"Jiheehee! Mommi late!" Little Han grinned with his round darling face as he looked at Eli teasingly.
Eli gently pinched Little Han's face as she replied, "Since when did you become cheeky my love?"
"Johann is not cheekie! Johann is happi!" Little Han replied, still not wiping the naughty smile on his face.
"Alright alright, come up, let's prepare for the morning…" Eli chuckled as she sat up.
"Owkay!!" Little Han beamed as he looked at his mother.
But the two of them were interrupted by a knock on the door, "My lady, this is Coral, your assigned attendant. I would like to check if you are awake. We can assist you and the little prince."
"It's fine, we are good…" Eli opened the door and politely rejected them.
After some insistence, Coral and the rest of the servants were able to persuade Eli and Little Han as they told them that the royal family was asking for their audience.
Their morning routine ended pretty quickly and they were immediately escorted by Coral to the dining hall.
In there a wide array of morning food was already prepared. Calderon and Elifas followed alongside Kayden.
Not long after, the four members of the royal family arrived and finally, everyone started to eat their morning breakfast.
Eli thought that the meal would get awkward since they were dining once again with the royal family, but surprisingly, the atmosphere has been warm and friendly.
"Hahaha, Lady Eli your little one is really so loveable! Look, he surely knew how to make my old heart filled with warmth!" Marina requested to be seated beside Little Han and throughout the meal, she placed various kinds of food in Little Han's little bowl.
"Thaykuuu~~ Gwanma Queen!" Little Han happily ate whatever Queen Marina put on his plate, he also obediently addressed her as she instructed, leaving the Queen extremely pleased.
"En… I also feel quite happy that the little one and I shared the same cradle! I could not help but consider him my brother!" Prince Nalu said with a doting expression.
It turns out that the mermaid's cradle that Little Han used was formerly Nalu's. He could not help but feel fortunate that his mother did not decide to refine his cradle as an ornament and actually preferred her little sister's cradle to be refined as one.
"Here my little brother, eat this as well. From now on call me Big Brother Nalu alright?" He said dotingly as he waved his hand to deliver the food he wanted to offer to Little Han.
"Thaykuuu Big Bwother Nalu!" Little Han smiled as he obediently replied.
"Hmf.." Princess Pasha rolled her eyes towards her older brother. It displeases her that her big brother was the one who had his cradle intact and was given to the cute and adorable Little Han.
How could he even say those words to make her become envious? If not for their mom preferring to refine her cradle because she was a female offspring, his older brother might not even have the chance to brag right now.
"You are my big brother and my sibling, so Little Han will be my sibling as well!" Princess Pasha puffed her cheeks as she fought for her right to have the ticket to be close to Little Han as well.
Then she smiled at Little Han and gave him more food, "Come, Little Han, eat more! Also, call me sister Pasha from now on ok?" She said with shining eyes as if pleading with Little Han to accept her as well.
"Thaykuu Sistwer Pasha~" Little Han blinked and at the tons of food he now had to finish, but he still smiled and answered the Princess.
Eli and Marina were also speechless as to the two's actions; they did not know how to tell the two when they had good intentions. But as a mother, they knew that Little Han could only eat as much as his young body's capacity.
"Eherm! Two of you shall watch your actions, you know that Little Han is still young and could not eat so much food at once. Would you like Little Han to have digestive issues later on?" Fortunately, King Havelok read the mood and told the problem straightforwardly.
He did not use an angry tone but his kingly demeanor as he said these words but it was effective to make the two competing siblings pause.
"Moreover, aren't you being too full of yourself? Look you are of the same age as Little Han's mom and dad yet you dare to ask Little Han to call you brother and sister? Even your mother knew that she had to be called grandma! Aren't you doing something to complicate things?"
Havelok rolled his eyes as he continued to reprimand the two.
"Erm…" Nalu and Pasha both scratched their heads embarrassedly as they realized the implications of their actions. They looked at Eli and Little Han apologetically as they asked for their forgiveness.
"It's alright. I guess I can't help it either, you two age differently than us humans. And so while we are of the same age, you are still considered as one in your early twenties." Eli immediately dispelled the awkward situation by smoothing out things.
"That's right! Hehehe, I look younger than my age, don't I?! I'm such a beauty~" Princess Pasha replied pleasingly while trying to hide the smile on her face by covering her cheeks.
"Eherm… is that what you think my lady? Then you seem to be right!" Prince Nalu was also equally pleased, but he tried to hide it politely.
Eli tried her best to control the twitching of her brows. Truly these subjects of Zale take after his love for beauty!
"Hahaha anyways, Uncle Havelok, I've been thinking of asking Big Brother Nalu and Sister Pasha to play with us with Little Han today… Would it be alright for us to ask for permission?" Calderon saw that the mood was already right, and so he very naturally raised the topic.
Eli was startled by Calderon's words, he looked at the pair of teenagers and Little Han who was also looking at the Merking with a serious look like a real adult, even nodding at Calderon's words.
It seems like Little Han already had his own buddies and now he doesn't need his mom to accompany him at all. Look, he already had a small group for himself!
"No problem! Let these young ones entertain you around the palace…." Havelok did not mind as he was quite easygoing when he gave the permission. "Moreover, I might need to talk to you, Young Lady Eli, and the Great Doctor Kayden about something, so I hope you don't mind me agreeing with their plans."
"No worries Your Highness, Little Han will be fine with Calderon and the rest looking after him." Eli could only nod and agree.
"Oh yeah, while you are at it, Wade, my general was also asking if you are able to grace them with your contracted beast presence, the Great Panda, Baobao?" Havelok requested once more.
While Eli was taken aback, she still agreed to know that the place they were in was one of their allies.
After they have finished eating, Little Han and the rest already went to 'play' while Eli and Kayden followed the Merking and Merqueen on their study. As for Baobao, he was summoned and escorted to the warrior's area.
Prince Nalu escorted them into the underwater garden which was a place exclusive to the royal family.
Sure, the garden did not have the typical flowers one can see on land, but it was as colorful and soothing as other gardens.
The garden is decorated by colorful corals with small fishes freely swimming here and there, protected by the right amount of water bubbles from the ocean.
There were also mystical seaweeds that livened up the entire area and the seashells were also freely breathing. If they were left undisturbed they would freely open and show off the shimmery pearls they were building inside.
"Waaah!! Beautiful!!" Little Han smiled brightly as he looked around the garden. It was totally different from the garden in his home but still, it was lovely.
"You like it, little one? Eherm, since father pointed it out, you shall address me as uncle and she will be auntie okay?" Prince Nalu replied.
"Yesh, Uncle Nalu~ So pretty!" Little Han beamed and obediently addressed them as requested.
They explored the place, Calderon and Elifas were also equally enjoying as they seldom had the time to visit the merland.
After a while, they rested on the underwater pagoda which was made of pearly casted pillars.
While they were resting, Calderon opened another topic.
"Big Brother Nalu… you received my letter a while ago right? Can you help us with it?" He said.
Princess Pasha and Little Han who was on her lap obediently eating snacks looked at the trio with curiosity.
"Oh, you ask about the effectiveness of the dragon's nest right? I can't tell if I don't see what it is. Would you like to let me take a look?" Prince Nalu remembered Calderon's letter and so he replied.
Calderon and Elifas nodded, then they looked at Little Han and said, "Little Han buddy, you can show big brother Nalu, Wisey's egg. Maybe he can help too."
