I Win Over the Prince with a Princess Complex by Playing It Cool [Western Fantasy]

[Mermaids] [Subversive Tropes] [Faux Europe] [Fated Rivals] [Monsters]

(The story includes BL, GL, and BG pairings. Aside from the main characters, there are no canon couples. Depending on which pairing you ship, there may be angst, sweetness, or nothing but angst.)

Face-slapping knightly mermaid (female lead) x sharp-tongued, princess-syndrome young master (male lead)

Also known as The Sea Breeze

An endless red dyed the blue of millions of years.

Lian is one of the few surviving mermaids. To find her brother, she disguises herself as a man and joins the Golden Radiance Guard, the best-informed force in the entire capital.

She never expected that on her very first day, she would end up living under the same roof as her nemesis, Karen Thorne.

Karen is a young master from a prestigious family. He looks down on “Lian,” who's thin and frail like his nemesis Lian, gives her a hard time during training every day, and waits for her to cry and quit the Guard.

Lian puts up with Karen's provocation again and again, but there's only so much anyone can take. The next time he gives her trouble, she proves she's stronger than him, shuts him up with her skills, and humiliates him in front of everyone.

Day after day, Lian trains and searches for news about her brother. Exhausted in body and mind, she returns to the little house by the chilly seashore late at night, when no one is around, and lets the sea breeze wash over her.

She can't go home. The sea breeze is the only thing that feels like home.

But her days aren't always dark. After a mission, Lian and Karen go from bitter enemies to inseparable partners and companions. Karen knows some of her brother's story, and Lian thinks things are finally getting better.

Instead of a brighter future, she discovers Karen's true identity.

Love means nothing in the face of a blood feud between their families.

Lian ignores Karen and, through pain and sweat, becomes the “invincible” knight everyone sees her as.

It doesn't have to be a straw that breaks the camel's back. It can be a single sentence, a single truth.

All of Lian's years of persistence and hard work become a joke.

The rising sea climbs higher than the city walls, and innocent people run through the streets, screaming.

Lian turns around and takes the hand of her nemesis, Karen, behind her.

Karen did nothing wrong, and Lian has every reason to hate him.

Once everything has calmed down,

Lian gives up her honors and goes home. Karen often stands by the little house where they first met, feeling the presence of the one he loves as he listens to the sea breeze.

Years later, the lovers meet again after a long separation, and bicker just like they did when they first met.

“If I could die at your hands, I'd be happy.”

I love you. I hope every memory that flashes before my eyes is one of us together.

The author answers every question.

Theme: Break traditional prejudice and let women stand strong on their own