Chapter 22: The King’s Pearl (22)
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: KarateChopMonkey
Is this what it feels like to build a nest?
Jiang Mian sniffled, his ankle bones no longer itched, and the heat and discomfort of the past were as far away as an old dream. He was lying in Raperth’s arms, like lying in the cradle of his childhood, at ease, not thinking about anything except breathing and blinking, not worrying about anything.
He felt an unparalleled sense of comfort and relaxation, as if something, deep in his blood and bones, was growing and connecting with the male mermaid.
Raperth’s perception of the soul bond was more nuanced than Jiang Mian’s. Their relationship was becoming more intimate, as if a beautiful chord had been added to a lonely echo, and the ripples of resonance between Jiang Mian and his heart almost made Raperth dizzy with satisfaction. Though this was only their first heat period together, his heart was already beating fiercely for Jiang Mian, and his blood was rushing for him.
“That isā¦ the bond of soulmates.” Raperth, as if he could know every thought in his mind, explained quietly in his ear, “It grows stronger and stronger with each passingā¦ heat.”
Jiang Mian was silent for a moment, bowed his head and said, “I’m sorry I was so mean to you just now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Raperth took the opportunity to rub Jiang Mian’s face again, his long hair spreading out like an impermeable net, surrounding him from all sides, encircling the only prey of his life.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, “It’s normal to get upset during a heat. Youāre so much gentler than other mermaids.”
Jiang Mian asked, “I heard you call me little one beforeā¦ Why did you call me that?”
“Because you sound like a little one,” Raperth looked at him without blinking, “Sea rabbitā¦ have you ever seen a sea rabbit? Little oneā¦ I called you that in my mind the first time I saw you.”
He said bluntly, “You also look like a pearlā¦ so I also call you Pearl, little pearl.”
Jiang Mian blushed and he was stammering, unable to speak, when Raperth hugged him and shook him and said, “Don’t be sadā¦ Little oneā¦ you have me. When the firstā¦ heat is overā¦ I’ll take youā¦ back to the sea country.”
“There are schools of fishā¦ and clansmenā¦ and shipwrecksā¦ and treasuresā¦ Do you like treasure hunting? Humansā¦ I seeā¦ are fond of treasure hunting. When the time comesā¦ I will take you to the King’s Court Pavilionā¦ to exploreā¦ any corner of the worldā¦” The male mermaid chanted, pressed his nose into Jiang Mian’s neck, and closed his eyes, “I hope youāllā¦ never be sad again.”
Jiang Mian’s nose was sore and he said in a muffled voice, “He lied to me.”
Although he didnāt explicitly say who this “he” was, Raperth knew clearly that Jiang Mian must be referring to his adoptive father, the male land folk named Jiang Pingyang.
“He said he picked me up from the sea,” Jiang Mian said, “He said the water in the institute was not suitable for my constitution, he said the raw fish contained substances that made me allergicā¦ The only thing he asked me to do was to appease Lady Red, to let me see and hear the scenes and sounds of her daily devastationā¦”
His voice trembled and his whole body shivered, “He knew who I was and where I came from, so why did he do it? If the first two things were considered protecting me, then the last thing was that he let the Fabian proposal for Lady Red pass and then watched me suffer!”
Raperth hugged him tightly, enveloping him with his own breath and making purring, soothing sounds in his ear.
Jiang Mian gasped violently, panting so hard his body was shaking. The moment he was in Raperth’s arms, the moment the effects of the heat subsided, his mind was sharper and clearer, and the pain became more profound.
“No wonder he doesn’t blame me for taking apart the penā¦ Because he was forcing me to make a choice, he wanted me to choose between being a human and a mermaid. If I gave in, then I would still be his son; but if I resistedā¦”
An evil chill ran through Jiang Mian’s entire body, what if he resisted? What would Jiang Pingyang do to him then, would he lift his hand and let him go, or would he reveal Jiang Mian’s true origins and reduce his status from Dr. Jiang’s adopted son to the Institute’s new rare experimental subject?
“It just didn’t occur to him that I neither aided nor abetted the enemy, nor did I intend to uncover and take Lady Red to escape. Because I know very well, even if I do my best, Lady Red’s demise is the inevitable end, with her not only unable to escape far, but it will also drag my family in, and finally I decided to send Lady Red the pen. I die and what does it matter, but I worried about my loved ones, worried about his life! I could onlyā¦”
Jiang Pingyang knew his adopted son, and Jiang Mian spent time with him, how could he not know his adopted father?
Raperth wrinkled his brow, and his long scarlet tongue swept sullenly over his snow-colored fangs. He was extremely unhappy to hear Jiang Mian say that it didnāt matter if he died, Pearl was smart and perceptive, but too perceptive, always more prone to overthink on people or things he cared about. For this reason, even if he loathes the human who stole Jiang Mian, he must be the more calm one.
“Donāt think,” he kissed the top of Jiang Mian’s hair, “Youāre notā¦ unimportantā¦ youāre myā¦ most precious.”
Raperth’s pity and unhappiness infected Jiang Mian as well, and he closed his eyes and let out a long breath, his mind a jumbled mess.
“I know that he’s the one who adopted me and the one who firmly concealed my mixed-race identity for me, he’s my adoptive father, but I really don’t understand why he pushed me like thatā¦” He closed his eyes for a long time before opening them and turning over in Raperth’s arms, “Speaking of which, I have to ask you a question, please make sure you answer me truthfully.”
Jiang Mian gazed at Raperth expectantly, “Since Iām a mermaid/human hybrid, where are my real parentsā¦ Where are they?”
Raperth locked eyes with him for a moment and really wanted to kiss him until Jiang Mian was a happy little bouncing Little one, snoring and melting into a little puddle of frustration and loss that would forever bypass him.
It was a pity he couldn’t do that. Jiang Mian was destined to lose something important in his life, even if he was Raperth’s soulmate, the constant and beloved half of the mermaid king’s heir, he couldn’t make up for that lack one way or the other.
“Your fatherā¦ was a humanā¦ but notā¦ a mermaid’s soulmate. I never heard your motherā¦ mention himā¦ his life lengthā¦ not as long as oursā¦ he most likelyā¦” Raperth hesitated for a moment, choosing the euphemism that Jiang Mian had used, “has left.”
He looked into Jiang Mian’s glittering eyes and whispered, “Your motherā¦ who was personally involved in that war during the Sea Abyss riotsā¦ is alsoā¦ Gone.”
Jiang Mian’s throat rolled up and down, he opened his lips, just didnāt speak, Raperth continued, “Carrying youā¦ the cradleā¦ lost in that warā¦ the slate bookā¦ was contained in itā¦ your initiation reading. Later, over the yearsā¦ I have been looking for youā¦ only, I was too far away to sense you.”
Jiang Mian lips mumbled, “ā¦Then later, Jiang, my adoptive father died, and my angina drew you in.”
Raperth nodded, watching Jiang Mian’s reaction carefully.
When things came to this, what else was there to say? Jiang Pingyang’s attitude towards him was that the less he knew, the safer he was, not only did he conceal everything, but he was even secretly deterred for reasons of unknown motives; his biological father died at the end of his life, his biological mother died on the battlefield, leaving him alone in infancy, wandering out, and finally picked up by humansā¦Ā
Am I not all alone in the world?
Thinking about this, Jiang Mian showed a bitter smile, and suddenly felt that the bond between him and Raperth had become immense and noisy, like another powerfully beating heart, with a high sense of presence that shook his soul.
ā¦Well, maybe I’m not quite alone.
He looked into Raperth’s golden eyes, and with a surprising amount of joking energy, he asked, “So, are we established now?”
Raperth blinked, and suddenly alarm bells went off in his mind.
I’m sorry, I’m going through my human memories, how does this question seem like a trap? Or the kind of trap that if you don’t answer well, your partner will be more depressed?!
No, this isnāt right, Pearl knows very little about us so far, if I can answer in a mermaid wayā¦Ā Okay, so be it.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “we have a long timeā¦ a long time. You can chooseā¦ at your leisureā¦ the satisfactory period of time to decide our relationshipā¦ to what extent to grind. Everythingā¦ can be done slowly.”
Jiang Mian looked at him, and a smile slowly emerged on his face.
“Okay?” He tried to say, “Then it’ll be the same as before, let’s start developing as friends first.”
Raperth made a disgruntled little noise in an attempt to bargain, “A little more in?”
Jiang Mian lay on top of the mermaid, head and tail intertwined, every inch of his skin comfortable against the warm, cool, jade-like scales. Tonight was the first time he’d tried to navigate a heat, and the violent mood swings had long exceeded the limits of what he could normally endure, the sleepy high of exhaustion making him want nothing more than a brief pull from the mess of the past.
Jiang Mian pinched out a distance with two fingers, and with a sleepy nasal voice, “So, only this much, oh.”
āĀ
The next day, Jiang Mian’s body was sore, like falling on a cloud that couldnāt be turned over, and slowly opened his eyes from sleep.
The light in his eyes was hazy, like the light of the day, and Jiang Mian’s nose was covered with the fresh fragrance of the sea and mist, and he couldnāt help but rub the thick and elastic pillow under himā¦Ā
Wait a minute, what?
Jiang Mian’s eyes widened abruptly and his breathing stopped.
Memories quickly resurfaced, showing him in rapid succession the confusing and informative night yesterday, his identity, his birth, Jiang Pingyang’s unexplained motives, and Raperth nesting for him, passionately pursuing him from start to finishā¦Ā
Jiang Mian blushed, and his ears burned.
“Awake,” Raperth grinned as he stared at him unblinkingly, his pearl was small and cute, and he just wanted to keep looking at it that way, “Want toā¦ likeā¦ eat?”
Jiang Mian hurriedly closed his eyes, the pillow fortress was still soft, dry and fluffy, like a warm bird’s nest, enticing Jiang Mian to escape into boundless sleep. Raperth was anxious and rushed to rock and coax him.
“It’s time to replenish your food, little one,” he admonished gently ā perhaps more appropriately, pleadingly ā “You can’t goā¦ without eatingā¦ for a day and a night.”
Jiang Mian shrank into a ball and buried himself in the mermaid’s arms, showing only half a reddened face to look at him, the nest filtering the glow of the night lights, the haze of which fell on Jiang Mian’s eyes like a fall of stars.
“I don’t remember.” He muttered in a jarring voice.
Raperth, “ā¦”
Raperth had learned in human memory about a psychology called “cute aggression”, meaning that some people, when they see something cute, will have the urge to destroy it.
He only felt that he fell into the trap of cute aggression, the mermaid hugged Jiang Mian’s arms tightened and loosened, fangs itch, trembling in his heart and purring loudly, just want to kiss him desperately, rubbing him, until he rubbed out of breath.
“I’llā¦ thenā¦ go get the food.” Unfortunately he couldnāt do so yet, Raperth sulked, unwilling to let go of his hand. Because piling up stored food next to the nest bed was what any competent male should do, and if he were at the bottom of the ocean, he would have drowned Jiang Mian with all the fatty fish, shrimp, meat and crabs, but this was the small, clean, tidy room where Jiang Mian lived and couldn’t store slippery, raw fish.
He kissed Jiang Mian’s temple and was about to get up when he couldn’t resist for a moment and leaned over to kiss the side of Jiang Mian’s face again, then rubbed his wrists against each other and shared the scent with his partner before reluctantly leaving the room.
While he was out, Jiang Mian braced his weak limbs, which were still warm, and hurriedly dug around in the complex layers of pillow fortresses, pulling out a new set of pajamas and changing into them.
Raperth came back with a body full of fishy air, head and face were splattered with fish blood, but his hands were dry and clean. He picked up Jiang Mian and rode the waves, proudly showing him the big, fat fish that were alive and kicking in the cafeteria.
It looked like the mermaid had robbed Sigma’s farmed fish bank.
“Look!” Raperth put Jiang Mian in his chair and just hands up a half-sized albacore tuna from the sea tank.
The tuna had to keep swimming to survive in the water because it had to keep the water flowing through its gill slits.
The tuna was close to a meter in size, longer than his own arm, and Raperth smiled at him, lowered his eyes, and smashed the tuna’s brain stem with his sharp nails.
In the blink of an eye, death came as fast as lightning and left without a sound, before Jiang Mian could react, Raperth was already digging out the fish’s gills in a slow and deliberate manner, cutting open the fish’s belly with graceful and precise movements, cleaning off the inedible peritoneum and organs.
The mermaid flicked his tail comfortably, his fins like gorgeous giant fans, whirring and swooping the wind. He gently tore off the skin of the fish, wiped away the raw fish blood, using his fingers as a knife, and cut off a section of the flesh of the large abdomen. Jiang Mian watched, not feeling the taste of raw fish pungent, he only felt that the tuna fish flesh texture, pink and greasy, just for a moment, the root of the tongue was vaguely tingling.
Raperth grinned, rolled the fish into a soft rose shape, and didn’t let Jiang Mian take over, but passed it directly to his lips and said softly, [Taste it?]
[Tasteā¦ Taste it?] Jiang Mian clumsily imitated his accent, hesitated for a moment, carefully opened his lips and took it in the male mermaid’s hand.
The moment it entered his mouth, the fish was fat and tender, and the aroma of oil was pungent, staining Jiang Mian’s lips with a thin layer of light. He was in a trance, eating without lifting his head, and instantly entered a state of focused eating.
The flesh of the middle belly wasnāt as beautiful as the big belly, but it was also sweet and delicate; the flesh of the back was bright red, called “red body” in Japanese cuisine, and it was chewy and tasty, and the rich fish blood was juicy and overflowing between the lips and teethā¦Ā
When Jiang Mian came back to his senses, he had already jumped on top of Raperth, his belly was already stuffed, and he was still trying to fight for the only fish belly meat left in his hand.
“You like to eatā¦ don’t you?” Raperth asked softly, hugging him joyfully.
Shit, Jiang Mian’s eyes slowly widened and his face flushed. This was the first time he had consumed raw fish while awake, experiencing this feeling of being captured by his instincts. He opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it again. In Raperth’s eyes, he was cute when he stammered, and at the moment, nothing could be more important than kissing his Pearl.
Raperth coiled his tail around Jiang Mian’s body, his arms firmly anchored, and slowly fed him the last piece of fish.
They were so close, exchanging warm breaths, that Raperth looked hungry and thirsty, like a hungry ghost brought to a feast but unable to decide where to begin. The longing that erupted from those golden pupils burned, causing the back of Jiang Mian’s neck to tingle and the small of his back twitched.
The mermaid’s skin glistened, displaying a seductive luster. The first night of the fever passed, and their touch was far less deadly than before, but still sparking. Jiang Mian’s mind seemed to spin dizzily as shivers rolled down his spine one by one. Jiang Mian realized that he was full, but Raperth was still hungryā¦ It wasn’t hunger from the pit of his stomach, it was hunger from other parts, other causes.
“Iā¦” Jiang Mian exhaled a shivering, rolling breath as he subconsciously tilted his head and Raperth’s lips landed on his.
[Won’t youā¦ Pearl?] Raperth asked in a low voice, [Don’t you want to be close to me?]
Jiang Mian couldn’t understand what he was saying right now, but he could hear the loss in Raperth’s tone, and he scrambled to look up, trying to make up for his actions.
God, I don’t dislike him, I just cringe out of instinct, because I’ve never had an intimate relationship with someoneā¦Ā
He coughed in panic and settled down, brushing his fingers through the mermaid’s long hair to hide his outburst, “No, I didn’t meanā¦ Ah, do you want to wash, let me clean your hair?”
When Raperth came out of the Institute’s fish farm, he was covered in fish blood and his hair was covered in tiny fish scales; Jiang Mian took the opportunity to distract him in this way, not knowing if it would workā¦Ā
Raperth was still sad, but when he heard this, he immediately twitched his ear fins and his eyes shone brightly, “Yes!”
ā¦Well, it was a big success.
I wonder why Raperth didn’t tell him more about his mother. Was his father known to Raperth, like his name, where he met JM’s mother, what he did. All questions JM must have in his head.
Wish I had someone to make me a nest, feed me and feel so carefree!
Thank you both for the chapter.
Look at these cutie patooties š„¹šš