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.