Chapter 2
The maid cleaned Mu Chen’s wound while Wright stayed in the room.
He simply sat down in an armchair, and the atmosphere around them seemed to drop to freezing. Everyone nearby kept their eyes lowered, afraid to look at him. Only Mu Chen blinked curiously, stealing frequent glances at him.
“This is Prince Wright, the person you were supposed to meet,” Quina reminded the little merman softly, bending down beside his ear.
“Huh?” Mu Chen deliberately looked surprised, then drawled, “His Highness is a little different from what I imagined.”
Quina asked, “How so?”
Mu Chen glanced at Wright’s amber eyes and murmured, “I thought he’d be... fiercer.”
There were indeed rumors that the eldest prince of the Aus royal family had become naturally brutal after years of fighting on the battlefield.
Quina smiled. “His Highness isn’t fierce.”
In truth, the eldest prince wasn’t ill-tempered. But with his distinguished military record and years spent stationed far from home, he naturally exuded a chilling authority that made him seem difficult to approach.
“Mm.” Mu Chen nodded. He pictured Wright picking up his shark for him, then looked again at those amber eyes...
Perhaps noticing the little merman’s curious gaze, Wright suddenly rose from the armchair and walked over to him.
He looked down at Mu Chen’s palm. The bleeding had stopped completely, and the once-gaping wound had somehow become a faint red line. It would probably heal soon once it was bandaged.
It was a rate of healing no ordinary person could possess, inevitably bringing to mind the special ability said to belong to merfolk: blue blood.
Wright asked him, “Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt...” Mu Chen shook his head. He’d been insensitive to pain since childhood, and now he barely felt anything at all.
“Grrr!”
Suddenly, his stomach let out an utterly traitorous growl.
Everyone turned to look at him, and Mu Chen froze.
He really hadn’t eaten much on the way to the capital. He’d only started feeling hungry after fighting the guard over Sharky, but having his stomach growl in front of so many people was mortifying.
The little merman immediately lowered his head and played ostrich, repeating to himself, They didn’t hear that. They didn’t hear that... They definitely didn’t hear it.
“Grrr!”
But his stomach paid no attention to his brain’s commands.
Amid the increasingly awkward silence, Mu Chen buried his face in the shark plushie, unwilling to see how anyone else was reacting.
“Get him something to eat.”
A voice filled with amusement rang out above him.
Mu Chen peeked out from the shark plushie with one eye. He saw the corners of Wright’s tightly pressed lips lift ever so slightly.
Was he smiling?
That smile made the stern air around him dissipate at once.
The little merman stared, so entranced that he forgot he’d just narrowly died of embarrassment.
Wright had noticed the little merman’s furtively opened eye long ago, but didn’t call him out. Instead, he asked, “What’s your name?”
The little merman lifted his head and replied, “My name is Mu Chen, Your Highness.”
“Mu Chen...” Wright murmured his name. Then he picked up his coat from the back of the chair. Before turning to leave, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll persuade Father to cancel the engagement.”
Huh?
Mu Chen watched the prince walk away, his expression briefly stiffening.
But that wasn’t what he was worried about. The engagement wouldn’t take effect until he came of age, anyway. If he left the palace now, he’d probably be sent to one of those research institutes, wouldn’t he?
That was what Mu Chen was worried about.
Seeing the little merman’s eyes droop and his fingers clutch Sharky tightly after the prince left, Quina suddenly felt a pang of sympathy.
Although the child was scruffy, he was so well-behaved compared with other children his age that he made her want to cherish him.
Who knew how much hardship he’d suffered while living in exile on that island?
Quina gestured for the maid to bring the tray to the table. She wasn’t good at comforting people, so she simply straightened her back and said to Mu Chen, “Eat something first. We still have a lot to do. At the very least, we need to get you looking presentable, and then we’ll go see Prince Wright...”
Under the little merman’s questioning gaze, she coughed twice. “His Highness likes children who are clean and tidy.”
...
In the steamy bathroom, Mu Chen raised his big tail and happily blew bubbles underwater. “Glub, glub.”
Now that all the gray paint he’d used to deliberately hide his appearance had been washed away, the little merman’s natural silver hair was visible. The steam had flushed his fair skin a little pink.
Mu Chen gazed at his reflection in the water. Beneath the swirling mist, his image seemed to transform into the cold operating table of a laboratory, the scent of disinfectant floating all around him.
His eyes gradually darkened.
From his earliest memories, Mu Chen’s father—the kind and approachable ruler by day—had been a heavy drinker in private. He would unleash all his incompetence and fury on Mu Chen, beating him like a madman. That was when Mu Chen realized crying was useless, and he never cried again.
When he was six, his father led him up to the supreme throne, splendidly carved from coral. Looking down over a civilization that had once flourished but was now in ruins, his father told him he was Atlantis’s crown prince and its hope, and that one day all of this would be his.
When he was eight, the insect race invaded. They piloted mecha and slaughtered everything across the entire sea. His Atlantis was gone, and he could only flee to a deserted island with the surviving members of the royal family.
At fourteen, he was discovered by the military as the last merfolk on Blue Star. His life in exile came to an end, and he was brought into the Aus royal family and betrothed to the crown prince.
But this engagement wasn’t secure. He could still be sent away.
Still, it didn’t matter...
Mu Chen curved his eyes into a smile and blew away the bubbles on the water’s surface. The reflection of the laboratory disappeared with them.
He would find a way to stay.
...
After his bath, Mu Chen changed into the clothes Quina had specially prepared for him.
The elaborate formalwear made him stumble as he walked, like a clumsy fish.
Mu Chen hated the outfit. He didn’t like wearing so many ornaments on his head, either. But when he thought of how he had to make a good impression if he wanted to stay in the palace, he could only resist the urge to yank it all off.
A maid nearby reminded Quina, “Madam, everything is ready.”
Hearing this, Quina set down her teacup and turned around. She saw Mu Chen in the white, foreign-style formal outfit. His smooth, silky silver hair glowed pearly white beneath the warm lights. A wheat-ear hairpin held back his fringe, and the gold ornaments around his wrists paled beside his brilliant blue eyes.
Quina found that shade of blue difficult to describe. It was like a clear, pure gemstone, yet also like the all-encompassing sea, its depths impossible to see.
A woman who had spent her whole life teaching etiquette was suddenly at a loss for words.
An ancient saying appeared in Quina’s mind:
The beauty of merfolk approaches the divine.
“Come over here.” Quina held out a hand to Mu Chen. “I’ll show you around the palace first, and then we’ll go see His Highness.”
Mu Chen obediently walked over and took Quina’s hand.
Led by her, Mu Chen passed through one palace gate after another. He stayed quiet and well-behaved the whole time, until Quina brought him to the palace pond.
It was an enormous indoor lake. Countless rocks, seaweed, and plants filled its carefully excavated channels, and the water’s surface glimmered a deep, luminous green. Several large, brightly colored fish swam through it.
The scent of the water, thick with fresh fish, reached Mu Chen’s nose. He abruptly stopped by the pond, his gaze fixed on the shapes swimming beneath the surface.
It smells so good...
Human-cooked food was nowhere near as tempting to him as these fresh fish.
It stirred the instincts of Mu Chen, a deep-sea hunter.
He wanted to take off his clothes and dive underwater, to sweep his tail through the water as he swam, to shred those delicious fish with his sharp claws,
He could almost taste the fresh, tender fish in his mouth. His throat began to produce saliva on its own.
...I want to eat.
Mu Chen swallowed instinctively.
Quina noticed the gesture, but to her, the little merman was simply staring blankly at the lake, trying with all his might to suppress some emotion.
And Mu Chen’s sweet, obedient face easily gave people the wrong impression. Quina instinctively took it for sadness.
Was he missing home?
Quina found herself tightening her grip on Mu Chen’s hand.
At last, the little merman seemed to emerge from his “sadness.” He lifted his face and gave her a sweet smile. “Madam... do you think His Highness will like me?”
Mu Chen’s smile looked perfectly natural, but he was still a little nervous inside... Had Quina somehow seen through him?
He had to change the subject, quickly.
But in Quina’s eyes, that smile took on a different meaning. Her heart tightened; she assumed that remembering the terrible things he’d been through in his homeland had left him deeply insecure, and that was why he was so desperate for reassurance.
Her throat suddenly tightened. After a long while, she finally said,
“Of course he’ll like you.”
...
The gilded palace was filled with tension.
“If you came back just to discuss this with me, you can leave. I’m telling you, canceling the engagement is out of the question.” The elderly man on the throne glared furiously at the person standing below the steps, whose features bore some resemblance to his own.
The noblewoman beside King Jorah kept fanning him with a folding fan, apparently trying to ease the tension. But it did nothing to dispel Jorah’s anger. “You’re the crown prince of the Aus Empire. When are you going to learn to shoulder your responsibilities?”
“Father.” Wright’s brows drew low, and the air around him turned icy. “Was there some mission I failed that gave you this impression?”
Jorah: “What does that have to do with the missions you carry out?”
Before the Aus Empire was founded, it was this very son of his who had led the mecha forces to conquer almost the entire eastern continent.
But that wasn’t what they were discussing at all!
“I acknowledge your military ability. You’re the finest commander in the Aus Empire, but if the country has problems in the future, are you going to solve them all by fighting?”
Wright raised an eyebrow. “By getting engaged to someone?”
Jorah snapped, “A royal engagement is no game!”
“This isn’t just your engagement. The entire Igor family is involved, even the Aus Empire.”
“If you insist on breaking off this engagement...” Jorah tossed him a list. “Then pick someone else from here within three days. Otherwise, the answer is no!”
“And don’t give me that ‘we don’t know each other well enough’ line. I don’t care who you’re with in private, but you must find yourself a Crown Princess.”
Wright lowered his eyes to the paper covered in tightly packed names. His expression was unreadable, and a mocking smile tugged at his lips. “Just like you, then?”
Jorah was so furious that he sprang to his feet. “You!”
The Empress immediately tried to soothe him, then reproached Wright. “Don’t speak to your father like that.”
Wright’s eyes were cold. He ignored her and turned to leave.
The current Empress of the Aus Empire was neither the king’s first wife nor Wright’s birth mother.
She had once been Jorah’s secret lover and had taken advantage of Wright’s mother’s death to rise to her current position. Wright had no respect for the Empress.
Just as a servant opened the palace doors for him, a well-dressed young man with black hair happened to appear at the entrance.
The moment he saw Wright, the young man put on a smile that seemed deliberately insincere.
“Big Brother.”
From behind him came a woman’s exasperated yet concerned voice. “Kyle, you came at just the right time. Hurry and talk some sense into your big brother. He’s upset your father again.”
Kyle glanced at the tense atmosphere inside the hall and immediately understood what his mother was after. He opened his mouth to speak, but saw Wright’s long lashes framing eyes as cold as frost. A murderous air hung between his brows, bringing to mind the smoke that shrouded a battlefield.
Wright merely glanced sideways at him, and Kyle didn’t dare say another word. He could only watch Wright walk straight past him.
...
The conversation with the king ended in a bitter argument. Wright walked out of the hall, suppressing his fury, while the attendant beside him didn’t dare make a sound.
By now, night had fallen, and the corridor lights were dimmer than they had been during the day.
A palace door beside him suddenly opened, and the etiquette instructor he’d met that morning stepped out.
“Your Highness.” Quina looked a little surprised to encounter the prince.
“Mm.” Wright made a shushing gesture. Through the not-quite-closed door, he saw that the room’s lights were still on. The little merman, freshly washed and dressed in white pajamas, lay on the bed, his quiet profile flushed pink. His smooth silver hair spread out beneath him, making him look like an elf said to live inside a clamshell,
He pushed the door open as quietly as he could. Almost at that very moment, the little merman opened his eyes. Hugging Sharky, he sat up in bed and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Half his face was still buried in the plushie, and his whole body looked limp and soft.
Like a soft little puppy, he’d scrambled out of his nest the moment he heard the door open.
For some reason, seeing this made Wright’s anger from the argument fade. His expression softened without him realizing it.
The little merman seemed to have a magical power.
He asked Quina, “Why isn’t he asleep yet?”
Quina replied, “I told him he could go to sleep early if he was tired, but he still wanted to see you.”
Wright walked over and sat down beside Mu Chen’s bed. Before he could speak, he saw the little merman nervously clutching the hem of his clothes, unease showing in his big blue eyes.
“Your Highness, if you’re going to cancel the engagement, can I still stay here tonight?”
Wright froze for a moment.
Was this what he’d been worried about?
Looking at Mu Chen’s aggrieved expression, Wright felt a pang of tenderness. “You can.”
Though Wright was strongly opposed to King Jorah’s arbitrary way of doing things, he certainly wouldn’t drive the little merman out of the palace before finding him a new place to live. “Don’t worry. Go to sleep.”
Reassured by Wright’s promise, Mu Chen lay back down and buried half his face in Sharky.
Just as Wright thought he was going to sleep, the little merman’s eyes crinkled as he smiled at him.
When he smiled, two faint dimples appeared, and his little pointed canines peeked out. He looked like a delicate porcelain doll. “Good night, Your Highness.”
Wright paused as he started to leave. It felt as if a kitten had just scratched at his heart.
Keeping his expression unchanged, he pulled the blanket up over Mu Chen.
“Good night.”