With his two hands on the edge of the small pool, the little mermaid whose ice-blue tail was swaying under the surface, pulled himself up and lifted his head. His blue eyes were looking at the two parents who were nestled against each other nearby.
The little mermaid first looked at the man standing on the left, then turned his eyes to the youth on the right. He then finally shook his tail fin lightly.
Xie Tao originally intended to hold him for a few seconds, then let go. But the tail around his waist and the other's response of hugging him back lengthened those seconds into more than ten.
In this kind of situation, where it could be said to be almost no gap between the two of them, Xie Tao's right cheek inevitably rubbed against the silver hair of this Knox. It was very cool and soft to the touch.
Xie Tao also touched the silver hair with his hand, you could see that it was very good quality.
Some more seconds passed, but Xie Tao did not feel that the Knox intended to let him go anytime soon.
At this close distance, Xie Tao had realized that in his adult form, the Knox was a little taller than him. He was actually almost half a head shorter.
Discovering that the mermaid cub in the small pool was looking straight at them with bright blue eyes, Xie Tao reached out and patted the silver tail around his waist. He then stepped back once it slightly loosened its grip.
When mermaid cubs returned to the water, they recovered quickly.
Xie Tao walked over with a chair and sat down by the small pool. He watched the cub play around in the water for about ten minutes, then picked up the mermaid cub from the pool.
Preparing to leave, the silver-haired Knox standing next to him returned to his cub form and jumped onto the youth's lap.
Xie Tao tied the cloak for the Knox cub and held both cubs in his arms.
When he stood up, he felt some movement. Xie Tao looked down just in time to see the mermaid cub laying to the left reach out and grab one of the small horns of the Knox cub sitting next to him.
The Knox moved his tail slightly, but did not dodge, as if allowing the action of the mermaid cub.
It was a quite nice atmosphere. But how come he felt that the interaction between the two seemed to have changed a little over the night….
It was time to go back to Gaia today, but before leaving the planet, Xie Tao had one last thing he wanted to do.
It was not something he had come up with at the last minute. Xie Tao had thought for some time that since they were going to Hailumite, maybe he would let the mermaid cub he brought with him meet his late biological parents.
The idea was to take the cub to the cemetery to visit their gravestones.
The mother and father of the mermaid cub had departed very early and Xie Tao did not know what attitude the parents of the little mermaid had towards the cub. But at least the abandonment of the cub had not been done by them.
As the central city of Hailumite, Sailou had the most famous and largest cemetery on Hailumite. Every leader of the mermaid race and many heroes rested in this cemetery.
Some prestigious families in the mermaid race also choose to bury their family members there. It was based on this information that Xie Tao came to the cemetery with the two cubs in his arms.
After he arrived, he first tried to find the manager of the cemetery to further inquire about the matter. Following the directions given by the other, Xie Tao went to an area in the Osidiun Cemetery which was designated for the Houdie family.
Depending on their status in the family, there were obviously differences in the location of the gravestones among the members of the same family. The gravestones of the family heads were undoubtedly in the most prominent position and were not hard to find.
According to the fact that the father of the mermaid cub was the second son of the current Houdie family's head, Xie Tao scanned the first two rows of gravestones. He finally spotted the names he was looking for in a relatively remote position on the second row.
To Xie Tao's surprise, in front of the gravestones stood a seemingly still young-looking woman.
The other was clearly there to worship. From where Xie Tao stood, he could see that there was a bunch of fresh flowers in front of the two graves which were connected at the sides.
Xie Tao did not want to bump into the other, so he didn't go over directly and instead went to stand in a relatively distant position while waiting for her to leave.
But it just so happened that when the other was about to turn around and leave, her line of sight ended up in Xie Tao's area.
It only took one glance. When the mermaid woman saw the golden mark on the forehead on the mermaid cub held in the human youth's arms, she showed a very obvious shocked look.
Unfortunately, he had been seen by a member of the Houdie family, but Xie Tao did not feel that he needed to panic.
As long as that family wanted to restore their reputation, they could not do anything to him at this time and place. No matter how unpleasant to the eye they found him, they had to bear with it.
Moreover, Xie Tao did not sense any malice from the other.
Since it was like this, Xie Tao felt that he might as well just walk over to the gravestones with the cubs.
The mermaid cub nestled in the arms of the youth had been very quiet throughout the journey. Although he didn't know where they were, he was being carried by his parent. The cub would have lightly shook his tail fin no matter where he was taken.
The blue sky, the grass, the cluster of flowers, and the upright stones. This was the picture reflected in the eyes of the mermaid cub.
The cub did not know what the upright standing stones were and what they represented.
Naturally, Xie Tao knew that he had to explain it. But, he did not know how to tell the mermaid cub in his arms about the two gravestones. As he was trying to figure out what to say, the woman approached them with a facial expression that was still a bit off.
As the other deliberately came over, Xie Tao had to divide his attention and look over at her for a few seconds. When he did so, he suddenly found that the woman's eyebrows resembled those of the mermaid cub in his arms.
If you just looked at the eyebrows, there was a similarly of about eighty percent.
His parents were looking at the person who had walked over, as a result, the mermaid cub in Xie Tao's embrace also looked up at the person in front of him with blue eyes.
When she met those bright eyes, the mermaid who had not been able to collect herself yet, got even more emotional.
"I…" Katrina's voice trembled. She decided to first introduce herself to the other person, "The father of this cub was my twin brother."
Caught off guard by this information, Xie Tao was slightly stunned for a second. However he quickly accepted the other's statement.
He did not know what her intention was by announcing this relationship and she did not seem to want to elaborate.
After introducing herself, the mermaid took out a pendant from her space bag and silently presented it to Xie Tao.
She had since long distanced herself from them and had no voice in the Houdie family, nor did she participate in family meetings. It was not until after the cub had already disappeared, that Katarina became aware of the decision her family had made.
At that point there was no use in going against them and even after investigating the matter in secret, she had not been able to find the lost cub. Some weeks had already passed when she had discovered what had happened… Fearing the worst, Katarina could only bury the matter deeply in her heart.
"The pendant was prepared for the cub by the two of them. They were not able to give it in time, so I have kept it all these years."
She was of course referring to the woman and man resting under the two tombstones. The mermaid went closer and personally handed the pendant over to Xie Tao.
Once Xie Tao had accepted the pendant, the mermaid took one more profound look at the mermaid cub nestled in Xie Tao's embrace, then finally turned away and left without saying a word.
The Supreme Court had given the other custody of the cub. Katarina hoped that the cub would no longer have to have any involvement with the Houdie family.
Xie Tao had never thought about the complex internal tricks and schemes happening in the Houdie family, nor the relationship between its members.
But, no matter how complicated the situation was, it had nothing to do with him. So as long as he knew that the pendant in his hand was prepared for the cub in his arms by the late parents of the cub, it was enough.
The main body of the pendant was a deep blue crystal jade carved and polished into the shape of a water drop. This dark blue crystal jade was undoubtedly very expensive, because this kind of crystal jade was very rare. It was also known as small size birthstone.
Making a gift with this kind of crystal jade for an unborn cub could at least show one thing, that the parents of this cub had been full of expectations for his birth.
"Papa."
Xie Tao pointed to the black and white photograph on the left gravestone and warmly said the word to the mermaid cub in a guiding tone.
"Papa?" Following the youth's finger, the mermaid cub looked at the unfamiliar photograph the youth was pointing at. He somewhat hesitated slightly, but the little mermaid still obediently pronounced the two syllables.
Xie Tao then pointed to the other, where there was a picture of a gentle-looking woman.
Without waiting for Xie Tao to open his mouth, the mermaid cub held in the youth's arms seemed to have a vague impression of the person in the picture. But as he was uncertain, the cub uttered the syllables in a relatively low voice.
"Mama?"
"Yes."
Xie Tao raised his hand and touched the mermaid cub's hair. "She's your mother."
"They both love you."
Placing the crystal jade pendant around the little mermaid's neck, Xie Tao said this in a soft voice.
_____________
Translator's note:
Before actually reading the chapter, I quickly scrolled through the raws to see how long it was. When I saw the "papa.", "papa?", followed by "mama?" at the end, I directly assumed that little Gale became a little confused and asked if he should call Xie Tao mama instead.
…..I rolled around in bed, squealing for half an hour like the idiot I am before I actually read it and realized that it wasn't the case.
*face-palm*
Well, still, it was so heartwarming and cute. I mean, how can it not be cute when Gale is in it? Just look at this adorable face!
This super cute Gale fan art was made by @blackpuffball143 (๑>◡<๑)