"Do give her another chance, your highnesses." Sebastian insisted, glaring at the mischievous queen from the corner of his eyes. He was just in time to see her snickering with her female children.

His hands twists into a ball of fists by his side. Arielle was right. His second wife really is an urchin. She is nothing like his first wife, the first Queen. Where the Queen was warm-hearted and loving, this one was just cruel and nasty—parading the whole kingdom as if it were ever hers. If not for Arielle, he wouldn't have ever dared showed up in her front. He never would have.

"And let that urchin escape again?" The Queen spat out, ending her words with a mocking laughter. "I don't think so, we...don't think so." A smirk forms on her lips, her amused eyes drinking in the frustrated look in the lad's countenance. To her, he was just as weak as her husband, Newt. Very determined in mind but very debile in actions.

King Newt clenched his fists on the golden armrests besides him. He wasn't known for someone that would easily change his mind on something, even if his daughter was involved. He knew what Arielle was capable of doing. He needed to stop her before she undergoes anything that'd forever shatter his Kingdom.

"Darling..." The Queen continues, her arms coiling around the king's shoulders seductively. "Don't you think that she's getting in the way again? Remember the last time she almost succeeded in stealing your Triton? It's high time she needed to be put in the—"

"With all due respect, your highness..." Sebastian cuts in, barely keeping the anger in his tone. "Keep your thoughts to yourself. I didn't summon your opinions in this—neither did I summon you. I'm only here for the King's final say and not a combined ideal."

Her eyes widened, so did her mouth, yet no words came out. It took her some ridiculous amount of seconds for her to regain her composure and bare her fangs at him threateningly.

"Newt—!"

But what could Newt do about it anyways? Newt just waved it off with a deep sigh and threw a brief, silent glance at his fuming wife, almost pleadingly. "Leave the boy alone. You know my daughter very well if anything should happen to him. Not even I can tame her at that point, just... let him be."

Almost immediately, Sebastian wears a proud fanged grin at his statement. Surprise wasn't seen on his features. He already saw it coming the whole time. He was untouchable, thanks to Arielle's public demand.

He could beat his chest and proudly talk about how wonderful Arielle was to the other mer-men and how nice she was, but...he knew doing such things would only boost her ego and make things more complicated for his living. Totally not his catch, especially for a creature like him. Keeping his head low as usual is always the best option for him. It worked a thousand times for him in many situations so it could still work for him at the present time.

Almost immediately, he shook his head, reminding himself why he was here. All he needs to do is just convince the King to unground her for tomorrow's training and get the scale (in case you're confused, in the mermaid world, 'scale or scaly' is actually like saying fuck) out of here. "Your highness, she's a deep sea mermaid." He quickly pointed out.

"Who cares if—"

"Ursula." King Newt raised his hand in the air, signaling her to keep shut. "I ordered him to talk, please deviate from anything that will interfere with his speech next time." He narrowed his eyes back at him, "Go on."

Fair enough, she finally kept her mouth shut but that didn't stop her from sending a nasty glare to the young lad, alongside with her feminine mer-kids.

The tension around Sebastian's shoulders increased more when he averted his side-glare to the other princesses. Lily, the golden trophy who was believed to be the eldest, was unsurprisingly fingering her golden locks and battering her thick lashes at him, sucking on her bottom lip in the process. Lilith, the blueish wonder, had her head bowed the entire time, but it was clear that she had a silly grin plastered on her pale lips. What makes her a bit different from her sister, Lily, is that she was a bit more of conservative than loud. But no one needed to tell Sebastian that they were both eyefucking him, shamelessly.

He rolled his eyes when he noticed that they began to struggle to compose themselves and win his attention. Like Arielle always say, "The grumpy twins would always strike again."

He shook his head. More problems means more accentual troubles.

And just when he thought it couldn't get worse, one of them winked at him. As if their mother's bickering wasn't enough.

"Por favor, arrêter, tu deux!" (Please, stop, you two!) Sebastian growled mentally, knowing fully well that they had already cued into his mind—he could feel the barrier of his thoughts very open and loose.

When both girls cowered at how they were caught red handed, Sebastian nodded to himself and fixed his attention back to the awaiting case. "What if I said the ball should be held specially for her, like to distract her?" When King Newt was about to speak, he continued, "What if I be her bodyguard during the festival?"

Seeing that the king was about to talk again, out of fear he spoke again, "I'm the only one that can do this, your majesty. Please, don't shut her out again—out of your reach. She really isn't as bad as she looks. Give her a chance and you won't regret it." He mused. "If I can force her back into her shell, can she then be allowed to roam the sea like she used to?"

"What if it costs your freedom?" King Newt asked, his voice deep and cold, colder than the depths of the calmest ocean. "I don't trust anyone to be with her, especially a male. Remember, the heat is already surfacing in some parts of the ocean. And from the latest update, the most affected so far are the females. Anyone can lose control anytime."

"Control? Obviously, I would never do anything to her!" Sebastian's lips pressed into a thin firm line. Why would he ever want to defile his best friend? The girl he somehow is starting to see as more than a friend. And would she ever lose control? Of course not. The girl he knows only sees him as a shark, which makes him wonder if she ever trusted him in the first place. Where he told her almost all his secrets, she concealed a lot of her secrets.

Sebastian began to struggle within himself when even more worrying thoughts crept in. "We've been together for a long time." His eyes were cold and hard as he spoke, pain evident in them. "Even though I feel like we're just like lost tadpoles forced to swim around in a broad, empty pond, she's still the 'future's queen'. My best friend."

"Very well, I'm giving her—the both of you a second chance." King Newt turned his ringed finger over and over again to distract himself from saying the otherwise. "What do you think my dear?" He turned to his loving wife with a small, perhaps forced smile.

Ursula folded her arms across her chest with an annoyed look on her face. She felt insulted by her husband's meekness over the issue. If only she could tame him into believing her words and following her desires. If only. "Humph, get her as far away as possible. And try not to be a bait for the sirens." She sneered.

Coming back at her, he said, "I don't need to be scared by that. Despite my trait, Arielle can sum—" He stopped when he slowly recollected something Arielle had said to him one day.

A promise he had made.

"Did you... you just sing to those sirens?!" His voice was almost cracked from disbelief.

"N-no, I...I mean, shuuuuush!" Arielle clasped her hands around his hanging jaw. "You're going to get me caught here again!"

"What the scale do you mean?! That was a bloody nymph—siren! Wait a minute! Was that a guy?! I swear that—"

"you'd never tell anyone about this." Arielle interrupted, her eyes almost watery with great fear. "Not even a soul, please. Not even...my father!"

"Arielle..." His voice softened immediately. Despite the fact that she did something bad, he always hated seeing her like this.

"Just promise, Seth." She pouted.

Hearing the nickname she gave him, he felt almost defeated at that point. "I promise." He forced a bitter smile. "You scaly commune with sirens! Are you a—"

"You promised!"

He ran his fingers through his hair angrily. "Shut up and start talking already!"

Arielle sighed and nodded, stealing some glances around them before elbowing him to go somewhere with her.

Her secret coven.

"Your majesty has able-bodied, competent men that watches the kingdom day and night for cases like those." A mocking smirk slowly appeared on his lips when he saw her jaws clenching, "Unless you're trying to question the king's competency here."

"I—" Queen Ursula swallowed back the bile in her throat when a pair of angry eyes came to her direction. "You've my permission."

Sebastian grinned and turned to her daughters, seeking their usual persuasive speech, but found none. If there was anything that was even strange, it was their weird silence throughout his speech. He should've expected that anyways. A soft groan left his lips in annoyance.

"Father, he makes a very good point." Lilith suddenly says, finally lifting her eyes to her father's direction. "I mean, I trust him."

"Great," Sebastian murmured under his breath but covered his grumbling with a fake smile. "Thank you Princess Lilith."

"With my full permission, you can take her only to the festival." King Newt declares, stamping his Triton on the ground to finalize his words. "Do not mess up with her."

"I won't let you down, your majesty." Sebastian was far beyond excited not only to hear that he's her guardian but that she can attend the festival. Maybe then, he could confess his feelings for her and she'd understand how he really felt about her.

"You may leave." Newt's voice boomed and within a second, the guards were besides Sebastian's side, clutching their spears tight as they refuse to meet their king's eyes.

"You won't believe this, Arielle!" He was far ahead of the guards and was already away from their nasty grasp, swimming out of the royal grounds swiftly to spread the good news. "Just you wait, princesa."

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-What do you think about Queen Ursula? A sea urchin or a bittersweet queen? Do tell me what you think!

-Any comments on the princesses?

-Who guessed that Sebastian felt something for our girl, lol. Do you think they'd make a lovely couple? ;)

-What do you think Arielle is hiding from her best friend and her race in general? :)

-What race do you think Sebastian lies in? :)

Thank you for reaching this far! Although this story was written out of instant inspiration (early mornings), I feel like it'd be edited later. Sorry for the long wait, I can't promise to update faster but I'd try. Also, this chapter is dedicated to my proofreading babe @kelladaisy113! So glad you came back! Hope you enjoy this one, here you go ❤️