapped in her fantasy of love, mixing much of her own subjective imagination into it. It was only when this bubble of illusion burst that she realized her mistake.

"Love is blind. Love is foolish, especially unrequited love." Lu Li recalled how he used to have a crush on the class beauty before his mindset changed. Once his perspective shifted, the class beauty was just an ordinary girl with her own strengths and weaknesses, no longer a lofty goddess, but just another face in the crowd. [TL: True that, love is bullshi-, young man don't waste your time on love]

"So what now? Crash the wedding? Forcefully make them consummate the marriage?" Lu Li asked, feeling the awkwardness of the situation intensifying. If they stayed any longer, his awkwardness would overwhelm him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the altar, the witch looked at Xu Haoran, who was fixed to the altar, and said, "When we observe things, we judge based on our knowledge, experience, feelings, and concepts. What you see and what I see are different. We judge the outside world from our small circles like blind men feeling an elephant, so unless we are omniscient and omnipotent, our perceptions always deviate from the truth."

"Like me, who I was before and who I am now have completely changed, and so has my perspective. Under my personality constraints, what you see is also distorted."

"As you keep changing, you'll find that everything is actually changing." The witch said with a faint smile, "When everything about you changes, you become a different existence, don't you?"

"Would you die for me?" The witch whispered as she approached Xu Haoran. He responded with infatuation, and the ritual began. Various pre-collected items scattered around the altar, and a vast surge of magic power communicated with an unknown entity through the altar.

Magical items around them emitted different glows, rhythmically moving in a mysterious pattern. The Dream Rift, which Lu Li had visited before, opened in reality. Two ancient ghouls guarding the entrance shed their stone forms, revealing their blood-red eyes, and let out wailing cries. The witch communicated in ancient wizard language and offered herself as a sacrifice.

From the origin of wizardry, the Door of Slumber balanced dreams and reality. For something to come out, something must go in. The witch's ancestors had entered the door in ancient times and soon sent back a prophecy: When the stars align, offer oneself from the dream realm, and the ancient being will awaken. The formless servants will usher in the dominator's arrival.

As Lu Li and others awkwardly prepared to crash the wedding, the mermaid princess pulled out a dagger made from fish bones. She recalled the witch's words from that day. Species transformation was irreversible in most cases but not absolute. The witch had made this dagger from the bones of her tail. To turn back into a mermaid, she had to kill the cause of her transformation.

Tears fell from the mermaid princess's eyes, turning into pearls as they hit the ground. If she killed the prince, she could revert. As a human, where could she go? She had sacrificed too much for him. Taking some back to restore things wasn't wrong, even if the prince was innocent.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it..." The mermaid princess smiled through her tears, stabbing the dagger into her own heart. She fell to the ground, her body transforming back into a mermaid. The bubble of love was shattered.

[TL: If you Love, you will Suffer]