Chapter 47: The Merman

Eighteen hours later.

The animal trainer went back before the Duke. That rough as a rock face had always had little changes in expression, but now, under his indifferent and numb look, there was a trace of imperceptible frustration.

The thorn whip tied to the back of his hand was soaked in water and it tightly cut into the flesh.

The trainer lowered his head and said ashamed:

“Grand Duke, I’m very sorry, I couldn’t get this mermaid to sing…”

“What?” Grand Duke Willis turned his head back in disbelief: “Not even you could do it? What did you do?”

The trainer’s head drooped even lower: “I obeyed the master’s instructions and didn’t use any harsh training methods on him. I mainly used electric shocks that do not leave skin trauma.”

“That’s good, after all, it’d be a pity if blemishes were left on such a good skin.” After Grand Duke Willis breathed a sigh of relief he started worrying again:” but I’ve been showing off to Count Este for a long time that I’ve bought the best mermaid. Although he does look good, if he can’t sing, what value does he have!”

The trainer raised his head: “Then please allow me to use some more extreme methods… “

Grand Duke Willis interrupted him impatiently:

“No! The banquet is in two days’ time, I can’t show up with a scarred merman, right? That’d be too ugly!”

The trainer hesitated for a few seconds, finally made up his mind and said:

“Actually, just now I have adjusted the electric shocks to the maximum voltage that a mermaid can withstand. To be honest, no mermaid on my hand could withstand this kind of pain before, but this one was actually silent from beginning to the end….it’s really strange.”

Grand Duke Willis raised his brows, his face gloomy:

“Do you suspect he’s mute?”

The trainer didn’t dare to answer directly, and lowered his head deeper.

The face of Grand Duke Willis was like a heavy cloud before the storm. He angrily swept all the exquisite and expensive tea utensils on the table to the ground, they shattered on the carpet, hot tea gushed out, instantly wetting the gorgeous luxurious carpet woven from golden wool.

That merchant, daring to fool him with a mute mermaid who can’t speak? He wants to die!

This was simply a great humiliation!

He raised his head with a sullen face and whispered a few words to the attendants beside him. A group of heavily armed private troops left the grand duke’s mansion in a few minutes.

The Grand Duke exhaled with relief, sat down, and took a sip of the tea offered by the attendant again.

Although catching that merchant could let him vent his anger, it didn’t solve the imminent problem.

The invitations to the banquet have been handed out three days earlier, and there was no way to cancel it — he really didn’t want to see the arrogant face of the Earl Este, they actually dared to laugh at the quality of his collection… He couldn’t let them continue to be proud.

The incredible face of the mermaid flashed through his mind.

Grand Duke Wesley pondered for a moment, and suddenly something realized something — what if he can’t sing? Such a face was really rare, it could be called one of the best. The mermaids in the mansion of Earl Esther and Viscount Joyce couldn’t compare to this one. At most, he wouldn’t be able to perform on the banquet. This face alone was enough to make people feel greedy.

Grand Duke felt an itch in his heart.

He stood up and walked towards his private reservoir.

The temperature here was several degrees lower than outside, and the cool, cold wind entrained in water vapour was blowing. The huge ornamental pool was like a sapphire with rounded edges inlaid on the ground, and the walls reflected the sparkling blue water, one could almost smell the slightly salty taste of the sea.

The Grand Duke walked in slowly, and the surface of the water gradually came into his field of vision.

He saw a hand plastered on the special glass covering the top of the pool. That hand was really beautiful, with with well-proportioned flesh, slender fingers, slim wrist bones, and a fragile and delicate beauty. The wet skin seemed to be so white it was glowing, showing a jade-like texture under the light.

The other party seemed to hear the approaching footsteps, and with a splash of water the hand disappeared instantly, leaving only half of the dissipated palm print on the glass.

The Grand Duke hurried over, but when he came to the pool, the mermaid had already fled to the far way end of the fishtank.

With his back to the Grand Duke, his curled fishtail was hidden behind the rough man-made rock, like a winding ribbon, floating gently in the water.

The long blue-purple hair swayed as if it had his own life, and fell softly on his waist, covering most of his spine. Only the white and soft curves of his shoulders and the slender waistline could be seen.

The merman’s head was slightly to the side, and the curve of his lower jaw and the lines of the profile were looming between the soft hair, and there was a feeling of indescribable sadness and loneliness.

The Grand Duke looked at him fascinated unconsciously, his greedy sight swept across such a beautiful creation in amazement, and he had walked closer to the pool without realising it, his voice was a bit hoarse as he tried to coax as softly as possible: “Don’t be afraid… come here.”

The merman seemed to be frightened, his blue-purple eyes turned back hurriedly, and then he panicked and shrank back behind the rock again.

The Grand Duke patiently persuaded, and his voice was even more gentle: “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you…”

He showed his empty hands to the other party: “Look, I don’t have anything in my hands.”

The mermaid did not seemed to be less alert than before. He turned his head slightly, half of a god-given face was revealed, and his eyes were half curious and half timid as they swept across the humans on the shore.

Although it wasn’t the first time he saw him, the Grand Duke was still stunned for two seconds by this dazzling face.

Compared with the previous state of being unconscious under the effect of the drugs, this merman’s beauty had almost double the lethality when he was awake — under the deep eyebrows, were the blue eyes that were so deep they were almost almost purple, like a magnificent ocean under the afterglow of the setting sun. Especially when he looked over with that innocent look, there was almost no existence in this world that could resist this deadly beauty.

Truly so beautiful…

This was the Grand Duke was so dazzled.

The mermaid swam slowly, his long hair spread out in waves behind him, his white chest and lower abdomen were contracting rhythmically with the swings of the fishtail, the beautiful lines of muscles were faintly visible under the skin, and the face was magnified in his line of sight. There was a sense of dizziness as if looking directly at the sun, as if human’s senses couldn’t bear the weight of such beauty.

The Grand Duke stared up at the merman approaching him. He put his palm on the cold surface of the glass, and his upper body unknowingly approached gradually .

The merman’s gaze suddenly moved and fell on his palm pressed against the glass.

He looked at the man’s palm prints curiously, and then tentatively stretched out his white and slender palm and pressed his palms on it.

In the next second, the mermaid seemed to have been scalded, and once again retreated into the water.

The Grand Duke felt as if a hot flame ignited his palm, making his whole body hot. Although there was no real touch through the glass, the itchy feeling was if a hundreds of ants were crawling on his body.

Seeing the merman’s figure getting smaller in his sight, he shouted impatiently: “Wait! Don’t go!”

As bewitched by some kind of demonic magic, the Grand Duke felt that all his senses were occupied with the same impulse. He rushed without thinking directly to the button that controlled the glass cover on the shore, and quickly pressed it down.

The barrier between them finally disappeared.

The Grand Duke looked obsessively at the face that was gradually approaching him, his body leaned toward the pool, and he stretched out his hands almost greedily.

The soft white arms reached out of the water white like a moon, and the thin water surface gleamed under the light.

In the next second, the huge fishtail hidden under the water suddenly exerted its force, and with a sudden swing, the dripping body of the merman jumped out of the water with this force!

When he tore the opponent’s throat with his sharp, white teeth, the beautiful blue-purple eyes weren’t stained in the slightest.

With that innocent, almost childish look, he bit through the man’s throat fiercely.

The man’s body twitched in the icy embrace of the different race. Finally, the pale palm lost the strength to struggle and suddenly fell into the pool. The rust-coloured viscous blood blended in with the transparent pool water, and the thick bloody smell filled the air.

·

The banquet of Grand Duke Willis was cancelled.

His tragic death shocked the entire empire—because of the gentle and obedient nature of mermaids, as well as their unique beauty and rarity, they immediately became well-behaved pets kept by nobles after they were discovered. People have rarely heard of incidents where mermaid hurt people, and they have never seen such a violent and terrifying mermaid, who actually killed his master on the second day of being bought.

What’s more… It killed the Grand Duke Willis, who was very important among the nobles!

This incident had set off a huge wave in public opinion, and everyone was speculating about the future action taken after this incident and how the daring mermaid would be dealt with.

After the tragedy, a surveillance video of the night when Grand Duke Willis was killed began to circulate quietly among the upper class.

The dim light made the video slightly blurred and pixelated, and the dark blue swaying water waves on the wall and the ground filled the whole picture. From this angle, it was impossible to see the hidden scene under the clear water. Only the young duke seemed to be bewitched by something, he leaned slowly towards the surface of the pool, the buzzing sound of the special glass opening sounded in the background—

suddenly, water splashed violently from underwater, and the lens were filled with water droplets, the image suddenly blurred.

Through the thin water-like film, one could see two thin white lotus root-like arms hugging the Duke’s back intimately like a lover, and the long wet blue-purple hair entangled the human body like a slender cold snake. There was no screaming, no struggling, the bright coloured blood began to spread in the blurred lens, and quickly merged with the light blue water reflecting on the wall.

The water droplets on the lens slowly fell, and the line of sight became clear again.

The merman raised his eyes and looked in the direction of the surveillance. Those blue eyes that seemed to be ignorant of the world were so deep that they were purplish, but there was not the slightest bit of vicious killing intent in the depths of the pupils, only an innocent smile that overflowed on his lips, as if an innocent human child pulled off the wings of an insect, as if it crushed an ant to death,

“crack.”

The human throat bone broke in his mouth, and the twitching limbs instantly lost the strength to struggle, and fell softly.

The merman raised his head, dripping blood and water reflecting in the deep pupils. There was a cruel beauty that was almost primitive and brutal. The bright blood stained the lower half of his face, it dripped down following the sharp arc of jaw, winding down along the arc of the collarbone and the chest, and the tip of the pale pink tongue stuck out from the lips, sweeping gently across his bright lower lip, licking away a few drops of blood.

He released his hand and disappeared quietly under the water, without a warning, as if a dream disappeared like bubble.

What… a cruel and beautiful creature.

The slender fingers gently stroked the icy surface of the screen, slowly drawing on the fuzzy silhouette of the mermaid.

The tall man stared fixedly at the paused picture on the screen, dark undercurrent surging in his deep eyes, as if some strange possessiveness flowed inside.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked in a low voice: “Where is this merman now?”

“He’s being held in a water prison, Your*…”

The man coldly interrupted the attendant beside him who was about to continue speaking: “Take me to see.”

The attendant’s body bowed, his voice was fearful and respectful:

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

————————————————————————–

*informal you, but I made it ”your” from your majesty to emphasise on the fact it’s respectful

Ge Xiu: Hunting for humans is the same basics as hunting in the Abyss.

Ge Xiu: First…a bait.

Ge Xiu: Then sudden attack as the pray doesn’t suspect anything.

Bamboo has something to say:

Ge Xiu is so hot as he commits crimes and murders people…

ML: that’s my boy!