In Greek mythology, urel leaves are associated with Apollo. In this world, it seems the Sun God has adopted the same symbolism.

  Setting aside the backstory of the urel leaves, they neither represent honor nor love. Instead, they symbolize the Sun God's crown—they represent the Sun God himself.

  Did the Padin Commander gift her the urel leaves to make her submit to the Sun God?

  Luo Wei let out a deep sigh. "Perhaps, the God of Life really has fallen."

  Otherwise, how could Queen Isis, a descendant of the Goddess of Life, be so easily schemed against and then vanish without a trace?

  Luo Wei decided to stop pondering such complicated matters. What did the fall of the God of Life have to do with her? All she wanted now was to find a way back to the Western Continent.

  "Hol, did you ask Haisya?" she turned to Hol Felix.

  "I did. Haisya said they swam here through a trench ten thousand meters deep."

  "A trench ten thousand meters deep!"

  Just hearing this made Luo Wei's teeth chatter. If a human were to enter such depths, they'd be crushed into pulp by the immense water pressure.

  "If you really want to pass through, I can guide you, but I must warn you—it's extremely dangerous. You might not make it out alive. When our ancestors crossed it, half of them perished in the trench."

  Haisya clung to Hol's arm. "You’re Hol's friends. If you die, Hol will be heartbroken."

  Luo Wei's eyes widened as her gaze fell on Haisya's hand gripping Hol's arm. "You two..."

  "I've already accepted Haisya's proposal." Hol's gentle and innocent face broke into a radiant smile.

  Luo Wei's brain froze, unable to process how the story had taken such an unexpected turn.

  "Hol!" Theodore shouted in fury, pointing a trembling finger at him. "How could you—how could you be with her?!"

  Haisya tightened her grip on Hol's arm, her gaze turning dangerous as she stared at Theodore. "Hol is my fiancé. If you dare have feelings for him, I’ll kill you."

  Theodore jumped up as if stung. "Me, have feelings for him? Are you insane? I'm a guy! I'd have to be crazy to like him! You brainless sea serpent, has your head been completely hollowed out by snakes?!"

  Haisya remained on guard. "Our cn leader said that krakens love to disguise themselves as male demons to seduce innocent female demons."

  "Haha! Me? Pretend to be male? I am male! And your sea serpent females are the ones who love seducing good, honest male demons. You're all unfaithful and cheating scum!"

  "Hissss~" Haisya flicked out her crimson tongue, her gaze ferocious. "Ugly kraken, say one more word, and I'll eat you!"

  "Ha! Who’s eating who here? You promiscuous sea snake! We krakens could swallow you whole without even spitting out your bones!"

  "Ugly freak, just try it!"

  "Faithless snake, you think I won't?"

  Luo Wei and Hol winced in pain, exchanging a gnce before rushing to intervene.

  Luo Wei quickly cmped her hand over Theodore's mouth. "Stop it, stop it! Don’t you want to go back to the Western Continent?"

  Hol held Haisya back. "Don't get angry, my dear. Look, your skin is drying out from being out here so long. Let’s go back to the water."

  Finally, the two were separated. Hol promptly escorted Haisya back to the sea, averting a potential bloodbath.

  Theodore pried Luo Wei's hand off his mouth, his face red with fury. "Why did you stop me? Hol's been snatched away by that shameless demoness!"

  Why did that sound... so much like the jealous rant of a scorned woman?

  Luo Wei gave him a subtle look. "Theodore, don’t tell me you actually like Hol?"

  "Are you insane? Me, like him? Ugh—" Theodore nearly gagged. "Luo Wei, has your brain gone rotten? The one I like is Laura!"

  "Oh~" Luo Wei arched an eyebrow meaningfully. "So you like Laura~"

  "Does Laura know you like her?"

  Theodore's face turned a blotchy mix of bck and red. "She… she doesn’t know yet."

  The more Luo Wei looked at him, the more amused she became. An octopus falling for a cat beast? Wasn't he worried Laura might drool over his true form?

  Then again, octopus tentacles regenerate when severed. He probably wouldn't mind if Laura took a bite or two.

  As the sun dipped toward the horizon, its fading light shimmered on the rippling sea. Only then did Hol emerge from the water.

  Theodore rolled his eyes so hard they almost disappeared into his skull. "Some people still remember to come back, huh?"

  Hol smiled faintly, wiping the seawater from his face as he walked over to sit with them.

  "Do you really like Haisya?" Luo Wei handed him a towel to wipe the saltwater stinging his eyes. "Hol, you don’t have to force yourself for our sake."

  Theodore's ears perked up, and he turned his head sharply. "What do you mean? You don't like that sea serpent?"

  Hol didn’t say whether he liked her or not. Instead, he spoke softly. "This sea region is inhabited solely by the sea serpent cn. Their popution is small, and for the past thousand years, they've only married within their own cn, making reproduction increasingly difficult."

  "Haisya just came of age this year. There aren’t many eligible bachelors in her tribe. Her mother is forcing her to marry her own brother, but she doesn’t want to and fled to the coastal waters to hide."

  "She said if I agree to marry her and have a child with her, she'll help us return to the Western Continent."

  Theodore clenched his fists. "That's outrageous! How dare she force you into something like that!"

  Luo Wei's face darkened. "Is that really the point?"

  "What else would it be?"

  "The point is, she wants to make a deal with us, but we can't sacrifice Hol's freedom for it."

  "I don’t mind," Hol said. "As long as we can return."

  "But even if you marry her, we still can't go back!" Luo Wei said earnestly. "First of all, can the three of us even survive crossing a trench ten thousand meters deep? And even if you marry Haisya, how long will it take for her to bear a child?"

  "And after she has a child, do you think you'll be free to leave?"

  "Given how difficult it is for the sea serpent cn to reproduce, they’d surely want to marry outsiders. But if they haven't left the trench, it means they can't. If that's the case, what do you think they'll do once they discover the three of us?"

  Hol replied quietly, "They'll capture us and force us to marry them."

  "Not marriage—turn us into breeding machines."

  "Then what do we do?!" Theodore asked in horror.

  "Let me think," Luo Wei said, pressing her aching temples. "If worse comes to worst, we’ll just leave the way we came."

  Hol added, "Actually, swimming back won’t take that long. It only took us four or five days to get here."

  Theodore colpsed onto the sand in despair. "Fine, we'll swim back. My poor legs..."

  After a moment of thought, Luo Wei said to the two, "Actually, we could build a wooden boat, carve some magic runes on it, and prepare plenty of food. If we wait for the sea to calm, the return journey shouldn't be too hard."

  But sailing upstream would be much slower than downstream. It might take over a month to drift back.

  "What if we enter the Misty Belt?" Hol asked worriedly. "The Misty Belt is over four hundred kilometers wide. Once inside, we’ll lose our sense of direction. Even if we fly up to navigate, we might not find the boat again when we come back down."

  Theodore suggested, "I have an idea. What if we only travel during the day and stop at night?"

  """