Chapter 957: Off the table


    ?


    The entire group from the Tide Empire trembled when they heard this.


    Even though the Merman King was asking them this question, it wasn''t as if they had an answer for him. After all, there wasn''t a single one of them who had expected things to go this way.


    Even if the Tide Emperor had expected something to go wrong, that didn''t mean that he had expected all of this.


    There was no way that any of them would have expected this since they didn''t even know of Viper''s existence.


    So the only thing that they could do now was try to figure out what happened and how to minimize the damage.


    To them, Viper''s life meant nothing.


    To them, it was better for them if Viper died as soon as possible so that the anger of the Merman Empire was appeased.


    Since it was his fault that this mess was created, his death would be the solution to the problem.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Though it wasn''t as if they could just kill him in front of the Merman King and the rest of the group from the Merman Empire. If they were to do that, then it would be seen as an act of aggression.


    So the only thing that the Tide Emperor could do was...


    "I apologize for whatever mess this fool has caused. I hope that you will ept my sincere apologies so we can discuss what to do next." The Tide Emperor even lowered his head as he said this.


    That was the only thing that he could do in this situation.


    Since he was the emperor, the one that had the highest status, he could only offer his head. Well, it wasn''t his head that was being offered, but rather his face.


    He would take this humiliation to apologize to the Merman Empire so that they could put this matter behind them.


    The ministers were all surprised by this, but they quickly bowed their heads as well.


    Since the emperor had already bowed his head, then what was stopping them from bowing their heads.


    It was only the crown prince who just awkwardly stood there without bowing his head.


    His eyes were on Ariel who was standing on the side watching all of this.


    The reason why he didn''t want to bow was because Ariel was here.


    This was the girl that he loved, so he didn''t want to embarrass himself in front of her. He didn''t want to bow his head and put himself down like that, but he had no choice in the end.


    Especially when the Tide Emperor sent a re in his direction.


    It was almost as if the Tide Emperor was saying, "Bow or die."


    So the crown prince had no choice but to bow his head to the Merman King along with the rest.


    The ministers all gave sighs seeing this, but they didn''t say a thing.


    After all, they knew that this was a matter that was far beyond any of them.


    After sincerely bowing his head for a bit, the Tide Emperor looked back up at Viper and said, "If possible, I hope that you will allow us to take him back so we can properly punish him."


    There was a cold tone in his voice that also had a trace of anger to it.


    It was clear that if Viper were tond in the Tide Emperor''s hands, there wouldn''t be a good ending for him.


    That made Viper give a rare reaction as he revealed a trace of fear, but then the same despondent look appeared on his face.


    The Merman King shook his head as he said, "No, we will be the ones that will punish him," The firm tone of his voice made it clear that he would broker no argument.


    The Tide Emperor was a bit surprised to hear this, but he didn''t push the issue as he just said with a nod, "As you wish. You are the ones that he has offended, so it is your right to handle him however you wish to handle him."


    Then after a moment of hesitation, he said in a slow voice with an awkward cough, "As for the other matter that we''ve discussed before..."


    "There''s nothing to discuss." The Merman King cut him off right away.


    The Tide Emperor was shocked to hear how resolute the Merman King was, but he didn''t give up as easily this time. After all, this was a very important issue for his Tide Empire.


    It had been a long time since the royal families of the Tide Empire and the Merman Empire had been connected, not since the progenitor of the Tide Empire had there been a connection like this between them.


    So even before the matter of the rtionship with the Merman Empire, what the Tide Emperor was worried about was the decline in mermaid blood in the veins of the citizens.


    At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before all the mermaid blood was diluted and they became normal humans.


    If the Tide Empire lost the only thing that they could rely on topete with the other human empires, then it would only be a matter of time before they were destroyed.


    Though it wasn''t as if they could go against the Merman Empire and force them to marry into their Tide Empire.


    So this time, the Tide Emperor said, "I''m sure that this is just an unrted matter, there''s no need for us to allow this fool to sour the rtionship between our two empires."


    Then turning to the crown prince, he said, "This isn''t something that us elders should be interfering with in the first ce. This is a matter between the younger generation, so I think that we should let them decide."


    This was the only way that the Tide Emperor could argue since he couldn''t force them to allow the engagement.


    He believed that the crown prince would be able to win the heart of the mermaid princess,


    Ariel.


    It was just that...