Chapter 190: Stirring Jealousy

While Sora’s thoughts raced in every direction, Ryan’s cool voice suddenly sounded beside her.

"Kaelira, are you asleep?"

Sora froze.

It was Ryan’s voice.

But his tone was calm.

There was no anger.

No accusation.

No jealousy.

Nothing.

He actually had no reaction at all.

Sora’s mind was filled with confusion.

Were Mermaids really this broad-minded?

Ryan waited for a moment.

Seeing that Sora didn’t answer, he simply lay down.

Then, just as he was about to pull the animal-hide bedding over her, he noticed something.

Sora’s forehead was covered in sweat.

Ryan frowned.

Concern immediately appeared in his eyes.

"Kaelira, wake up."

His voice softened.

"Are you sick?"

As he spoke, he reached out and touched Sora’s forehead.

Then he touched her ear.

He carefully checked her temperature.

After realizing that she wasn’t particularly hot, the worry in his expression eased.

Sora remained completely still.

At first, she didn’t dare move.

She was afraid that even the slightest movement would expose everything.

But after a while, something began to feel strange.

Something was wrong.

Sora slowly opened her eyes.

Wasn’t Xavier supposed to be right beside her?

Then how could Ryan reach over and touch her ear so easily?

He had reached down from her forehead.

There was nothing between them.

No arm.

No body.

Nothing blocking Ryan’s movements.

Where was Xavier’s hand?

Where was Xavier?

Sora’s eyes widened.

She finally looked around.

The room was completely normal.

Ryan was beside her.

The animal-hide bedding was in place.

Everything looked exactly as it should.

But Xavier was nowhere to be seen.

He had disappeared.

Sora didn’t know when he had left.

For several seconds, she simply stared blankly.

Then—

She released a huge sigh of relief.

Her tense body finally relaxed.

She felt as though she had just survived a disaster.

That damn, stinking snake!

He had actually scared her half to death.

Sora took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

Ryan noticed her strange reaction and looked at her in confusion.

"Kaelira, what’s wrong?"

Sora immediately touched her face.

She carefully felt around, making sure there was nothing unusual about her expression.

After confirming that everything seemed normal, she casually replied,

"Nothing. I just had a nightmare. It scared me to death."

Ryan frowned slightly.

"No wonder you’re covered in sweat. I thought you were sick."

Sora nodded, a little guilty.

"Yeah. That dream was too terrifying."

That damn, stinking snake had already scared her twice in a row.

She absolutely wouldn’t let him off so easily next time.

Sora secretly made up her mind to find a way to retaliate against Xavier for teasing her like that.

While she was thinking about how she would get her revenge, Ryan remained beside her, quietly watching her.

A different emotion flickered through his light-blue eyes.

He didn’t know when it had started.

Perhaps it had happened gradually without him realizing it.

But lately, the more he looked at Sora, the better she seemed to look.

There was something special about her.

An indescribable aura seemed to surround her, naturally drawing people’s attention.

It made people want to stop and look at her for a little longer.

At this moment, Ryan noticed that Sora’s complexion seemed much fairer than before.

Her eyes also appeared slightly larger.

Compared to the past, she seemed softer.

More delicate.

Perhaps it was because the emotions from her nightmare hadn’t completely faded yet.

Her chest rose and fell more noticeably than usual as she breathed, making it difficult for Ryan to look away.

He remembered the previous time he had touched her.

It had been soft.

Completely different from the firm chests of male Beastmen.

The memory suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Ryan’s light-blue eyes gradually darkened.

His thoughts drifted back to that earlier time.

In the sea, Mermaids also had the custom of keeping Night Watch for Females and little cubs.

Just like the land Beastmen, they did it to protect the Female and the little cub growing inside her.

But there was another reason.

Mermaids could establish a special connection with the little cub inside the Female’s belly.

Through that connection, the little cub could gradually become familiar with its Fish Father.

The most common method was for the Beast Husband to hook his fish tail around the Female’s fish tail.

The two would then quietly feel the movements of the little cub together.

It was a special custom among Mermaids.

But Sora wasn’t a Mermaid.

If Ryan used his fish tail to wrap around her, things could easily become complicated.

There was also another problem.

During the first few months of a Female’s pregnancy, mating was still considered safe.

But...

Should he really do it now?

Ryan hesitated.

He wasn’t entirely sure.

Meanwhile, Sora had been thinking for a long time about how she was going to deal with Xavier.

In the end, she couldn’t come up with a good solution.

She decided to leave it for tomorrow.

There was no point exhausting herself over it tonight.

Sora pulled the animal-hide bedding higher and prepared to sleep.

But the moment she turned over, she suddenly noticed Ryan staring at her with his aqua-blue eyes.

Sora froze.

Only then did she belatedly remember something important.

She wasn’t sleeping alone tonight.

She had become so accustomed to sleeping by herself that when another person suddenly appeared beside her, she had momentarily forgotten.

Sora thought about it for a moment.

Then she pulled up the animal-hide bedding she was using and shared half of it with Ryan.

"It’s late. Let’s sleep early."

Ryan had originally been struggling with how he should approach Sora about what he wanted to do next.

He hadn’t expected her to take the initiative and speak first.

His expression immediately relaxed.

After lying down beside her, the lower half of his body transformed, revealing his beautiful fish tail.

The blue tail shimmered faintly in the darkness.

Then, without hesitation, he hooked it around Sora’s feet.

Sora closed her eyes.

She had just begun drifting toward sleep when she suddenly felt something ice-cold beneath her legs.

It felt as though something was tightly wrapping around her.

And worse—

It was moving.

Slowly.

It seemed to be trying to move upward.

Sora instantly shuddered.

She quickly lifted the animal-hide bedding and looked down.

An ice-blue fish tail was wrapped around her legs.

Sora released a breath of relief.

For one terrifying moment, she had thought Xavier’s snake form had come back to haunt her again.

Her trauma from that man was becoming far too deep.

But after relaxing for only a second, Sora stiffened again.

This was a fish tail.

Ryan.

Sora’s heart jumped.

This was really going to be the death of her.

Back when she had been leveling up her attraction value, she had tried every possible method to conquer these Beast Husbands.

At that time, she had been desperate to complete her missions.

Now that she wasn’t rushing to conquer them anymore, they were all beginning to swarm around her one after another.

Did these people think her stamina was endless?

Had they forgotten that she was still carrying a little cub?

Sora glanced at Ryan.

Because she had lifted the bedding, a faint blush appeared across his fair face.

He seemed slightly embarrassed.

But after a moment, his expression became calm again.

His fish tail was beautiful.

He firmly believed Sora would like it.

And perhaps because she had lifted the bedding, Ryan became even bolder.

Sora watched as his movements gradually became more daring.

She immediately knew she had to distract him.

"Ryan."

He paused.

"I heard that Mermaids can sing. Is that true?"

Ryan’s movements stopped completely.

He looked at her seriously.

"That’s true. All of us Merfolks can sing."

Sora blinked.

He really was such a pure and well-behaved little Mermaid.

She had only asked a question, and he had immediately stopped what he was doing to answer her.

Compared with Xavier, that cold and dangerous snake, Ryan was much easier to get along with.

Why had she ever thought he was difficult to approach?

Perhaps it was because Ryan was too obsessed with "high technology."

His passion for technical things had always made him seem somewhat distant and cold.

But now that she was becoming more familiar with him, Sora realized that he was actually very pure and straightforward.

He reminded her of the academic types she had known in the Apocalypse.

Those people could become completely obsessed with technology and research, but their personalities were often surprisingly simple.

Sora smiled faintly.

"Then could you sing a song for me?"

She deliberately made her voice gentle.

"I just had a nightmare, so I can’t really sleep."

There was something people didn’t know about Merfolk.

Everyone knew that a Merman’s song could enchant the hearts of others.

But few knew that their voices could also soothe emotions.

Ryan immediately nodded.

"Then I’ll sing a song to soothe your emotions."

He looked at the sweat on Sora’s forehead.

"Your forehead is still wet from the nightmare. Listening to a song should help you relax."

Sora nodded.

Inside, however, she felt a little guilty.

What kind of scum was she?

She was actually deceiving such a pure little Merman.

She had only wanted to distract him.

Yet he had taken her words completely seriously.

After Ryan finished speaking, he slowly withdrew his fish tail.

Then his body began to float gently in mid-air.

Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the wooden hut.

Ryan was suspended beneath the moonlight, his long blue fish tail shimmering with a beautiful, flowing radiance.

Then he began to sing.

"In the quiet night...

The Moon Goddess gently caresses you.

Do not be afraid.

Sleep quickly..."

Sora stared at him.

This was her first time hearing a real Merman sing.

And the song was exactly as beautiful as the legends claimed.

His voice was ethereal and melodious.

It seemed almost unreal.

As though it had descended from the heavens.

The so-called voice of heaven was probably nothing more than this.

Ryan continued singing beneath the moonlight.

The blue scales of his fish tail shimmered as the moon’s glow passed over them.

For a moment, he looked like a holy elf who had stepped out of a dream.

Sora couldn’t help staring.

This was truly beautiful.

No wonder people said that listening to a Merman sing was an incredible pleasure.

Her ears were being treated to an extraordinary melody.

Her eyes were equally satisfied by the beautiful sight before her.

It was simply too beautiful.

The ethereal song drifted through the thin walls of the Wooden Hut.

Then it continued into the night air.

The melody traveled toward the other small Wooden Huts nearby.

Inside one of those huts, Ace was already tossing and turning restlessly on his wooden bed.

He had been unable to sleep properly because Ryan was keeping Night Watch for Sora.

Now, after hearing the beautiful singing, his irritation only increased.

This Ryan really had a lot of tricks.

He had actually started singing during his Night Watch.

Was he afraid they wouldn’t know that he was keeping Night Watch for Sora?

Ace clenched his teeth.

When it was his turn, he would make these people suffer as well.

He would make sure they heard the wooden bed creaking all night.

"Creak, creak."

Just thinking about it made him feel slightly better.

Meanwhile, Xavier had originally fallen asleep with a faint smile on his face.

After teasing Sora earlier, he had believed she probably wouldn’t dare to secretly accept another Beast Husband behind their backs.

At least, he thought, she would be more careful in the future.

But then the singing started.

Xavier opened his eyes.

The beautiful melody drifted through the night.

It was impossible to deny that Ryan’s voice was extraordinarily pleasant.

Even Xavier’s previously calm heart began racing again.

His expression gradually changed.

That woman really was energetic.

One moment, she had been frightened and flustered.

The next, she was calmly lying there listening to a song.

Xavier’s eyes narrowed slightly.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

It seemed he would have to work harder next time.

After all...

Sora seemed to have plenty of energy.