MRG Chapter 20: First Love

Translator: Kii

Editor: yuki_shuichi

The first thing Mu Chen did after getting up was go to the bathroom to take a cold shower, and then hop into the indoor pond next door.

The huge pond constructed six years ago was now already somewhat small for him. The merman’s long and beautiful tail was now more than two meters long,

Kole had repeatedly asked if it would be possible to make a few life-size sculptures or waterproof wax figures of Mu Chen and put them in the museum’s pool exhibition hall. It would be unfortunate if such a beautiful creation couldn’t be admired by people all over the world.

But of course, this proposal was flatly turned down by Mu Chen and Light. Imagining a bunch of himself being placed in the museum, there was a hint of horror in the weirdness.

Mu Chen didn’t stay in the water for too long. He swam straight to the sea area closest to the palace, solving his breakfast problem while he was at it.

After he had his fill, the merman’s pale and long fingers wiped clean the remaining blood on his lips. There was a deep light in his eyes, which made it impossible to link him with the boy with two sweet dimples when he smiled.

After staying in that part of the water for a while, Mu Chen returned to his room to shower.

……

In the hidden underground boxing ring located on the edge of the capital, the corridors were filled with all kinds of things that have been jostled or forgotten—including jackets, VR headset, and even prosthetic parts. On the ring were dried-up mottled bloodstains, which was enough to indicate yesterday’s fight was an intense one.

The shirtless muscular man controlled the robot to spray water on the ring, cleaning up the mess on the floor.

There was a terrifying scar running through his left eye, with a grayish-white spherical glass in the sunken eye socket.

At this moment, a light noise came from the entrance, and Glass turned his mechanical eye in that direction.

A slender man wearing a gray hoodie was leaning against the door frame, an area of his skin exposed under the brim of his hat was so pale that it didn’t look like that of a normal person.

Glass recognized that it was Mu Chen, as the only person who would dress up in such an unseemly manner was only him.

He dropped the controller in his hands and walked over with a smile. “Your Highness, it isn’t like you to come so early.”

Mu Chen unzipped his hoodie, revealing a tight-fitted black T-shirt underneath, which highlighted his strong and smooth muscle lines, broad shoulders, and slim waist. His dazzling, silver long hair was tied into a high ponytail. “Glass, saying so much nonsense isn’t like you either.”

Glass grinned a little as he raised his chin to point at the cleared arena right in the center, gesturing for him to go up.

The contrast between Mu Chen’s deceptive face to his true character was so stark that Glass was caught off guard every time.

When the merman was still little, he had done live broadcasts in the palace for a long period of time. At the time, Glass was still a mercenary on a remote planet, and due to curiosity, he and his comrade at the time also watched it.

His impression of the little merman was that he was a cute little kid, a pretty house pet being raised in the palace. It was no wonder the eldest prince, who had always been serious and indifferent, would unprecedentedly accept this engagement.

Many years later, a youth who always wore a hoodie came to this underground arena. He had an incredibly beautiful face, and he obviously was just attacking randomly, but he only used his fist to defeat many opponents. Moreover, he always carried a perpetual hostility that had nowhere to vent. He seemed like he came just to pass the time.

It wasn’t until Mu Chen had been hanging out in the underground boxing ring for a long time that Glass realized his true identity. At the time, he was so scared that he nearly kicked Mu Chen out, fearing that the Oz royal family would send people to blow up his shabby place.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t connect the violent youth in front of him who punched people to the ground with one punch to the baby merman who was constantly smiling while holding a puppy on livestream.

This merman, cute? He should be faking it, right?

In these two years, Glass taught Mu Chen a lot of wrestling techniques.

There was no other reason than that he saw a rare gift within the other party, along with an indescribable resilience. It was like Mu Chen wasn’t a pampered young prince of the palace, but rather a beast emerging from some untamed wilderness.

At this moment, in the ring, the two people have been fighting back and forth for several rounds.

Mu Chen was fighting fiercely today; his every attack was hitting at his opponent’s vital parts, like a cold-blooded animal eager to hunt.

Glass was like a languid big cat, steadily blocking the opponent’s every attack, then found a gap in Mu Chen’s attack and threw a punch in his face. The force of his fist turned into a strong wind, punching the opponent’s cheek mercilessly.

Reflected in Mu Chen’s pupils was the sandbag-like fist. The adrenaline in his body began to rise rapidly, which was a signal that danger was approaching.

In the nick of time, he pivoted on his toes, and Glass’s fist brushed past the hair on his temple. Beads of sweat as large as beans dripped from Mu Chen’s sharply defined jawline onto the ground, spreading like a drop of ink. After dodging the blow, he slowly began to regain his rhythm.

Although Mu Chen seemed to be on the offensive, his slightly rapid breathing showed that he wasn’t relaxed at all right now.

Glass didn’t forget to remind the other party in between blocks, “You seem to be in a rush today, desperate to win. However, the more you act this way, the more flaws you will expose to your opponent.”

Mu Chen reached out his hand to casually rub off the sweat on his cheeks. He didn’t directly respond to the other party, rather, suddenly said, “What do you think…”

“If I enroll in the military school?”

Glass froze for a moment. “I’m afraid the Crown Prince won’t allow it.”

Everyone knew that Light treasured this little merman very much; almost every year, he would give Mu Chen various things that poor people like them couldn’t even dream of. He heard that on Mu Chen’s birthday last year, Light directly gifted him a manor.

It was the largest estate on the outskirts of the capital, even the duke didn’t have such treatment.

Mu Chen smiled as if he didn’t understand. “Why wouldn’t he?”

Glass wasn’t a regular employee—every hideous scar on his body was inflicted from when he was a mercenary.

At the moment, he sized up the youth in front of him whose skin was so fair that no flaws could be seen and was as beautiful as jade. His gaze was like an adult looking at a child making a scene for toys. “Your Highness, the frontline isn’t like the fighting arena, and no one on the battlefield will even explain to you the rules.”

The winner lives, while the loser dies.

Is that right?

Mu Chen’s pupils darkened.

That kind of contemptuous look made him feel uncomfortable, which implied “You don’t understand, you just need to be protected…” Sometimes Light would touch his head and look at him like this.

But Gege wasn’t like others—Gege was Gege, whatever Gege did was right.

The moment Glass finished speaking, he felt the expression of the person in front of him suddenly change. The other party’s long and narrow eyes flashed a dark light, and the surroundings were like frost, as if a chill was rising from behind, intimidating people to the point they couldn’t move.

In the brief moment of shock, Mu Chen threw another punch at him, the speed was a long faster compared to before. Glass hastily extended his muscular arm to block it, but the punch didn’t land as he expected.

There was a loud bang sound.

Glass glanced back in surprise, only to see Mu Chen’s fist smashing into the wooden stake behind him. A pit sunk in where his metacarpal bone rested, and wood chips fell to the ground and broke from it.

He looked at the youth in front of him whose expression had not changed one bit, frowning slightly…

Sometimes, he felt the other party had a kind of madness where he didn’t care about his own life.

The fight between the two of them ended.

Mu Chen sat at the edge of the arena, using his teeth to bite off the tape protecting his palm. The area from the metacarpal bone to the wrist bone on the back of his right palm was red and swollen, which was particularly eye-catching against his fair skin.

“Your Highness, if you act recklessly like this, it’ll stress me out. “ Glass knitted his brows upon seeing this.

This little temple of his couldn’t accommodate a huge Buddha like Mu Chen.

After Mu Chen finished spraying medicine, he tossed it back to Glass, and a light sneer came out of his lips. “I won’t let him know.”

He pursed his lips…

Afterall, if Gege knew what kind of person he was, he might end up getting frightened.

……

Eleven in the afternoon.

When Mu Chen returned to the palace, Lance was eating breakfast. His fluffy blonde hair scattered across his forehead, and from his constant yawning, he obviously just woke up.

He sat beside Lance. Mu Chen had just taken a shower, and his silver hair was pushed back, making him look a bit less immature than his usual getup.

“Morning.”

Lance sleepily yawned.

“It’s already afternoon.” Mu Chen poured himself a bowl of cereal after sitting, then grabbed two slices of bread. He had just worked up a sweat from boxing earlier and was now hungry.

Lance caught a glimpse of Mu Chen’s indifferent expression and the bruised back of his hand, guessing that the other person had gotten up really early.

He didn’t get it—why wake up so early at such a young age?

Mu Chen used his left hand to smear hazelnut spread on his bread, yet discovered that the other party was repeatedly casting glances at him. He took a bite of the bread and raised a brow in confusion.

Lance pursed his lips thoughtfully and showed an expression of “you must be hiding something from me.” “Are you worried about something?”

Mu Chen shook his head in silence, turning back.

He did, but he wasn’t planning on spilling it.

“Light isn’t here, and I could be considered as a half-brother…” Lance put his arm around his shoulder, clearly not convinced by Mu Chen’s response just now. “Come, tell me what’s the matter.”

Mu Chen, “…”

In some aspects, Lance couldn’t be said to be exactly the same as Light; rather, they were completely unrelated.

Lance nudged his arm, nearly knocking over the glass bottle of milk on the table while doing so.

Mu Chen held the bottle a little nervously.

Seeing his reaction, Lance felt something was wrong. “What is it?”

Judging from his attitude, if he doesn’t get to the bottom of this, he won’t let this matter slide.

Mu Chen swallowed the bread he was eating and used a napkin to wipe his mouth. He looked around first before lowering his head and leaned into Lance’s ear to tell him.

“…”

After a brief silence, a burst of laughter broke out in the room.

“Hahahaha, that’s it?”

Lance laughed so hard his shoulders began to shake, and it looked like it won’t stop anytime soon.

Mu Chen’s expression turned gloomy. He saw that Lance didn’t seem to be able to talk at the moment, so he wanted to get up and walk out, but the other party’s hand was holding him in place.

“Hold up…”

“What’s the big deal?”

Lance adjusted his expression, but he still couldn’t control the twitching of his mouth. “Um…I didn’t mean to laugh at you, it’s just that the school has taught you this already. Do you need to make such a big deal out of this?”

“I know, it’s just…” Mu Chen hesitated to speak.

Lance recalled the other party’s unusual behavior of leaving early last night and suddenly came to a realization. “It couldn’t be that…you had a romantic encounter last night?”

“With who? Hurry and tell me.”

Mu Chen, “I didn’t.”

Lance smiled as he wiggled his index finger. “Look, you’re not being honest again.”

Mu Chen, “…”

Lance continued to advise him, “Having someone you like isn’t a bad thing. At your age, it’s perfectly normal to experience falling in love. It’ll be bad for you if you keep it bottled up.”

Mu Chen eyelids twitched. “…”

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Is that liking someone? …My heart beats fast, then I have a strange reaction… It’s not because I drank too much?”

Lance reached a hand out to cover his own eyes, looking like he wanted to shout “help me.” How is there such a purehearted merman hahahahaha!

But considering how Mu Chen was brought up by Light, it wasn’t all that strange.

Now he had to try his best to make up for Light’s lack of education in certain aspect.

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Lance looked at Mu Chen. “It’s not because you drank too much, nor is there something wrong with you—this kind of emotion is very normal, otherwise, why do you think people look for partners?”

“Once you reach a certain age, you’ll experience a certain kind of feeling in your heart, and the relationship between lovers is even more special and intimate. How should I put it… For example, a lover and a brother is different. Look at how good your relationship is with Light, but it’s different when you’re in front of your crush. In front of your gege, you definitety don’t have that kind of feeling, right? Think carefully about the difference…”

“Understand?”

Mu Chen lowered his eyes and pondered over his words. After a brief while, he pursed his lips. “I understand.”

Lance immediately dropped the serious tone, adopting a gossipy expression. “Can you tell who it is now?”

If he could find out about Mu Chen’s crush before Light does, he could brag about it in front of him for a year.

“No.”

Mu Chen tossed the napkin on the table, stood up and looked down at the other party, exposing a crafty smile. “I’m leaving, take your time and enjoy your meal.”

Lance, “…”

What’s with this feeling of being toyed with?