Desharow MermanChapter 45

Translator: Jade

Editor: Cheonsa, Pigeon gAM6UY

IMPORTANT NOTE DOWN BELOW

Just when I had approached the edge of the bath-like ruins, it only then dawned on me that these excessive stone walls were at least 2 metres high, so high that I couldn’t even see Agares’s face. I had to walk at least 10 metres around the stone wall before I could find a small opening that could allow me to climb up.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Down below couldn’t be considered a swamp, rather the water was clear and gleaming with light, along with a vegetation of lily pads floating on top of the water’s surface. However, the water didn’t possess the same clarity as the lake, so I couldn’t even see where Agares was at.

I sat down on the top of the stone wall and swayed the grilled fish in my hand, the same way people would call over a dolphin in an aquarium. “Hey, I came to thank you for your help. If you still don’t want to appear, then I’ll head back!”  E31LDq

After having said that, I planned to stand up. To be honest, I wished that Agares wouldn’t immediately appear just so that I could have a reason to leave this place sooner, though I had a feeling that it was naturally impossible. Right at that moment, I promptly caught sight of a webbed claw emerging from out under the water, stretching past the floating duckweeds. It then grasped onto my ankle that was swaying above the pond. A long, evil yet beautiful face floated out from the dark shadows, and it approached closer to my knee. 

Even though I was mentally prepared, and had instinctively withdrawn my body, the sudden movement had caused me to lose my centre of gravity. Before I could fall, something tightened around my waist and my entire body was then pulled forward, making me come close to a damp chest. When I raised my head, a pair of lips faintly brushed onto the bridge of my nose, and my eyes just stared straight into his enigmatic ones as I felt my breath hitch inside of my throat. 

“Desharow? Where are you? I can’t see you anymore!” 

Not far away, the sound of Lafarre shouting abruptly jolted me awake from the trance, and I immediately pushed against Agares. I steadied my body to sit up once again and raised the grilled fish that was in my hand. Then I responded to his call, “I’m over here, don’t worry! I’m just going to feed him!” 

“To feed…?” In a low voice, Agares repeated that particular word and stared at me bewilderedly with his eyebrows raised high, as though he couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind that word. After all, they were organisms that were accustomed to hunting food for themselves, so how could they understand the action behind the word? Furthermore, if I were to feed him, it would be like an insult to him, since he was probably older than my father’s or even my grandfather’s generation. 

“Er…”  I brandished the roasted fish in my hand before lifting one of his webbed hands up. Then I shoved the fork into his hand, while explaining, “Basically…this is for you to eat, it’s our food. It was roasted over a fire, can you eat it?” 

His eyelids drooped down as he stared at the roasted fish in my hand, and when he gave the fish a whiff, his eyebrows furrowed. I wasn’t sure if the scent of the spice used for roasting, brought here all the way from Russia by Lafarre, catered to Merfolks’ taste. But in short, I loved to use this spice all year round. It was thanks to this that I was able to settle problems regarding personal food preferences during the long voyage.

If Agares doesn’t want to eat it, then this roasted fish shall be mine. I stared at the delicacy in my hand, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.  ghIoHR

I was so certain that he would be disgusted and reject the food, but unexpectedly, he used one of his webbed hands to grab a hold of my wrist. After giving the fish a few licks, he opened up his mouth and tore off a large piece in one bite. Without even bothering about the fish bones, he just swallowed it down, or rather you could say, he wolfed it down. 

Anxiously being worried that he might swallow the fork in the next mouthful as well, I hastily pulled it  away from him, which coincidentally also pulled out half the fish right from Agares’s mouth. “Hey, hey! That’s not how you use a fork, don’t keep eating until you even eat the utensils!” 

Agares licked the sides of his lips that were slick with grease. He then exposed his sharp fangs in dissatisfaction, and as he stared at the remainder of the roasted fish in my hand, his entire face pulled into a cut sorry figure. Seeing him like this, I couldn’t help but “pfft” out in laughter. I was laughing so hard that I swayed from side to side, so much that even the roasted fish almost fell out from being held unstably. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

However, the person who played the leading role in this comedy seemed as though he hadn’t had the slightest clue about his antics and just pensively lifted his eyes to look at me. His indifference was just like a child who was plotting cheap tricks, calm and impassive. The corners of his lips hooked up with a subtled curve, as though he was brewing some kind of crafty plot to take revenge against me.  P 6a0v

I timely held down my laughter and thought, Curses! I almost forgot about that. If I joked around with this treacherous beast, the one who will suffer in the end will be me!  

“Sg…atlr lr tbk sbe’gf reqqbrfv ab tbiv atlr atlcu.” 

In order to make up for my ‘offensive behaviour’ just now, I shifted his attention onto something else. I feigned innocence and grabbed a hold of his webbed hands, shoving the fork into the seam of his fingers, making him hold it in a way that resembled how you would normally hold a fork. It was fortunate that the membrane in-between his fingers didn’t hinder this process. 

“Coafg atja, sbe pera tjnf ab fja la ilxf atlr, kjamt…”  SgmEfh

P ibkfgfv ws tfjv jcv mbcmfcagjafv bc qgfrfcalcu wsrfio fjalcu klat gfolcfv ajyif wjccfgr. P yla boo j rwjii mtecx bo olrt ogbw atf fvuf bo atf obgx, rkjiibkfv la vbkc, jcv atfc mjgfoeiis rqja bea atf rwjii olrt ybcfr. P qegqbrfis jnblvfv Cujgfr’r ujhf jcv rjlv, “Ktlr lr tbk kf fja, agbeyifrbwf lrc’a la?”  

After saying that, I still couldn’t resist looking at Agares’s face. 

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He pensively sized my table manners and nodded his head, after that, he lifted up his other webbed hand and used his fingers to rub the corners of my mouth, wiping away any trace of glistening oil. Then he unexpectedly stuck out his tongue to lick at the residue a little. After that, as though he had finally tasted the most delicious food in the world, the corners of his lips turned up, forming a faint smile as he stared at me, slightly giving off a look of satisfaction. 

I stared at him dumbfoundedly, my cheeks quickly lit aflamed. At that moment, all I wanted to do was climb over the wall and run away. However, once I lifted up my legs, his webbed hands seemed to have instinctively latched onto them.  IwuDaW

Then, he carelessly swept a glance towards my restless legs. 

My movements, just like that, became frozen in place. 

I was heavily aware that I should not escape, else this beast would definitely become overexcited. Moreover, I was certain that he was going to catch me and steal me away right from the spot, in front of my classmates no less!

Considering these factors, without having any other option, I feigned calmness and set my foot back down, continuing to eat a few chunks off the roasted fish in demonstration. Agares then genuinely followed with his head, lowering it to mimic the way I was eating.  OFobeD

He acted out his way of holding the fork. After observing the way I ate with half-lidded eyes, his long eyelashes drooped down as he used his thin lips to delicately nibble on the piece of fish, motions so deliberate that even his cheeks barely moved. Only his Adam’s apple protruded once, followed by the sound of swallowing, saliva going down his long slender throat.   

I couldn’t help but be dazed for a second. I had to admit, the way he ate made him appear like a tempting gentleman. If, let’s say, he didn’t have the habit of licking his lips with his tongue——this act would’ve made him appear to be a perverted person who frequently visited bars to prey upon people to have a sexual tryst with. 

A lovers’ tryst.

When this sentence drifted past my mind, my nerves jumped. I suddenly felt like I was sitting on pins and needles, because, at this moment, in this kind of moonlight and in this kind of pond, both of us were sneakily hiding here and eating roasted fish. Wasn’t this just like having a romantic dinner during a lover’s tryst?!  kRtz3u

This is way too strange… 

As I thought about this, my mind couldn’t suppress the image of things relating to the physical body, and the feeling of shame made sweat drip down my forehead. My gaze met Agares’s, and as though stuck together, I was unable to avoid them. Inevitably, I had a premonition that he was about to kiss me. At this time, his grip on the fork loosened and his webbed hands followed the arch of my back upwards to my nape, his fishtail had been propped up to support his body weight, allowing his whole body to emerge from the pool. 

The ambiguous atmosphere was thick and heavy, like it was going to ignite into flames. If I didn’t do something sooner or later, things would develop into looking like the next stage of the lover’s tryst. I shifted my body aside to avoid being plastered against the incoming Agares, while simultaneously feeling around my body to see if I could find anything that could shift his attention away. Immediately, in the pocket of my trousers, I felt a very solid metallic object. I fished it out. 

It was Lafarre’s compass. Its metal pointer shook frantically, just like my heart. I noticed that the head of the arrow pointed in Agares’s direction. So using both of my hands, I held the compass right in front of me, yet the gadget didn’t prevent Agares from coming closer. Therefore, I pointed to it and raised my voice, “This is a compass!”  NFSIwd

Agares seemed to have been caught off guard by me. Feeling baffled, he shot a glance at the object in my hand, clamped it with two fingers and shook it. I noted that the compass seemed to have succeeded in taking over his curiosity, and I couldn’t help but somewhat feel secretly delighted. But of course, I couldn’t let that expression be shown on my face. 

I rubbed my chin for a sec, and like an earnest teacher, I fingered lightly at the metal pointer, asking, “Do you know why this thing keeps pointing at you?” 

Agares used his destructively pointed fingernail to poked at the glass case a couple of times, and then he accidently made a small superficial crack on it before shaking his head to indicate that he didn’t know why. 

I touched the compass in distress. Damn it, Lafarre would definitely murder me. As an explorer he really treasures his compass. I rubbed the space between my eyebrows, my head hurting. With a sigh, I continued, “It’s because your body carries a magnetic field. It attracts the compass thus making the arrow alter its orientation.”  zZHwFr

“Magnetic field, att…ract…”

In a low voice, Agares repeated these two Russian words, his pronunciation was intermittent as well as unproficient, obviously showing that using Russian to say these words was overly complicated to him. Even so, he reconsidered every word and chewed out each and every letter continuously, like he was trying really hard to attempt to comprehend my language.   

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While rephrasing those words aloud, he kept his gaze on me as if he was not just simply repeating what I said, but rather expressing his own meaning. This kind of real, yet seemingly fake, misperception made a shudder-like throb erupt from within my heart. I immediately avoided those pair of serene, yet frightening, eyes and grabbed his webbed hands in order to place them on the compass. Immediately, the head of the needle went crazy, shaking left and right, making it look like it was going to break out of its glass case at any time.

”Look,” I took a deep breath, attempting to calm my beating chest, before explaining in English, “Attract, you attract it. Because of you… “  pQkVC6

My words were paused when Agares grabbed onto my wrist. I jumped in fright and had nearly thrown the compass into the water, but with Agares quick reflexes, he managed to catch it. He then went to fiddle with the small knob on it. Suddenly, my heart felt like it was the compass, it too was captured in his fingertips; the realization made it hard for me to breathe. I could only feel like a wooden chicken staring at him, my mouth unable to squeeze out anything that could divert his attention.  　

I didn’t know what he wanted to do or express. I could only look helplessly ahead as he buried himself into my chest, his arms encasing tightly around my waist as his nose pressed against my shirt so that he could deeply inhale my scent. I lowered my head rigidly and saw that his eyes were closed, looking like he had been intoxicated from drinking wine, as if my body emitted some kind of underlying scent that left a rich aftertaste. 

I immediately felt the hairs all over my body stand up, while simultaneously, I felt every single pore I had suddenly contract due to Agares’s close proximity. In addition, his hair was issuing a sweet hormonal scent, which continuously rushed into my nostrils, and it was particularly strong at this very moment. 

I was not certain if it was due to Agares’s excitement, but what I did know was that I was currently terrified. Once again, I was unable to hold back the urge of wanting to break into a run so that I could flee from the situation Sae3lK

I subconsciously grabbed the fork that was lying beside me and aimed it towards Agares’s neck. Fiercely, I warned, “Hey. If you dare to do anything to me here, don’t hold it against me if I treat you like how I treated the roasted fish!” 

“…Attract…” Agares, who was delightfully burying his head near my heart, abruptly issued out a low and husky sound. I was astounded for a moment, and in that timespan, I saw Agares lifting up his head. “I… attract… you… Desharow…” I felt his damp lips moving towards my earlobe leaving tiny sparks as he trail up from my neck, “Deeply.” 

It was like this sentence was a magical spell that lashed within my eardrums, turning my entire mind into chaos. I didn’t know how Agares could be able to determine people’s inner emotion through their scents. I, obviously, felt it was absurd, yet I feel like I had unearthed an unbearably embarrassing secret. Suddenly, I lost the ability to refute back, as if my voice had been stolen and had I become completely dumbstruck. Indeed, I felt like I was the same as the compass, beginning to be incapable of resisting this beast’s ‘magnetic field’. 

Just like right now, as Agares pressed his lips onto my earlobes, I faintly felt excitement just from the mere touch. mc2SI5

Furthermore, it was not just physiologically. 

My heart thirsted for him to further his violation, to take another step and encroach on me. Even if we were in a taboo situation, this kind of contradicting emotion brought me back to that period when Agares had gone missing. Back when I thought about him under the blanket, alone… while masturbating. And the most embarrassing thing was that he had been watching me do it. 

Curse it, curse it! Could it be that I had developed feelings for him!?

How could my sexual orientation change because of a male mermaid? I’m clearly just a regular Russian man. I am supposed to like Eva! RdBDOQ

No. This was definitely caused by my Stockholm syndrome. It certainly has been getting worse every day. 

These kinds of thoughts were all battling inside my head. I was rattled into confusion as Agares pressed me against the stone wall. The moment he lowered his head to press down onto my lips, my entire body exploded, and I sprang up. Panicking, I turned around and jumped from the wall to free myself. But as soon as I landed, I staggered and slipped onto the mushy ground and got my face covered in mud. 

I carelessly wiped my face and subconsciously turned my head back, but I saw that Agares didn’t immediately come chasing after me. Instead, he just calmly stood behind the stone wall, his eyes drooping down in concentration. Having the stance of a senior looking at my stupid appearance, his eyes held both interest and incomparable ambigiouness.

From the moment the corners of his mouth hooked up, he had already considered me as something extremely amusing. In his eyes, I was like a little imp trying to recover what little pride I had left, but was then thoroughly defeated by him.  wjvdSk

“Fuck, damn it. This cunning bastard!” 

I flew into a rage of humiliation and directed a few words of profanity at him. I even smashed my fist into the mud, and as soon as I frantically rolled over and stood up, I broke into a run. You could even say that I was flying back to the camp, even leaving Lafarre’s questioning from earlier unanswered. Finally, I crouched down, alone, in a corner and washed off the mud on my face. 

Chrysanthemum Garden.

TBC

Cheonsa have something to say: Aiyah! This chapter somehow leaves a sweet aftertaste in my mouth. ML is simply too cute, mischievous, cunning, adorable, loyal, possessive… basically a bundle of goodness. And no matter how much Desharow does, he still can’t stop himself from entering Agares’s claws. This brings us to what we want to say:  ouK5ix

THIS IS IMPORTANT!  Desharow is NOT suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. So please throw that out of your mind. 

This plot has a tag called “IMPRINTING” and if you are not familiar with this word, you guys can search up about twilight.  It was mentioned on my Wattpad account, but I didn’t say much about it. Now, I am wondering why I didn’t mention this from the very beginning. I should have. 

(Updated info, a good friend helped!) :Kinda got myself mixed up here a bit. The imprinting in Desharow is similar to Twilight but not the same.  

I’m trying to keep things vague cause this matter is pretty much a big spoiler. Imprintment for Desharow has something to do with Desharow’s genetics as I said before, which you guys will find out later in the novel. Another thing was that, Agares and Desharow had met before when Desharow was a young kid ( you guys all know this), hence, Agares’s presence was imprinted in the kid’s mind beside the genetic connection which created a natural bond and attraction between them. That is why Desharow felt a connection with Agares now. There’s a familiarity between them, both mentally and physically, which Desharow has a hard time shaking off.  E7RKQN

However I assure you that love is still there. Through the course of the novel, romantic feelings will sprout. 

I don’t really care if you guys call Desharow stupid, or that he has no brain cells or dislike him because you guys think he’s weak or just keeps getting himself “raped” by the ML, etc. But I’m just gonna peacefully state why he can’t stop himself from being attracted to ML and why his reasoning has stopped. I am also deeply sorry that I didn’t mention this in the beginning at all. I apologize if this message offends anyone, but that’s not my intention. I just want to make a clarification.