The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 35

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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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Chapter 35
“You’re okay with it?”
Kiis asked as though bewildered.
“It’s not like he’s wasting our food—we’re just sharing a meal together. What’s the problem?”
“That bastard threatened you.”
“He apologized, and he didn’t actually mean to hurt me.”
When Kai nodded beside me, Kiis’s sharp gaze flicked toward him.
“Kiis.”
I called his name before the two could start fighting.
He used to be so gentle and good-natured, but the war had made him rougher somehow.
“If you don’t like it, he won’t go.”
Either way, Kiis was our leader. He was the one who suffered when I was kidnapped.
“I should have asked first before deciding. I’m sorry.”
“……Sigh.”
Kiis ran his hand through his hair.
‘What is it this time.’
Whether it was because he was nobility or not, managing his moods was never easy.
“He’s pathetic. Getting angry with everyone watching, making her apologize on top of it all.”
Kai muttered loud enough for all to hear.
Just when I’d managed to calm things down, that pirate started the fire again.
“What would you like to eat?”
Kiis asked, looking at me.
“Hmm?”
“For dinner. We should have him prepare it.”
I’d expected him and Kai to lock eyes in a fierce staring contest, but Kiis had agreed. In that case.
“Pork belly.”
A barbecue party called for grilled pork belly.
“And alcohol.”
That last request came from our resident drunkard, the youngest.
“Tatiana, I need to talk to you about something.”
After dinner, as I was tidying the plates to help with cleanup, Berto spoke to me.
The fact that he wasn’t saying it right away meant he wanted to talk to me alone.
“Let me just finish organizing this.”
“I’ll take care of it—go ahead and talk. Oh, and I’m heading to the kitchen to prepare dinner. I can’t trust those guys alone with it.”
“Got it.”
Dilshad took the stack of plates I’d gathered.
Berto left the dining room and headed toward the stairs, as if making for the navigation room.
“Berto, let’s go to my room.”
My quarters were right in front of the dining room—there was no need to climb all the way to the second floor.
“……I can’t just walk into a noblewoman’s private chambers.”
“Since when are you like this? You came in plenty of times at the inn. Hurry up.”
The tips of Berto’s ears flushed red.
‘He’s so innocent, I’m telling you.’
Now that I thought about it, Berto had only entered my room when repairing the ship.
Dilshad came and went without needing any special invitation, and Kiis had stopped by this very morning saying he had something to give me.
Perian visited almost every night, claiming he needed to apply salve before bed.
“Just…… sit in that chair, will you?”
I flopped onto the bed and spoke, and Berto hesitated at the door before finally settling into the desk chair.
“There’s something I want to ask you.”
“What?”
“About your ability. It’s not the Demon’s Power, and it doesn’t seem to be Magic either—what exactly is it?”
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t ask?”
“I need to know now.”
The embarrassment vanished from his face, and his eyes became grave in an instant.
“You provoked pirates on Hivery Island, wrapped Dilshad in protection, didn’t hesitate to follow me deep into the sea, and when Kai had you at swordpoint, you offered your neck to his blade.”
His golden eyes pierced through me with unsettling clarity.
“You’re acting recklessly—dangerously reckless. You could lose your life.”
He was saying that since I’d gained this ability, I no longer valued my own life.
‘I’ve never really thought about it that way.’
It was strange how little self-awareness I had, only now realizing it. But that was all.
“That’s different from what you said before. Does this mean you’ve earned the right to ask me things like this?”
“I think I’ve moved past the position of knowing nothing.”
Berto rose slowly and stepped closer.
Even knowing he meant no harm, my heart began to pound with an inexplicable sense of danger.
The bed sank beneath his weight, and my body tilted toward him.
“You saved me, but I’ve already given my life to you.”
As I watched his gaze drop lower, that moment came back to me.
When he gave me his breath—when we kissed and sank together into the water.
I’d kissed plenty of people before, so I thought nothing of it, but for some reason my face burned.
“You’re right—I did save you. The debt is paid, so you have no right to demand my secrets.”
“Then I’ll use my Wish.”
“Your Wish?”
“We agreed that if I cheated at cards, I’d grant the four of us one Wish each.”
“…….”
He really knew how to leave me speechless.
“But a Wish is precious—surely there’s something better you could ask for? You’re spending it so easily?”
“This is important to me.”
Berto’s resolve was absolute.
Setting aside the Wish itself, I’d always expected he’d ask eventually. There would be plenty of other times when my life hung in the balance.
“I can’t tell you everything. Truth is, I don’t fully understand what it is myself.”
It wasn’t simply a power that saved my life.
It repelled corrupt Magic, and it was the power that made Popo and Pudding mistake me for a Demon at first. Yet somehow I still passed Magic Inspection.
“I just need one answer: you knew you wouldn’t die, didn’t you? That’s why you acted so recklessly.”
My trump card, my one secret weapon, laid bare like this.
Reluctantly, miserably, I nodded.
“So you’ll keep acting recklessly, and you still won’t suffer any harm?”
If I said yes, he’d use me as a shield.
“No, not forever. Maybe two more times…….”
Now I’d made it worse.
“Like an Amulet, then.”
Berto murmured, and I answered quickly.
“Yes. Something like that.”
An Amulet was jewelry inscribed with protective Magic.
“But there’s no Magic that turns legs into fish fins, so it’s not exactly an Amulet.”
Fish fins? I was a beautiful Mermaid, thank you very much.
“I don’t know the exact details myself. Either way, didn’t you get the answer you wanted?”
“Not entirely, but I got what I came for.”
Berto looked at me with dissatisfaction, then opened his mouth again.
“But from now on, don’t take such dangerous risks.”
“Understood.”
My casual answer left him skeptical, but judging that he couldn’t push further, he rose to his feet.
“Wait!”
I grabbed his sleeve urgently, and he turned to look down at me.
“Did you just use your Wish? You’ve got nothing left now.”
Berto laughed and covered the top of my head with his large hand.
“That’s right. From now on, I’ll earn the right to ask without needing a Wish.”
I glared at the door as it closed with a click, smoothing down my hair.
“Always grabbing people’s heads like that…….”
* * *
Stars had risen.
Instead of lying in my usual hammock, I sat among the raucous, laughing pirates.
“Jellyfish Captain, eat up.”
The bandit-like pirate who’d first kidnapped me set down a mountain of pork belly in front of me.
“That’s quite a lot…….”
I was trying to suggest we share, but the bandit was already tearing into a whole uncut slab with his teeth.
Then a huge cup was set down in front of me with a bang. Foam sloshed over the rim and spilled to the side.
“Oh!”
I brought it to my lips immediately, and bright laughter erupted beside me.
“Ha! I knew it. You like alcohol, don’t you?”
Kai had somehow settled in beside me.
“I drink sometimes.”
A beer after work was truly the best.
“Well then, shall we toast?”
Kai propped his chin on his hand and turned to face me completely, offering his cup.
“Could you not look at me so intently?”
I shifted my hips toward the bandit and clinked my cup against his, then drained the beer.
Glug, glug—the beer flowed smoothly down my throat. It had a depth of flavor different from canned beer, probably from aging in oak barrels.
“Tch, he couldn’t resist after all.”
I set down my cup and looked at Kai when I heard that displeased voice. He tilted his chin toward one side.
“Kiis?”
He’d risen to his feet, his eyes blazing. The message was clear: did I really think I should be drinking in front of a hostage? I should be more vigilant.
“Understood!”
I shouted loudly enough for Kiis to hear over the noise and clamor.
“You don’t need to come! I’ll just have a little—you relax and enjoy yourself too. You did give me that earlier, after all.”
Kiis hesitated, then finally sat back down.
Now I was beginning to understand why he acted that way. It wasn’t to mock me.
Because I was careless enough with my life that others noticed, and it was always his job to save me.
‘I tried not to be a burden.’
But all my attempts to help had only made things harder for everyone else.
“What’s between you two?”
Kai asked, watching us both intently.
“We’re not dating, I don’t think.”

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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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