Once upon a time there was a kingdom, whose land stretched on a thin strand of sandy beach by the sea.

It was stuck between the vast infinity of the sapphire blue sky and the wide depths of the emerald green sea.

The houses of peasants and fishers were twisted along pebbled roads that composed the basic net of the city streets. The villages were all born in very small entities one next to the other and, throughout the years, they had grown bigger until they assembled into larger clusters to shape the core of the main city.

The castle of the King was perched on the highest cliff, and it was looking down on to the crashing waves that incessantly broke against the rocks underneath. It was the symbol of the royalty that had so faithfully reigned over those little rocks for so many years, generation ater generation, providing food, shelter and justice to each and every subject that lived there.

Even the greater vessels from the Kingdom of the Western Isles beyond the seas could see just how much splendor the neighboring castle was conveying with its thick, high walls; tall towers, domes and colorful flags hanging at their poles.

Moreover, the secret behind the amiable atmosphere of both the castle and the city below, was that everyone lived life in complete harmony with each other. The windows at the castle were spread opened, and on a daily basis servants and staff alike could be heard singing out their happiness: from the maids dusting the great staircase of the entrance halls, to the cooks getting lunch ready in the kitchen, and more.

Even the Chamberlain's son, who was closest person to the King and his best friend, sometimes could be heard harmonizing a few notes as mere hobby.

What was behind all this was undoubtly the good parameter of just and fair ruling that the King had adopted from his late father.

Despite being the King just a young man in the flower of his years, he had already conquered a soft spot in the hearts of all his subjects that deemed him suited to lead the Kingdom in all prosperity.

What they said about him was also that he needed someone who could match his standards in order to become his legit consort and give him a beautiful family. That way the Queen-to-be could help him to restore the symbol of happiness and traditions that the castle was lacking of, following the loss of the late King and his wife.

After all, it wasn't much of a secret that the King was considered to be the perfect man alive: shaped into the perfect party, object of many ladies' dreams, he was rather good looking, clever and a tad straightforward, which gave him that feeling of natural brilliancy and self confidence that made his reputation known even overseas.

No one could know though, that his happiness was a mask. No one except the Chamberlain's son.

Changmin, dressed in his office clothes from head to toe, followed the King in his early morning stroll on the beach just below the rear gates of the castle. His polished shoes sunk into the warm, golden sand as if each of his steps were pulled down by murky quicksands and, despite knowing that the King had more than once suggested him to simply walk barefoot, he was a rather stubborn individual, who liked keeping up with the rules, just like his family had taught him.

The King's dog happily ran and barked at the rising sun, successfully keeping up with his owner's steps, which had brought him a few meters ahead of Changmin.

"If you took those damn shoes off, you would't be left behind" the King exclaimed, hands plunged deep into the pockets of those knee-length shorts he wore. The linen shirt he had on had both sleeves rolled up at his elbows and moved following the weak blows of the marine breeze. The quite big dog reached him and happily jumped from one side to the other, wanting to play with his owner.

The King stopped and knelt, feeling his knees sink in the sand as he leaned forward and stuck both hands into the caramel brown fur of his shepherd dog to give him his well deserved caresses.

"Your Majesty, you know I-"

"Cut the crap, Min" the King exhaled, rolling his eyes to the pink sky above "When we are alone I'm just Kyuhyun for your, your best friend"

"I know" Changmin replied with a helpless sigh.

"Then, if you know that, start doing as I say for once, okay?" Kyuhyun grinned "You're too strict with yourself, which is not good, since we are basically born together and you could be my brother, for all I know" he said, feeling the playful of his dog's tongue all over the face.

"I know that as well, but..."

"There is no but, Min. Be my friend and not just one of those pompous members of the Council, like your father" Kyuhyun explained, sitting on the sand and letting his dog's cuddles prevail on his body.

"Kyuhyun, I just want to help you. After all the fuss that the Council has been making over trying to get you engaged with one of the daughters of the closer realms, and after perfectly knowing that you are not ready for that yet-" Changmin told him, giving in to Kyuhyun's request and finally taking off his shoes. Feeling the thin sand flowing between his toes and submerging his bare feet was quite refreshing.

"Yeah, I'm not ready" Kyuhyun's expression turned gloomy all of a sudden as he looked away, towards the pink orange horizon "I saw the look in my father's eyes when he watched my mother, she was unknown to our House's customs and before entering it as the Queen Consort, she had to learn everything from the basics, including etiquette. Nevertheless, my father loved her from the very first moment, from the very first look he cast upon her" Kyuhyun explained in all seriousness of the matter "I want that for myself too" and in the end revealed.

"You don't deserve anything less than that, my friend" finally Changmin crouched down besides Kyuhyun and entoured his shoulders in a sign of friendly concern, although he perfectly knew the nature of Kyuhyun's doubts and fears.

"I want to fall in love at first sight, with the person I choose to be by my side, and not because some old fart from the Council tells me that I need to marry, for the sake of the country. This person must go through the same process of learning that my mother had to bear, but only if I say so. Only after that I will truly see if she's really suited to be this Kingdom's Queen and my wife" Kyuhyun finished his explanation, eyes looking towards the infinite horizon, hopeful and dreamer, although he was perfectly aware that dreams and fairytales - at least in his dimension of rationality - couldn't exist. 

Not for a King.

In fact, believing in strict reality only would have made him unready to accept what lied just a few meters away from him.

In the low waters brushing on the shore, behind a quite big rock, there hid a creature that inhabitated the most tender fairytales the King could have only recalled hearing from his mother during bedtime, when he was just a little boy: a mermaid, or well... being said mermaid a young lad, it was probably better to call him merman.

Totally absorbed in the King's tales, the merman had pushed himself towards the closest points of the sea, where the waters became more shallow and where he could touch the sandy shore with a simple brush of his hand in the water. He was hiding behind a rock in fear of being noticed, because, despite being the most known protagonists of fishers' legends and fantasies alike, mermaids and mermen weren't to reveal their identity to the human beings, or they would become object.

It was said that scales of their precious fishtails could become as valuable as diamonds and more than any other jewel, if dried under the scorching hot sun.

But if the