Chapter 42 Dream Inception

The mermaid princess, having been sternly reprimanded by the mermaid queen and sentenced to confinement, followed the duty-bound eldest prince back to his palace, feeling quite wronged. 

How frustrating! The eldest brother was utterly unapproachable! 

Meanwhile, the fifth prince remained at the palace, continuing to face his reprimand. 

Upon returning to the room designated for her, Lu puffed out her cheeks and, with a dejected demeanor, bid farewell to the eldest prince, who stood silently watching her at the door. "Take care, Brother. There's no need to prepare dinner for me; I'm going to sleep…" 

"Sleeping?" The eldest prince seemed slightly puzzled. 

"I'm tired," Lu replied innocently. 

What hope was there in these days of confinement… she couldn't even visit Grandmother! 

All her joys had been stripped away! 

What else could she do? She could only sleep! 

The eldest prince nodded with restrained composure, not probing further. "Then I won't disturb your rest. Remember to rise early tomorrow." 

"Rise early for what?" Lu asked, momentarily stunned. 

Hadn't she already been confined? 

"You need to familiarize yourself with the proceedings of the Four Seas Festival. I will come to wake you tomorrow morning." 

"Rest well." 

With that, the eldest prince reached out to gently ruffle Lu's hair, a glimmer of amusement briefly flickering in his gray-blue eyes, before he turned and departed. 

Lu: …She had almost forgotten about that! 

Though she was somewhat looking forward to the Four Seas Festival, did it have to be so rushed? Wasn't there even a moment of respite? 

However, with her elder brother already gone, Lu sighed, closed the door, and flopped onto her soft bed, rolling over. 

Never mind, sleeping it is~~ 

The little mermaid shut her eyes, burying her face into the pillow and nuzzling it, quickly losing consciousness and sinking into a dream. 

… 

It was rare for Lu to dream. 

Mermaids seldom dreamt, and even more rarely did they possess such clarity of consciousness within a dream. 

Yet Lu was acutely aware that she was dreaming— 

A vast, golden, unidentified object loomed in the depths of the sea, and considering that she was the only mermaid in this expansive abyss, devoid of any other creatures… it could only be a dream, right?! 

With this thought in mind, the little mermaid swished her beautiful blue tail, cautiously approaching the resplendent golden object in her dream— 

Even in the pitch-black depths of the ocean, the golden scales adorning this mysterious object shimmered with a brilliant yet gentle glow. 

It seemed to radiate brilliance by nature. 

However… Lu furrowed her brow, swimming in circles around it while casting uncertain glances with her blue eyes. 

Why was she dreaming of something she had never seen before? 

How strange. 

Lu pondered this conundrum, but it didn't prevent her from reaching out to curiously touch the hard, cold scales, then flicking her tail to swim above and view the entirety of this entity. 

Ultimately, she discovered two coral-like formations and deduced that this place was likely… a head? 

The little mermaid blinked in surprise— 

So this enormous golden mass was indeed a living creature? But why was it so still?? 

How could she be having such an extraordinary dream?!

However, the mermaid's energy was indeed limited; once her spirited exploration of the creature came to an end, boredom set in, and she finally quieted down. 

Lu found a comfortable spot, leaned against the creature with solemnity, and murmured, "Sigh, if I'm dreaming, then why doesn't it move?" 

How terribly dull. 

In fact, the tedium had reached a point where she considered simply dozing off again within the dream. 

…Then, to her surprise, the thing against her back stirred. 

"...You seem to be adapting rather well," a deep voice resonated from some unknown depth, dark and husky, yet imbued with a strangely profound tranquility. 

There was a hint of reluctant resignation in his tone—was it an auditory hallucination? 

It also felt oddly familiar. 

Yet Lu furrowed her brow, pondering for some time, but could not recall where she had heard that voice before. 

Hmm… perhaps she had merely borrowed someone's voice and woven it into her dream? 

Resolving to let it go, Lu turned to say something but was suddenly captivated by a pair of radiant golden dragon eyes that had opened above her, and she froze. "You…" 

No, wait, why did those eyes seem so familiar? 

"Hmm?" The immense golden eyes regarded her with calm intensity. 

Unable to contain herself, Lu instinctively took a step back, hesitantly surveying the colossal entity before her. 

After all, it was a figment of her own imagination; thus, Lu hesitated for a moment, then quietly requested, "Um… could you perhaps be a little smaller?" 

She hadn't felt this way before, but now that those eyes were so large, she felt an immense pressure just looking at them, and trying to maintain eye contact required straining her neck upwards. 

Was it normal for dreams to feel so oppressive? 

The golden dragon paused momentarily, then, somewhat awkwardly, diminished its size to match that of the mermaid— 

Its head was now of equal height, yet its entire body still remained impressively vast. 

Uncomfortably, it shifted its dragon tail, before finally redirecting its gaze toward the little mermaid who was fixedly observing it, and stiffly inquired, "...Is this satisfactory?" 

It hadn't anticipated that its first formal encounter with the little mermaid would unfold in such an… unexpected manner. 

Lu scrutinized him closely, nodding her head in reluctant approval. "Much better than before." 

"But why are you in my dream? I've never encountered you before." 

"Do you know how I might avoid dreaming of you? I wish to sleep, for I must rise early tomorrow." 

The little mermaid earnestly stated. 

"And you closely resemble a water snake! Are there golden varieties among water snakes? They are certainly more appealing than the white ones!" 

"Those two horns upon your head are rather attractive as well," Lu added, casting a couple more glances at the splendid golden antlers atop his head, sincerely offering her assessment. 

It seemed her dream was not entirely nonsensical—at least it was significantly more pleasing to behold than that creature Jack! 

Golden Dragon:…