Chapter 1336: The Mermaid Princess (35)

Ever since Fuya and Qiao Chen got together, Qiao Chen no longer appeared before Tang Guo.

Moreover, he seemed to treat Fuya exceptionally well, often making the girls in the entire school squeal with envy.

At lunchtime, Fuya would frequently bring Qiao Chen over to eat together with Tang Guo and Yin Yao.

Tang Guo didn't mind, and neither did Yin Yao.

Just like that, an entire month of the semester passed.

Only when vacation arrived did Tang Guo hear that Fuya intended to bring Qiao Chen down to the sea to meet the Merfolk King.

"He's a human, Fuya. The two of you only have a mere hundred years together. There's no need to bring him to the sea."

"A Guoguo, he knows that I'm a mermaid, and we'll be together in the future." Fuya didn't think there was anything wrong with it. "I want him to meet my father and mother. Don't humans have a custom where marriage must have the blessing of one's parents? A Guoguo, I want that too. And more than anything, I want to spend a much longer time with him."

A possibility crossed Tang Guo's mind, causing her eyes to narrow.

"You want Father to approve sharing your life with him? To stay together forever?"

"Yes, A Guoguo. I want to be with him forever, forever and ever. If he lives, I live. If he dies, I die. I'll share my life with him. That way, we'll live and die together."

"Fuya, throughout history, mermaids who shared their lives with humans have never had a good ending. Human love has never been everlasting."

"A Guoguo, I choose to trust him. So I hope Father will agree and allow us to undergo the trials together to obtain the secret art of life-sharing."

Tang Guo smiled faintly.

"As you wish."

"Fuya, once you share your life with him, you won't be able to separate from him."

"A Guoguo, I've never thought of separating from him."

Fuya was very stubborn, and Tang Guo had no intention of persuading her. She merely reminded her of the consequences.

When a mermaid shared her life with a human, she would be placed at a disadvantage and pay an enormous price.

It meant betraying the merfolk race, and afterward she would no longer be able to live in the sea for extended periods.

Furthermore, she could not remain too far away from the human with whom she shared her life, otherwise her body would become extremely weak.

This was because the ritual would transfer most of the mermaid's divine power to a human who would otherwise age and die after merely a hundred years.

On the second day of vacation, Fuya took Qiao Chen down to the sea.

Tang Guo didn't return.

Since she had come ashore, she never intended to go back often.

Compared to the seabed, she preferred the human world. Other than a mermaid's natural dependence on water, everything about it was better.

"Little mermaid."

Hearing Yin Yao's voice, Tang Guo surfaced from the water.

"Senior, what is it?"

"Come up."

"It's too hot outside. The pool is better."

Unconsciously, tenderness had crept into the corners of Yin Yao's lips.

"It's cooler over here."

System: Pfft!

"There's ice cream. Lots of it. And a big pool too. Want to come take a look?" Yin Yao said in a coaxing tone.

Several months ago, he never would have imagined that he would go to such lengths just to lure a fish home and raise her.

"Senior, you aren't lying to me, are you?"

"No. Why would I lie to you?"

Seeing the faint anxiety in Yin Yao's expression, Tang Guo decided not to tease him anymore.

Leaping out of the pool, she landed directly on his windowsill.

Her wet golden hair draped over her body, and with one sweep of her beautiful golden tail, water splashed all over Yin Yao.

His clean white shirt was almost completely soaked.

---

✦ Translator's Note — A Little Yandere Perspective

Okay, here's a random thought this arc gave me. 😂

Yandere male leads.

First of all, I will freely admit that I am also a fan of a little yandere ML here and there. 🙈 There's something undeniably fun about a ML who is completely obsessed with the FL and would go to absolutely insane lengths to protect her. When you're reading from the protagonist's perspective, that “I'll destroy the entire world for you” energy can be... pretty damn appealing. 😂

But this arc made me think about something we don't always consider:

What does the yandere look like from everyone else's perspective? 😭

Because when the ML isn't the person we're following, it's very easy to overlook just how extreme some of their actions actually are.

Take this arc, for example.

Tang Guo—or rather, the original Tang Guo—was literally dehydrated to death simply because the ML thought she had somehow caused the person he loved to become sad and lose a little weight.

And when you actually stop and think about that...

Dude.

What exactly did she do?! 😭

She didn't harm anyone. She wasn't actually trying to destroy their relationship. At most, she said something he didn't like to hear (or was influenced not to like), and he decided she was an ugly, lying person who was a serious problem.

And somehow the solution was:

“Obviously, she needs to die.”

SIR??? 💀

Now, there might also be some worldbuilding involved here. Tang Guo wasn't human in this world—she was a mermaid—and perhaps his attitudes toward mermaids (or ones who didn't save his life) are different enough that he didn't view her life in quite the same way. He doesn't seem particularly bothered about harming fish, after all. 😂

But even taking that into consideration...

That's still a pretty extreme reaction.

And it made me think about all those yandere and domineering MLs I used to read when I was younger.

You know exactly the kind I'm talking about. 😂

"The Icy Northern Duke" ,"The Cold Forsaken Prince", etc etc...

The tragic, emotionally damaged, ridiculously powerful man who has never loved anyone before and then suddenly becomes completely obsessed with the FL.

Someone threatens the FL?

Dead.

Someone tries to get between them?

Disfigured.

Someone keeps pursuing the ML after being rejected?

Their entire family is about to have a very bad week (month or life even). 😭

And honestly, some of those supporting female/male leads absolutely deserved consequences. There's a difference between “I don't like this person because they're annoying” and “this person is actively harming people, manipulating everyone, and repeatedly trying to destroy the FL's life.”

But I remember how I used to read these stories and think:

“OMG. So cool. He's so powerful. He would do ANYTHING for her.” 😍

And now I'm older and occasionally find myself thinking:

“Okay, but... did you really need to do ALL that?” 😭

Like, my dude.

You have money. Influence. Armies. An entire terrifying political machine at your disposal.

Surely there was an option between “ignore her” and “have her thrown to the soldiers.” 💀

And that's what I find interesting about the trope now.

I still love the fantasy of someone being completely devoted to you. I still love the “you are the only person in my world” thing. I still love an ML who will absolutely throw hands with the universe if someone hurts his woman. 🙈

But now I also occasionally want to step outside the romantic framing and ask:

Okay... but was that actually justified?

Did the other person genuinely cause harm? Was the retaliation proportional? Was there another way to handle it? Were they actually malicious, or just annoying, inconvenient, or misunderstood?

Because those are VERY different things.

So yes, I remain a fan of my overbearing little yanderes.

Just perhaps with a tiny bit more critical thinking than I had ten years ago. 😂

I can appreciate:

“He would burn the world for her.”

while simultaneously thinking:

“Sir, maybe we don't need to burn the world today.” 😭

Anyway, this arc just reminded me of all those old reading phases I went through, and now I'm curious:

Have you guys ever reread a trope you absolutely loved when you were younger and suddenly thought, “Wait... this is actually kind of insane”? 😂

Or are you still firmly in the:

“Nope. Let him burn the world. I support him.” camp?

Because honestly...

I might still be in that camp too. 🙈

Also, side note: I recently read a BL with similarly extreme ML and MC. 😂 It's another QT called I Love Destroying Worlds' Plot, and it's still ongoing.

The ML basically goes, “This world hurt you. Now that you've left, I will destroy this realm and everyone in it.”

AND THEN ACTUALLY DOES IT. 💀

People in that world who are completely unrelated to the plot while being turned to dust be like

—Cy