Chapter 4
Once Mu Chen was placed in the water, the tank’s cleverly engineered walls suddenly extended outward, and its top rose from waist height to nearly two meters, leaving the little merman plenty of room to stretch freely.
Mu Chen swished his shimmering silver tail, tracing several curves through the water. His pointed ears transformed into shell-like, pearlescent fins, and tiny bubbles slipped through his silky hair.
His pale silver hair shimmered like flowing platinum beneath the lights, and a pair of deep blue eyes peered out from under his long, feathery lashes.
Wright stood before the tank, his gaze involuntarily following that flash of color. The entire rippling expanse of water was reflected in his eyes.
This was the first time he had observed a merman underwater from such close range.
Underwater, mermen possessed a bewitching beauty—so lovely that no one could resist wanting to keep one as a treasured possession, all for themselves.
Yet another voice in his heart said that a merman belonged to the vast ocean. He shouldn’t be confined to this small space.
Cole brought up a virtual screen in his glasses and began using his smart-brain to analyze Mu Chen’s condition. Catching sight of Wright’s unusually dazed expression, he pressed his lips into the faintest smile, looking both proud and pleased.
As a biologist who had studied mermen for nearly twenty years, he knew that no one could resist their allure.
In Wright’s field of vision, the little merman swam through several loops before stopping right in front of him.
Then a small handprint appeared on the transparent wall of the tank.
Wright glanced up in surprise and met a pair of sparkling eyes. The little merman blinked his long lashes at him twice, and a string of bubbles escaped his lips.
“Yee~”
The rippling water carried the sound outward to their eardrums. It was clear and high-pitched, setting their hearts rippling.
The needle on an instrument beside the tank visibly trembled.
Cole’s face lit up with excitement. “That’s a merman’s call underwater—ancient Atlantean.”
At the same time, he felt a little put out. The merman was calling to that guy who knew nothing about them.
But Wright simply stood there, stunned, unsure how to respond.
A hand against the glass?
What... did that mean?
The guards had never seen their prince—normally so decisive and merciless on the battlefield—wear such a blank, bewildered expression in response to a youngling’s friendly gesture.
Cole couldn’t bear it any longer. He pursed his lips. “Your Highness, the merman is talking to you.”
So clueless!
Why did the merman even like him?
“Yee~”
The little merman called again, as if urging Wright to hurry.
Wright looked at the open palm pressed to the glass and seemed to understand what the other wanted. Though he wasn’t entirely sure, he held up his own hand and pressed his palm against the other, matching their fingers one by one.
His hand was a little larger than the merman’s. The moment their palms met, Mu Chen’s lips curved into a smile, his eyes crinkling as he excitedly curled his tail and performed a spectacular backflip underwater.
A few droplets splashed out of the tank.
Wright’s brows relaxed without him realizing it.
“That’s how mermen show affection.” Geluoke came over and began his “helpful” explanation. “It’s clear the little merman is quite fond of you.”
“There are many historical cases of mermen marrying humans and having children with excellent bloodlines. In fact, nearly half of the Atlantean royal family chose to marry humans.” Geluoke smiled at Mu Chen. “He looks like a beautiful submale merman. He’ll surely give the royal family precious blue-blooded descendants...”
Mermen were divided into males, females, and submales. All but the males were capable of bearing children.
“Uh, that might be a little narrow-minded. Strictly speaking...” A tapping pen interrupted Geluoke. Cole’s voice sounded as if he were talking to himself.
Geluoke’s expression turned displeased. “Dr. Cole, what exactly are you trying to say?”
Cole didn’t notice at all. He continued earnestly, “What I mean is that determining sex based only on simple physical features is very narrow-minded. You may have overlooked the skeleton and other important traits...”
He tapped the rim of his glasses with a fingertip, and an image of a massive fish skeleton appeared on the virtual screen. “Deep-sea mermen once ruled Blue Star. The tremendous force of their tail strokes could smash through a battleship’s steel plating. Historical records say the largest merman, the ‘Sea God’ Muxius, had a tail fin 2.68 meters long. But after centuries of intermarriage with humans weakened the mermen’s blue blood, the average tail-fin length of an adult submale merman in the final generation was 1.3 meters, while that of a male was 1.5 meters.”
“If my estimate is correct, this merman’s tail fin is already about one meter long. He’s only fourteen, and mermen can continue developing until nearly thirty, so it’s not impossible that his tail fin will exceed two meters when he’s fully grown. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t a submale...”
Geluoke was afraid he’d keep undermining him, and his displeasure deepened. “Dr. Cole has said so much, but is there any way to confirm the merman’s sex?”
Cole fell silent for a moment. “By examining the reproductive opening, but considering how young he is...”
Geluoke cut him off and turned to Wright with a broad smile. “Your Highness, if you don’t mind, we can examine him now.”
“Bzzzt!”
The instrument’s needle began to shake violently once more.
Through the tank wall, Mu Chen shook his head emphatically at Wright. A dense string of bubbles escaped his lips, and his eyes were full of reluctance.
He didn’t want to be examined in front of so many people.
Wright frowned. “There’s no need.”
“I said there’s no need for any examination unrelated to his health.”
Geluoke’s sales pitch was as unpleasant as the engagement Jorah had forced on him for the sake of the so-called royal symbol and blue blood.
Wright’s usual stern expression returned. He looked at Cole. “Continue with the examination you were doing.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Cole nodded and tapped the rim of his glasses. A mechanical arm immediately rose from the bottom of the tank and scooped up a fish swimming in the small pool beside it.
“Now we’ll put a fish in with him to test his reaction to other marine life.”
The mechanical arm tossed the fish into the tank with a “plop!” It was innocently blowing bubbles when a shadow suddenly fell over it.
A bone-chilling current swept in. Instinctively sensing danger, the fish flicked its tail, trying to escape the area.
But the shadow swiftly closed in, completely blocking its way.
The fish looked up in terror. It saw its own reflection in a pair of deep blue eyes, framed by long, thick lashes curved almost like crescent moons.
Then the merman parted his lips, revealing a row of white teeth and two sharp canines pointed straight at it.
The fish began to tremble, spitting out a string of dense bubbles. “Blub...!”
Those clawed, webbed hands gently gathered it into his palm. It felt the merman’s vocal cords vibrate, producing low, penetrating sound waves.
“I want to eat...”
“It looks delicious.”
“Should I start with the head or the tail?”
Like a helpless bird in a cage, the fish spun around anxiously in Mu Chen’s palm.
I really want to eat it...
Mu Chen looked down at the creature trembling in his palm and swallowed.
But out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the people outside the tank...
No.
He still wasn’t sure he could stay in the palace, so he had to keep up his cute, obedient image.
Mu Chen struggled to suppress his urge to eat, chasing and “playing” with the other creature in the water.
Cole gave his assessment. “This is an extremely docile young merman. He’s basically lost his instinct to hunt.”
The fish, nearly scared out of its wits: “???”
Mu Chen struggled not to swallow the fish in one bite as he smiled at the people outside, acting as obedient and harmless as he possibly could.
Wright’s gaze settled on the little merman’s sharp canines...
Pretty cute.
He thought.
As they chased each other, Mu Chen would occasionally nudge the fish with his cheek. Each time he did, he blinked his sparkling eyes at Wright as if waiting for praise. He was like an energetic puppy playing Frisbee, making anyone want to pat his head.
Still, he was a little too well-behaved. He might get bullied outside.
...
After a series of observations, Cole concluded that Mu Chen seemed perfectly healthy and had a docile temperament. He started putting away the equipment, preparing to wrap up the examination.
After Mu Chen climbed out of the tank and dried off, his legs returned to their human form. Seeing Cole enthusiastically explaining merman habits and precautions to Wright, he tugged at Quina, hoping to sneak away.
“Uh, uh...” Cole suddenly appeared in front of him and made a “no” gesture. “There’s still one last examination.”
The little merman perked up his ears.
Cole took a brand-new syringe out of his lab coat. “We still need to draw some blood.”
He had Mu Chen sit in a chair and roll up his sleeve.
Faced with the little merman’s beautiful face, so lovely that no one could bear to see him look sad, Cole found himself handling everything much more gently. He even reassured him,
“It might hurt a little.”
Did getting a shot hurt?
Mu Chen didn’t know.
Perhaps few people knew that his father, the last king of Atlantis, had been a tyrant. When he flew into a rage, he would beat Mu Chen with leather straps.
Because of the astonishing healing power of his blue blood, those wounds never left scars on his skin.
So the next day would come, and it would be a new day. He would once again be the prince who carried all the hopes and promise of a bright future.
The days Mu Chen spent in Atlantis were the time he least wanted to remember.
Compared to his father’s cruelty, injections and blood tests were practically a form of recreation to Mu Chen.
As Cole disinfected the skin around his vein with alcohol, Mu Chen lowered his lashes and looked at the gleaming syringe and the cold instruments around it. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
Why not take advantage of this opportunity?
So almost the instant the needle pierced his skin, Mu Chen quickly turned his head away. His long lashes fluttered violently, his eyes reddened, and tears welled up in them.
As if trying to keep the tears from falling, the little merman tipped his head back. But they still dampened his lower lashes, then gathered in shining droplets at the corners of his eyes before sliding down his cheeks.
Wright noticed that something was wrong and hurried over. Mu Chen immediately clutched his sleeve and buried his face in the crook of his arm.
Feeling a warm touch against his palm, Wright looked down and saw Mu Chen’s back trembling with fear, like a startled little animal desperately seeking comfort.
Wright’s fingers stiffened for a moment, then gently came to rest on his back. He patted him soothingly. “Does it hurt?”
“Mm...” Mu Chen shook his head.
Seeing that he didn’t dare lift his head, Wright asked, “Are you afraid of the syringe?”
The little merman sniffled and nodded lightly. “Mm...”
“It’s done.” Cole hadn’t expected the little merman to react so strongly. After drawing a vial of blood, he was the one with sweat running down his temples.
“Your Highness...” Mu Chen’s face was still buried against Wright. He tried to stop his sniffles and asked cautiously, “After I leave the palace, will I have to go to a cold place like that? Will they draw my blood every day?”
“The lab isn’t cold.” Cole wiped his brow, trying to comfort the little merman with his humor. “There are explosions there all the time, haha...”
But that only made things worse.
Mu Chen buried his face even deeper against the prince.
Wright looked at his tightly clutched sleeve and the little merman’s dependent expression. A pang of tenderness welled up in him.
He patted Mu Chen’s back again and again.
Only now did Wright realize that since returning to the palace, he’d been thinking only about how to end the engagement. He’d told Mu Chen not to worry...
But it seemed he’d never asked the little merman what he wanted.
Had he been so uneasy all this time because he thought he’d be sent to a laboratory?
A silence settled over them for a while.
“You won’t have to go anywhere like that.” Wright reached out and rubbed the top of Mu Chen’s head. “If you want to stay in the palace, you can...”
“Do you like it here?”
Mu Chen stopped sniffling. Where no one could see, the corners of his mouth secretly curled into a smile.
But when he lifted his head from Wright’s arms, he was once again a helpless little one with a face covered in tears, as if he’d just been badly frightened.
“I like it.” Mu Chen nodded earnestly.
As he spoke, the little merman turned to glance at Cole, then leaned his head back against Wright and said in an extra-sweet voice, “Mu Chen doesn’t like that uncle. Mu Chen likes Your Highness.”
Looking into those sapphire-like eyes, Wright felt as if something soft had slipped into his heart, making it beat faster.
His fingers ran through the little merman’s smooth silver hair, and Mu Chen affectionately rubbed his cheek against them.
Wright looked Mu Chen in the eye. “Then stay.”
Cole, who had witnessed the entire conversation: ???
It felt as if an arrow had pierced his heart.
And how had he become an uncle?
He was the youngest researcher at the institute!