Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-four

With the rescued females and the caravan of volunteers gone, the four villages fell into a peaceful routine as we all prepared for winter. Unlike the cold season in the City of Beasts, it was unlikely we would get much snow, if any. But that didn't mean it wouldn't be cold or that a lot if the vegetation wouldn't die off or that animals wouldn't become scarcer. So, using the abundance of salt we now had, we started preserving what we could.

Over the next few weeks, Qin visited frequently and always with Jin and the blue-haired mer as escort. This meant we never ran out of salt and Qin went home with a bunch of fur pelts to decorate her room. It was around the third visit that the blue-haired mer finally introduced himself to me. I was just seeing Qin off, sitting on a wide boulder at the edge of the lake when he approached me with his hands behind his back.

"Queen Bailey?" He ventured, looking shy.

"Hmm?" I turned my head away from the shrinking form of Jin and Qin.

The blue-haired mer pulled out a pearl the size of my fist from behind his back and held it out to me. "My name is Bluepool! I would like to ask for the honor of courting you!" He shouted as though that was the only way the words would leave his lips.

Stunned, I stared at the handsome merman with wide eyes. Bluepool, he'd said. I felt like the bluntest tool in the shed at that moment. How could I have not connected the dots!? This was that marshmellow of a mer that followed Qingqing all the way to the tiger tree village. This was the mer that took up residence in their lake and saved their asses by hiding them in his bubbles multiple times. This was the mer that stuck around so long, he'd ended up falling in love and mating with Bai's daughter. But now, due to my interference, none of that would happen. Bai wouldn't have a daughter with Winston and this mer would never find the love of his life.

A jab of guilt hit my conscience and I looked at the mer as though seeing him for the first time. In the book, it was described that mers were just as handsome as peacocks, if not more so. But Bluepool's character had been written so much as comedic relief, that, when reading, I never considered him a love interest for the main character. I should have. The male was breathtaking. His long indigo hair and round aquamarine eyes glittered in the sun's fading light. Long dark lashes framed those currently shifty orbs and the iridescent scales of his twitching tail shimmered in the water. His triangular body was well muscled and cut in sharp lines. He had three swirling marks over his right breast, and I knew he was strong in water and lightning fast on land. He would not be a bad choice of a mate for any female. I just couldn't fathom why me.

So, I asked. "Why?"

His gaze that had dropped in sadness thinking my silence was rejecting shot back up to my face. "Are you asking why I want to court you? Or are you asking why I'm not courting Qin?"

The mer was either sharper than that damn novel gave him credit for, or he had the impression that I already knew my worthiness of his attentions. "The latter," I answered.

"I... I had always expected Qin to be my mate one day. But ever since I met you and I saw how you cried over the death of someone not your mate and how you cared for females you didn't even know, I couldn't stop watching you," hearing what he'd just said, he removed one hand from the pearl and waved it nervously in the air. "That's not— I didn't mean in a creepy way! I Just mean—ugh—how do I explain? I mean the way your red hair glints like fire in the sun and the way your nose crinkles on the sides when you smile and the way you lick your upper lip when you're thinking hard about something. I couldn't stop watching you. Ok. Yeah. That still sounds creepy." He hung his head and scratched at his scalp in frustration.

I hid a snort. The novel got one thing right. He was a marshmallow. I reached out my hand and took the pearl from him, then turned to walk home without looking at him. After a moment of stunned silence, I could hear a splash of water and an ecstatic "Wahoo!" I couldn't stop the corners of my lips from turning up in a smile. I hadn't explicitly said yes but I wanted the chance to get to know the mer whose fate I had erased from the pages.

After that day, Bluepool stopped going back to the ocean with Jin and Qin and instead took up full-time residence in our lake. Jin didn't seem to mind as he probably had no intention of sharing Qin with anyone for a while anyway. Lance wasn't too happy about it but between the snake boat and the bubble submarines, the cubs were on cloud 9. Bluepool was unsurprisingly good with cubs and over time, the care and attention he gave them got him on Lance's good side. Or at least off his bad side.

The pearl he had given me turned out to be the luminescent one that each mermale would give to their one and only mate. I used it gratefully to illuminate dark nights when the shadows felt too thick and firelight too ominous. Kit would borrow it whenever he had a nightmare or just wanted another rock to look at. The cool light was as soft as its owner's soul and I understood why mer females would get as many as they could to light the dark cold depths of the sea. It was like a beacon. A way to call those who had gone home again. 

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Short chap. Sorry. I think that's all I have in me for now. I need to think of where I want to go from here. These will be the last few chapters and I want to end it on a high note. Hang in there as we make this the best ending ever.