Second Chance at Love and Life

I, Celine Walsh, and my dear sister, Caroline Walsh, became Pregnancy Maidens, who were fertile for merfolk, through the ingestion of special elixirs. We were betrothed to the merfolks through a political marriage.

In my previous life, I had chosen a silver-finned merman who was powerfully built, but rough on the eyes. With him, I gave birth to several black-finned mer-children that were prized pedigree.

Through them, I was elevated to the status of Crown Princess, enjoying a life of luxury and a prolonged lifespan of several centuries.

Meanwhile, Caroline, who picked the purple-finned merman only ever gave birth to red-finned mer-children, which was considered the lowest of lows. For that, she became the laughingstock of the merfolk.

Driven to madness by her jealousy, she took my inner pearl, turned me into minced meat and fed me to the fishes.

When I finally opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day of my wedding.

This time, Caroline quickly chose the silver-finned merman without any hesitation.

Unbeknownst to her, rising to power through her children was not as easy as she had imagined.

The silver-finned merman was a promiscuous and depraved one, the very embodiment of cruelty. His favorite activity? Torturing a pregnant lady…

"Celine, I want to marry the silver-finned Fourth Prince, Sheldon Reeve."

My younger sister, Princess Caroline Walsh, clung to my sleeve, pouting and pleading like a spoiled child.

"I know you care about appearances, so you'll probably go for the purple-finned Sixth Prince, Reginald Reeve, but personally, I think Sheldon is a real man's man."

Caroline looked at me with a playful smile laced with subtle menace. At that moment, I knew she had been reborn too.

Our father, the emperor, had long maintained a strong alliance with the merfolk, and had arranged political marriages between the two races. However, offspring between humans and mermen were rare, almost impossible.

To prevent the bloodline from dying out, our father made a bold decision. He had us princesses take a secret elixir that would alter our bodies to become fertile for merfolk.

In the end, only Caroline and I succeeded.

In my previous life, Caroline had grown up pampered and proud within the palace walls, her standards impossibly high.

She fell hard for the strikingly handsome Reginald and turned up her nose at the rugged, muscular Sheldon, who was not so easy on the eyes.

With a few sweet words, she coaxed me into marrying him instead.

Not long after, I gave birth to two rare, black-finned children which were seen as the highest, most revered bloodline in the entire merfolk kingdom.

It had been over a thousand years since such a child was born.

After that, the next few children I birthed were also black-finned.

The Mer-King was ecstatic, and he named Sheldon the crown prince and I, by virtue of my children, became the crown princess, draped in wealth and power.

As for Caroline, she bore a red-finned child that was considered the lowest