Chapter 1: No son of mine will be a disgrace
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.
"Deep," 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 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.
Chapter 2: The First Step To Freedom
Lyre lay in his room after that. His bones were shaking, and his teeth seemed to chatter.
His eyes were puffy, and his entire body was covered with wounds. The poor undeveloped merman seemed to be in an entirely different world from his.
And that world was that of pain.
The door to his room opened, and his immediate elder brother came in.
He was dressed in a red flowing gown, with his green hair tied up in a ponytail; the tips were braided to keep the hair in place.
His green eyes, which were so much like his hair, glanced around the dark room until his eyes lighted on the bundle on the bed.
"Why are you acting like a mermaid?" His eyes narrowed at his youngest brother, who seemed to want nothing but to burrow his body into the mattress.
"Leave."
Lyre's voice was low as he tried not to show the pain he felt deep within him.
The older prince's eyes grew red as his anger went up a top-notch. "You dare speak to me?"
And immediately, Lyre knew he had done wrong by speaking to his brother.
He wasn't supposed to speak so as not to contaminate his brothers.
"I'm sorry, brother!" He hastily fell from the bed, despite his pain, and still knelt on the floor, with his hands joined in front of him.
His knees were hurting him so much, he felt like fainting from the pain. However, he still has to appease his brother.
Among the other princes, his immediate elder brother was heartless. He doesn't do things half-heartedly.
And —
Lyre was raised in the air. The green crackling smoke wrapped around his neck, as it took him up in the air.
"Bro—"
Lyre tried to speak, but the eldest prince closed his hands, and the tightness of the smoke increased.
"You will learn not to speak, you cursed thing." His brother narrowed his eyes at the youngest brother as he continued to twist his hand.
Lyre's face was ashen white, and his breath seemed to have stopped. However, the brother wasn't bothered.
According to their mother, they need to treat him this way, to help liberate him from the dark side.
And that dark side was something Lyre doesn't understand.
The helpless prince doesn't know why he was hated by his family, yet he never stood up for himself.
"Disgusting." Lyre's brother threw him to the floor, and he fell with a thud.
He didn't try to rub his neck as he coughed. There was no need for that if it will make his brother more infuriated.
"Do you think acting like a mermaid is what a merman does?" The prince gave Lyre a disgusted glance.
His eyes took in his shapely body and the sparkling gems in his hair. Although the gems have dulled as they all wanted, it is still there.
"We don't hate you, Lyre." The prince circled his fallen brother. "We only want what's good for you."
Lyre didn't say a word as he silently curled into himself. His eyes were now a dull silver as his pain took much of his rationality.
"This is to help you become a merman, Lyre. You must be like us."
However, Lyre wasn't listening. All he was patiently waiting for was when his brother will leave.
Only then will he cry in peace without his brother viewing it as another weakness of his.
"Don't you like the red-haired mermaid who loves visiting you?" The prince asked in a small voice.
Lyre didn't reply.
Not that he doesn't want to, he did. However, replying to his brother will mean more punishments on the way.
"Have an enjoyable night." The prince finally said when he noticed he couldn't get a rise out of his brother.
Lyre didn't say a word until his brother left; he didn't rise until he was certain none of his brothers was coming in tonight.
His father is another tale altogether. And he wants nothing to do with his coming.
Lyre slowly rose from the floor. His bones were aching him like they always do at night.
This was the routine in his life ever since he turned Fourteen, and mistakenly blotted he finds the guards handsome, and the mermaids ugly.
Since then, his family has been on their so-proclaimed righteousness of trying to fix him.
"I'm leaving," Lyre said to the room as he stood to his petite height.
He glanced around the room with his hands balled as he decided to leave this place before his family finally kills him.
It was true they claimed that life offshore was hell. It did not deter him.
To him, it was better to die offshore than to perish here.
And he realized in due time, his family will kill him not only for his feminine looks and character but for his excuse for power.
He only knew how to make things pretty, much to the anger of his family.
Lyre slowly limped to his cupboard and got the blue seal his grandmother gave to him before she passed away.
That was the only thing Lyre took as he left the room.
He didn't go through the long corridors for fear of being caught. The young prince turned a corner and went through the dark tunnel.
His bones were aching as he transformed into a beautiful merman with glistering tails.
The young merman waded through the murky tunnel until he reached the end. He turned once more to look at the castle before he swam forward.
This was just his first step. Evading the guards at the end of the dark tunnel was another hurdle.
Yet, the prince wasn't afraid of that. He has taken the first step toward leaving the palace of pain. The next step is to leave the entire Kingdom.
And that's what he planned to do. Even if it will cost him his life, he was determined to die trying.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment