From outside the walls of the Palace of Pearls, bystanders and meddlers stole glances and peaks whenever they could during Princess Eirin's brief stay.
“These two seem to be getting along…”
“Indeed, that’s quite surprising.”
After only two days she returned to the Palace of Corals, alongside her uncle and cousins.
Prince Seikan, however, stayed at Pearls.
“Ah, I wonder what this will mean for Pearls. You know, considering how different things are compared to…that place.”
“Certainly, a prince from Cobalts can adjust just fine at Pearls. It’s not like he is from Fossils, or Radiances, no?”
“Is their diet the same, you think?”
And during those two days, merfolk across Pearls kept remarking and talking about how close the prince and princess were getting, and how their engagement was likely to be successful.
Which was all quite wrong.
During her stay, there were two reasons why Seikan and Eirin had talked and stayed so close together.
The first was to keep the appearances. The second, to elaborate a plan to break off their engagement. And Prince Seikan was incredibly candid with the Princess of Pearls regarding his wishes and how she could trust him.
He only left the detail about him wanting to marry her mother.
Minor details apart—
For the first time since her mother had broken the news to her, Eirin felt light. As if the heavy chains locked around her tail had finally been set free, leaving the young mermaid to swim to wherever she wanted, however she pleased.
However, Eirin was facing a new complication.
I can’t believe I didn’t specify a date for us to meet…!
The day Kei came to get her, Eirin was so distressed she barely managed to relay a few sentences to the man before rushing to Corals to face her mother. And after asking around, no creature had seen his boat since that day.
I know I told him to sail elsewhere, but why did he stop coming altogether?! It’s not possible he started sailing in another region, is it?
Biting her nail, the princess swam around her ‘treasure cave’ at a nervous pace.
“Are you telling me you’re
still obsessed with that sailor?” Risei spoke with a tired voice.
The squid was happy to see the princess and the prince get along. He also ate like a real king, enjoyed some live music, and put both his body and mind at ease. A feeling that, upon Eirin’s return to Corals, soon came to pass.
Her reply came like the snap of a whip. “I don’t have that shiny thing of his yet, do I?”
Risei sighed, his body melting into one of the rocks.
“But now that you know your future husband is a good catch, shouldn’t you stop aiming for sailors’ worthless trinkets?”
Of course, since Eirin knew that the prince was also going to help her to make sure their marriage never came to be, she was extremely happy.
That said, she still had her pride.
“And throw away all the days and weeks I wasted away trying to find a way to communicate with him? Hah!” The princess let out a frustrated sigh, yet her heart kept racing.
Sure, she could keep asking and waiting like she had done before, but how long until they would meet again? Even after returning to Corals, the memory of that man’s laughter continued to haunt her and make her heart race, her face flush, her fins itch.
Eirin didn’t want to prolong their interaction more than she had to.
She wanted to get her hands on the shiny thing and finally cut ties with the human. Go back to her life, with a perfect record of treasures "given".
Yet how was she going to meet the man, if she knew nothing about him apart from how his stupid boat looked like?
“If you are so desperate to meet the sailor, instead of waiting for him, you should just go and meet him on land!” Risei burst out laughing, hitting his tentacles on the rock as he surprised himself with the ridiculous, absurd idea.
Princess Eirin stopped swimming.
“…what did you say?”
Slightly unsettled by the princess’ tone, the squid’s laughter crackled and disappeared as he recomposed himself. “Forgive me, it was a mere jest. I meant no real—”
In one sudden movement, Risei was grabbed. Yet the real shock did not come from the act, much less from the strength with which Eirin was holding him. No, no.
It came from the fact that the mermaid was not even remotely mad.
“Risei…I could kiss you right now.”
She was smiling from ear to ear, her eyes twinkling.
Dread and fright pierced the squid’s body and soul like frozen nails.
“Please don’t,” he said, both for the kissing and the thing he knew she was going to ask next.
Eirin ignored the plea, her grin getting wider and brighter.
“Say, you still know where the Witch lives?”
And in that moment, the squid knew…
He screwed up.
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆉 𓆝 𓆡⋆.˚ 𓇼
“I can’t believe you are making me do this.”
“Hey, you are the one who gave the suggestion—”
“It was a joke—
a joke! Don’t you realize how amazingly stupid and irresponsible this is?!”
Sure enough, Risei could simply refute the insane princess’ wish and report to her uncle. Or even better, to the Queen of Pearls herself. Then, even if Eirin found out the Witch’s lair, there was no way her family would let her go through with the ridiculous plan.
That was, if Eirin hadn’t threatened him in the vilest of ways.
“If you ever tattle to my family, well… I suppose I will be so heartbroken, I might do some crazy things to fill the deep void inside of me. Say, for example, finally accepting Tama’s proposal of joining the group.”
Risei’s soul left his body.
“And since I would be so heartbroken, seeing no more meaning to life… I suppose I wouldn’t be able to really
dedicate myself to music like I’m used to.”
“N-no, wait…”
“And perhaps I would do fine during practice, but at a very important concert, I simply wouldn’t find it in me to do a good job. And maybe—just maybe—the Daughters of the Seven Waves of Love
would receive some hate instead.”
Risei trembled, tears running down his face. “You wouldn’t dare to do that with Tama-chan…”
And the menace in Eirin’s gaze was just as merciless as her voice. “Try me.”
The squid was an old friend of Eirin’s parents. He was also an esteemed friend of the Corals’ royal family. However, he would be found dead and drained in the abyss of damnation itself before he allowed that deranged princess to harm the Daughters of the Seven Seas of Love’s reputation they worked so hard to get.
Fine, sure. You want to submit yourself to dry land? Be my guest. Wish to forsake your full-functioning tail for a pair of measly legs? Be my guest. Yet don’t dare come back to me crying when you get traumatized by those barbaric land creatures.
“…we are here.”
Eirin paid little to no mind to Risei’s annoyed and frustrated tone, blinking a few times before she dared to ask.
“You said she was your cousin?”
“Eighth cousin, on my mother’s side.” The squid saw the mermaid’s expression, a faint smugness blooming on his face. “Why, don’t tell me you are already having second thoughts?”
Eirin’s face flushed as she snapped.
“Of course not! I just thought it was an…odd place. That’s all.”
“It’s the 'great' Undisonus Sea Witch’s lair. What were you even expecting? A brightened cave in the middle of a coral reef?”
The princess bit her lips, her eyes going back to the entrance on the ground.
It was a great crevice indeed, yet what made her tail twitch and her body freeze was its size. Narrow in passage, yet grand in presence—an ominous green light escaping from its depths. Not only that, but Eirin could hear. The crackling noises and whispers escaping from the big opening.
The Princess of Pearls clenched her fists, taking a deep breath.
Think about the shiny trinket.
Your final grand conquest.
“This cousin of yours better be worth it,” she said, making her way into the crevice.
Risei let out a dry chuckle, following right behind.
“Oh, don’t worry. She’s the
best.” ⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖
Meanwhile, in a drier and brighter place, Kojin Okihiro continued with his lessons at Tomi-san’s. Memorizing the merfolk writing and trying to read Tomi Seina's lips. Progressing more each day.
…I hope we can see each other soon…
Slow yet steady.
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