MRG Chapter 11: Pearl of the Oz Empire

Translator: Kii

Editor: EllieKit

Light stood up carrying Mu Chen. “I’m going to take him to get his wounds treated.”

The words were directed at Jorah, but his biting cold eyes looked straight at Kyle as if sending a message to him.

—Just you wait.

Kyle unnaturally reached up to loosen the collar that was grabbed just now, feeling a bit breathless.

He subconsciously looked at the merman leaning on Light’s shoulder.

The moment their eyes met, Mu Chen’s teary blue eyes flashed with panic, his long lashes trembled, and he tightened his arms around Light’s neck as if stressed.

Kyle, “…? %@#!?”

He still couldn’t catch his breath.

In the next second, he received a piercing gaze.

Mu Chen finally stopped his sobbing and was unmoving like a calm kitten.

He was held steady in Light’s arms as he walked past the crowd and headed straight to his own bedroom.

Light’s hug was warm yet strong, shielding him from everyone’s probing eyes. It seemed that because he had just come from the training grounds, the faint scent of cedarwood remained on Light’s neck.

Mu Chen leaned into his broad shoulder. From an angle that nobody could see, his panic-stricken blue eyes from earlier were now abnormally calm. His fingertips clenched the other party’s collar.

So this was what it felt like to be shown unconditional love?

He really liked it…

Light entered the bedroom, using the back of his foot to close the door.

“Sorry…” He carefully placed Mu Chen on the soft bed, using his thumb to gently wipe away the tears on the merman’s cheek. His usually deep and indifferent eyes were tinged with a different kind of emotion.

“This kind of thing won’t happen again in the future.”

A merman who was born into a fallen royal family and lived in exile for several years had a sharp perception of others’ moods, and at this moment, Mu Chen could see “cherish” and “protect” from Light’s gaze.

The other man’s tone was flat and steady, yet it felt like he was making a solemn promise to him.

Mu Chen froze for a moment, then immediately wrapped his hands around Light’s waist, retreating into the other’s embrace like an animal lacking a sense of security.

Feeling the other party’s gentle caressing again and again, Mu Chen closed his eyes in contentment. A deeper longing for possession took root and sprouted in his heart…

Light was gentle and strong, and the most dazzling existence in the entire palace and even the empire.

Light liked him—liked him like a little brother, like a stray cat he found on a rainy day…

But he didn’t think this was enough.

He wanted this fondness to belong to him alone.

The first half of his life seemed like a shadow wandering through a muddy swamp and rocks, until one day, he crawled out from the cracks and found a cave that accepted him. It was spacious, warm, and full of light.

Thus, the shadow in the dark began to expand—he wanted to occupy the light.

……

“I’ll help you apply the medicine, it might hurt a bit.”

Light’s voice brought Mu Chen out of his scattered thoughts.

It was actually better for a maid to apply medicine—after all, Light doesn’t have any experience treating other people’s wounds, so he doesn’t know how much pressure to use.

But considering the little merman’s unstable emotion, Light took the initiative to grab the povidone-iodine for disinfection.

Hearing that medicine needed to be applied, Mu Chen immediately and obediently came out from Light’s arms, and spread his silver tail in front of him.

Although the merman’s azure blood possessed strong healing ability, the damaged scales couldn’t regrow at the moment. The originally lustrous fishtail now had several mottled and hideous gaps, and the dried blood had seeped into the pale skin.

It hurts just looking at it.

The cool medicine lightly pressed on the wound, and the tip of Mu Chen’s tail couldn’t help but tremble.

Light raised his gaze, his eyes met with the little merman’s red-rimmed eyes. It looked as if he was holding back his tears.

He became gentler in his movements. “If it hurts, you don’t have to hold back.” You can cry.

“En…”

Mu Chen nodded as he spoke in a nasally sound.

He didn’t even blink while his scales were being plucked off, but now he was so delicate that tears were falling from his eyes.

After Light helped the little merman apply the medicine, Mu Chen’s originally fair and straight nose tip was a bit red from crying, but he didn’t forget to say politely, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Mu Chen’s tail had just been applied with medicine, so he couldn’t lie down or curl up under his blanket. He could only sit on the bed and lean on Light’s shoulder, swinging his tail with a swoosh swoosh to try to make it dry faster.

The two of them didn’t speak, and the atmosphere was silent for a while before Light suddenly spoke up.

“I will pick a date to personally announce our engagement to the entire Oz Empire.”

He had always regarded Mu Chen as a little brother, so before this incident, Light had never publicly voiced his view on this engagement. He believed that as long as it provided Mu Chen with a reason to stay and also helped him block Jorah’s endless marriages, it was fine.

However, right now, he suddenly realized that the little merman needed an identity that would give him a foothold in the Oz Empire more than simply staying.

“En?” Mu Chen didn’t react for a moment, he just tilted his head up to look at Light.

Light stretched out his hand and rubbed the top of his head. “Everyone will know that you are my future spouse. This engagement will protect you until you’re old enough; no one will be able to bully you anymore.

Mu Chen’s pupils reflected the other man’s serious expression. “Then after I grow up…”

Light, “Once you’re of age, I will think of a way to cancel this engagement. So, you don’t need to worry, it will protect you, but it won’t shackle you down.”

“From today onwards, this is your home.”

When he heard the word ‘family’, Mu Chen’s pupils trembled. He asked, “Then can I…”

“Can I call you gege?”

Light smiled. “You can.”

……

On the other side, in Katherine’s chamber.

Kyle lifted the gauze and checked the wound on his cheek in front of the mirror. “Did you hear that? He told me not to go too far, what did he mean by this?”

“I’m his son. I was scratched by that fish, yet he told me not to go too far!”

Katherine held her forehead due to a headache. “Why would you make such a scene and invite a bunch of people to watch? No matter how much you hate that fish, couldn’t you deal with him in private?”

Kyle stroked his wound. “What are you talking about?”

Katherine, “It’s just us two here now, you don’t have to keep acting.”

Kyle clutched his hair in madness, raising his voice a few decibels, “What act?”

“It couldn’t be that you also think that his wounds were done by me?”

Katherine was silent for a moment, then looked at him with an “otherwise?” expression.

Kyle was so angry that he became incoherent, like a volcano about to erupt, “This morning I indeed…did enter his chamber, but I f*cking—I definitely didn’t touch that damn fish!”

“I told you, the moment I used the fish net on him, he cut open the net! He even f*cking cut my face.”

While speaking, he even knocked over a glass cup in his anger.

There was a loud crashing sound.

“If it’s like that…” Katherine lowered her eyes and looked at the glass shards all over the floor. “Then you really can’t mess with that fish.”

“…”

Kyle had a sullen look; his lips moved several times, but he didn’t say anything in the end.

Katherine watched a maid bend down to sweep the glass shards away. “You should stay out of the spotlight for a while and stop acting out. We should put off our original plans until the next palace banquet. I’m guessing…”

Kyle yelled angrily, “Why?!”

Katherine stood up from the soft chair and slowly walked up to Kyle. “Did you see the way Light treated that merman today? He thinks you hurt his merman, do you think he’ll let this matter go so easily?”

She really underestimated that fish.

……

On the largest live-streaming platform in Oz Empire.

[Ahhhhhhhh, the scenery clips have started playing. Does this mean they are going to start broadcasting again?]

[Wuuuuuu, where is the little merman? Why hasn’t he streamed for days?]

[I really miss the little merman so much, damn it! If he doesn’t show up, I’m going to go to the palace to steal the merman.]

[Above user, let’s go together, I’ll prepare the sack.]

Just as the comment barrage was getting increasingly heated up, the livestream screen flickered a few times, and a handsome man’s face showed up in the middle of the screen.

Light was wearing a neatly ironed white shirt and a solemn black military uniform that represented a high-ranking general of the Imperial Mecha Corps. A silver cord was fastened from the top button of the suit to his left shoulder.

A strand of blond hair fell on his tall, fair forehead, further highlighting the man’s noble and apathetic temperament.

[This is…the prince?]

[Save me, the prince is so handsome!]

[The prince actually came on camera, ahhhhh I’m dead!]

[Where’s the fish? Why didn’t Baby Chen appear too?]

The screen was quiet for a moment, then Light spoke in a steady voice.

“I want to announce something to everyone.”

The camera panned out, revealing Light sitting upright in the reception room of the palace. In the transparent display case in the middle of the coffee table was a dazzling crown. Its inverted triangular gold edge was adorned with lustrous pearls, and under the largest pearl in the center, hung a sapphire pendant as pure as the ocean.

“Mu Chen will be my future spouse and become a member of the Oz royal family…and this crown is my engagement gift for him.”

In the livestream, the barrage became crazy again.

[Ahhhhhhhh, an official announcement!!!]

[Little Pearl!!!! I’ve decided to call the little merman this from now on.]

[Wuwuwuwu, so pampered.]

[Is the prince declaring his sovereignty?]

Off-screen—

Mu Chen held Cutie while sitting on the soft velvet rug. He projected the livestream on the smart brain to the center of the bedroom.

“That day, you saw everything, right?”

At the time, Cutie stayed in his bedroom, which was separated from the indoor artificial lake by only a door, and the door was made of translucent glass.

“Woo…”

As if sensing some sort of dangerous aura, Cutie’s ears stiffened for a moment.

Mu Chen used his fingertip to scratch its chin. “It’s fine, though. It’s not like you can tell anyone.”

After Cutie made a terrified whimpering sound, it couldn’t help but let out a content purring noise.

Mu Chen’s gaze swept across every inch of the man’s handsome features on the screen. His eyes were curved, and he rested his chin on Cutie’s fluffy head, as if talking to the puppy, but also as if talking to himself.

“Only I can call him gege.”

“Nobody else can.”

……

After the end of the livestream.

All the major media outlets on the Blue Planet were reporting this major news story: The Crown Prince of the Oz Empire ordered a crown made of twenty-one blue and white pearls and sapphires as a gift for his future spouse, naming it the “Oz Pearl.”

From then on, the Blue Planet’s last merman gained a new nickname.

—Pearl of the Oz Empire.