Henry is now heading toward the garden, where he last heard from a servant about Ariel's current location. However, on his way, he unexpectedly encounters a familiar face.
It was Timothy, maintaining a composed expression as he moved faster than Henry, suggesting his emotions were not as calm as he wanted to appear.
Especially when Timothy's eyes landed on Henry, they widened slightly before returning to normal.
"Why, hello there, brother. I presume you had a nice morning?" Henry spoke, unlike Timothy, his composure genuine.
Henry noticed a movement in Timothy's throat as his Adam's apple moved up and down once before he replied, "…Of course. It was... nice."
Seeing Timothy look uncomfortable and seeming eager to walk away, Henry didn't let him pass, shifting his body to block the way.
Timothy's eyes narrowed and he spoke in a low, dangerous tone, "…What do you want?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking—you don't happen to know anything about the shipwreck, do you? Or about the bandits paid to hunt me down?"
A frown appeared on Timothy's face, and he responded with a snarl, "Shipwreck? How am I supposed to know? Are those just rumors? And do you really think I'd stoop so low as to hire mere bandits to take the throne?"
Instead of saying more, Henry simply glanced at his own arm, where his skin hairs stood on end, and he felt a sensation akin to goosebumps.
With his eyes closed, he stepped back—finally giving Timothy space—and said, "I see… then go ahead and be on your way." When he reopened his eyes, a cold glint shone within them. "Just watch your step, Timothy. I hear the floor's a bit... slippery."
Before his younger brother could reply, Henry had already turned and walked away.
———
"Henry!" By chance, Henry again encounters a sibling, but this time, his favorite kind.
With a big smile, Henry bent forward with his arms wide open. "Come here, Little Bud."
Lily jumped into his arms, and he carried her while resuming his walk. "What are you up to now, huh?"
"I wanted to see you! Mom is rambling about her plants and the garden again. She even caught Ms. Ariel trapped already, thankfully Mom was busy with her, so I was able to escape!" She puffed out her chest proudly for doing something silly.
Henry chuckled and pinched her cheek, making her pout cutely and push his hand away. "Stawph it!"
"Alright now. I'm heading to the garden. Are you sure you want to come with me?" Before Henry could even finish, Lily suddenly snapped out of her daydream and jumped out of his arms.
Once on the ground, she didn't bother to say goodbye and dashed off, face set as if she were running for her life.
Henry's lips twitched several times before sighing and turning to walk again.
———
"Ariel."
"Henry!" Ariel's face brightened as she parted from his mother, who was in the middle of describing a flower in front of them and ran off to Henry.
Seeing this, Olivia could only sigh in defeat and felt a slight pity for Ariel. Such pure love for her son, yet she could only settle as his concubine.
'If I were her parent, I wouldn't accept it,' she murmured, hoping Ariel's parents wouldn't react badly once they learned what Ariel wanted.
Some might say there are many other handsome men out there in the world, but one wouldn't realize that a pure maiden's heart, once marked for someone, is hard to recover—perhaps as hard as pushing a large boulder uphill.
"Hey, mom." After patting Ariel's head who now stayed by his side, Henry turned to his mother.
Olivia simply crossed one arm under her bosom, using her other arm's elbow as support, and softly held her own cheek. "Oh, hi Henry. I was just talking about you with your girlfriend here..."
In an instant, Henry almost choked on his own spit, while Ariel's eyes widened in disbelief, cheeks flushing slightly.
"M-Mom… S-She's not my girlfriend or anything. Just a…" Just as Henry was about to say 'friend,' he glanced at Ariel and saw her blushing face.
"…She's someone very close to me. Maybe one of the rare few people I can trust my back with in this world." His words surprised not only his mother but also Ariel. He offered her a gentle smile before eventually changing the subject.
Meanwhile, Olivia mentally nodded her head with confidence, 'He also likes her alright.'
"Anyway, Mom, it's good to see you again. I heard from father about what happened while I was gone. Well, as you can see, I'm not dead."
He then took Ariel's hand and continued, "I'll catch up with you later, Mom. I'll be stealing Ariel for a bit. Is that okay?"
Olivia nodded with a smile and murmured to herself, "Now I wonder where little Lily ran off to. She was just with me earlier." With that, she left the garden to find Lily, who had just recently escaped the dreaded topic.
Silently praying for his sister, Henry also took Ariel out of the garden.
"So, where are we headed?" She asked.
"I'm going to introduce you to a sea creature I just befriended," he said.
Ariel was momentarily surprised, then felt jealousy and a pout.
"You have other ocean friends other than me?" Henry detected a brief twitch on Ariel's fingers as he held her hand.
"Don't worry, you'll like her." Henry smiled, which only made things worse for Ariel.
"It's a She?"
"You'll see."
———
"Remember that large barrel we had during the trip? The one you said you felt a tug on your chest whenever you look at?"
Ariel placed a finger on her chin and looked thoughtful before nodding. "That's right. You said it was just ocean water, right? You lied, didn't you?"
"Not exactly. I only told you half the truth. It contains ocean water, but also the ocean friend I mentioned. Just come and see, you'll find her familiar."
Soon, they reached a large stable filled with many high-quality horses. Among them was also Boy, who was trying to initiate a chat with a mare.
"Hey there. Name's Boy. You don't happen to train others in running, do you? Because when I first saw you, my heart just started running." Initially, Henry thought it was good enough for a horse, that is until the mare shot him a disgusted look.
"…Boy? That's your name? I've never heard of a horse with such a funny name! Now, excuse me my boyfriend Augustus is on his way back to meet me." She turned and huffed away.
Boy remained still, first shocked, then sulked in a corner, drawing circles in the dirt with his hoof.
"Maybe I should've changed my name when Henry offered…"
Ignoring the heartbroken horse, Henry and Ariel arrived at the carriages tucked away in a corner.
He specifically told Liam to leave the barrel inside the carriage, planning to introduce Ariel to Aqua first before taking her to the castle's swimming pool.
Yes, it has a swimming pool—and once again, it was his idea. He came up with it after Lily nearly drowned trying to swim in the ocean, so he thought she wasn't ready yet and built the swimming pool.
It has three parts: 3 feet for Lily, 7 feet for general use, and 10 feet just for fun. Now, the deepest part will serve as Aqua's temporary home.
It's only made of ocean water and heavy amounts of salt, making it expensive to maintain since Henry doesn't know where and how to make chlorine.
This is the age of knights and magic, not science. If Henry wanted to introduce science, he's not exactly adept in it in his past life. Heck, the only element he knows in the Periodic Table of Elements was H2O, which translates to water.
When Henry carried the large barrel and laid it on the grass, Ariel couldn't resist peeking.
"Why didn't you just take her out into the ocean? I saw a river leading to the sea, even had a…what do you call it? A port. Yes you even have a port there."
"Because humans are not exactly fond of seeing creatures they've never seen or heard before. If they saw her, all kinds of rumors would spread, and I don't want to give my brother an edge to ruin my reputation. It would be too much trouble for everyone involved," Henry explained, successfully opening the large barrel.
Ariel eagerly leaned forward, and what she saw next made her gasp in shock.
With its pink skin, a large head and eyes, along with several tentacles with each having their own mouths, the creature in front of her could be called a perfect combination of cute and yet monstrous at the same time.
"Kyuu?"
Or maybe not that perfect—leaning more on the cute side.
"She's so cute!" In an instant, Ariel burst out, abandoning her jealousy and whatnot—she lurched forward and buried herself inside the barrel, wrapping her arms around the baby Scylla and pulled her out of the barrel.
And now she stood with a creature nearly as tall as her in her arms, feeling her soft skin.
"You kept this little one trapped in that barrel for so long? How cruel of you, Henry!" Ariel glared.
"Oh, come on, she has enough ocean water in there, and besides, I'm sure being trapped in a barrel filled with ocean water probably isn't harmful for someone like her."
Deciding that his explanation is valid enough, Ariel changed the subject, "What is she, and what's her name?"
Henry puffed his chest confidently. "Take a guess. Hint, you know her and saw her on the island where you were kidnapped to."
Ariel frowned at that and scratched her cheek. "I know her and saw her on that island?"
She then pulled the baby Scylla away from her arms and stared at her with squint eyes.
"Now that you mention it, she does indeed look a bit familiar…" Her eyes widened. "She's Scylla, isn't she?"
Henry nodded with a smile. "Surprised? Long story short, Elsa and I defeated her. I might or might not have killed her in my last strike. When we found her again, she has turned into this."
Ariel felt a slight pang of jealousy inside her heart when she heard him mentioning Elsa again, but kept it to herself for his sake.
Henry also noticed but didn't made a comment about it. He has long decided to leave the problem of Ariel's feelings for him to his future self—surely, he'd find a solution out of it in the near future.
"That's right. So meet the new Scylla," Henry smiled and pinched Aqua's cheek, or what he assumed to be her cheek, earning a cute 'Kyuu!' from the former ocean terror.
When Henry finished, Ariel's lips twitched. "You named her after my sister?"
————————————
[I used Grammarly on this chapter as an experiment to fix grammar and spelling mistakes. So tell me if things got worse or improved.]