Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even though the beach of Cleopatra’s Bathroom didn’t have sand as white as snow, it did have a specialty in that it wasn’t that attractive. Just a few centimeters below the water’s surface were reef rocks, and it was slippery for humans to step on them with their bare feet. But it barely affected the four-footed animals at all, especially cats with their extraordinary balancing skills.
Galaxy put one front paw into the water experimentally, realizing that the water didn’t even come up to its knee. Waves of chill started to spread up from its paw pad, cooling it down from the heat of the summer.
Famous had wanted to get down into the water for a long, long time and leaped into it without a shred of hesitation. It wasn’t satisfied with only having its paws drenched and went ahead to roll in the water so all of its fur was soaked. Then it shook its body violently, spewing the water droplets everywhere.
“Meow!” Galaxy was splashed by the water droplets since it was nearby, and it quickly retracted its paw so that it could shield its face.
“Feels great!” Famous shouted, turning back to the rest. “Come down to the water!”
The other elfins had thought that the waters were deep and that the sand in the water would give way the moment they stepped onto it, so they did not plan to go into the sea at first. But seeing Famous play around so happily, and even Galaxy bravely frolicking in the sea, they were all more willing to try.
“Pi, come down and play! The water’s shallow. This a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Zhang Zian stood in the water, his arms out as he tried to maintain his balance. He saw Pi sitting on the chair, squirming uncertainly, scratching at its head and chin as though its entire body itched. It clearly wanted to go into the water, and yet it was too shy to do so, so he raised his voice to call out to it.
“Meow! Pi, come play! The water’s cool, and it’s so fun!” Galaxy called out.
“Cheep cheep.” Pi leaped off the chair to the water’s edge, wanting to see if Galaxy was right and test out the waters first, but a spray of water suddenly assaulted it.
“Haha! Don’t be so cowardly!”
So it was Famous fooling around. Seeing Pi drag its feet, it used its paw to spray a jet of water at Pi. But its laughter stopped abruptly as Pi took its revenge by cupping a bit of water to spray back at Famous and hit its target spot-on.
“Cheep cheep!” Pi danced with glee at its successful revenge.
“Bleugh!” Famous slapped at the sea again to spray water, and Pi splashed back. The former was stronger and could make bigger splashes, but the latter had two hands to cup water, so they could spray more water.
“Meow meow meow! Your Majesty! Let’s go down and wet ourselves… I mean, play with water!” Snowy Lionet could barely contain itself, rushing to drag Fina into the water with it.
Sadly, Fina’s sense of self-importance was stronger than its determination, and it didn’t have much interest in playing with water. With Snowy Lionet’s mane of hair, it would definitely get oddly heavy after going into the sea. Who knew if it would even be able to move afterwards?
Old Time Tea didn’t go down either, so it didn’t wet his long robes. It drank tea while watching the sea, the very picture of relaxation.
Zhang Zian, of course, hadn’t forgotten the reason why they had come to the harbor. He quietly went to a deeper area of water, observing the surroundings to make sure that there was no one around, before releasing Sihwa.
Splash! Sihwa landed in the sea.
The water was merely as deep as an adult’s thigh. She sat on the reef with her neck and head exposed, her seaweed-like olive-colored hair swaying as she looked around. “Where is this?”
“This is the place I was talking about—Cleopatra’s bathroom,” Zhang Zian said.
“Liar! Where’s the bathroom? Is this what your bathroom looks like?” Sihwa felt cheated.
She had already bragged about it online to her fans, saying that she was going to livestream at Cleopatra’s bathroom, but this didn’t look like a bathroom at all.
It was Zhang Zian’s fault for not explaining clearly. She had matter-of-factly assumed that Cleopatra’s Bathroom would be a luxurious, beautiful, exquisite place and had boasted as such. But now, this was just a disappointment, and she could only redirect her anger at Zhang Zia
“Why are you so impatient? Do you see that giant rock over there?”
Zhang Zian pointed to a dull yellow-colored rock not too far away. The rock was flat, and it seemed out of place. Its bottom was submerged in water, like a castle that had gone through thousands of years of rain and sunshine, with no other rocks or reefs beside it.
“What is it? I want a bathroom. Don’t dismiss me with some stone!” Sihwa lost interest with just one look and demanded an explanation from Zhang Zian.
“That’s Cleopatra’s bathroom. Hurry and go livestream it.” Zhang Zian fished out her phone from his pocket and passed it to her.
“What? That piece of stone is Cleopatra’s bathroom?” Sihwa was nothing but skeptical.
Zhang Zian nodded. “Absolutely. No matter whether the fable was true or fake, this is definitely the spot. If you don’t believe me, just start the livestream. If there’s someone in your room that knows what they’re talking about, they will definitely recognize it.”
Seeing how confident Zhang Zian was, Sihwa started to believe him, but only a little.
“How about this—I’ll bring you there.”
Zhang Zian asked Galaxy to stay in the shallow region. He raised his trousers up so he wouldn’t get them wet and followed the water flow towards the giant stone. Sihwa then swam beside him, raising the phone up.
The rocks underneath the water were slippery and would cause someone to fall if they weren’t being careful. That would be one painful fall, seeing that it was all rocks underneath.
When they reached the giant rock, Zhang Zian pointed at a big hole in the bottom. “Do you see that? That’s the entrance. They say that there’s another smaller hole on the other end, facing the sea, but I haven’t seen it myself yet.”
Sihwa frowned. “This water is too shallow. Are you asking me to climb in?”
Even if it was the side facing the sea, the sea level was only around the knee of an adult. If Sihwa wanted to go into the hole, she’d have to use her hands to prop herself up on the rocks and drag herself in. The rough rocks would definitely cause a lot of injury to her tail.
“Don’t rush.” Zhang Zian looked out into the sea. “The tides will be rising soon.”
As a person who’d grown up by the sea, he was familiar with how the sea was. Even if this was the other side of the globe, the sea was still the sea. The coldness coming from his ankles accurately told him that it was rising tide right now, and the waves were getting stronger.
If Sihwa had been a normal person, he wouldn’t have recommended that she go into the water right now. During rising tide, the rocky reefs around the shore would be dangerous when the waves pushed people into them. Besides, this was a foreign beach that they were not familiar with, so they had to be even more careful as they didn’t know what was beneath the water’s surface.
But she was a mermaid and had swimming abilities tons of times stronger than humans, and she would never drown, so whatever.
Finishing, he walked back to the shore using his original route, not wanting the rising tide to wet his clothes.
Sihwa initially didn’t believe him at all and was thinking that Zhang Zian was just dismissing her like he had Fina. But after a moment’s wait, she realized that Zhang Zian was right—the tides had risen.
