Chapter 20
The first thing Mu Chen did after getting out of bed was take a cold shower, then dive into the indoor lake next door.
The large pool built six years ago was now a little too small for him. His long, graceful merman tail stretched more than two meters.
Cole had repeatedly asked if he could make a few life-size sculptures or waterproof wax figures of Mu Chen to display in the museum’s aquatic exhibit. It would be such a shame if the whole world couldn’t admire a creation this beautiful.
Of course, Mu Chen and Wright had rejected the idea outright. Imagining a whole bunch of “himself” displayed in a museum was bizarre—and faintly terrifying.
Mu Chen didn’t stay in the pool long. He swam straight to the stretch of sea closest to the palace, and took care of breakfast while he was at it.
Once he’d eaten his fill, the merman wiped the blood from his lips with his long, pale fingers. A deeper light entered his narrow eyes, making him seem utterly unlike the green young man whose smile revealed two sweet dimples.
After patrolling the bay for quite a while, Mu Chen returned to his bedroom in the palace and showered again,
...
In a secluded underground fight club on the outskirts of the capital, the passageways were littered with things people had dropped or forgotten—coats, holographic glasses, even prosthetic limbs. Dried, mottled blood stained the ring, a testament to how brutal the fights had been last night.
A muscular man with his upper body bare operated a robot that sprayed water over the ring, cleaning up the mess.
A terrifying scar ran across his left eye, and the sunken socket had been replaced by a gray-white glass eye.
Just then, a faint sound came from the entrance. Glass turned his mechanical eye in that direction.
A slender man in a gray hoodie leaned against the doorframe. Beneath the hood, a sliver of skin showed, so pale it looked almost inhuman.
Glass recognized Mu Chen at once. After all, he was the only one who came to the fight club dressed in such a suspicious getup.
He dropped the controller and greeted him with a grin. “Your Highness, coming by this early isn’t like you.”
Mu Chen pulled down the zipper of his hoodie with one hand. Beneath it, he wore a tight black T-shirt that accentuated his firm, sleek muscles and broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. His dazzling silver hair was tied in a high ponytail. “Glass, spouting so much nonsense isn’t like you, either.”
Glass grinned, lifted his chin, and gestured toward the now-clean arena in the center, inviting Mu Chen up.
Mu Chen’s deceptively beautiful face was such a stark contrast with his real personality that Glass still found himself caught off guard every time.
When the merman was little, he’d livestreamed from the palace for a long time. Back then, Glass was a mercenary on a remote, untamed planet. Out of curiosity, he and his companions had clicked on the stream.
His impression of the little merman was that he was a cute little kid, a pretty pet kept in the palace. No wonder the usually stern and formidable First Prince had made an exception and accepted the engagement.
Many years later, a young man who liked to wear a hood began showing up at this underground arena. He had an unbelievably beautiful face and utterly chaotic technique, yet still punched plenty of people flat. He always carried a pent-up ferocity, as if he came here just to blow off steam.
Mu Chen had been coming to the underground fight club for a long time before Glass learned his true identity. At the time, he’d almost been scared enough to kick Mu Chen out, afraid the Aus royal family would send someone to blow up his shabby place at any moment.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t connect the ferocious young man who could knock someone flat with a single punch to the little merman from the livestream, always grinning as he hugged a puppy.
Merman, cute? He was putting on an act, right?
Over the past two years, Glass had taught Mu Chen plenty of fighting techniques.
There was no other reason: he’d seen rare talent in Mu Chen, along with an indescribable tenacity. It was as if Mu Chen weren’t a pampered little prince raised in the palace, but a beast from some untamed wilderness.
At that moment, the two of them had already traded blows for several rounds in the ring.
Mu Chen was fighting viciously today. Every attack went straight for his opponent’s vital points, like a cold-blooded predator eager to hunt.
Glass, meanwhile, was like a lazy big cat. He calmly blocked every attack, then seized an opening in Mu Chen’s offense and threw a punch straight at his face, its force cutting through the air without mercy.
Mu Chen’s pupils reflected the sandbag-sized fist. Adrenaline began to surge through him—that was the signal that danger had awakened.
At the last possible instant, he pivoted on his toes. Glass’s fist grazed past the hair at his temple. Beads of sweat rolled down Mu Chen’s sharply defined jaw and fell to the ground, spreading like a drop of ink. Having dodged the blow, he began to find his rhythm again.
Though Mu Chen seemed to be constantly on the offensive, his slightly ragged breathing showed that he wasn’t having an easy time,
Glass took the opportunity between blocks to remind him, “You seem impatient today. You’re in a hurry to win, but the more impatient you get, the more openings you leave your opponent.”
Mu Chen roughly wiped the sweat from his cheek. He didn’t answer directly, but suddenly asked, “Tell me...”
“What if I applied to military academy?”
Glass paused. “I’m afraid the Crown Prince won’t agree.”
They all knew how much Wright cherished this merman. Almost every year, he sent Mu Chen things that poor people like them wouldn’t even dare dream of. They’d heard that last year, for his birthday, Wright had given him an entire manor.
The largest manor in the capital’s outskirts—not even a duke got that kind of treatment.
Mu Chen smiled, as if he didn’t understand. “What would there be to disagree with?”
Glass hadn’t come from a formal military background. The terrifying scars on his body were all from his time as a mercenary, and several of them had nearly killed him.
Now he looked at the young man before him, whose skin was so flawless and fair it resembled fine jade. His gaze was like an adult watching a child fuss over a toy. “Your Highness, the front lines are nothing like a fighting ring. On the battlefield, no one will follow the rules for you...”
Win and live. Lose and die.
Is that so?
Mu Chen’s gaze darkened.
That condescending look irritated him. It carried the unspoken message, “You don’t understand. You just need to let others protect you...” Wright sometimes looked at him that way, too, with a hand resting on his head.
But Big Brother was different from everyone else. Big Brother was Big Brother, and whatever Big Brother did was right.
The instant Glass finished speaking, he sensed the look in the man before him change. A shadowy glint flashed through Mu Chen’s narrow eyes, and the air around them seemed to freeze. It was as if a chill rose from the base of Glass’s spine, leaving him unable to move.
In that brief moment of distraction, Mu Chen swung another punch straight at him, much faster than usual. Glass hurriedly raised his heavily muscled arm to block, but the expected blow never landed.
“Bang!” A tremendous crash rang out,
Glass turned in astonishment. Mu Chen had punched the wooden post behind him. The spot beneath his knuckles was caved in, leaving a deep dent; splinters littered the ground, and the post had snapped in two.
He looked at the young man, whose expression hadn’t changed in the slightest, and furrowed his brow...
Sometimes, he felt there was a kind of mad, reckless frenzy about Mu Chen.
Their sparring ended there.
Mu Chen sat on the edge of the ring. He bit through the tape protecting his hands. The back of his right hand, from his knuckles to his wrist, was swollen and red, especially conspicuous against his pale skin.
“Your Highness, you make things difficult for me when you act so recklessly.” Glass frowned at the sight, picked up a medical kit, and tossed it to Mu Chen. “I’m always afraid the Crown Prince will send someone over one day to smash this lousy place of mine.”
This little establishment of mine can’t accommodate a figure as important as you.
Mu Chen sprayed the medicine on his injury, then tossed it back to Glass with a scoff. “I won’t let him find out.”
He pressed his lips together...
After all, if Big Brother found out what kind of person he really was, he might get scared.
...
At eleven in the morning,
When Mu Chen returned to the palace, Lance was eating breakfast. His tousled golden hair fell over his forehead, and he was yawning nonstop. He’d clearly just woken up.
Mu Chen sat down beside him. He’d just showered, and his smooth silver hair had been swept back from his face, making him look a little less youthful than usual.
“Morning.”
Lance yawned sleepily.
“It’s noon.” Mu Chen sat down and poured himself a bowl of cereal, then took two slices of bread. He’d worked up a sweat boxing earlier and was hungry now.
From the corner of his eye, Lance spotted Mu Chen’s indifferent expression and bruised hand. He guessed that the other man must have gotten up at the crack of dawn.
Young people these days. Why get up so early?
Mu Chen spread hazelnut paste on his bread with his left hand. Seeing Lance’s gaze keep drifting his way, he raised a brow in confusion, a bite of bread still in his mouth.
Lance pressed his lips together thoughtfully, wearing an expression that said, “You’re definitely hiding something from me.” “Something on your mind?”
Mu Chen stayed silent, shook his head, then turned back around.
He did have something on his mind, but he didn’t plan to tell him.
“Wright isn’t here, so I’m practically your big brother too...” Lance threw an arm around his shoulders, clearly unsatisfied with Mu Chen’s response. “Come on, tell Big Brother what’s wrong.”
Mu Chen: “...”
In some ways, Lance and Wright weren’t just a little alike—they couldn’t have been more different.
Lance nudged his arm, nearly knocking over the glass milk bottle on the table.
Mu Chen reflexively steadied the bottle.
Seeing his reaction only made Lance more certain something was off. “What is it?”
Judging by the look of things, he wouldn’t let it go without getting an answer today.
Mu Chen swallowed his bread and wiped his mouth with a napkin. After glancing around, he leaned close to Lance’s ear and whispered a few words.
“...”
After a brief silence, the room erupted in loud laughter.
“Hahahahahaha, that’s it?”
Lance laughed so hard his shoulders began to shake. It looked like he wouldn’t stop anytime soon.
Mu Chen’s expression darkened. Lance didn’t look like he could have a coherent conversation right now, so Mu Chen stood to leave, but Lance grabbed him and held him in place.
“No...”
“What’s the big deal?”
Lance tried to compose his expression, but the corners of his mouth still twitched uncontrollably. “Um... I wasn’t trying to laugh at you. Didn’t they teach you this stuff at school? Did you really need to react so strongly?”
“I know, it’s just...” Mu Chen trailed off.
Remembering Mu Chen’s unusual early departure last night, Lance suddenly understood. “You didn’t... have some kind of romantic encounter last night, did you?”
“Who was it? Come on, tell me.”
Mu Chen: “No.”
Lance wagged his index finger with a smile. “See? You’re not being honest again.”
Mu Chen: “...”
Lance continued to counsel him. “There’s nothing wrong with liking someone. You’re at the age when people first fall in love. It’s perfectly normal. If you keep bottling it up, won’t you make yourself sick?”
Mu Chen’s eyelid twitched. “...”
After a moment of silence, he asked, “Is that what liking someone means? ...Your heart starts beating really fast, and then you have that strange reaction... Wasn’t it because I drank too much?”
Lance covered his eyes with one hand, looking like he wanted to shout, “Help!” How could there be such an innocent merman? Hahahahaha!
But when he thought about how Mu Chen had been raised single-handedly by Wright, it didn’t seem so strange.
He’d just have to do Wright the favor of making up for his lack of education in this particular area.
“How is this not love?”
Lance looked at Mu Chen. “It wasn’t because you drank too much, and there’s nothing wrong with you. These feelings are perfectly normal. Otherwise, why do you think people look for partners?”
“Once you reach a certain age, you start to feel a particular kind of flutter in your heart. And the relationship you have with a lover is more special and more intimate than other kinds of relationships. How should I put it... For example, a lover isn’t the same as a big brother. You and Wright are very close, but you’d only feel this way about someone you like. You definitely wouldn’t think that way about your brother, right? Think carefully about the difference...”
“Do you understand?”
Mu Chen lowered his eyes, thinking over what Lance had said. After a moment, he pressed his lips together. “I understand.”
Lance immediately dropped his serious tone and put on an expression of eager curiosity. “Now can you tell me who it is?”
If he found out who Mu Chen had fallen for before Wright did, he could brag about it to him for a whole year.
“I can’t.”
Mu Chen tossed his napkin onto the table and stood, looking down at Lance. He gave him a sly smile. “I’m leaving. Take your time eating. Enjoy your meal.”
Lance: “...”
Why did it feel like he’d been played?