Chapter 406: The little mer-boy named Melo

King ​Nereus looked at the half-finished walls that were visible from the sea because we had cleared a path so the walk from the sea to the heart of the kingdom would be smoother.

Then, he looked back at his elite guard. His face hardened into a look of pure, royal determination.

​"Unload the stone. All of it," he commanded, his voice echoing across the bank. "My grandchild will not be born in a house of mud and half-baked limestone. We shall start the nursery pool that Thalor told us about, and the southern fortifications tonight. If anyone sleeps before the first tier is set, they answer to me." He barked.

​He looked back at me, his expression softening just a fraction.

"And Land Mother... keep that Trident in your sight. I brought it for a reason. The desert felines have been tracking our wake. They think we are bringing tribute to a weak queen. We are going to show them they are mistaken."

Wait, desert what now? Don’t tell me this is going to bring trouble.

I was worried, but I wore my royal smile on and nodded my head.

"Very well," I looked at the Trident. It looked so powerful, so majestic, so...

"I will keep it for you, Arinya," Thalor said, and I nearly pouted.

But... but... but... I want to hold the Trident. It looks so cool.

That was the sulking thought in my mind. But Thalor must have a reason why he wants to hold it for me even after his father handed it to me.

Thalor smiled at me, and I sighed, giving him the go-ahead.

Just as he was about to grab it, a voice rang out,

"Hold it right there." We all turned our heads and, hidden in one of the boxes of treasures, sprang out a little merfolk. A boy who had the same tanned skin as Thalor and purple hair, as well as Violet eyes, but he didn’t have legs.

He stayed in his purplescaled fish tail.

"Brother, you’re just trying to steal my claim to the throne by taking the Trident, isn’t it?" He barked.

Ah, this one was a wild one.

Thalor, who seemed surprised at first, chuckled. He did not seem offended by this boy—his brothers—remark, but found it funny.

"Melo, I told you you couldn’t come out of the sea since you can’t trade your tail for legs yet. What are you doing here?!" Nereus barked, and the mer boy folded his arms, pumping his cheeks and pouting his lips.

"I know, but I wanted to see just how great this Land Mother that Jael won’t stop talking about."

If you’ve forgotten who Jael is, he’s that merman we found by the Singing stone during the war and helped us filter out the poison.

"Even then, you shouldn’t have..."

"It’s fine," I said, and Nereus looked at me like he had just brought a disaster to my doorstep.

I walked over, Fenric never leaving my side.

The mer boy, Melo, looked at me from the crate, still pouting and his hands still folded. He looked like a problem child, but I could see it in his eyes, he wasn’t stubborn because he was bad or wicked, he just... seemed lonely.

I can only assume the kind of life he’s lived. I’m not saying that Nereus starved the boy of affection—it’s too early to conclude that—but sometimes, growing up in the shadow of a competent elder brother can sometimes make you feel lost. Especially if you’re the competitive type.

No matter what you do, no matter how well your results are, it all just feels lacking because your brother did better when he was your age, or he was way more competent, and people loved him more.

You try to fill in that shoe, try to be just as good, and even when he’s not around, comparison can’t be helped.

I assume that’s the case here, given what I see in these defiant eyes, but I might be wrong. He might just be a problem child for no reason, haha. But... I’ve never been wrong in reading people, you know. Especially when I look into their eyes.

"Melo, was it?" I asked. "Do you want to know what makes me a great queen that folks can’t stop talking about me?"

"Hmph, are you just going to tell me? I won’t believe you," he snorted, and Thalor called out,

"Melo, don’t be rude to her." It looked like he was going to get angry if Melo made one more blunder. Even Fenric looked at the little Mer folk like a fish he was ready to grill.

However, I laughed.

"Yeah, words can’t and won’t cut it. So I’ll show you instead." I claimed and reached down to pick him up. In the end, he was just a child.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He tried to wiggle his eyes out of my arms, but I grabbed the end of his tail, before the fin section, right, and he yelped. "That... this female, you are being very inappropriate," he flushed.

"Oh, so you know how to use words like that, huh?" I looked at him with a wicked smile. "I think we’re going to have a great time together,"

"Land Mother," King Nereus called, looking worried, but I smiled and gently bowed my head.

"Don’t worry, King, I’ve got this. You can leave this troublemaker to me. In the meantime," I looked at Thalor and then the rest of my husbands. "Thalor and the others will show you around, as well as where we would appreciate your help the most. Thank you in advance."

I marched back toward the palace with Melo tucked under my arm like a very slippery, very disgruntled sack of potatoes.

I could feel the eyes of the entire merman Royal Guard on my back—and probably the confused stares of my husbands—but I didn’t care. Sometimes, you just have to take charge of the narrative before the narrative takes charge of you.

Melo was still squirming, his purple tail thumping against my hip. "Put me down! This is a kidnapping! My father will—"

"Your father basically handed you to me," I interrupted, shifting his weight. For a kid who lived in the water, he was surprisingly solid. "And unless you want to spend the rest of the afternoon drying out in a crate, you’re going to sit in my new indoor pool and watch how a kingdom actually gets built."

He went quiet for a second, his violet eyes darting around at the limestone houses and the busy beastmen. "You have a pool? Inside a house?" I’m surprised this kid even knows what a pool is. I’ll give him credit for that. "That’s... that’s redundant." He uttered, and I closed my eyes for a second.

I take back my credit.

"It’s called luxury, kid. Get used to it."