Chapter 78: Merfolk Fairy Tales (II)

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Chapter 78: Merfolk Fairy Tales (II)

The blue sea held breathtaking sights unseen on land, but it was also filled with dangers beyond imagination.

As the most beloved little Princess of the Eastern Sea, Lian saw the world beyond the Dragon Palace as both novel and beautiful. There were no man-eating monsters from the legends, nor any terrifying wizards who rendered mermaid oil into medicine. There was only the boundless ocean and the schools of fish happily swimming around her. Lian had almost forgotten her solemn promise that she would only take a quick look before returning. Instead, she continued swimming farther and farther away from the Dragon Palace.

She failed to notice that the seawater around her was gradually growing darker. Without the luminous pearls of the Dragon Palace to illuminate the depths, the sea had returned to its natural deep-blue darkness. From time to time, an electric eel swam past, briefly lighting the way ahead and revealing the increasingly mysterious underwater world.

Lian looked around curiously, admiring the scenery. Every so often, she darted into a coral reef or played with the fish. She had never imagined that the world outside the Dragon Palace could be so captivating that one would forget to return, nor had she known there were so many lively fish in the sea. The Dragon Palace was magnificent, but everything there was bound by rules, and everyone treated her, the princess, with the utmost respect. Only now did she truly understand what freedom meant.

She spread her fair arms, happily flicked her tail, and began to sing. A mermaid’s voice carried an innate enchantment. The fish around her seemed to lose the ability to move, remaining perfectly still as they listened to the heart-stirring melody.

Even the boats on the sea’s surface drifted to a halt. The boatman had been completely entranced by the song, unaware that his vessel was rocking gently with the waves. Whenever mermaids sang, they normally raised a barrier to prevent their voices from affecting humans and to keep themselves from being discovered. Lian, however, knew nothing of this.

The beautiful melody came to an abrupt stop. Lian’s eyes widened, panic filling her clear, watery gaze. Her graceful tail struggled violently, sending ripples through the water. She desperately wanted to cry out for help, but only muffled whimpers escaped her lips. A hand clad in a black glove firmly covered her mouth.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: -10.

The person holding her tightly wore a black hat and a long black cloak. As he moved through the sea, the already dark water seemed to grow even more gloomy. He looked very much like the wizard from the fairy tales her grandmother had told her, although he was not riding the broomstick she had mocked countless times.

Lian’s body grew even stiffer. She had already begun imagining her scales being made into ornaments, her body fat rendered into bottles of medicine, and even her beloved black hair turned into that utterly unattractive broom.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: -20.

Looking up, she could see only the finely shaped chin of the person holding her. His face was concealed behind white strands of hair that remained perfectly still despite the flowing water. She could not help imagining how terrifying the hidden face must be. He would surely have eyes as large as bronze bells, blood-red lips, and a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. The mere thought made her blood run cold. Even the sound of the seawater flowing past her ears now resembled a funeral dirge, no longer as pleasant as it had been when she first left the Dragon Palace.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: -30.

As she looked at the increasingly dark waters ahead, her heart sank even further. She wondered where he was taking her. Would it be a place filled with carnivorous flowers and flesh-eating fish? Perhaps he did not intend to use her as an ingredient for potions after all. Perhaps he had captured her only to feed his experimental creatures. Her body would be devoured piece by piece until even her father and grandmother would be unable to tell which parts had once belonged to their beloved little princess.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: -40.

∇ Warning: If the target’s favorability falls below -50, the target will become impossible to capture.

Lian shut her eyes tightly in fear, but before long, a gentle light seemed to brush against her eyelids. Even the surrounding seawater became warm and comforting, as though she had returned to her mother’s embrace. Yet the cool body pressed against hers reminded her that this was no time to relax. She had been brought here against her will. Almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, the force restraining her disappeared. She instinctively opened her eyes.

What lay before her was nothing like the place she had imagined. Instead, she found herself surrounded by a sea of flowers, a sight rarely seen beneath the ocean. It resembled the landscapes from stories about the world above the sea. Beside the flowers stood a small house with white walls, so cozy that she could almost imagine how comfortable it must be to live there.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: -10.

“Hey…” She looked at the figure ahead of her, who had set her down and was walking straight toward the little house. Seen from behind, he was dressed entirely in black. Her voice carried a hint of reproach. Why had he brought her here? It was true that the place was beautiful, and she liked it very much, but that did not mean she could simply stay here without concern.

She had only come out to play. If she stayed away too long, her father and grandmother would worry. It was not that she did not want to return on her own. She had simply been so frightened while being carried in his arms that she had completely forgotten to remember the way back. She had no idea where she was now. “You…”

Miao Lichen paused and turned to look at the young mermaid princess before him. Although she had not yet fully matured, her delicate features already carried the faint charm unique to a young woman. Her sleek tail swayed uneasily through the water, yet her face still retained the pride befitting a mermaid princess.

“W-Why did you bring me here? I want to go back!” Lian’s heart pounded the moment Miao Lichen turned around. It was not because she had fallen for him. She was simply still terrified by all the frightening things she had imagined along the way. Secretly encouraging herself, she reminded herself that she was a mermaid princess. The merfolk had powers of their own. At worst, she would fight him to the bitter end.

“You’ll be living here from now on. Even if you leave, you’ll eventually have to return.” Miao Lichen lowered his gaze naturally, looking at the mermaid princess, who had nearly lowered her head to her own tail. His slender fingers lightly adjusted the brim of his wide hat. The mermaid princess was still just a child, albeit one who had already lived for several hundred years. Even if she had been a real child, however, he would not have felt the slightest psychological burden, let alone a fairy tale’s version of an eternal little girl. Without offering any further explanation, he turned to leave. After taking two steps, he paused. “You will be the mother of my child. Treat this place as your home.”

Lian’s first reaction upon hearing his initial sentence was not that she would be unable to return home. Instead, she realized that she was not going to be turned into an experimental specimen after all, nor were there any carnivorous flowers waiting to devour her. At least there seemed to be no danger to her life here, and the thought put her somewhat at ease.

When she heard Miao Lichen’s next sentence, however, a blush spread across her cheeks. The mother of his child… Did that mean he wanted the kind of relationship her father and mother shared? Thinking of how her parents were always inseparable, her fair face grew even redder. Then, without warning, the image she had imagined before resurfaced in her mind, those bell-sized eyes and blood-red lips… Every trace of romantic fantasy vanished in an instant, and her face turned deathly pale.

But… when he had turned around just now… Although fear had kept her staring at her own tail for most of the journey, she had still managed to catch a glimpse of his face. It had not been very clear, but she was certain that his lips were nothing like the blood-red ones she had imagined. They were a soft pink, almost pale, nothing like the terrifying wizard from the stories. Perhaps she had been too influenced by her preconceptions. She had clearly seen that he was dressed in red, not in black as her grandmother’s stories had described, nor did he carry the stench of decay she had expected.

“I won’t be the mother of your child.” Lian pouted. Just because he had abducted her did not mean she would become the mother of his child. There had been no romantic meeting, no fairy tale courtship between a princess and a prince, let alone having children.

Every young girl dreamed of her ideal partner, and Lian was no exception. As the Princess of the Eastern Sea, she obviously could not dream of a prince who would die the moment he entered the ocean, but he should at least have a sleek, graceful tail covered in beautiful, gleaming scales. He should have a face that was pleasing to look at and carry himself with noble elegance. None of those qualities could be missing.

As for Miao Lichen… she could not even see his face clearly, and as for a fish tail… how could a human possibly have one? And elegance? Could someone with elegance simply abduct her and bring her here by force?

“I’m only stating a fact. I’m not giving you a choice.” Miao Lichen walked into the house, seemingly paying no attention to Lian’s feelings, as though he had not been the one who had so decisively abducted her. He removed his hat and hung it on the wall. The black hat stood out sharply against the white wall, just like its owner, whose presence dominated the room.

“What gives you the right?” Lian demanded as she stormed into the house, only to freeze in surprise. The room was nothing like she had imagined. There were no white silk bed curtains or white drapes. The carpet, bedding, and curtains were all red, and there were no bed curtains at all. A long table occupied one side of the room, covered with bottles of colorful liquids, while behind the door leaned a black broom…

Lian instinctively took a step back, intending to leave the room. By then, Miao Lichen had already removed his black cloak and hung it beside the hat before turning to face her.

She stared at him blankly. She had always known she was beautiful. She was the most beautiful mermaid in the Eastern Sea, admired by the entire merfolk race. Yet the person before her was even more beautiful than she was. Although beautiful was not the most fitting word to describe a man, no other word suited him better.

His beauty transcended both gender and race. At that moment, she almost forgot the fatal flaw that he had no tail at all. All she could hear was the rapid beating of her own heart. His earlier words echoed in her ears. The sentences that had filled her with nothing but anger moments ago now seemed to carry an entirely different meaning.

“You’ll be living here from now on. Even if you leave, you’ll eventually have to return.”

“You will be the mother of my child. Treat this place as your home.”

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: 30.

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