Ensnaring his Dark Moon-Chapter 186: Give me the story behind it

’’The Prince was the only descendant of the King and the young man was unmarried. It’s rumored that he had a fiancee,’’ King Rezeph shook his head, ’’But the subjects have never seen her so one cannot know if it’s true. Regardless, the Prince did not have an heir and the Duke was childless as well.’’

Esme did not say anything anymore.

’’Are you talking about Visteria, Your Majesty?" Jeremiah asked.

’Crash’

Everyone’s head snapped at Leo who ducked a crystal bowl down the dining table.

’’Leo, be careful,’’ Esme carried him to her lap as she stroked his head, ’’I don’t want to see you getting yourself hurt,’’ she glanced at the glass shards on the floor.

’’He has become naughtier,’’ Rezeph laughed before he turned to look at Jeremiah, ’’You were saying something?"

’’Yes, the kingdom you are talking about... is it Visteria?"

Rezeph’s fork paused in mid-air as he glanced at Jeremiah, ’’Indeed,’’ he nodded and snapped his fingers.

Two maids stepped inside the dining room and cleaned the glass shards from the floor.

...

The evening breeze caressed her face as Esme stood on the sea shore, glancing at the Crystal Castle shining under the glow of the stars.

In the whole Defire Kingdom, this was the only part that was land and this land was surrounded by the vast endless sea.

There was an illusion placed by the ancestors that made this place look like a land to the outsiders if they peeked from the boundaries.

But no human knew that this land is not their kingdom, the sea is.

She turned around to look at the shimmering water. The sea right in front of her is the real Defire Kingdom, a place where people of their kind resided.

Esme glanced at the silver veil in her hand for a moment before she placed it on her face, tying it behind her head.

It was time for the tea party Luciana invited her to.

She did not consider herself to be an exceptional beauty but her red hair, and grey eyes made an unusual combination and people stared at her like she was a foreign object. Some even told her that she looked more like a human.

She did not want attention.

Esme walked towards the edge of the island and raised her foot, gently dipping her toes inside the water.

’Splash’

She jumped inside the water and the gown on her body disappeared, only to be replaced by shiny silver fins and scales as she dove inside the depths of the sea, cutting the water with her fast movements.

The fishes on the surface of the sea shrank further away from her, terrified by her presence but Esme only slowed down her movements when she reached their Kingdom.

The night market was loud and crowded and Esme could see the box upon box of jewels laid on the kerbside stalls.

’’Here here, lady, for your long beautiful hair, this wide-toothed golden comb is the most suitable,’’ One of the shop owners said to her, swishing his tail back and forth in excitement when he looked at her.

Esme followed his gaze and glanced at the pearl accessory she was wearing on her shoulders. Whenever they cried, their tears turned into pearls. But those pearls were small and uneven, just around the size of their teardrops. The accessory she had on her was made of exquisite even-sized rare pearls.

So, this shop owner assumed she was a rich customer.

This shoulder accessory was given to her by King Rezeph when she met him for the first time and she had worn it ever since as a form of respect for him.

It only appeared on her body when she was in her mermaid form.

’’No, I don’t want a comb,’’ Esme shook her head.

The shop owner held the lantern hanging in front of his troves and rubbed it twice. The jellyfish in the glass container of the lantern moved, illuminating the whole place with its glow.

The merman held the comb in his hand and brought it closer to the lantern in his hand.

Under the glow of the jellyfish lantern, Esme noticed the exceptional comb. A golden comb with pearls studded at its edge. There were a few grey flowers studded on the handle of the comb.

’’It’s beautiful,’’ For some strange reason, Esme felt nostalgic at the sight of the grey flowers. It was as if she had a connection with them.

She had the urge to reach out to stroke those flowers but she refrained from doing so, ’’These look like our tears...’’ she remarked instead, looking at the uneven-shaped pearls studded at the edge of the comb.

’’But they aren’t, My Lady. They can’t be our tears.’’

The confidence with which he informed her had her roll her eyes, ’’How can you be so certain?"

The merman leaned closer to her and looked around as if he was about to tell her some secret, ’’The King does not know about this but we have a little exchange with the humans...’’

I live in the King’s castle. The words rested at the tip of her tongue. From ’we’, he certainly meant him and shop owners like him.

And he was telling her this secret because he thought she was a rich wilful mermaid whose eyes would sparkle at every interesting thing she saw and to possess them, she would go to any limits.

If it was Luciana, she would have done that. Her friend loved everything that sparkled but Esme did not have any fondness for it.

She was instead curious about what this shop owner meant by saying a little exchange with the humans.

Esme moved closer to him, her long tail moving in a spin as she stood right in front of him.

’’Humans are forbidden from entering our land but we aren’t forbidden from leaving this place. So, small shop owners like us make little exchanges with humans. We give them some of our common treasures which they seem to cherish a lot. We do this in our human form. We can give them a tear pearl of our kind and they would look at it like they have never seen something so exquisite before,’’ the merman gossipped like a girl without holding back because he certainly thought of her as a vein woman who would buy the things at his shop.

He did not have his guards up against her nor was he afraid that she would tell the King about this. After all, in the eyes of these subjects, nobody can reach the King. They never get to see his face, they never get to hear his voice.

The countless mermaids and mermen living in the sea barely got to see their King because he lived in an isolated Crystal Castle which is separated from the sea by a magical barrier. The barrier prohibited anyone other than the Norwell Family and her from entering the King’s Castle.

The person in front of her is certainly not aware of her relations with the King or Luciana or even the Norwell family.

And Esme was not going to use this information against him.

He was doing what he did for a living and she had no say in that. She was just genuinely curious.

’’To the humans, even the most ordinary things we possess are treasures and their treasures pale in comparison to them. But lady, they don’t know the value of treasures they hold,’’ the man said, looking at the beautiful golden comb, ’’You know... this loot is from a huge Kingdom that met its downfall around a year ago.’’

A year ago. Was it a period of revolution for the whole world just like her?

Like she lost her memories, woke up at Luciana’s place, all bruised and injured and a few days later, she found herself in the King’s castle.

Her sense of sympathy for everything that happened a year ago was formidable at this point.

’’It has a story behind it,’’ the merman stated.

’’A story?"

Esme would lie if the comb did not hold her interest because it did. It did hold her interest because of how she felt while looking at it as if she was familiar with it in a way she did not understand.

And now, the story behind it was piquing her interest.

The path below her was a cobblestone path that had sea stars engraved to either side by the mers’ magic. The sea stars started glowing once it was night time and they illuminated the whole path.

There were more of these on the trees which illuminated the kingdom when it was nighttime.

Under the glow of the sea stars, Esme picked up the comb and held it in her hand, stroking it gently, ’’I will buy it... but on one condition.’’

The merman looked at her with glowing eyes.

One look and anyone could tell that this was an expensive piece in his whole stall and he could not be more excited about finally getting to sell it.

’’I just knew you were the goddess for me, kind Lady,’’ he rushed around, his fish tail swaying back and forth in the water like that of an excited child’s, ’’As beautiful as you are, you are just equally kind. What is your condition?"

’’The story,’’ Esme replied, placing the comb back on his trove as she looked at him, ’’Give me the story behind it,’’ she whispered, well aware that there are other stalls and other mers nearby.

If anyone had keen ears like her then they might eavesdrop.

...

A/N: My <33333 for all the loyal readers.Thank you for sticking to this book because you gave me the motivation to continue it and tap into this magical world that I have come to love exploring bit by bit.

It’s not going to be another rant, I swear but honestly, I can’t believe how stressed I was about how to build the sea world but now, it’s flowing out of me like a magical chant. This world feels truly enchanting when I write it. I wonder whether you feel the same ;) How have you all been all this time?

Also, can you do me the honor of a sweet review? *flops ears*