Fairy Tale Survival with Ability Copying

Second Princess Catherine left with her sister, disappointment written across her face.

Only Levi, King Aemon III, and Queen Moya remained in the palace hall.

Queen Moya still looked somewhat nervous, though she was much calmer than before. The shame and indignation that had been so obvious earlier were now gone.

The social customs of the Duchy of Toulouse were still far more conservative than those of the empire to the west of the continent. The nobility here generally valued propriety.

At the very least, the queen certainly did.

When she heard Levi mention her daughter, who had disappeared many years ago, Queen Moya gathered her courage despite still being somewhat afraid of him.

"Your Excellency," she asked softly, "you said you wanted to ask about my daughter?"

"Do... do you know where my poor Serena is?" Tears streamed down the queen's face as she spoke.

But they didn't turn into pearls.

Levi quietly took note of that.

King Aemon III spoke as well.

"Your Excellency, if you know Serena's whereabouts, no matter the cost, I am willing to—"

Levi let out a scornful laugh.

"Weren't you the one who drove her away in the first place, my dear Your Majesty?"

His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"What did you do back then? You gave her nothing but a sack of salt before casting her out! By now, she may already have ended up in the belly of some wild beast. So who exactly are you trying to fool with this act, Your Majesty?"

Without the slightest mercy, Levi tore open Aemon III's old wound.

The moment Queen Moya heard Levi say Serena might already be dead, she couldn't bear the blow.

She fainted on the spot.

"Moya!"

Aemon III reacted quickly, catching her before she fell. He repeatedly called her name and tried to rouse her until she finally regained consciousness.

The first thing the queen said after regaining consciousness was, "Serena... my poor Serena..."

"Mother has failed you..."

Hearing those words, Aemon III's face twisted with pain, regret, and remorse.

He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but in the end said nothing. Seeing Queen Moya still looking utterly devastated, he could only force out a few words of comfort.

"Your Majesty, Serena is a kind child. The Lord will watch over her."

"The Lord will watch over her?" Queen Moya suddenly lost control of her emotions and glared at Aemon III.

"I should never have listened to you back then and let Serena leave on her own! I should have gone with my poor child! Even if we had died, at least we would have died together!"

"Shh! Moya, stop talking!"

Aemon III hurriedly tried to silence her.

But Queen Moya no longer cared.

Levi's words had completely shattered her composure.

"Why shouldn't I say it? Weren't you simply afraid Serena would drag you down?"

Levi's eyes immediately lit up.

So there was more to what happened back then.

His curiosity was instantly piqued.

He interrupted, "Your Majesty, why do you say that?"

"Moya!"

Aemon III's voice carried an unmistakable warning.

But Queen Moya had already lost all reason.

For years, she had kept her anger buried deep inside.

Aemon III's two daughters had inherited the kingdom.

Yet her Serena had received nothing—and might even have lost her life.

The injustice finally broke her.

"Weren't you afraid the Church would discover the anomaly surrounding Serena? Afraid they would learn that your daughter... wasn't human?"

Aemon III's face instantly turned deathly pale.

His first reaction was to look at Levi.

Levi's gaze shifted, ignoring Aemon III entirely as he looked at Queen Moya.

"Your Majesty... when you say your daughter wasn't human, what exactly do you mean?"

The moment those words left her mouth, Queen Moya regained her senses.

Cold sweat poured down her body.

She froze stiff as a board, unable to utter another word.

"Your Excellency, forgive the scene." Aemon III addressed Levi. "She has simply missed our child for too many years. It has affected her mind somewhat. If you don't mind, please allow her to rest. Whatever questions you have, you may ask me instead."

"'Affected her mind?'"

Levi smiled faintly.

"That's perfect. Treating illnesses like that happens to be my specialty."

As he spoke, a soft radiance gathered in his hand.

He pointed a finger toward Queen Moya.

Warm light enveloped her, washing over her entire body like a gentle current.

She had never felt so comfortable in her life.

Yet her eyes were filled with overwhelming shock.

The light gradually faded.

Aemon III's astonished yet delighted voice immediately rang out.

"You're... a warlock?"

"You should call me Wizard."

Levi answered calmly.

To be honest, he didn't think very highly of the man.

Still...

Considering the secret Queen Moya seemed to be hiding, Levi decided to tolerate him for now.

"W-Wizard..." Aemon III quickly corrected himself. "Wizard."

After Levi openly revealed his identity by casting magic, Aemon III visibly relaxed.

But Levi paid him no attention.

His gaze remained fixed on Queen Moya.

"I believe... we can finally have a proper conversation now."

"...Yes."

Aemon III desperately signaled Queen Moya with his eyes.

After a long, conflicted silence, she slowly nodded.

"All right... where should we begin?" Levi thought for a moment before saying, "Let's start with the part where your daughter isn't human."

"Tell me. I'm very curious."

Queen Moya fell silent for a while. She glanced at Aemon III, who gave her a slight nod. Only then did she slowly begin.

"My ancestors... were not human."

Levi nodded.

Ever since Detection had revealed that she possessed merfolk blood, he had already known as much.

He simply said, "Go on."

"My ancestor was a merfolk prince who had been cursed by magic and transformed into a flounder. For certain reasons, he came to the surface, settled on land, and founded our bloodline."

The queen glanced at Aemon III once more before continuing.

Levi's expression turned rather strange.

Magic.

Flounder.

Prince.

Put those three together...

Why did they sound so familiar?

Wasn't that almost exactly like The Fisherman and His Wife?

Unable to help himself, Levi asked, "If your ancestor was a merfolk prince, then how did he live on land? I mean... how can a merfolk survive out of the sea?"

"The Sea Witch brews a potion that allows merfolk to grow human legs, enabling them to live on land," the queen explained.

Hearing that, another fairy tale immediately surfaced in Levi's mind—

The Little Mermaid.

But he kept that thought to himself.

The queen looked at him and added an explanation.

"Of course, becoming human comes at a price."

"My ancestor traded a Heart of Greed and a Heart of Regret to the Sea Witch in exchange for that potion. The potion requires a special kind of coral polyp, and even the Sea Witch can brew only one dose each year."

That settled it.

It really was The Little Mermaid.

In the original fairy tale, the little mermaid traded her tongue and her voice to obtain the potion.

This merfolk prince, however, had offered a Heart of Greed and a Heart of Regret instead.

Where had those come from?

Levi already had a pretty good guess, but he asked anyway.

Queen Moya remained silent for quite some time before finally answering.

"They came from a fisherman who lived by the sea... and his wife."

Just as I thought.

A sharp gleam flashed across Levi's eyes.

His curiosity deepened.

"Go on."

Queen Moya looked toward King Aemon III.

His expression remained blank, refusing to meet her gaze.

So she continued.

"My ancestor—the merfolk prince—had been cursed into becoming a flounder. While fleeing from his pursuers, he was caught by an old human fisherman."

"Once my ancestor left the sea, he lost the source of his power. He had no ability to resist."

"So he begged the old fisherman to spare him."

"The fisherman was kindhearted and agreed."

"But after he returned home and told his wife about it, she sent him back to make demands."

"First, she wanted a villa."

"Then a royal palace."

"Then to become a king."

"After that, an emperor."

"And finally the Pope."

"In the end..." Queen Moya said, "her final demand was to rule the entire universe—to command the sun and the moon themselves, deciding when they would rise and set."

"How could that possibly be?" Aemon III finally blurted out. "Other than God Himself, who could ever accomplish such a thing? That woman... was simply far too greedy."

Indeed.

The old woman had been rather greedy.

But if the positions were reversed...

How many people could honestly resist that kind of temptation?

Levi wasn't even confident he could.

Let alone anyone else.

So he remained silent, offering no judgment.

After casting a discreet glance at Levi, Aemon III turned back to Queen Moya.

"And then? Did your ancestor actually grant her wish?"

"Of course not." Queen Moya smiled bitterly.

"If my ancestor possessed such unimaginable power, how could he ever have ended up cursed by magic and hunted everywhere he went?"

"That's true." Aemon III nodded.

"So what happened afterward?"

"Everything disappeared."

"Only the original ramshackle hut remained... along with almost endless regret."

"The fisherman's regret and his wife's greed were gathered by my ancestor and condensed into those two objects, which he then traded to the Sea Witch."

"My ancestor regained his human form, came ashore, and eventually passed our bloodline down to future generations."

Levi finally spoke.

"What happened to the fisherman and his wife after losing those two things?"

"They lost their emotions."

"They became little more than walking corpses... beings without feelings."

Queen Moya paused briefly before answering.

Levi nodded without saying anything.

The queen looked first at him, then at Aemon III.

After letting out a quiet sigh, she continued.

"As time passed, the merfolk blood within our family grew thinner and thinner."

"Several centuries went by..."

"Until Serena..."

She couldn't continue.

Her eyes reddened.

Levi finished the sentence for her.

"An ancestral reversion..."

"Serena inherited one of the defining traits of the merfolk..."

"Her tears... can turn into pearls."

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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> /TitoVillar

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