Ch 263 There’s a Mermaid at Home (10.24)
Surprise! One last chapter for the week. Thanks for all your support!

“I will surely investigate the truth of the matter myself, but Your Majesty, you must guard your tongue. I think I don’t need to tell you what is appropriate to say and what isn’t. Don’t try to challenge my patience, and don’t try to test my bottom line. You can’t afford the price.” Her tone was gentle and relaxed. She did not sound like she was threatening someone.

She stood up and arranged her clothes. Smiling, she continued, “Then, I will leave first. I wish Your Majesty a good night.”

Some things she didn’t need to ask, as she already knew the answers.

At the door, August was still stood outside like a door god, with his back straight, as if nothing could knock him down.

“You are not allowed to meet him alone in the future.” August spoke unhappily as he held her in his arms.

If he hadn’t been unable to get away {from work?} before, how could he have let XunMi go see that guy by herself?

XunMi promptly nodded. “En, I have no relationship with him. It’s highly unlikely I’ll meet with him again. Besides, even if there was a relationship, he’s not as important as my family’s dear August, right?”

After all this time, XunMi’s abilities in sweet talking were now 10/10. Coaxing August was naturally a matter of course.

Sure enough, August was happy after hearing XunMi’s words, and the smile on his face grew wider.

XunMi seized the opportunity to repeat to him what Anson had said to her. She was now a little uncertain as to what role August’s grandfather had played here.

After all, the first generation president of the Mermaid Academy had also participated in the deep sea mermaid affair. She did not know how long Grandpa Andrew had been the president of the academy, or whether his hands were clean.

If she had to make a choice, she would seek her husband’s advice.

“I’ll ask Grandpa for you,” August said after thinking about it.

He could guess that Mi’er must be struggling now, and as a good husband, how could he let his wife face difficulties?

XunMi breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok.” She smiled and nodded.

Holding August’s hand and walking down the quiet Fashion Street, she possessed the illusion that she had returned to her own world, because the constructions here were somewhat the same.

Aside from the robots coming and going, there really seemed to be no difference.

By the time the two returned home it was no longer early. August had already informed his grandfather while they were on the road.

Although there was no answer from the old man, when they got home, they discovered someone sitting in the living room.

Astonishingly, it was the man they had been looking for before, Andrew Ludovic. XunMi and August glanced at each other and walked in.

“You’ve returned! Really, letting your old man wait so long.”

Andrew put his teacup down heavily, his heart stifled. He had been drinking the tea here alone for half a day till his stomach was full, cutting down his happiness.

“You didn’t tell us you were coming, and once you had arrived, you also didn’t inform us. How could we know you were coming?” August said calmly, immediately resisting his grandfather’s dissatisfaction.

Andrew touched his nose resentfully. He glared at August fiercely, unable to help muttering, “Sure enough, he gets a wife and forgets his grandpa. This grandpa is so unloved.”

“I’ve never loved you, all right?!” August pushed XunMi to sit down on the sofa opposite, and after dropping this blow on his grandfather, he went into the kitchen.

Soon, he returned carrying a platter of fruits and XunMi’s favorite chocolates, and adeptly began feeding her.

It didn’t matter if there was an old single man in need of care, he was just treated as air.

Andrew was about to start hopping in anger. This stinky boy was not cute at all, not cute!

“Grandpa Andrew, is there anything you’re here for?” XunMi halted August’s actions and asked with a smile.

She guessed that the man had come due to their question from before, but she didn’t know what his purpose now was.

All at once, Andrew was reminded of his business here, and sat up straight with a serious face.

“What was the meaning of your message? You want to investigate the matters of the deep sea mermaids?”

August rarely saw his grandfather look so serious. When he became serious, that meant the matter was very important.

August put down the fork in his hand. “Yes, grandpa, you are the president of the Mermaid Academy, which had something to do with the previous mermaid research.”

His grandfather had also been a top power back in those days, and now he was already more than a thousand years old.

But in recent years, his grandfather had been aging very rapidly. He probably had, at most, 50 or 60 more years to live.

Andrew’s eyes flashed, “You don’t need to investigate things about the deep sea mermaids. That’s all already in the history books. Do well the things you should do, and don’t touch the things you shouldn’t.”

That was a curse, a curse on both the deep sea mermaids and on him.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It was so for humankind, and likewise so for the deep sea mermaids.

XunMi suddenly heard the tinge of hatred in Andrew’s tone.

“Grandpa Andrew, I think you should know a little bit. Can you tell me whether you participated in the research on deep sea mermaids in those days? I can disregard other things, and I won’t let August get involved. I just want to verify.”

This way I can do what I need to do without any misgivings. The perseverance in XunMi’s eyes was not weak; she would not retreat.

Understanding dawned on Andrew. He shuddered as he looked at XunMi with a complicated gaze. “You … you are a deep sea mermaid!”

He never expected that at a time when he had already resigned himself to his fate, that he would actually see a deep sea mermaid again. It seemed the heavens were on his side.

XunMi neither nodded nor shook her head, but her indifferent expression already told Andrew that the answer was yes.

“Deep sea mermaids… the darlings of the ocean, promising the continuation of life, but nevertheless a calamity for humankind,” Andrew said in a disappointed voice, his shrewd eyes suddenly cloudy.

“Calamity for humankind?” XunMi repeated doubtfully.

Why did she feel that these developments were increasingly jumping off the rails, giving her no way to reverse, and saying everything was the fault of the deep sea mermaids?

Then she really should laugh,[1] directly bomb the humans, and get the heck out of here.

Andrew sighed, and began to speak about the affairs from long ago.

“I was indeed aware of the former Mermaid Research Institute, and I did participate in it, but only in the white research. The laboratory was divided into white research and red research. The white research was focused on human health, longevity, genes, and so on. The red research was focused on mermaids, transforming girls into adult mermaids, increasing their antibodies, and giving them more strength to survive.”

“At first, everything was going well, until the first child born from a human combined with deep sea mermaid genes was unable to live to the age of thirty. In the beginning, we thought it was just an unfortunate mishap. But then when there was a second, and then a third… everybody knew something was wrong. Then gradually, those who’d been transformed into mermaids by the extracted deep sea mermaid genes also began to have accidents.”

“It took us hundreds of years to finally know where the problem lay.”

Translator’s Notes
[1] This is the cold, sarcastic, WTF kind of laugh. I don’t have a more succinct way to phrase it in English.

Only four more chapters of this arc, and then an epilogue.