Chapter 32
“Love! That’s truly a wonderful word, isn’t it?”
Tararang~
Prince Ann of the Northern Sea plucked the strings of his harp as his eyes sparkled. A mischievous smile full of interest appeared on his beautiful face.
Ann singing sweet songs about love while playing the harp was beautiful and enchanting, but he looked a bit like a crazy merman.
Harriet needed counseling from someone who wasn’t a soldier, and with his limited connections, the only person he could think of was the merman Ann hiding in the lake up in the mountains.
Unlike when they first met when he was skinny, Ann had become very plump after finding water. His beautiful blue eyes sparkled as if they could seduce anyone, suggesting he was enjoying lake life.
Surprisingly, the harp he was playing was made of water. Sweet singing echoed in all directions. Birds chirped at his beautiful voice, and deer and wild boars that had been hiding somewhere suddenly appeared. It was like a scene straight out of a fairy tale.
Clap-!
When the merman prince Ann clapped his hands, the startled animals fled in perfect unison. Ann smiled brightly and plucked his water harp.
“Why is there so much worry in such beautiful love?”
Harriet smiled while taking his time to answer. At his troubled smile, merman Ann tilted his head even more curiously.
He draped his blue hair down and came up to the lakeshore where Harriet was standing. The fins extending from his back sparkled blue.
Unlike Harriet’s, Ann’s tail fin shimmered blue. Ann’s appearance, perfectly embodying the sea, made him look like a beautiful divine creation.
The emotion called love was an extremely unfamiliar and foreign word to Harriet. Harriet basically lived with goodwill, liking everything. He liked cute Angela and Ryan, sweet cocoa, the villagers, peace, and the quiet time he spent here.
And Harriet didn’t dislike anyone. That meant Harriet didn’t even dislike the military that had conducted terrible experiments on him. They had paid a fair price to buy Harriet, and the people there just did their jobs. That’s all he thought.
It meant that even if Harriet were shot by Ryan or Angela the next day, he would only smile awkwardly without resenting or hating them. This also meant that while he liked everyone, no one was special.
“Your love will surely bloom brilliantly.”
Ann hummed as he saw a red flower blossom on Harriet’s white, porcelain doll-like cheeks. Merman Ann was much more lyrical and whimsical than his cold appearance suggested.
Ann waved his hand and created a flower out of water. It looked like a blue rose. He recited a whisper of love in song again.
“Are you happy, Harriet?”
Harriet couldn’t answer Ann’s sudden question and smiled slightly, looking troubled. Then, watching the small creatures swimming gently in the lake, he asked curiously.
“…Fish?”
The lake, which had been so muddy before that one could hardly see an inch below the surface, now sparkled transparently. Small baby fish could be seen swimming inside. Ann stopped singing and said:
“It’s my ability. I can make life be born in water and allow it to survive.”
Not only that, but like any merman, he had the ability to manipulate water. His saliva could heal wounds, and water where he resided was purified, enabling the birth of life. It was truly an amazing ability.
Harriet thought that if the military had captured him, they would have used him as a very valuable experimental subject. It was indeed an ability befitting royalty of the sea.
Was it really okay for Ann to have left the sea? Thanks to him, the lake that had no life activity before had become a beautiful small world.
Harriet, who had never thought fish could live in this lake, forgot about his own counseling and blankly stared at the lake below.
“It’s amazing.”
“More importantly, could you tell me more about your story?”
Ann smiled and grabbed Harriet’s wrist. Then he very gently led him and swam down into the lake. Harriet struggled for a moment, then closed his eyes as if sighing.
Harriet’s military uniform pants came off, and his two legs had already transformed into a merman’s tail fin like Ann’s. However, Harriet’s scales were distinctly white.
Fins started to form on Harriet’s ears, hands, and along his back. Gills appeared at the end of Harriet’s neck, and his hair suddenly shimmered blue, embodying the sea. When he opened his eyes, his white irises now shimmered with blue.
The small baby fish swimming around approached the beautiful mermen. It was surprising how many lives had been born here already. The baby fish approached the two mermen as if making way for them.
The lake was quite deep, and Ann, who had been smiling, descended further down. His swimming movements looked like dancing. The two mermen twirled around as they descended to the bottom of the lake, then rose to the surface.
Splash-.
“So, you’re afraid of being hated by your junior, is that it?”
Ann nodded his head with a serious expression. Harriet also nodded silently in response. Ann swam around the surface in a figure-eight pattern like a bee before returning to Harriet’s side.
This was the issue Harriet was worried about. Harriet wouldn’t mind if Angela, Ryan, or even Anschel betrayed him and turned their backs on him right now. As always, he would think it was troublesome, but that would be it. But strangely, Ender was different.
“He’s admired me since he was young…”
Even someone as oblivious as Harriet knew that Ender admired and followed him. During academy days, Ender followed Harriet more than anyone else and idolized him. He trusted everything Harriet said.
Harriet also studied and worked hard not to betray that trust. When asked why, it was because Ender was special. Unbelievable as it was, Harriet probably found Ender special from that young age.
“He might dislike me if he knew I had these feelings…”
Harriet felt incredibly awkward saying this. Fiddling with his blue-rippling hair, Harriet dived slightly below the surface of the lake. Ann also followed him underwater and grabbed his wrist. This merman apparently loved physical contact.
If the counselor had been Anschel, or at least Ryan, they would have answered, “…I don’t think that would ever happen,” reassuring Harriet. But unfortunately, the counselor was the Northern Sea merman Ann. Ann didn’t know much about their situation.
Anschel might be shocked to learn that Ender might have been more than just a cute junior all this time. But Harriet, who knew one thing but not another, was serious. After thinking with Harriet, Ann said:
“Then how about getting advice from the person closest to him?”
“Advice?”
“Yes, advice on how to capture his heart!”
Ann, excited about something again, now grabbed a guitar made of water and started making noisy sounds. Harriet followed him, inadvertently twirling around a few more times before finally returning to land.
Splash-.
As Harriet emerged above the water, his hair turned white again. His hands, which had had fins, returned to normal, and the merman’s tail fin that had extended from his lower back to his toes disappeared.
With his smooth white legs exposed, Harriet quietly looked for the military uniform pants he had taken off. Ann still leaned against the lakeshore in his merman form.
“Ah, would you please tell Toolie that I won’t play pranks on him anymore, so he should come visit again?”
“…Toolie?”
“Yes, the very cute Toolie.”
Harriet nodded at Ann’s words.
Why would he look for the killer whale that supposedly returned to the Southern Sea here?
* * *
At that time, Anschel finally replaced the liquid in his electronic cigarette and turned it on. He approached the window, opened it, put the cigarette in his mouth, and fell into contemplation.
‘Will that guy be okay?’
Harriet, with red flowers blooming on his white skin, looked visibly confused. Anschel almost asked if he had really been oblivious while dealing with Ender McGuire all this time.
Anyone could see that Ender was deeply in love with Harriet Alster. Who wouldn’t notice someone who adored you just for breathing?
Moreover, Ender’s condition was so severe that he couldn’t even have a sexual response except for Harriet. It was worrisome whether to call it pure love or something that tainted the very concept of pure love.
As far as Anschel knew, Ender McGuire was absolutely not a kind person to anyone. He once ruthlessly crushed an officer wearing the same uniform just because he didn’t like him. The reason he didn’t like him was because the officer had taken Senior Harriet’s photo without permission.
Ender McGuire didn’t forgive pranks. He was a very cold-blooded man and actually quite cruel.
Anschel guessed that the blood on Ender’s hands would be more than he could imagine. Ender McGuire was exactly the type of man you wouldn’t believe could love someone. If they saw him in such a lovesick state, there would be enough people to fill a couple of trucks who would foam at the mouth in disbelief.
The doll-like man who received all of Ender McGuire’s love but wasn’t even aware of it had finally responded. He made a troubled expression several times before turning to Anschel with a face red to the ears.
Riririring-
But the timing was absolutely terrible.
Harriet, who was about to say something to Anschel, closed his mouth at the sound. It was his work phone ringing, not his personal one. It was probably a call from headquarters. Anschel cursed quietly and excused himself to Harriet.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
He turned his back and answered the phone. It was a stupid call asking him to arrange accommodation for a useless supervisor arriving tomorrow. Anschel halfheartedly answered the nutritionless questions a few times, then turned his head.
“…Huh?”
Harriet was gone. Where did this guy go? Even with his bad leg, he had disappeared so quickly that not even his back was visible.
In the end, Anschel returned to the base alone. Ender McGuire, lying on the office sofa, was nearly at death’s door. He had a very ominous piece of cloth covering his face and was inhaling deeply.
That cloth, it looks familiar from somewhere…
But Anschel tried his absolute best to pretend he didn’t know.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
