Author's Notes
In the ocean...
A witness squid...
The mermaid decides...
Chapter 5 – Instinct
The young woman notices that he shows surprise on his face as his ice blue eyes look intently at her.
Then, after frowning, the merman replies, "You would die if you took the hit. I would only be hurt."
Even though she was surprised that his protective action was caused by a simple assessment and not for any of the reasons she imagined, the princess managed to keep control of the seals to help with the healing, even if it was slowly while confessing that she had never met anyone like him, even having seen hundreds of people.
After all, even being a monster, it made no difference when seeing her because the young woman believed that they were capable of feeling the same feelings as humans and to reach that conclusion, she took the court and all those she witnessed in the palace and surroundings as a basis.
He was stubborn, but he maintained his sincerity while holding on to his kindness.
Indeed, the jiaoren had a pure soul and the feeling she had of being unworthy of touching his skin as she judged it to be like touching one of the Gods or Buddha was deserved.
With those conclusions, he belonged in the ocean. The newt belonged to that environment. The world she came from was not worthy of it. The only worthy place was the immensity of the ocean.
"Thank you very much."
"You're welcome"
"Does the wound still hurt?"
"It hurts. But, it's getting better."
His frankness was surprising to her considering the falsehood, betrayal and deceit she witnessed or heard within the palace walls and beyond, whether from nobles, officials, servants or dignitary.
"I am really sorry. My healing magic isn't very good and it looks like this wound is hard to heal."
"Don't worry about it."
She was touched by the fact that he had seriously forgiven her as she looked into his face and such an act made her shed more tears. That demon was unique in everything.
Holding the healing matrix with only her left hand, the princess impulsively extends her right hand, taking it to the jiaoren's head by taking advantage of the fact that she was standing on a rock behind the merman and that she allowed herself to rise a little about him.
The prince curiously watches her hand fall to his head, and then begins to caress the strands, descending from the top along her silver hair, and then repeating the movement a few times, with her becoming fascinated to feel that the silver strands they were soft and silky to the touch. The jiaoren were indeed incredible and legendary demons, as well as beautiful.
As she caressed the silver strands, a gentle smile sprouted on her lips and even entertained in this task, the princess did not neglect the cure.
"What does it mean to caress someone's head?" The merman asks with visible curiosity on his face.
The young girl couldn't help but think how cute he looked in many moments like that moment and which was occasioned by an unexpected question, "Is this a special magic gesture that can make people who have been hurt feel better. It's like healing."
"Can humans heal with a touch?" The prince of the ocean asks with stupefaction on his face because he has not read or heard about this ability of humans.
It was startling to him, to say the least, making him question what else was kept secret about humans, even though he knew their knowledge was limited and that demons on earth must know better.
"But, I'm still not okay."
"You'll be fine, don't worry."
"It's a really long spell. I didn't know your race had that ability." He responds with surprise on his face.
The princess can't help but smile again. In addition to being handsome, he was cute. His innocence was adorable.
After some time, the wound is healed and promptly, the merman takes her by the shoulders and brings her forward, making her sit on the rock again, then taking his hand to her face, stroking her while the young woman felt pleasant tremors with the touch of jiaoren on her skin.
"Thanks. My back is now healed. The touch worked too. It took a while, but it worked."
She thought it was cuter for believing in her innocence until she remembered why he got hurt in the first place.
"I'm really sorry. It was my fault."
The merman is shocked and asks while arching his brow, "What do you mean, your fault? I was the one who brought it. I knew what could happen if my father found out."
"But..."
"No but..."
Then, she dries her tears with her arms and says when she sees him looking sadly behind him, "You must be sad. Is it true that you used your tail to beat your father?"
He sighs sadly, turning around and looking somewhere else.
"Yes. Tailing someone is an offensive act. It's worse than hitting with a fist. What I did was unacceptable. But, I don't know what came over me. When I saw that he was going to kill her, I blocked the I attacked and struck him out of fury, while my flight was out of desperation because I knew I couldn't face my father while he was carrying that cedar. A tail swipe is only acceptable and recognized as a consequence of a taunt if it is to protect a mate."
The crown prince answers honestly as he tries to understand why he acted that way.
After all, he adored his father and never thought, not even in his wildest dreams, that he would hit him using his tail because they only used their tail in their moments of rage and at that moment, as he recalled the events, he recalled that he was furious.
Furthermore, the sight of her dead terrified him in a way that disconcerted him even though the initial reason for blocking him was motivated to prevent the human female's death, with the prince not thinking further about it. Only now, he was reflecting on his actions, trying to understand his actions.
Chang Yi is surprised when he is embraced by the young woman and has his head resting on the girl's delicate shoulder, smelling the human female as the princess gently stroked him on the healed back.
He tensed at first, then relaxed into the gentle touch and comfort she offered and slowly embraced her, enjoying the feel of her body against his, as he began to become intoxicated with the unique scent of the Master of demons.
Instinctively, the merman lowers his head even further on the young woman's shoulder, making him appreciate the touch while he deeply inhaled the princess's scent, with them staying like that for some time while the prince did not realize that his eyes had darkened and that a faint instinct of possessiveness was beginning to emanate from him.
Next to the couple, a squid that was wearing camouflage, watched the scene attentively, not missing the darkening look of its prince, as well as everything they said and the actions between them. The interaction between them surprised her. The mermaid never imagined that a member of the shark clan that ruled the ocean would get involved with a human and would develop possessive feelings.
Then, she sees him bring his lips closer to the young woman's ear, making the squid's eyes widen, not believing what his prince was about to do because it was too surreal.
On the local, as if finally realizing that his instincts were wanting to take care of him at the same time that his inner white shark was stirring, Chang Yi awakens and pulls his lips away, being stunned to realize what he had wanted to do.
Then, the prince walks away, surprising the young woman who looks at him and noticing that his eyes were dark blue in color like the depths of the ocean, she feels a slight tremor arise in her, not knowing if it was fear or pleasure, making her wonder at her thoughts.
"What happened to your eyes? They got dark."
The princess watches him widening her eyes, and then closes them at the same time that she turns her back to her while the young woman noticed that the merman's tail seemed to be agitated, lightly hitting the water to the point of causing small ripples in the surroundings.
"Are you all right, big-tailed fish?"
After a few minutes, the jiaoren takes a deep breath and turns around, with the young woman noticing that his eyes have returned to their usual color.
Then, the demon master remembers what she called him and blushes as she speaks, "I'm sorry I called you a big-tailed fish. But, I don't know your name. What's your name?"
She noticed that he was watching her intently, as if pondering her question, causing her brows to arch, before answering, "Chang Yi. What's your name?"
"I'm called A-ji."
"Your name has a good sound and is interesting" He answers sincerely, making the girl smile.
Then, the Master of demons remembers his delay in answering and asks, "What took you so long to answer?"
"Because we only say our name to family members or people we consider close to us. That's why it took me a while to answer."
A-Ji confessed that she was surprised that they had this view about speaking the name to others.
Close to the place, the same squid from before had been relieved to see that the prince had regained control over her instincts, to later be surprised to see that he had spoken his name to her.
Sighing, the mermaid decides to walk away to find the king.
After all, from what I learned of other mermaids before coming to her favorite coral, the monarch was worried about his son and feared what could happen to him.
Initially, the rumor that he had tailed the father seemed surreal to her, but when she heard the prince confirming this when telling what happened, she was stunned at the same time that she began to understand what motivated his attitudes.
Furthermore, the mermaid confessed that she was surprised to see the human's gestures and also her act of helping with the healing while she petted him.
Like any jiaoren, the squid knew how liars and manipulators humans could be and that the Masters of demons inherited this ability because they were human too, with the difference that they had powers because of the occult pulse.
But as she watched the interaction between them, the demon couldn't see the human female as manipulative. Her actions and her speech sounded sincere. Her eyes showed it.
Deciding that it wasn't her place to think about it, she decides to walk away to warn the Emperor and when she sees another mermaid, an apparently young dolphin passing by, she is relieved.
The squid extends its tentacles and initially alarms the other demon by stopping it, causing it to begin struggling against its entrapment, before later speaking in a muddy, low voice, "I want to ask a favor on behalf of the Emperor."
The one that was stopped stops fighting and approaches after being released, confessing that she was relieved to discover that it was the same species as her and that therefore, there was no risk of becoming food, "What do you want?"
"Notify the emperor that the prince is at Anya's coral reef."
"Okay. I'll let you know."
In that, it leaves quickly from there, maintaining its true form while the squid sighed, again crawling silently to the place, using its camouflage to observe the couple.
There, the human asks, "Are you a prince?"
"Yes. I am the Crown Prince of the Ocean Tribes."
"Then, I must call you highness. I'm sorry for calling you big-tailed fish. It's just that I didn't know your name and your tail is big."
The prince sighs and remembers how he was in the palace or when he had to deal with a subject. He was always referred to as highness and treated respectfully. In the palace it was worse.
As he remembered the human's nickname, he decided that he appreciated it and for that reason, he says, "I prefer to be called a big-tailed fish. I like it. Everyone calls me your highness. It's tiring. That's why I don't stay in the palace."
"I understand... I mean, I imagine. I would hate to be in a place being treated with detachment too" She corrects herself because she knew how he felt.
After all, the princess also hated and found everyone's distance to be exhausting.
"Then, I'll call you by your nickname" The young woman smiles brightly at him, making him smile too.
"You said that you didn't belong to any place where demon masters were confined despite being a demon master and that those places have a concentration of demon masters. You also mentioned a poison."
In the distance, the mermaid gasped at the revelation because she didn't imagine he was talking to a Demon Master.
Of course, the merman could remove the magic that kept her from drowning and feel the pressure around her, making the human not a threat as long as they stayed in the ocean.
Even so, it was dangerous and when she remembered how the prince was involved, reaching the point of instincts towards the young woman, she felt her blood run cold.
In her view, this relationship was very dangerous and the demon starts to fear for the prince while she prayed to the God of the Abyss so that the mermaid of the dolphin clan could find the king.
A-Ji sighs, then speaks, "A hundred years ago, a powerful demon dubbed the Jade Phoenix or immortal Luan, whose real name was Qing Yu, appeared. According to what we studied, she was disturbing the peace of the world. So, , Wuchang Shengzhe, Ning Ruochu, a powerful demon master, lured the phoenix to the demon valley and with nine other powerful and world-renowned demon masters, fought against it for ten days and in the end, with the blood of the ten demon masters, demons they performed a ten-square Formation and sealed it with their lives. This was called the Qing Yu Rebellion. After that, they decided that no other monsters could be free in the world, thus causing them to treat all monsters accordingly equal, whether killing them or enslaving them by taming them. I mean, they used an event as an excuse to start acting cruelly in order to justify all their despicable acts, making them cruel bastards" She says while wringing her feet hands being visible its sincere fury for the resolution of the Demon Masters in the past, with the squid not losing this reaction, causing it to be surprised, "Next, the bastards built the Demonic Valley to commemorate the sacrifice of the ten Demon Masters and adhered to the ten square formations to prevent the Jade Phoenix from escaping. Furthermore, this seal acts like a massive cage, trapping any demons that enter the room while weakening their demonic powers. Then, as if it were an ironic twist or the karma occasioned by the arrogance and cruelty of the Demon Masters in their unfair judgment of all monsters and their practices of enslaving them, the Grand Master of Demons who resides in a manor adjacent to the Mansion Daguoshi and who was superior to all of them, developed a poison he called Frost that acts like a curse. Through this curse, he began to control the demon masters by enslaving them, subjecting them to serving the royal family, making the place that was once a source of pride for them, a tool of control of the imperial court by limiting it them. Afterwards, the royal family decided that they should further reduce the power and influence of the Demon Masters by building three more places. The Demon Terrace in the North, the Demon Mountain in the West, and the Demon Island in the East, thus dividing their power. In the past, East Demon Island, as I said earlier, was destroyed. On this island there was a powerful dragon demon called by all the Sapphire Dragon, who was sealed there in the same way as the Jade Phoenix and with the destruction of the island, this dragon managed to break free. In the Demonic Mountain in the West is sealed a nekomata and a hellish black steed that is the condensed hellfire of Leihuo Island and whose flames can burn anything in this world. In the demonic North Platform there is a snow white tiger sealed away, called by all the Diamond Tiger. The same seal of the nekomata and the steed was used because there were no Demon Masters powerful enough to make the same seal of the immortal Luan and as a consequence, they need to reinforce the seal every two years. The best seal for this tiger would be training of ten squares because he is at the same power level as Phoenix and Dragon. Furthermore, whenever they find children with the ability to control monsters and use magic, they are sent to one of these three remaining places while also separating them from their parents for the court to take care of them, managing to mold them in any way they wish. Of course, if children with considerable power are found, they are sent to the Grandmaster's sect of demons which is located in the capital of Dacheng Kingdom and which is adjacent to Daguoshi Manor. "
"I see. So that's how the royal family was able to overwhelm the demon masters."
"Yes. But it's like I said. It's karma. Besides, if there weren't more places to train Demon Masters and there wasn't the act of ripping children away from their families, the world would be a much better place."
He is surprised and asks, "Have you always had this vision?"