The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 17
“Father!”
“No, what are you doing awake at this hour?”
“Is that really what matters now? You’re actually going to use me to assassinate His Highness, and—ugh!”
“Lower your voice!”
Father dragged me to his study.
“Pretend you heard nothing.”
“I can’t do that. Have you joined hands with the Empress?”
“Tch. If the Prince had become Crown Prince long ago, I would have stood with him. But look here—the Royal Investiture that should have come long past has now become a war hero’s reward.”
“So what? You’re saying you’ll take the Empress’s hand after all?”
“Yes! Would you have me grasp a rotting rope instead? It’s all for you, so let’s end this discussion.”
Father was not a man devoted to family. But never had I found him more repugnant than in this moment.
“No. It’s for you, not me. Where’s the sophistry in killing my betrothed while claiming it’s for my sake?”
“How dare you speak to me in such a tone!”
“If you won’t stop, then from now on we walk separate paths.”
I had to warn Kiis of this at once.
As I hastened toward the study door, Father seized my arm roughly.
“I haven’t finished speaking! Where do you think you’re going?”
“To inform His Highness the Prince. That the Duke is conspiring with the Empress to have him killed.”
“What?!”
Crack—!
My head snapped to the side. Before I could even comprehend what had happened, a voice like thunder fell upon me.
“So you mean to destroy me and my house!”
I clenched my teeth.
“You’re the one destroying it! Whose fault is it that the Duke’s House has lost its former glory?”
“……It seems words won’t suffice.”
And so I was dragged to the Underground Prison.
Neither I nor Father knew then that I would be confined there for eight years.
After a month, I still raged and screamed with fury.
But as six months of captivity wore on, fear slowly devoured me. This was when I think I began to hurt myself.
I would scratch my thighs until I saw blood, needing proof that I was still alive.
And when a year had passed, I died so that I might live.
* * *
“Gasp—!”
My body shot upright like a spring releasing.
“Ah…….”
Someone held me close, pressed against me. Our eyes met. Jewel-like crimson irises.
It was His Highness the Prince.
“Your Highness, I—Father, Father was going to send you Poison, under my name, someone was—probably the Empress—ugh!”
As I clung to him and poured out my garbled words, I caught sight of his bewildered face and let my speech falter.
This was not the seventeen-year-old boy who had gazed at me with tender affection until the very end.
Before me stood the Crown Prince Kiis—a man now, complete and whole.
“……!”
“Ugh!”
The moment it registered, I shoved him away. The Hammock swung violently side to side.
My mind was chaos. My body trembled. Habit drew my fingernails to the inside of my thigh, but the fabric of my trousers dulled the sensation.
“Why…….”
A startled Kiis opened his mouth soundlessly.
I began gnawing at my nails; he seized my hand.
“What’s wrong? This seems like more than just a nightmare.”
I wrenched my hand free.
Now it came back to me—finally, I’d escaped that horrific Underground Prison, and I had to lead these cursed men to the Empire.
The twilight was dark. I couldn’t fathom why cursed nights existed at all.
“Tatiana, wait.”
As I rose to fetch a Magic Lantern, Kiis caught my arm.
My sweat-soaked clothes clung to me irritatingly. My back itched so badly I wanted to writhe out of my skin.
“Move.”
I wrenched away and rushed downstairs, throwing open the cabin door. It crashed against the wall with a bang.
I lit the glass-enclosed Lantern, and the blue Magic Stone inside blazed with brilliance.
But my chest remained so suffocatingly tight that I took up the Lantern to leave at once—only to find Kiis blocking my path.
“Tatiana, just calm down for a moment…….”
“I said move!”
I shoved past him and climbed back to the deck.
The cool morning air flooded deep into my lungs. Not the dank, moldy stench.
Kiis followed and sat on the sofa beside me. He said nothing more, simply remained at my side.
I wished he would disappear, but as long as he didn’t bother me, I had no desire to speak.
My eyes grew heavy. I hated the darkness, but I wanted to see more stars.
Tap—something brushed against the side of my head.
* * *
“Yesterday you said to get off the ship, but what’s this situation?”
“She’s still sleeping, so keep quiet.”
“That’s why I came to wake her up. Tatiana, wake up. Time to eat.”
Why were they making such a racket in front of a sleeping person in the morning?
I rolled over abruptly and pulled the blanket higher.
‘Smells nice.’
A warm, clean soap scent wrapped around me completely.
“Tatiana.”
“Don’t touch me.”
The pillow shifted. No—the Hammock was swaying. But Kiis’s voice seemed oddly close…….
My eyes flew open. A white shirt came into view.
“Aaah!”
I convulsed upright. Horrifyingly, I’d been resting my head not on a pillow but on Kiis’s leg.
“What are you doing here?!”
Though his clothes were perfectly intact, I found myself pulling the blanket up to my chest.
“……Don’t you remember yesterday?”
Whether to shame me or not, last night’s events replayed vividly in my mind.
I was too embarrassed to speak honestly.
“I don’t remember. Has this been going on since yesterday?”
“You really don’t remember? Are you suffering from Amnesia again? It can’t be, since I’ve been supporting your head all night.”
“Hmph. Who asked you to?”
Kiis gazed at me with darkened eyes.
“We need to talk later.”
It was plain he’d spent the night wrestling with his thoughts, rehearsing what to say when I woke.
“I have nothing to say.”
Of course, I had no intention of agreeing.
“About what’s involved with me…….”
Kiis spoke urgently but trailed off, glancing sideways at Dilshad.
“That’s none of your concern anymore. Don’t ask—it’s uncomfortable.”
I passed him and approached Dilshad.
“What’s on the breakfast menu?”
Dilshad gave Kiis a fleeting look, then headed downstairs with me, saying:
“Cheese scramble over butter-toasted bread. Orange juice or milk—which would you prefer?”
“Milk with the bread.”
“What’s ‘milk’?”
“I’ll make it for you. Once you’ve had it, you’ll never want anything else.”
Behind us came heavy footfalls.
“Tatiana, at least listen to what I have to say.”
Kiis pursued us, pressing the matter, but I ignored him completely.
I treated Kiis as though he didn’t exist and continued talking with Dilshad.
“Dilshad, did you make something for those two and their friends as well?”
“Yeah. I promised to handle the cooking anyway.”
“So different from someone who wanted to throw people overboard in the middle of the sea.”
I reached up to touch his fluffy hair, and Dilshad bent so I could.
“You really…….”
Kiis watched us intently, his expression sharp.
Just then, Berto and Perian emerged from the navigation cabin and infirmary, looking flustered at the morning commotion.
“I’ve peeled the fruit too.”
“Good work, good work……. Wait?”
As my hand stilled, Dilshad, who had been peacefully offering his head, tilted his slightly.
“What is it?”
“Don’t you hear that sound?”
“Sound?”
It was a beautiful melody. Not an instrument or a song—something I’d never heard before, something that seemed not of this world.
“Cover your ears right now—!”
I was leaning in to listen more carefully when Berto suddenly screamed and collapsed with a thud.
“What is this…….”
“Tatiana—!”
Kiis reached urgently toward me, but before he could touch me, he lost consciousness—and so did Perian.
“Look out!”
Dilshad yanked me down to the floor. At the same moment, something swept past above my head.
A massive bird circled once, its wings fluttering.
“My, my head……!”
I gasped at the sight of the creature, clamping my hand over my mouth.
A Half-Human Half-Bird—a demon with the body of a bird and the head of a person.
“It’s a Siren. Get inside, now.”
The Siren’s mouth opened, and instead of a beautiful melody came a chilling bestial screech.
One of the three creatures lunged at Dilshad.
“Screee—!”
Fire Spark erupted from his fingertips and hurtled toward the Siren like a lance. But the creature soared lightly clear.
“Go, hurry!”
Until then I’d been frozen to the floor, but the thunderous command jolted me awake and I scrambled to my feet.
I bolted for the cabin; the moment my hand found the door handle, I saw Kiis lying on the deck.
And my legs moved of their own accord.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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