Chapter Text
Paseton danced for Cale when they managed to escape from the reception. He kept his human form and simply danced with his sword.
A female whale from his tribe had taught him this dance when he was worried about not being able to dance for Cale very well being close to the coast.
Paseton asked Cale when he stopped to rest.
"Do you want to listen to my singing?"
"Can I do that?"
Paseton nodded. It was possible, although it would be a bit painful for him.
Cale Henituse agreed.
Paseton sighed before opening the shirt of his suit, his hand pulled a special pocketknife from his pocket. Paseton used it to open the skin over his left pectoral.
"What...?"
Cale was speechless in front of him. Paseton understood. It's not like every day you see your boyfriend... husband slicing open his chest with a pocketknife. But Cale changed to an expression of surprise when Paseton's fingers pulled an orb as blue as his hair from inside the wound.
The orb was small, probably the size of a fingernail, but the clear interior reflected the moonlight and made it glow brightly.
Paseton held the orb out to Cale, ignoring the sting of the wound on his chest.
"When a Whale Beast Person makes a human their mate, we give our hearts so that they may hear our song. Will you accept my heart?"
Cale was dumbfounded.
So Paseton was patient and waited.
"You... what the fuck. Take a healing potion or something."
... ah.
Paseton accepted the potion Cale gave him and drank it in one gulp. The wound on his chest healed immediately, indicating the good quality of the potion. Cale looked at his heart with an unreadable look.
"What am I supposed to do with... that?"
Paseton shrugged.
"Whatever you want. You can put it on a necklace or keep it in a box inside your pocket."
"What if I destroy it?"
"Then I'm going to die."
Cale was speechless again, then Paseton smiled.
"I'm going to accept it as long as it's you."
Paseton saw Cale put on that annoyed expression he puts on when he wants to cry and watched as the smaller hand was raised toward the orb.
"Then I accept it, Serbang-nim ."
Cale took Paseton's heart in both hands, cradling it as if it were a precious object. Paseton's brain continued to function after processing Cale's call.
Cale had just called him 'husband'.
Paseton chirped happily.
"Oh...I, I can really hear it now."
Cale's cute stunned face was too much for Paseton's poor heart.
"Is this really your heart?"
Cale asked skeptically.
"Well, sort of. We have our heart like yours, but this is the one that connects to our beastly instincts. Kind of like a beast core."
"Will you really die if I destroy it?"
"Yes."
"... huh."
Cale continued to cradle the small orb with his two hands. Paseton leaned over and left a kiss on her little husband's forehead.
Paseton had worked hard to earn more than a kiss on the cheek, however, today was the first time he was able to kiss Cale on the lips. Paseton wanted to do it again.
"God. I can hear all your feelings with this now."
Cale chuckled as he lowered his hands a little to give him more room. Paseton cupped Cale's cheek and leaned down, sighing at the warmth of soft lips on his.
Paseton was genuinely happy.
He knew his singing was giving him away.
But that didn't matter.
Because Cale was listening to him.
His father, King Shickler, managed to come to some sort of agreement with the Crown Prince of the Roan Kingdom, so the older prince could officially begin trading produce from the kingdom's crops with the three Northern Kingdoms.
Paseton saw Cale sighing with relief as the first boats departed for the north.
"The lives of many are getting longer now."
Oh.
It seemed like this trade was a big deal.
When Cale told him about the Life Rings, Paseton didn't really understand. But he was happy that Cale trusted him to keep the secret.
A few weeks later Sword Master Choi Han arrived injured. The Whale Tribe members who had been standing guard in the village explained that a guy in a hood and white mask had come to try to assassinate the village members. The guy eventually did something to a tree and left.
Cale Henituse had sent them because he saw people's rings fading away. The village members had already retreated when this person arrived with his henchmen.
Cale saw life-lengthening once again.
He also saw that Choi Han's life was stupidly long.
Choi Han and Paseton accompanied him when an invitation was extended for the king's birthday. Cale found a pair of kittens while looking for a set of earrings to match his suit. The children, because they were children, belonged to the Cat Tribe.
Paseton liked having young members to protect.
Cale chuckled softly when Paseton released his aura to show he was the leader.
Anyway, during the trip, his good husband Paseton had also seen that there was a cave with a small, tortured Dragon. Cale was thankful that Paseton would at least wear a hood when the guy simply took Choi Han to destroy the cave with everyone inside.
But Cale could see life getting longer again.
When Paseton arrived with Taylor Stan in Puzzle City, he wondered if it was a good idea to bring her husband on this trip. The guy said it was better to take Taylor with the Elves.
Sure. As if the Elves were known for their benevolence.
Cale let him go when he saw life getting longer.
The rest of the events went like this: Cale and Paseton went out on a date in the capital's marketplace days before the event, they went at night, aware of the Black Dragon following them. The cute Dragon couldn't help but shout.
"Little Whale! Boy of the Whale! There's a large concentration of mana five steps away from you! What is it? I want to know!"
That's how they discovered the magic bombs stationed in the plaza. Cale informed the Crown Prince so he could pick the shit up. So the celebration was postponed.
Cale saw many lives lengthening.
Sometime later, when Cale came across a Golden Dragon by accident while searching for a necklace for dubious purposes, he learned another valuable piece of information.
"You smell like a whale. But you're human."
"Is the smell on the inside or the outside? I remember I took a shower before I came."
The Golden Dragon looked at him in disbelief.
"Young people are truly shameless these days. No, child, I was talking about the necklace you're wearing there."
Ah, right. Cale touched the necklace with a blue orb that hung around his neck. It was Paseton's heart.
Dragon shook his head.
"I can't believe that seriously someone would shed their bestial abilities for a human. I haven't seen anyone do that in the last 450 years."
"...What the hell, Gramps Dragon-nim, can you explain that?"
"You called me... never mind. Didn't you know? If a Beast Person gives up their beast core to a human it's the same as stripping themselves of their beast form and most of their abilities."
Cale didn't know that.
Is that why Paseton didn't return to the land of the Whales after the wedding?
Witira and Shickler were visiting him on the shores of Ubarr, but Cale doesn't remember Paseton transforming into a Whale since the day of the ceremony.
Oh.
The Golden Dragon seemed to take pity on him as he reinforced his collar with a spell before coughing blood violently.
Cale barely registered the cry of the Elf who came out to the Dragon's aid.
He really should talk this over with Paseton.
Alternate Ending TBOAH.
Cale Henituse hung up the video call.
Paseton had not arrived in the land of the Whales, he did not return to the county either. Paseton had traveled by boat for some reason, but he should have arrived by now.
What was going on?
Cale met on the shores of Ubarr with Witira several days later. Cale showed her what he was holding in his hands as soon as she came out of the water.
"No...!"
Witira covered her mouth with her hands.
Paseton's heart had suddenly broken during their journey here.
Paseton had died.
Cale returned to the county and locked himself in his room. He heard that Witira began mobilizing the Whales to search for Paseton, though the mermaids seemed to have found another source of dead mana and were revealing themselves. This war also cut off the sea route between Roan and the Northern Kingdoms.
Two years later, the war began.
When Cale left his room, it was because the Wyverns were coming. His father's life was already fading away, the Countess' and his siblings' as well.
Cale could only watch as they died before his eyes.
Twenty years later, he was finally able to die. Seeing the big annual rings of the guy with a white mask.
In the end, he couldn't change the fate.
Alternate Ending TOTCF.
Kim Rok Soo opened his eyes to the luxurious canopy of the bed, his first reaction was to tense up as he felt an arm around his waist.
He looked to the side and saw sea-blue hair. The last thing he had been reading was a novel, Whales were at war with mermaids. Kim Rok Soo connected the name he read with the handsome face in front of him.
"... Paseton?"
The son of the Whale King who died from mermaid poison.
Had he transmigrated? Who was he and why was Paseton by his side?
Unfortunately, Paseton awoke to her murmur. Paseton's eyes scanned him before the arm withdrew and Paseton sat up abruptly.
"Who are you?"
Kim Rok Soo hadn't even been in this body for five minutes and he was already found out!
When his answer was late, Kim Rok Soo heard a kind of screeching sound echoing from Paseton, it was like that whale song he heard in some documentaries while working in a restaurant. It gave him a headache from the power.
Paseton noticed this and ripped off a necklace around his neck. It was a blue orb. Paseton put it in his pocket and asked again.
"Who are you? What did you do with Cale?"
Cale... Cale Henituse.
"Huh?"
His confusion must have been very obvious because Paseton got out of bed and left the room. It wasn't long before the butler (It was Killer Ron! Ah!) arrived with a tray.
Kim Rok Soo noticed that Ron was acting normal, so Paseton probably didn't say anything to him.
Then, at breakfast, Kim Rok Soo realized that Cale Henituse had married Paseton about three months ago.
He transmigrated into the body of a newlywed boy.
Crap.