Chapter 1179: Reunion (3)
Chapter 1179: Reunion (3)
I didn't get to finish as both the Merman King and the former crown prince looked at me with narrowed eyes.
It seemed that both of them wanted me to stop, so I could only awkwardly close my mouth and sit down.
It wasn't really my place to say anything since it seemed like it was a family issue, but I was the reason that this happened in the first place.
In my mind, all I could do was blame Aquaron for throwing this task to me.
The awkward silence lingered in the air for a while before the Merman King broke it once more by asking one simple word.
"Why?"
There were so many different emotions behind this word that it was hard to describe it with just one word. It was hard to describe them even with an entire paragraph, that was just how much was behind that one word.
"Did you listen?"
That was the former crown prince's response to this question.
It was another question that seemed to be throwing the blame right back at the Merman King.
The two of them just stared at each other in silence for a bit, as if neither side was about to back down.
There was a part of me that wanted to butt in again since it didn't seem like anything was going to be solved, but I was stopped by both Ariel and Dicus who had been sitting near me.
The way that they looked at me with their eyes showed that they could understand what their fathers were feeling, so they wanted me to not butt in.
With this, there was an awkward silence that just lingered in the air as the two of them looked at each other.
It really didn't seem like this stalemate was about to be broken until the Merman King finally let out a sigh.
After that sigh, the Merman King said, "You're right, I never tried to listen to what you had to say since I always assumed that everything that our parents said was right. I wanted to be the best prince, the one that supported my big brother as he became the king. But did you really have to abandon us like that?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn
This time, there was an awkward look that appeared on the former crown prince's face.
It seemed that even if he wanted to act tough, this was not something that he could do.
It seemed that he recognized he too was at fault in this matter.
Though it also seemed that he was more surprised that the Merman King would actually apologize.
I could see that he was looking at me out of the corner of his eyes, almost as if he was trying to see if I was the one that made the Merman King do this.
But I had already put away the button and gave a slight shake of my head to show that I had nothing to do with this.
The Merman King had already wanted to do this in the first place, so it wasn't as if he was resistant against it. It was just that there were things that got in his way that prevented him from doing this.
So he had no choice but to hold himself back all this time.
There was a long silence that followed after the Merman King's apology.
It was as if there was no one that knew what to say.
But in reality, everyone knew that there was only one person that could say anything at this point. There was only one person that was really qualified to say anything since they were the one that this was all related to.
In the end, he was the one that broke the silence.
"I was wrong too." The former crown prince said with a sigh.
He took a long pause as if he was gathering his thoughts before saying, "I was impulsive when I was younger."
A surprised look appeared on the Merman King's face when he heard this.
A slightly bitter smile appeared on the former crown prince's face as he continued, "It was the pressure of having to be the perfect crown prince. I wanted to live up to our parents' expectations, but the frustration of them never listening to me got the better of me."
With another sigh, he continued, "In the end, when I met Zyra and learned all about the sea witches, I snapped and just ran off."
The Merman King revealed a look like he had been betrayed when he heard this.
But the former crown prince revealed a serious look as he said, "I was wrong to run away and leave everything to you, but I hope that you will at least listen to me about the sea witches. They are different from what you and the rest of the Merman Empire think of them."
The Merman King narrowed his eyes to look at the former crown prince.
There was no hiding the traces of doubt that were in his eyes as he looked at his brother, but in the end...
"Alright, I'll listen to what you have to say." He said in a small voice that almost seemed like he wasn't confident with his words, but it was still loud enough that everyone at the table was able to hear it.
The former crown prince's expression slowly relaxed until...
"But before that, there's something else that I have to do first."
The former crown prince slightly knitted his brows again when he heard this, but then his expression relaxed as if he was accepting what was about to come.
In the first place, it was his fault.
So if there was something that the Merman King wanted to do to him, he would just accept it.
It was his punishment and he would accept it.
The Merman King however didn't seem to do anything like he was about to punish the former
crown prince.
Instead, he waved his hand at the Merman Queen and Ariel.
The Merman Queen seemed to understand what he wanted, so she stood up and brought Ariel over who had a confused look on her face.
After they came over, the Merman King looked at the former crown prince to say, "Brother, this is my wife and my daughter."