Prince Eric smiled.
He raised the mermaid princess's hand high, holding it before himself: "So, let's elope to the sea."
"That way, wouldn't you be able to return to your sisters' and father's Palace?"
"Your family will see their mermaid princess return, bringing a handsome Prince with her!"
"What?" Ariel was stunned:
"But you are human and cannot go into the sea! For humans, only the dead who sink to the bottom of the sea can go to father's Palace."
The Prince smiled and replied, "Normally, mermaids can't grow legs and come ashore either. But aren't you standing before me?"
"..." Ariel was stunned.
"That's why I came to see the Wish Magician!"
Prince Eric bowed deeply to the silent silver-haired young Wish Magician:
"Respected Wish Magician. Since you have the potion that made Ariel lose her fishtail and grow legs, can you brew a potion with the opposite effect? A potion that merges humans' ugly legs into a fishtail. Make me a mermaid too!"
Ariel was astonished.
The next moment, she reacted: "Wait, no, how do you know Rhine is..."
"Yes. I am the Wish Magician who gave Ariel the potion in the deep sea." Rhine admitted freely.
When he first met the Prince, he needed to maintain an objective and neutral image, so he did not reveal the fact that he had previously known Princess Ariel.
—It was as if he truly was an incredibly objective diviner, obeying the king's command to reveal Ariel's true identity.
But now, that disguise was no longer needed.
"As expected." Prince Eric sighed lightly, then showed a hint of a youth's smugness at having guessed correctly.
"When I was watching the divination scene you provided, I noticed that the Wish Magician who gave Ariel the free potion, although his face was blurry, his posture was very much like yours.
"Last night, Ariel and I talked a lot, and I mentioned you many times.
She's truly not good at lying, because besides her beautiful little mouth, her eyes also speak.
"Thank you, respected Wish Magician.
If it weren't for you giving Ariel a free potion, I wouldn't have been able to hear her beautiful voice."
Rhine nodded slightly:
"Prince, as you said, I can indeed refine a potion that turns humans into mermaids. Because my alchemy is superior to that of the sea witches. Just as my potion can make fish grow human legs, by using several herbs from the forest to reverse the properties of the medicine, it can merge human legs into a beautiful fishtail, granting them the ability to breathe in the sea. This potion only changes the body, not the soul. Just as Ariel could not automatically gain an immortal soul after becoming human, Prince, after you become a mermaid, you will still retain your original immortal soul, and you can also share this immortal soul with Ariel! However, even if Ariel is turned back into a mermaid with that potion, the curse already on Ariel will not be lifted. To lift that curse will be much more troublesome."
Prince Eric listened carefully to Rhine's explanation.
Then, the human Prince took the mermaid princess's hand:
"This is truly wonderful, Ariel, did you hear? Let us drink that potion together and become two mermaids in the sea. We will leap into the sea together and swim freely!"
"Last night, you told me so much about your life in the sea, about your father's Palace and your sisters' gardens, about the pearls and shells used as decorations on the Sea King's Palace, about how the stars and sun looked dimmer yet larger when you viewed them from the sea; you told me that when you looked up from the sea, if you saw a large cloud-like shadow, it meant a ship or a giant whale was passing by.
"These are such magnificent scenes, ones I can't even imagine! I can't wait to see such sights. When we become mermaids and return to the deep sea's palace, your sisters and father will surely be overjoyed to see their little mermaid princess return! We will have a wedding in the deep blue sea, and all the mermaids will bless us then. You will be able to be with your family again."
Ariel covered her mouth, unable to speak, her eyes misting over.
"My Ariel, there is no better ending than this—not even the most skilled novelist could write a more perfect ending!
"Just imagine, even if I had never been engaged, and our sacred marriage faced no obstacles, even if tomorrow the herald rode through the entire kingdom announcing our engagement, even if we ultimately married under the priest's witness, holding hands and receiving the bishop's blessing, making vows for all eternity. Would that truly be a perfect ending for you? No, it wouldn't! My Ariel, in such a scenario, you might gain love and an immortal soul, but you would forever lose your family, lose the homeland you once loved. You would forever remain in the land kingdom, unable to return to that blue sea! Thank my father. And thank the Princess of Ender, whom I've never known, who was arranged to marry me; they gave me a reason, a reason to escape the palace on land. I can follow you to that palace in the sea, I can meet your family, and greet them. We will dance together, sing together in the sea palace, and finally, together, turn into foam on the waves!"
Ariel's voice trembled.
She wanted to refuse loudly, but the images of her Great-grandmother, father, and sisters' successively appeared in her mind.
"But, Eric, you will lose so much that way. You will lose your beautiful human legs, become a non-human monster, lose your noble status as a Prince, and forever leave your family and the Kingdom, just to... be with me?"
Prince Eric smiled again:
"Isn't that what you once did for me?"
Ariel was momentarily speechless.
Just as the two were gazing at each other affectionately, Rhine, oblivious to the romantic atmosphere, handed out two jars of brown medicinal wine:
"The potion to turn human legs into a fishtail is ready."
"That fast?" Ariel was astonished.
"It's always faster when you're skilled." Rhine shrugged, stroking the large dog from which he had just drawn blood.
"The potion to turn human legs into a fishtail is different from the previous potion. It's not like clear water, but like bitter yet fragrant wine. Mermaids only need a simple reason to come ashore, but humans who want to become mermaids inevitably need a complex story, bitter yet full of meaning, like this medicinal wine." Rhine explained.
"Does this magical medicinal wine that can turn one into a mermaid have a nice name?" Prince Eric took the medicinal wine, thanking him while asking curiously.
"I added mermaid's tears as an ingredient, so it's called... uh, Pearl Tear Lament?" Rhine recalled some things from his previous life and couldn't help but laugh, "Just kidding, it doesn't need a name."
"Rhine, my human friend, respected Wish Magician, you have helped us again!
I truly don't know how to repay you." Ariel said excitedly.
"When I've decided what I want, I will tell you." Rhine said.
Having accumulated another favor, Rhine couldn't help but sigh: he, this Wish Magician, indeed accumulated favors very easily.
He would have to think about how to use these favors later.
Each holding a bottle of brown medicinal wine, the two looked at each other, asking with some trepidation:
"Respected Wish Magician and diviner Rhine, you can see the future that we cannot.
When do you suggest we go to the coast, grow fishtails together, and leap into the sea?"