Chapter 79: Merfolk Fairy Tales (III)

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Chapter 79: Merfolk Fairy Tales (III)

“Because I’m stronger than you. As long as you remain here, no one from the Dragon Palace will ever find you.” Miao Lichen walked with effortless grace. Any human who saw him would undoubtedly take him for a noble raised in an ancient aristocratic family.

To Lian, however, a mermaid princess who had spent her entire life moving with a fish tail, it meant very little. Even so, some qualities transcended the differences between races. The understated nobility he carried, subtle rather than overbearing, naturally inspired goodwill.

“You’re that confident in your own strength? If the Dragon Palace finds me, you won’t end well. You might even be offered as a sacrifice to the Sea God.” Lian’s delicate face flushed red with indignation as she slapped her tail against the floor, expressing her displeasure at Miao Lichen’s arrogance.

In truth, she did not doubt his words. Since he had said that no one from the Dragon Palace would find her as long as she stayed here, then they truly would not. She instinctively believed that Miao Lichen wasn’t the type to lie. If he said he could do something, then he was capable of doing it. She also believed that unless he chose to let her go, she had no chance of leaving this place.

She simply could not stand seeing him so smug. Was it just because he was a wizard? By now, the word wizard no longer filled Lian with the same fear as before, though she herself had yet to notice the change.

“The Dragon Palace? A sacrifice to the Sea God?” Miao Lichen let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t compare me to ordinary wizards. I’m different from them.” A trace of pride flickered through his eyes. The original Wizard Chen had been a genius among wizards. Though he had only just reached adulthood, he was already more powerful than his late father.

Humans did not possess the long lifespans of merfolk. Even as a wizard, one could live for only a few hundred years at most. Unlike the other wizards who secluded themselves beneath the sea, he had not remained there because humanity had driven him away or because he had come to gather materials and never left. Rather, it was because he carried both human and merfolk blood. As a result, he did not need to rely on potions to survive underwater like other wizards.

The offspring of a wizard and a merfolk inherited neither the traits nor the abilities of the merfolk, but their magical power was greater than that of children born to two pure-blooded wizards. Of course, this could only be achieved with the aid of certain potions. That was why Wizard Chen had chosen Princess Lian, the most beautiful princess of the royal family, to bear his child. His own father had once done the same thing. The only difference was that the mermaid he had chosen held an even higher status.

“Besides… Once you’re carrying my child, I doubt His Majesty, the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, will lay a hand on me. He wouldn’t bear to harm the father of the child in your womb.” Miao Lichen said casually as his gaze drifted toward Lian’s abdomen, to where her scales met her human upper body.

“I…” The anger that had flushed Lian’s face gave way to embarrassment. She was still a young girl and had never prepared herself to become a mother. Yet ever since the wizard had brought her here, he had reminded her again and again about having a child. It was as though he had kidnapped her not because he liked her, but simply because he wanted a child with her.

The shyness on Lian’s face suddenly froze. She looked up and met Miao Lichen’s gaze. Throughout their conversation, his eyes had remained completely calm, as though he were looking at nothing more than a commodity. Perhaps, in his eyes, she was merely a tool to bear his child. If it were not Lian standing here, it could just as easily have been another woman, either a mermaid or a human who was more suitable for him. For some reason, a faint ache welled up in her heart.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: 40.

“Did you bring me here… just because you want a child?” Lian tried her best to keep her voice steady, suppressing the tremor she could not control.

Miao Lichen nodded without the slightest hesitation, clearly pleased by how cooperative the princess seemed. His tone even softened slightly. “Once the child is born, I’ll let you leave.”

Although Lian appeared unusually obedient on the surface, she still possessed the pride of a princess and the confidence that came with being a renowned beauty. For a man to show absolutely no interest in her was a considerable blow. “I will never bear your child. Never. If I refuse, how are you going to force me? Lock me up? Restrict my freedom? Do you really think you’ll get a healthy child that way?”

Miao Lichen’s eyes darkened slightly. The indifferent gaze that had seemed unconcerned with everything was now filled with danger. For a moment, Lian almost believed she would become a cold corpse in the next instant. This wizard wanted to kill her. At least, for that brief moment, he had. Just as she had thought, she was not his only option. As long as the merfolk had not gone extinct, he could still achieve his goal.

“E-Even if I gave birth to your child, would a child raised in a broken family be happy? Or are you planning to let your child grow up alone, just like you did?” Lian’s voice suddenly softened, as though she were making a concession, yet her bright eyes held a newfound resolve.

“…” Miao Lichen met Lian’s gaze. He could still see the fear that had yet to completely fade from her eyes. Why did she think she could persuade him so easily? In fact, this was exactly how Wizard Chen had been persuaded. Geniuses were destined to endure loneliness, but not every genius learned to enjoy it.

Wizard Chen had spent his childhood, youth, and even adulthood surrounded by nothing but experimental materials. It could only be said that every villain had a past too painful to revisit, and the heroine was always the one who struck at that hidden wound. So he yielded again and again, indulged her again and again, until his own death became the perfect ending to the hero’s and heroine’s happily ever after.

“What do you want?” Miao Lichen narrowed his eyes. His gaze swept over Lian’s constantly swaying tail, lingering long enough to make her body stiffen before slowly moving back to meet her eyes, which were trying so hard to appear brave.

“I think we should spend some time together first. Maybe… by then, I’ll be willing to stay of my own accord. To become… your wife… and the mother of your child.” Lian’s voice grew softer and softer. By the time she reached the words “wife” and “mother,” they were barely audible. Even so, there was no way Miao Lichen could have missed them.

“Very well.” Miao Lichen nodded and stepped closer to Lian. He placed one hand on her shoulder, and a red fan-shaped mark gradually appeared upon her fair skin.

Although Lian had no idea what the mark was, she knew that nothing would happen to her as long as she did not try to leave. But how could she not think about leaving? The surroundings might be beautiful, and this wizard might be extraordinarily handsome, but a wizard was still a wizard, as mysterious and unfathomable as the legends described. She still remembered reading in a book that merfolk and wizards could never coexist peacefully. Wizards held the lives of merfolk in their hands, and any merfolk who encountered a wizard would ultimately meet only one fate: death.

“This is a tracking mark. No matter where you are in these seas, you won’t be able to escape my awareness. So don’t even think about leaving on your own.” Miao Lichen naturally drew Lian into his arms, his fingers gently stroking the scales on her fish tail. Those gleaming scales were more than decoration. They protected the merfolk and served as one of their weapons. At the same time, however, their tails were also their most private and untouchable part of the body. It was not something just anyone could touch.

Lian’s cheeks flushed an even deeper red, and her breathing gradually grew heavier. A strange, weightless sensation overtook her, as though she were about to drift away at any moment. ‘Drift away? Where could I go after leaving the sea? Can a mermaid survive outside of the sea?’ She suddenly came to her senses and tried to fling her tail free from Miao Lichen’s grasp. Yet her usually supple tail had become stiff and unresponsive. She could not move it at all. Instead, her body involuntarily fell into Miao Lichen’s embrace.

Miao Lichen caught her and dressed her in a set of red robes he had prepared long ago. Her dazzling fish tail disappeared completely, replaced by a pair of fair, slender legs. Not every guard in the Dragon Palace had the chance to meet the beautiful mermaid princess in person, but everyone had heard the stories. Princess Lian possessed the most beautiful tail in all the seas, sparkling beneath the water like a luminous jewel. She was the brightest pearl of the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace. Now that her tail was gone, even if she escaped and claimed to be the Dragon Palace’s little princess, very few would believe her.

Lian naturally realized the same thing. Lying against Miao Lichen’s chest, she suddenly felt the urge to cry. Losing the tail she had always been so proud of was an enormous blow. In fact, she did cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks, turning into pearls that scattered across the red carpet.

Miao Lichen gently patted her slender back, his voice remaining as calm as ever. “If, within three years, you’re willing to bear my child, then stay. If you’re unwilling, I’ll send you away. By then, your tail will also be restored.”

Such a delicate, innocent girl should not be dragged into the mire of a dark wizard. If she remained unwilling, he would let her leave in the end. Thinking of the words Wizard Chen would never have spoken in the original fairy tale, Miao Lichen could not help but think that the wizard’s fate had been entirely of his own making. In that fairy tale, the one who loved the deepest had also been the greatest cannon fodder.

“Only three years?”

“Yes. Only three years. To your kind, three years pass in the blink of an eye.” At some point, Miao Lichen had removed his black gloves. His fingers rested beneath Lian’s long eyelashes as a pearl slid down onto his palm. The smooth, round pearl lay quietly in his hand, lovely to look at, yet it was impossible to ignore the elegant fingers holding it.

“If three years still aren’t enough for you to agree, then I’ll have to look for my next target. Humans don’t have nearly as much time as merfolk do.” Miao Lichen seemed to be speaking more to himself than to her. He slowly closed his fingers around the pearl. “You must be tired. Get some rest.”

‘Will I really be living here from now on?’ Lian looked around the spacious little house. Setting aside the human custom of unmarried men and women not living together, even the merfolk were not so open-minded as to have an unmarried young woman stay in an adult man’s home.

Sensing her concern, Miao Lichen gently placed her on the large, soft bed. The cloak resting on the bed floated into his hand. He glanced at Lian, and his figure gradually blurred before disappearing from the room entirely.

Lian abruptly withdrew the hand she had unconsciously reached toward the place where he had vanished. Biting her lip, she lowered it in frustration and looked out the window at the figure in red standing amid the sea of flowers.

Even when leaving, he had to make such a show of being mysterious. It was such a short distance, yet he still used magic, making it look as though he were fading away. What an unpleasant person. The dark wizards who had fled beneath the sea were rather tragic people. It was said that after they died, not even their bodies remained. They dissolved completely into seawater, for their very existence defied the will of the gods. A trace of sadness crept into Lian’s eyes.

Suddenly, she covered her eyes with her fair hand. ‘ Was I… worried about him just now?’ He was a wizard, after all. A wizard who had abducted her simply because he wanted her to bear his child…

But… he hadn’t forced her to have his child. Instead, he had agreed to her request…

Lying on the large bed covered with soft red bedding, she instinctively rolled over. Her silky black hair became slightly tousled as she rolled back and forth across the bed, lost in her thoughts. Only after a long while did the room finally grow quiet, filled with the sound of her soft, steady breathing.

∇ Capture Target Lian Favorability: 60.

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