The King of Summer Kingdom stifled a yawn as he watched Prince Eric give Ariel a warm smile and invite her to sing in the palace.
"Ah, after all, they are young people, their minds always filled with romantic fantasies."
"Letting a girl of unknown origin sing in my palace? How absurd."
"For now, I'll let him be. When Eric is a little older and looks back on this experience, he'll realise how ridiculous this affection is."
He didn't care which woman his son was interested in, as long as it didn't develop into true love, everything was fine.
The King knew that royal marriages were never about love, just like his and his wife's—the current Queen's. There were too many things in this world far more important than love.
In the pre-arranged plan, his son was destined to marry the princess of Ender.
—This, of course, had nothing to do with love; it was entirely a geopolitical consideration: Summer Kingdom, a nation reliant on maritime trade and fishing, needed Ender's military might, which dominated the seas.
After receiving the Prince's permission, Ariel walked to the centre of the great hall:
"I dedicate this song to His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and His Highness Prince Eric!"
The King lazily closed his eyes, enjoying the warm afternoon sun, paying no mind to the farce.
"If this girl Eric picked up sings half as well as the court singers, I'll just give her a couple of compliments to make Eric happy," the King thought. "Eric is almost 16 now; his time for youthful fantasies is running out. He'll soon need to understand what it means to become an adult and the new King of Summer Kingdom."
The Prince also cast an expectant smile at Ariel, already envisioning a hundred ways to praise this amnesiac girl in his mind.
—No matter how Ariel sang, he would absolutely not 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, it was enough if he liked the girl's song.
Ariel then began to sing.
When she sang the first note, the King suddenly opened his eyes.
He felt his soul tremble.
It was as if cool, clear water bathed him from above, cleansing his heart and soul.
The King then looked at his wife on the adjacent throne.
—The Queen of Summer Kingdom was wide-eyed, trembling all over, and only then did the King realise that the expression he was making was no different from his wife's.
Ariel sang with deep immersion.
The heavenly sound flowed through the palace, reverberating endlessly from the rafters.
Everyone was captivated, whether it was the King and Queen on their thrones, or the Prince who merely hoped to see the girl display her singing talent, or even the court singers who prided themselves on having the most beautiful voices; the expressions on all their faces were frozen.
Every person in the palace heard the song, and everyone forgot what they were originally supposed to be doing:
The chattering nobles and royals suddenly fell silent, their raised wine glasses suspended in the air;
The servants cleaning the corridors all stopped their brooms.
A maid passing by the great hall's entrance with milk suddenly stopped, listening quietly to the sound emanating from within the hall;
The right hand of the attendant pouring wine into the Prince's cup froze in mid-air, unaware that the wine in the golden goblet was already overflowing.
Migratory birds flying over the palace of Summer Kingdom heard the song from below, and one by one, they changed their flight direction, circling above the royal palace.
Even people several miles away could see such a strange sight: hundreds of birds hovering and circling above the Summer Kingdom's royal palace.
Only when the song ended did everyone, still lingering in its afterglow, suddenly awaken.
"My apologies, Prince!"
The attendant, only then noticing the wine overflowing from the cup, was in a panic.
Prince Eric, however, had no intention of blaming the attendant; he clapped furiously, applauding the girl's singing.
Even before the girl began to sing, the Prince had already woven hundreds of words of praise and compliments in his mind.
But when the girl truly finished singing, he couldn't recall a single word.
The lingering echoes of the beautiful song resonated in his mind, erasing all his thoughts like an eraser.
He could only clap vigorously until his hands ached, felt sore, and burned until hot tears welled from his eyes, dripping onto his red, aching hands and falling into the wine in the golden goblet, forming ripples.
The Prince then glanced at his father beside him.
The King's gaze was vacant, like a statue, completely unable to recover.
"How was it? Her singing is very beautiful, isn't it?" Prince Eric said.
The Prince had forgotten all eloquent words—the words created by humans were far from sufficient to describe the mermaid princess's song, and he had no choice but to use the most basic vocabulary to describe it.
The King shivered.
This was more than just beautiful!
As the monarch of Summer Kingdom, he had heard countless performances by excellent court singers and renowned musicians, and had long grown numb to beautiful singing.
Yet today, the King realised that the most beautiful melodies he had ever heard before were like a flickering candlelight encountering the sun compared to the song this girl sang today.
Even the evil, soul-capturing, ship-wrecking songs of mermaids in the terrifying legends of sailors could not compare to the song of the girl before him.
"Where did you pick up this amnesiac girl?" the King said, trembling.
The Prince then recounted how he had found Ariel on the seashore.
"A girl with such a beautiful voice will absolutely not remain unknown!" the King stated confidently. "On this continent, all the noble and esteemed Kings and Emperors will vie to make this girl their court singer!"
"This is truly wonderful," the King said, patting Prince Eric on the shoulder. "You've done an excellent job! To actually pick up a girl with the most beautiful voice in the world."
As the Prince listened to his father's words, he momentarily felt as if this scene were a dream, completely unreal.
In Prince Eric's initial expectation, only he would like the girl's song, only he would not be stingy with words to praise the girl, while his father would merely watch with a cold eye, at most echoing a few words.
Now, however, it was his father who was praising the amnesiac girl before him.
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 royals visit our country, let this girl perform a song!"
"Soon, the delegation from Ender will be arriving, won't they? It's a good opportunity to discuss your engagement with them."
"All the royals and nobles on the Western Continent will know that the court of Summer Kingdom has the most beautiful singer on the continent!"
"How much pride that should bring us!"
"The diplomats negotiating with us, upon hearing this song, will lose their appetite and sleep—because even after it ends, the song will resonate in their minds for months."
"After hearing this seemingly magical song, even the most stubborn negotiators will slightly rein in their claws at the negotiation table."