Chapter 56 The King's Vision
The King of West Asia yawned lazily when he saw the prince smiling warmly at Ariel and inviting her to sing in the palace.
"Well, after all, we are young people, and our minds are always full of romantic fantasies."
"To have an unknown girl singing in my court? That's outrageous."
"Let's just leave him alone for now. When Eric grows up and thinks back on his current experience, he will realize how ridiculous this relationship is."
He didn't care which woman his son was interested in, as long as it didn't develop into real love, everything was fine.
The king knew that royal marriages were never about love, just like him and his wife, the queen. There are too many things in this world that are much more important than love.
According to the plan that had been arranged long ago, his son was destined to marry the princess of Endeok.
——This has nothing to do with love, of course. It is entirely a geopolitical consideration: the Kingdom of West Asia is a country that relies on maritime trade and fisheries, and it needs the military power of Endeavour to dominate the sea.
After receiving the prince's promise, Ariel walked to the center of the hall:
"I dedicate a song to His Majesty the King and the Queen, and His Royal Highness Prince Eric!"
The king lazily closed his eyes, feeling the warm afternoon sun, and ignored the farce.
"If this girl Eric picked up can sing half as well as the singing girls, I will just praise her and make Eric happy," the king thought. "Eric is almost 16 years old. He doesn't have much time left for his youthful fantasies. He will soon know what it means to be an adult and the new king of the Kingdom of West Asia."
The prince also gave Ariel an expectant smile, and his mind had already begun to conceive a hundred words to praise this amnesiac girl.
——No matter how Ariel sings, he will never be stingy with words to praise her!
As for whether his father liked the girl's song, the prince didn't care. In this world, as long as he was the only one who liked the girl's song, it was enough.
Ariel then began to sing.
When she sang the first syllable, the king suddenly opened his eyes.
He felt his soul trembling.
It was as if cool, clear water bathed him from top to bottom, cleansing his heart and soul. The king looked at his wife who was sitting on the throne beside him.
——The queen of the West Asian kingdom was stunned and trembling all over. Then the king realized that the expression he was making was no different from that of his wife.
Ariel sang with great concentration.
The sound of nature flowed through the palace, echoing endlessly on the beams.
Everyone was fascinated by the song, whether it was the king and queen on the throne, the prince who just wanted to hear the girl sing, or the singers who boasted of having the most beautiful voices, all the expressions on their faces were frozen.
Everyone in the palace heard the song, and everyone forgot what they were supposed to do: the princes and nobles who were talking and laughing suddenly became quiet, and the wine glasses they raised were frozen in the air;
The servants who were cleaning the corridor stopped sweeping with their brooms.
The maid who was carrying milk and passing by the door of the hall suddenly stopped and listened quietly to the sounds coming from the hall;
The waiter who was pouring wine into the prince's cup had his right hand frozen in the air, unaware that the wine in the golden cup had already overflowed.
Migratory birds flew over the palace of the West Asian Kingdom. When they heard the singing coming from below, they changed the direction of their flight and circled above the palace.
Even people miles away could see this strange scene: hundreds of birds hovering and circling above the royal palace of the West Asian kingdom.
It was not until the end of the song that the crowd, who were still reluctant to leave, suddenly came to their senses.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness!"
The waiter then noticed the wine overflowing from the glass and was terrified.
Prince Eric had no intention of blaming the waiter. He clapped his hands hard to applaud the girl's singing.
Long before the girl sang, the prince had already prepared hundreds of words of praise in his mind.
But when the girl actually finished singing, he couldn't remember a single word.
The lingering sound of the beautiful song echoed in his mind, erasing all his thoughts like an eraser.
He could only clap his hands hard until his hands felt painful, sore and hot, until scalding tears flowed from his eyes, dripping onto his bright red and painful hands, and into the wine in the golden cup, turning into ripples.
The prince glanced at his father beside him again.
The king's eyes were dull, like a statue, and he was completely unable to come back to his senses.
"Well, she sings beautifully, doesn't she?" said Prince Eric.
The prince forgot all the fancy words - the words created by humans were far from enough to describe the mermaid princess's song, and had to use the most primitive words to describe it.
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The king shuddered.
This is more than just nice to hear!
As the monarch of the West Asian Kingdom, he had heard too many outstanding singers and too many well-known musicians, and had long been numb to beautiful singing.
But today, the king realized that the most beautiful melody he had ever heard was like a flickering candlelight meeting the sun compared to the song sung by the girl today.
Even the evil songs of mermaids that enchanted hearts and caused shipwrecks in the horror tales circulated by sailors could not compare to the song of the girl before him.
"Where did you pick up this amnesiac girl?" the king said tremblingly.
The prince then told the story of how he found Ariel on the seashore.
"A girl with such a beautiful singing voice will definitely not remain unknown!" the king said with certainty, "All the noble kings and emperors on this continent will compete to make this girl a singer in their courts!"
"That's great." The king patted Prince Eric on the shoulder. "You did a great job! You actually found a girl with the most beautiful singing voice in the world."
As the prince listened to his father's words, he suddenly felt that this scene was like a dream and completely unreal.
Originally, Prince Eric expected that he was the only one who liked the girl's song, and he was the only one who was willing to praise the girl with words, while his father would only watch coldly and respond with a few words at most.
Now, it was his father who had beaten him to the punch and was bragging about the amnesiac girl.
Seeing his son in a daze, the king smiled and said, “We must make good use of this girl’s singing.
"In the future, when foreign dignitaries and royal families visit our country, let this girl sing a song! " "The envoys from Endeavour will be here soon. It's a good opportunity to talk to them about your engagement."
“All the princes and nobles in the Western Continent will know that in the palace of the Kingdom of West Asia, there is the most beautiful singer in the continent!
"How proud we should be of this! " "The diplomats who negotiate with us will lose their appetite and sleep when they hear this song - because even after the song is finished, it will echo in their minds for several months.
"After hearing this magical song, even the most stubborn negotiator will hold back a little on his actions at the negotiation table."
(End of this chapter)