The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 2

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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 2
Kies lowered the Compass and fixed me with a murderous stare.
“The Black Sea is to the left. You mean to throw me in there and watch me die?”
As if he weren’t the one who looked ready to run me through this very instant.
Why in the world had I been saddled with this mission instead of some Crown Prince? Why couldn’t the world just be left in his hands?
“If the Black Sea is to the left and not the right, then we’ve already crossed it.”
“Nonsense. Every living thing that enters the Black Sea dies. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Well, not if the Fallen Angel who created the Black Sea decided to save you.
There was nothing to be done about it.
“I overheard Father speaking with someone. At the shipboard party last night, he said they were going to throw Your Highness into the Black Sea. I didn’t realize until later that I’d be thrown in as well.”
“You’re telling me that….”
I tossed the Key that had unlocked the Shackles onto the desk.
“By the bearing, this ship is heading toward Hibery Island. You can’t operate the vessel anyway, and there’s bound to be a Lifeboat on board for emergencies. Take it and be on your way.”
I finished speaking quickly and opened the navigation room door.
There was work to be done, and I had no time to argue with someone who wouldn’t believe me regardless.
Besides, if Kies weren’t a complete fool, he’d make for Hibery Island—it was the closest landmass.
“Wait!”
As I turned to leave the navigation room, Kies hurried after me.
“Then why did you abandon the Princess? Did she save me from the Black Sea? How? Have you known the way to survive all along and simply watched others perish?”
This one certainly talks a lot.
Kies trailed behind me, spilling questions in a torrent.
“That wasn’t me.”
“Then who saved me?”
The Fallen Angel.
“How would I know?”
I descended to the first deck and entered the dining hall, situated just below the navigation room.
We needed to reach Hibery Island by tomorrow. But if two people ignorant of navigation wandered about, it could take much longer.
In the original story, Kies and I actually spent two weeks lost before finally reaching the island.
‘Which means the most critical thing right now is the freshwater and provisions.’
“Are you really uninvolved in all this? If things were as they used to be, you’d have caused mischief, but you’re being far too composed.”
“If Your Highness were an Empress, would she have thrown you out into the middle of the sea with only me and ordered me to kill you?”
“That’s….”
Confronted with such airtight logic, Kies finally fell silent.
Seizing the moment, I opened a door at the corner of the kitchen and found a small pantry beyond.
Accounting even for the fish in the aquarium inside the dining hall, provisions were plentiful—assuming we reached Hibery Village on schedule.
‘Good. Now for the next location.’
As I tried to leave the pantry, Kies blocked the doorway and refused to budge.
“Where exactly are you headed now?”
“The weapons armory.”
Kies narrowed his already sharp eyes to slits and glared at me.
“Not to kill Your Highness. We were attacked by pirates the moment we crossed the Black Sea. Don’t we need weapons to survive in these treacherous waters?”
“I understand your words. But suspicion is equally warranted. For the time being, you’ll remain under my watch.”
So that’s why he kept following me.
Since we’d be living together for another year, I supposed I should stop arguing and try to placate him.
“Fine. Let’s go to the infirmary first.”
“…Are you injured? Earlier, my guard was up and I couldn’t control my strength. I didn’t intend to push that hard.”
Of all the things for the protagonist to fuss over.
“Not me—Your Highness. Your wrists are all scraped up.”
I pointed to Kies’s wrists, still bound in Shackles. No wonder they looked like that—fighting pirates while wearing such heavy restraints.
“I was about to go to the infirmary myself….”
“Come along.”
An annoying leech had attached itself to me.
We removed the Shackles in the navigation room and made our way to the infirmary, a chamber on the left side of the first deck.
“Your Highness should clean your wounds as well.”
After washing my hands, I located the Disinfectant and Bandages and moved to stand before the bunk.
“Here, sit down and give me your hands.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
When I handed the supplies over, Kies applied the medicine to his injuries without so much as a flicker of pain across his face.
“Did the Empress and Fray Duke orchestrate this together? Is there anything else you remember?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I must have hit my head when they threw me in—my memory’s fuzzy.”
“Amnesia, then?”
“Presumably.”
“How convenient.”
Kies finished tying off the Bandage and met my eyes directly.
“I intend to return to the Empire. No matter how long it takes. What will you do?”
“I suppose… I’ll have to go with you for now.”
We’d part ways at the final port before reaching the Empire.
I intended to live out my remaining days in peace—unlike the original story.
“Then it would be wise not to lie to me. Furthermore, I won’t tolerate the sort of mischief you were prone to before. If you show the slightest suspicious behavior, be prepared for the consequences.”
His voice was gravely stern.
“Is there truly nothing else you remember?”
“Actually, there is one thing.”
I spoke up quickly.
“Besides Your Highness and me, there were two other people thrown into the Black Sea.”
If we searched in case someone else had survived, it would delay our voyage.
“Who?”
“Berto Chedorf, the Marquis, and….”
He was a naval commander who had supported Kies and played the role of navigator in the original story—a crucial figure.
Of course, he was also a romantic rival in “Starlight Voyage,” vying for the heroine’s affections.
“Perien Orde, the eldest son of House Orde.”
A prodigy from a noble house in name only, aspiring to become the youngest director of the Imperial Medical Institute.
He had been infinitely tender toward the heroine and cruelly cold to me.
“Those two, then….”
Shadow fell across Kies’s face.
It seemed he believed they were already dead—both because their abandonment was connected to him and because they weren’t with us.
“They’ll be alive.”
Kies lifted his head to look at me. He didn’t seem to agree.
Unlike us, they would have awoken on Hibery Island, defeated the pirates, and—with the aid of the villagers—be living quite comfortably.
“Even someone as frail as I am is alive. Have hope.”
“…On the battlefield, false hope can cost you your life.”
Beneath his level tone lay hidden suffering. But I had no desire to dredge it up.
“Well, this isn’t a battlefield. Besides, we need to focus on surviving ourselves first.”
I slowly got to my feet.
“I’m going to check the navigation charts. Oh, and would it be all right if I used the bathing room first?”
“Now that you mention it….”
Kies looked me over with obvious scrutiny.
“Why do you look like that?”
I was dressed in rags whose original nature I couldn’t even discern.
Kies, by contrast, wore the same ornate uniform he’d had on at the shipboard party, though now it was creased and dust-covered.
“I have Amnesia, so I’m not sure.”
“But you said not to lie….”
“At any rate, I’m taking that as permission and going ahead.”
“Fine. I’ll check the navigation room. Go wash up first. You might find something to change into if you search the cabin—though it’ll probably all be men’s clothing.”
“Yes, thank you.”
As I turned to leave, I felt his gaze following me.
He was probably wondering what scheme a wayward princess had up her sleeve to behave so differently from how she’d acted in the Empire.
‘Well, as long as it doesn’t interfere with my role as guide.’
Let him suspect all he wants.
* * *
I wiped away the condensation fogging the mirror with my hand.
“Wow. First time seeing my own face.”
Six months ago, I had possessed Tatiana while she was imprisoned.
Of course I’d never seen myself until now—I’d only just emerged into the world when I was thrown into the Black Sea.
“My beauty is ridiculous.”
I’d just washed my hair, and it hung pristine and luminous.
“Locked away in prison, yet with skin so porcelain-white and golden hair like brilliant sunlight. And eyes the color of the sea itself…!”
Though I’d grown thin from my confinement, simply gazing in the mirror promised I wouldn’t be bored for the journey ahead.
Good. My spirits lifted.
The shirt fell below my hips, so I counted it as a dress and rolled up the sleeves.
“Now I’m truly free.”
I just had to get the protagonists safely back to the Empire, sell off the Treasure that Kies had taken from the defeated pirates, and find somewhere to settle.
The thought made my heart race.
Growl—
My stomach joined in the commotion.
“I can have real meals instead of hard, stale bread.”
Buoyant with excitement, I bolted from the bathing room to find Kies.
“Your Highness! Where are you!”
“Up here.”
Kies’s voice drifted down from above.
“You’re still in the navigation room?”
I shielded my eyes from the sun and looked up as I spoke.
“I was wondering if there might be useful information. But why did you call for me?”

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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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