***
The king takes a long sweep of gaze across his vast kingdom. The air tausles his hair making him look majestic than ever. He let's go of his armor and lets it clang on the ground. Jimin heaves a long sigh and closes his eyes.
"Finally," he said and stretches.
The war took longer than he thought. As usual, Namjoon was a great enemy. If only Jimin met him in a different way, he would surely be friends with him. He doesn't know where he disappeared into but one thing's for sure, Jimin won the battle.
"Are you ready to head home?" Yoongi asked him.
Jennie walks behind them, wiping off blood from her hands. She throws the dead body she has been dragging for too long. She's been using that corpse to shield herself.
Jimin nodded and turned to face him.
"I want to have a long warm bath," he said making Yoongi chuckle.
"You should, you stink," Yoongi teases earning a soft chuckle from Jimin.
Alice appeared and handed Jimin his set of new clothes to change into before they travel back to the castle. All Jimin could think of is Yeora.
He misses her so much thay he feels like he needs to use his power just to see her immediately. He's becoming so giddy nd excited that he forgot about Yeora's wish. If only he knew how Yeora fell for her that first night. How his touches changed her mind and that she misses him too.
Meanwhile, in the castle, Mihyeon studies the baby clothes she forced Yeora to sew. Yeora has learned many things and sewing has got her interest the most. She even outshines Mihyeon in running the castle's household so Mihyeon forced her to sew countless clothings for the infant that is still in her womb. Her stomach is now noticably swollen and her attitude worsens. She beats up Yeora so much that Yeora had several visible bruises on her body.
"Okay, I want three more of this," Mihyoen tosses the cloth back to Yeora's face.
She then walked out of the room leaving Yeora to do more work. She's left with some of the seamstress in the room. They all looked at her in pity but Yeora reassured them with a smile.
Before she starts with what Mihyeon ordered, she pulls out the most intricate and special set of garment she has ever sewn.
Her present to Jimin. She imagines him wearing that and all she could do is smile. She then folded it neatly and placed it back in the box Hoseok got her from the human realm. This past weeks, Jungkook hasn't come back from their kingdom and she misses him so much.
"Yeora?" Hoseok poked his head through the door.
Yeora looked up from the fabric she's cutting and bowed slightly.
"Someone's here for you," Hoseok smiled.
She stepped out of the room and was pleasantly surprised that Jungkook is standing there by the wall. His hands are shoved in his pockets while he blows air into his seemingly longer blue locks.
"Prince Jungkook," Yeora bowed to him.
He immediately threw her a glare. "Jungkook okay? Jungkook," he pouted making Hosek laugh.
"How are you?" Yeora dismissed his pouting.
"I'm doing great. But I need your help," Jungkook looked worried.
"I've talked bout it with Hoseok and he has already approved your short vacation with me,"
"What?" she raised her brows but then just nodded.
"You're going to theor kingdom, to Poseidon," Hoseok announced.
"What? Why?" she asked in confusion.
"You'll see once we're there," Jungkook said solemnly.
Somehow, he sounded off and that made Yeora worry about what Jungkook is asking help for.
--
As expected, Yeora looked at the seaweed Jungkook is holding uo in her face. He knew she would hate it but it's the only way for her to breath underwater.
"Jungkook, no," she said in a clipped tone.
"Come on Yeora, just one strand. You don't even need to chew it. Just swallow, please, please," Jungkook pleaded.
"Okay, here's the deal. Tell me what it is that you need my help with and then, I will dexide if it's worth swallowing thay disgusting green thing in your hand or no," Yeora offered.
Jungkook sighed in defeat. Maybe mentioning that it has something ro do with Lisa would change her mind.
"It's Lisa," Jungkook breathed.
He immediately got her attention.
"What about her?"
"I told you, it's hard to explain. You better just see for yourself," he said and held the seaweed again infront of her face.
Yeora took the seaweed and reluctantly placed it in her mouth. She was pleasantly surprised that it didn't actually taste bad.
"That actually tastes, fresh and cooling," she admitted.
"See? I told you, it won't be that bad," Jungkook nodded. "Ready?" he asked her.
Yeora nodded and slipped into the water. Jungkool followed her behind and his tail appeared startling Yeora. She felt sething cold touch her leg and when she looked down, Jungkook's blue tail can be seen clearly through the waters.
"Wow," she muttered in astonishment.
Jungkook smirked, amused at how Yeora is reacting.
"What?" Jungkook asked her.
"Nothing, it's just that-" she was cut off when she looked up at him.
Jungkook's purple eyes are more prominent now and his ears are now an elf-shape. A shade of soft, blue comtoured his face and it's the most fascinating thing Yeora has ever seen.
"Humans tell tails of mermaids and here I am infront of a real merman. Not just a merman but a vampire prince too. Wow, just wow," Yeora's eyes glimmered.
Jungkook smiled.
"Thanks?" he unsurely said.
The swim under water and into the vast ocean was harder than Jungkook has anticipated. Ofcourse Yeora has only a pair of legs which are in no way capable of going against the ocean's strong current. Jungkook had to hold her close so he could navigate them both faster into the waters.
Yeora can't believe this is ahppening right now. If only she knew being a sacrifice would make her world bigger and more wonderful. She would love to write everything down in her notebook and read it over and over again.
Jungkook led her straight into his room where everything is dry except for one section where he keeps Lisa.
Jungkool led her further into his room when he transforms his tail into a pair of legs. Yeora's heart is thumping as she nears the section where Jungkook os leading her.
A small pool is structured in this room, elevated just above her waist. The water is crystal clear and two vampire mermaids are in the water to act as an attendant to what Yeora still doesn't know.
She is quiet. All Yeora could hear are the silent swishing of water in the small pool where the mermaids are swimming. Mermaids never really went extinct. The king just kept there here under the vast ocean to keep the land vampires from getting them out of the waters just because they're beautiful. Jimin knew that and he intends to keep that as a secret.
"Why are we here?" she spoke for the first time making the two attendants look their way and bow.
Jungkook just nodded to both of the mermaids as they swim deep into the pool. Yeora figured that the pool os deeper than what it looks.
Slowly, a large transparent egg immerges. A tail mermaid's tail comes into view. A curled up mermaid is inside, hands positioned like that of a baby in the womb. Her long pink hair mobing around her face. Her chest bare and her face covered. The liquid inside is clear too.
"Is thay Lisa?" Yeora asked in disbelief.
Jungkook nodded in confirmation as the egg comes out into a full view. Yeora held her breath at how beautiful everything looks like.
"I took her before father could even kill her. She said they've been making her drink mermaid's blood to experiment on her but they didn't gave her enough dosage to fully turn her into a vampire mermaid. I dod what I had to do Yeora. If I don't give her that last dosage, she might've died," Jungkook explaimed before Yeora could even get the wrong idea.
Yeora is speechless. She couldn't muster a word. Instead, she just walked closer to the egg.
Lisa's legs are now gone. It has fully transformed into a seemingly different tail. It is far from how Jungkook's tail looks like.
"Why does her tail look so different?" she asked Jungkool who's busy making the temperature of the water warm enough for the egg.
"We never knew what exactly they were making her drink. All I know is that she only comsumed a mermaid's blood but when my fatger saw her tail he said they were extracting the blood from a powerdul mermaid whick could only have lived thousands of years ago. My blood just triggered it to activate this fast. Normally, it would take 3 months for the full transformation but Lisa, it's only a month and her attendants feel that it'll hatch any time today," Jungkook said while he stares at Lisa inside with different amor.
"What does it has to do with me then?" Yeora asked.
"She might not remember me,"
•••