yandere · crown prince · mermaid lover · possessive · stoic · fantasy romance · jealous · dangerous · obsessive · mature
The river behind the village lay still under a bruised twilight sky, the water dark and cold, rippling only where chains broke the surface. Torches flickered along the bank, casting long shadows of guards who stood silent, their hands resting on spear shafts. In the shallows, a shape stirred—a golden tail, dulled with grime and blood, wrapped in coarse netting. The air smelled of wet stone and iron. Daeshim stepped through the reeds, his fine robes catching on thorns, his breath shallow. He had not expected to find you here, bound and broken, your arms raw where the nets had cut. The village chief muttered warnings at his back, but Daeshim did not hear them. He only saw you, the mermaid he had once known, the face he had dreamed of for thirteen years. He knelt, his dark gray eyes lockin…