The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 3

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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 3
“I’m hungry. Go wash up and come to the Dining Hall. I’ll have food ready.”
“A noblewoman cooking…?”
Kies made a face as though he might retch at the very thought.
How absurd. I may not be skilled, but I can cook well enough that we won’t starve.
“I’d better handle it myself.”
“Just go wash up—I’m starving. Oh, and can I use the Captain’s Quarters over there?”
I pointed to the room next to the infirmary. It was the only bedroom on the main deck.
“Do as you wish.”
“Feel free to take whatever you need. I’m going to cook now.”
“Wait—!”
I ignored Kies’s protest and slipped into the Dining Hall.
With so much to do, the food I’d prepared ended up being dinner instead.
“My lady.”
As I arranged the food neatly on the plates, Kies emerged from the shower and entered the Dining Hall.
“Oh, you look like a pirate now.”
“It’s pirate clothing.”
Unlike the formal dress uniform of a typical crown prince, the loose shirt and black buccaneer trousers gave him quite a rakish air.
‘He’s handsome, I’ll give him that.’
Which explained why I’d been engaged to him, even if a fake noblewoman had broken it off.
In fact, ours wasn’t a political match at all—it was a love match, something quite rare.
You might say we were each other’s first love.
At the time, Kies was young, but he was always careful in his conduct, mindful of his station. Naturally, he’d never properly courted anyone before.
But when we first met at my debut, we fell for each other on sight, and before the year was out, we were engaged.
‘Young love runs deep and pure.’
I was trapped underground, yet all I worried about was Kies.
But when he returned from war, he didn’t find his first love, Tatiana—he found a reckless madwoman.
Kies quietly endured being treated like a fool’s errand by her, but her abysmal nature ultimately led to the broken engagement.
Now it was all ancient history.
“Are you going to keep sitting there like that?”
Snapped out of my reverie by Kies’s voice, I grabbed two plates and brought them to the table.
“Like what?”
I asked casually, and he sighed, shaking his head.
“Never mind. Let’s eat. I do hope it’s edible.”
“Don’t ask for seconds.”
Kies eyed the food with surprise at its presentation, though his suspicion never quite faded.
“I’ve never seen anything that looks like this. What is it?”
“Cabbage toast.”
It was street food, the kind sold from market carts. No ketchup available, but I’d dusted it generously with sugar instead.
“How did you make it?”
“No poison in it. I can swap plates with you if you’d like.”
Before he could protest, I switched the plates, took the toast, and bit into it deeply.
He watched me with a dubious expression, took a bite of his portion, and his eyes widened in surprise.
‘He likes it.’
I’d thought he’d grown from boy to man, but something of the old Kies flickered across his face.
“By the way, there’s something I wanted to talk about.”
“What?”
“It might look like insolence, but it’s part of my survival strategy for us.”
“I won’t have you executed for insulting the royal family just yet. Go ahead.”
“And not later, either.”
“Fine. Out with it.”
He was getting irritated. I should have pushed harder about this earlier.
“First, drop that formal way of speaking. If people realize you’re nobility, it’ll just invite trouble. You agree, don’t you?”
“Yes. But I won’t be able to change it all at once.”
Kies answered without resistance.
“You’ll manage. Second, drop the honorifics. Same reason.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“You have a name, don’t you?”
“So you’re saying I should just call you by your name?”
“I’ll keep it respectful.”
He seemed too tired to question my sudden shift in attitude, so he simply nodded.
“Alright. Looking forward to working with you, Kies.”
“You adapt quickly.”
He’d seemed guarded this morning, and I’d been worried. But now he appeared remarkably calm—probably because the panic of waking in an unfamiliar place had worn off.
I’d leave the rest of our conversation for later.
“You have to practice it out loud for it to stick. Try saying my name.”
“…Tatiana.”
He pressed his lips together, drawing out the moment, before speaking it softly, almost under his breath.
“You did well.”
It was a good beginning.
After dinner, I left the cleanup to Kies and checked the Compass before climbing to the upper Deck.
“This is it. This is what I needed.”
I flopped into the hammock, and an endless sky unfurled before me.
Countless stars woven so densely with light seemed not merely wondrous but impossibly surreal.
‘Darkness was only ever terrifying.’
As I gazed at the stars, my eyes grew heavy. I drifted into sleep.
* * *
“Tatiana!”
For the first time in a while, a fallen angel—or rather, a Demon King—appeared in my dream.
He wore clothes white as myth itself, and his hair was blessed gold. A beautiful man.
“Lucas.”
Lucas had rebelled against God and fallen, or so the story goes.
In that fall, his corrupted essence descended upon the sea and the land—manifesting now as the Black Sea, the Dead Land, and darkness.
“Now the real beginning starts.”
Lucas stamped his feet anxiously, speaking with urgent longing.
“You absolutely have to get back within a year. If this world collapses before you do, I really won’t be forgiven.”
Serves you right for regretting it.
But no matter how I looked at it, this was a losing bargain for me. He dragged me here on a whim and told me to claw my way to survival—that wasn’t how this was going to work.
“Lucas, I have a request.”
I grabbed his forearm firmly, like a strangler, as he backpedaled with an anxious look.
“Think carefully. Unlike the original story, I have to take the lead, and if I die doing it, what then?”
“…At least tell me what you want.”
“Give me more lives.”
Lucas’s eyes went wide, like a man about to bolt.
“Tatiana, what kind of nonsense is that?”
“In games, you get multiple lives, don’t you? Like that.”
When I pressed the point, Lucas made a face as though he was thinking hard, drool escaping one corner of his mouth.
“Alright, fine. I can’t actually give you extra lives, but I’ll give you an Awakening Ability.”
“An Awakening Ability?”
I tilted my head, and Lucas continued the explanation.
“When you’re on the verge of death, you’ll awaken with the power to escape the crisis. But only three times.”
That wasn’t bad at all. At least three times my life was guaranteed.
“But then I’ll use up all my power. Once I fall asleep again, I might not wake until you return to the Empire.”
“Can’t be helped. I’ll let you save the world, and you can beg God’s forgiveness yourself.”
Lucas’s expression turned touched, his jaw softening.
“Tatiana, it’s only three times, so be careful. Crossing the world won’t be easy.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll get there within a year.”
Lucas gazed at me with worried eyes, smiled gently, and leaned in close. He pressed his lips to my forehead.
A warm current spread through me as black light traced a mark on my brow and seeped in.
“See you later, Tatiana.”
“Yes. Sleep well, Lucas.”
After exchanging farewells with Lucas, my eyelids slowly lifted.
It was morning.
“Where am I…?”
I sat up and looked around.
A deep mahogany desk and wardrobe. A thin beam of light filtering through a small, circular porthole.
I had fallen asleep in the hammock on the Deck last night—but I’d woken in the Captain’s Quarters.
‘Did Kies move me?’
I would have thought he wouldn’t care if I froze to death.
“So as long as I don’t act like a madwoman, I’ll be fine.”
Maintaining this level of relationship seemed ideal.
I went into the washroom attached to the Captain’s Quarters, quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face, then stepped back out.
Just then, Kies emerged from the Navigation Room on the upper level.
“Kies! Have you confirmed the route?”
“Yes. Though I’m not sure how long it’ll take to arrive.”
Hmm. We should reach land today.
I was worried, but I’d done all I could. If we don’t arrive before evening, I’ll just have to fish.
But before that…
“Come to the Weapon Storage with me.”
* * *
In the basement Weapon Storage, I opened a drawer to retrieve a weapon I’d had in mind.
‘Found it.’
A sleek black-bodied Revolver with delicate golden patterns engraved across its surface.
I grasped the mother-of-pearl handle, drew it out, and turned to face Kies.
“…That won’t do.”
“Neither will that. How are you supposed to defend yourself with a dagger?”
Kies, holding a small Dagger, looked at my Revolver with reluctance.
The fact that he offered no counter-argument suggested he recognized that the gun was best suited to me.
“You’ll teach me how to shoot, right?”
“Sigh…”

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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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