Chapter 1

• Prince Lyre slowly sauntered through the halls of the palace. His back was hunched as if he was carrying the entire weight of the world on his shoulders.
• Not for the first time, the prince grimaced when the oversized robes he was putting on rubbed his knees.
• "Argh," he sighed.
• This was getting out of hand. And the prince knew it was either he tries to escape, or he remains here, forever chained.
• "My prince." The guards bowed at the young prince as he sauntered past, without sparring them a glance. His entire focus was on something. He needed to think of the right approach for what he was about to do.
• "My prince!" His young Kirara, ran towards him as he shouted to get the prince to stop.
• However, Lyre's mind wasn't in the present. He looked lost and devastated. His scales, which were once gleaming gold, seemed more like dirty yellow fur.
• The prince was once known for his shiny, unusual blonde hair. But now, his hair looked more grey than blonde.
• His situation was affecting not only his mental state but his physical state.
• The prince was nothing but a shell of his former self.
• "My prince!" His Kirara(male servant) called out once more as he tried to cover the distance between them.
• Yet, the prince didn't hear.
• And the guards who were around wondered what the prince was thinking about, which got him so invested that he didn't hear the voice of his servant.
• "My prince." Finally, his servant caught up to him.
• Instead of touching the prince, he blocked the prince's path, to force the prince to notice him.
• Shocked, the prince could only escape rubbing bodies with his servant.
• In the Sea Kingdom of Ratikot, it's considered a mark of disrespect for a servant's body to touch that of a royal.
• "My prince—" The winded servant placed both hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
• "What do you want?" Lyre asked in that small voice of his that seems more like the caress of wind on a person's body.
• "The mistress—"
• Lyre flinched at the mention of the bane of his existence.
• However, his servant, who was more focused on delivering the news, didn't notice the change in his master's countenance.
• "The mistress is seeking your presence in your learning room. She—"
• "I will be there." Lyre shivered a bit as the thoughts of what will happen to him when he goes to meet her ran through his mind.
• Presently, he craved nothing more but an escape route. However, the stories he has heard of life outside the sea scared him enough to keep him in this dreadful place.
• The young prince wanted to flee this place. But there was no way for him to do that.
• He's chained to his life here. And is forever at the mercy of his mother, who prefers to be called the mistress.
• ********
• Lyre took a deep, steady breath before he knocked on the door of doom.
• In all his life, he has never seen a time when the room provided anything but a pain to him.
• "Come in." The mistress called in a sweet voice.
• Without uttering a word, the prince entered the room and shut the door behind him.
• He strolled into the middle of the room and bowed.
• Contrary to the name of the room of learning, it's far from that.
• Aside from a bench in the far corner and a large iron table, there was nothing else in the room.
• A person would have thought a learning room will possess most things they were supposed to, but it's far from it.
• "You took your time, didn't you?" A woman who was adorned in a blue gown stepped out of the shadows.
• Her hair was as blonde as Lyre's. However, that's where the similarities ended. The two MER creatures were nothing like each other.
• Where Lyre is soft and kind, the mistress is a beast in a cute mermaid's clothing.
• Lyre stood in the middle of the room without uttering a word.
• He was visibly shaking, and his complexion, which was tanned looked ashen white.
• "Let me guess, you were out staring at the guards as they swam?"
• And this was where Lyre's problem came from.
• His unnatural attraction to the male body. It's not as if he knows what those feelings were.
• No.
• The boy was clueless about that. He can't express why he pays more attention to mermen than he does to the mermaids.
• "Tell me, were you out on the balcony looking at them as they swam?" The mistress was now standing in front of her last son.
• Lyre was now shaking so well, the sounds of his teeth, as they chattered, can be heard from miles.
• "Pfft." The mistress slapped Lyre so hard on the cheeks, he fell on the floor. "Pathetic." She narrowed disgusted eyes at Lyre, who was shaking as he silently cried.
• "No son of mine will be a disgrace to me!"
• And that was what the mistress was afraid of. She feared being ridiculed by others when they learn she has an unusual son.
• "I'm going to treat that disgusting spirit out of you!" She raised her hand, and the spiritual slash which was her special gift came to life.
• Already knowing what was going to happen next, Lyre rolled himself into a ball, to shield himself from the hits.
• The sounds of the slash can be heard, as the mistress whipped him on the parts of his body that his robes can easily hide.
• "No son of mine will bring disgrace to the royal family!"
• Purple powers crackled in the air as the queen's anger multiplied tenfold.
• "Mom!" Lyre cried out in pain when a certain hit from the violet cane tore through his skin.
• "Shut up! You are not allowed to speak!" The mistress yelled as she continued with her plans of flogging the queerness out of her youngest son.