03:
He tried desperately not to fall into the sea, but the brief moment wasn’t long enough for him to regain his footing.
“Ah, damn it.”
Talk about terrible luck—falling into the ocean on his birthday, of all days. With a short curse, Theodore tightly shut his eyes.
He thought he caught a glimpse of Ayla slipping into the sea as well.
Splash.
The moment he was submerged in the frigid seawater, water rushed into his nose and ears.
This was bad—really bad. Just when he started to panic—
Theodore’s eyes widened as he spotted Ayla, who had fallen in with him.
Where there had once been straight legs, a shimmering tail now swayed in the water. Sharp fins rose above her rounded ears, and multicolored scales were etched like ornaments across her snow-white skin.
Her sky-blue hair rippled like waves—it was unmistakably Ayla, but she looked nothing like the girl he had seen on the boat.
Only then did Theodore realize it.
Why Ayla had avoided getting wet, and why she was called a monster.
It was because the girl before him wasn’t human.
Bloop.
With the breath he had been desperately holding now escaping, an unspoken voice slipped from Theodore’s lips.
“…A mermaid?”
[“D-Don’t be scared! I swear, I won’t hurt you!”]
Could mermaids speak underwater?
Her mouth seemed to move like a fish’s, yet strangely, Ayla’s voice came through loud and clear. Based on what she said, it seemed there was some misunderstanding.
But Theodore wasn’t afraid. He was just startled.
Startled because Ayla looked nothing like the mermaids he had imagined.
Skin that turned coarse and rocky on contact with water, beastlike golden eyes that slashed like knives—
They were said to be violent enough to devour humans, and some even believed their powers bordered on dark magic, with unique abilities engraved into each mermaid’s soul.
Long ago, they had once been revered as a mysterious race capable of reading the future, but that was just a glory of the past.
Just as their appearance had changed over time, so too had society’s perception of mermaids.
Nowadays, mermaids were considered ominous monsters—nothing more, nothing less.
Given such a reputation, mermaids had become increasingly reclusive. It was only natural that they locked themselves away in Melshed, the underwater kingdom often called the City of Water, and rarely ventured out.
Of course, there were still a very small number who secretly lived among humans.
Still, from her looks to her personality, Ayla was unlike any mermaid Theodore had ever heard of.
‘I can’t breathe.’
His thoughts were cut short as Theodore struggled to stay conscious.
In the meantime, Ayla carefully swam over and wrapped her arms around him in a protective embrace.
Then, with a gentle flick of her tail, they began to rise steadily through the water, gliding smoothly against the waves.
[“Just hold on a little longer!”]
Just as he reached his limit, cold raindrops struck his face. Thanks to Ayla, he finally broke through the surface and was able to lift his head above the water.
“Pwah!”
Theodore gasped, lungs expanding as he took in a desperate breath of air.
As his chest heaved and he sucked in as much oxygen as possible, a fit of dry coughing erupted.
His eyes stung from the seawater, and as he squinted, he caught sight of a ship not far off.
“The prince—the Second Prince has fallen into the sea!”
He couldn’t make out exactly what they were shouting through the sound of the rain and crashing waves, but the way the torches waved wildly told him the soldiers had definitely noticed his fall.
He thought about calling out, just to alert them to his location—but then bit his lower lip.
Ayla’s reluctance to reveal her identity still lingered in his mind.
While he hesitated, the ship quickly drifted farther away, making shouting pointless anyway.
“Kuhak.”
At last, with Ayla’s help, Theodore reached the shore and fell to the ground, coughing violently.
He threw up the seawater he had swallowed again and again, until he finally began to calm down.
Only then did he glance back toward the ocean.
Naturally, he expected Ayla to still be there.
“…Huh?”
To his surprise, there wasn’t a trace of movement in the raging waves of the sea. Not even the sound of soft breathing could be heard.
The only sounds around him were the steady patter of rain and the crashing of waves.
“…Did I dream it?”
To be fair, what he’d seen moments ago had been difficult to believe.
A mermaid with snow-white skin and eyes as clear as the sky? He had never heard of such a thing, let alone seen one.
Theodore wiped his face with a rough hand still covered in sand. Then, a sharp sting made his shoulder twitch.
“A bracelet…?”
The small scratch on his cheek had been caused by a bracelet made of woven seashells, caught on the sleeve of his shirt.
It was the very same bracelet worn by the mermaid who had introduced herself as Ayla.
Only then did Theodore truly realize it hadn’t been a dream.
He let out a breathy laugh.
“So my brother was right. There really is a mermaid in this village.”
Just an hour ago, he’d felt like he was going to die of boredom in this remote corner of nowhere.
But now… he had a feeling that maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad after all.
* * *
“Theo, are you seriously not going to tell me how you got to the beach?”
“I told you—I swam there.”
Sprawled out lazily in a plush armchair, Theodore yawned in boredom.
It was already the tenth—maybe even the fifteenth—time Hayden had pestered him about the incident that happened on the day of the banquet.
On that stormy day, not long after Ayla had disappeared without a word, soldiers had found Theodore on the beach.
When Hayden heard the news and rushed over, he’d burst into tears on the spot—then immediately scolded Theodore for being so reckless.
Even now, just remembering the lecture made Theodore’s ears ache.
“You swam? Through those waves? Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Why’d you go somewhere so dangerous in the first place?”
Hayden still looked suspicious, his eyes narrowed.
He was just about to press again when his gaze lifted slightly—drawn to the shell bracelet dangling from Theodore’s hand.
“What’s that? I’ve never seen it before.”
“I found it. Oh, right—Hyung, remember that mermaid you told me about? The one said to live in this village.”
“Mermaid?”
Hayden’s eyes, so much like Theodore’s, shifted up and to the right.
“Yeah, that’s the one. Why do you ask all of a sudden? You’re not usually interested in that kind of thing.”
“It’s not that I’m particularly curious…”
Theodore’s eye slanted slightly with an awkward look—something he often did without realizing when flustered.
“People say mermaids look creepy, right? But… what if they don’t?”
He fidgeted with the bracelet in his hand.
Honestly, the mermaid form hadn’t been creepy at all. If anything, it had felt mystical. Especially the way her fins shimmered—it had been so beautiful, it was hard to look away.
“It’s not impossible, I suppose. Records say the first Mermaid King—who could see the future—was incredibly beautiful.”
“Really?”
“Hm?”
Hayden chuckled through his nose at the way Theodore perked up and leaned in, clearly intrigued.
Whatever it was, it was obvious that something had shifted in his little brother’s heart.
“If you want to see a mermaid, why not head out to the plaza? Might help clear your head too. You’ve been cooped up in your room ever since the banquet.”
As it happened, Hayden had just seen Lord Evans’s son heading out, claiming he was going to hunt down a mermaid, so he shared the news with Theodore.
To be honest, he hadn’t expected much. He figured Theodore would just brush it off again, saying it was too much trouble.
“Where in the plaza?”
“Uh… well, that I’m not exactly sure about.”
When Theodore stood up from his chair without protest, Hayden stumbled over his words in surprise.
Unbothered, Theodore casually slipped on his outer coat.
“You’re really going?”
“Didn’t you just tell me to get out for once?”
“Wait, wait. At least take Derrick with you. What if something happens again?”
Hayden quickly blocked his brother’s path and called over a knight.
Derrick, despite his huge build, had a calm, potato-like appearance that didn’t match his size.
Pinned to his broad chest was a badge—emblazoned with a black lion, the symbol of the royal household. Specifically, the Second Prince’s palace.
