The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 36

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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 36
What relationship, you ask? One that spiraled from broken engagement into contempt.
Not something to broadcast, but hardly a secret either—at least on the surface, it was simple enough.
Though betrothals are mostly a noble’s affair anyway.
“We dated a long time ago.”
Kai’s expression remained unchanged, as if she’d expected as much.
“Doesn’t sound like you parted on bad terms.”
“No. We parted terribly. I did something despicable.”
“And he still worries about you like that?”
Kies kept glancing at me between sentences, as though the unease wouldn’t leave him.
“He’s a good person. Nearly died because of me, and even when I acted like a total fool, he waited a whole year without leaving. That’s why.”
At first, it felt almost like mockery—him caring while still harboring suspicion.
‘But then he came to save me again. And he promised he’d keep coming.’
Human emotions are complicated enough that it seemed plausible.
“He’s too good-hearted for his own good.”
“That guy?”
Kai’s eyebrows drew together as she stared at Kies.
“Don’t judge people by their looks. His face is just a bit rough, that’s all.”
“You’ll get back together.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Why not? He nearly died because of you and he’s still circling around you, and you’re accepting everything he does.”
Perhaps that’s how it looked to others.
If so, it made sense that Perian had bristled so uncharacteristically today.
Today, I’d finally heard the reason behind all those stares, and it made me understand the other characters better.
“That won’t happen. Once the voyage is over, I won’t see him again.”
I drained the last of the mead in one gulp.
Since this was the first time drinking in this body, my head spun a little.
‘Wait.’
Long ago, I’d drunk with Kies once, sneaking past the adults.
What happened then? I think I got drunk first.
“You don’t have anything you want to ask me?”
“Not really.”
“You cold-hearted woman.”
Kai’s eyes narrowed and her lips pouted slightly.
The alcohol made me laugh at every little thing.
“……Really nothing?”
Kai watched me quietly for a moment, then asked.
“So why’d you become a pirate? If you can use Aura, you could live well-provided for anywhere in the world.”
“I didn’t expect such a heavy question.”
“You don’t have to answer if it’s difficult.”
Kai finished off the rest of her mead, then opened her mouth.
“I’m looking for someone.”
“Looking for someone?”
“Yeah. The man who killed my brother.”
Kai’s blue eyes, usually so full of energy, grew distant and deep.
“I see.”
“That’s all? You’re not going to ask who?”
“You can tell me if you want.”
Sometimes people feel better when they share their burdens.
“You’re really something else.”
But Kai didn’t continue the conversation.
Instead, she reached for the mead pitcher on the table and refilled her cup, so I quickly offered my empty glass.
“Hm, are you sure you can handle more?”
“Of course.”
With my ready agreement, Kai poured mead into my glass with a generous hand.
A terrible decision.
Even if it wasn’t my first time, nine years later one drinks as if they’re a novice—why didn’t I remember that?
“Are you drunk?”
“No? A little?”
“There’s no ‘maybe.’ You’re drunk. Ugh, I’ll see you back…”
Kai started to rise from her seat but froze. Someone had placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll see her back.”
“Oh? Your High—no, never mind.”
I’d almost called him “Your Highness” out of habit, so I shook my head firmly to stop myself.
“Ugh, I’m dizzy…”
Kies sighed deeply and hoisted me into his arms in one swift motion.
“Eep!”
My stomach lurched at the sudden rise.
“A little gentler, please…”
I managed to hold my throat shut, but Kies just walked with a grim expression.
The raucous voices of the pirates faded as we entered a quieter space filled with the song of crickets.
“I’m so sleepy.”
I leaned against Kies’s shoulder as exhaustion crashed over me, and he stiffened slightly.
“…Sleep.”
* * *
Kies laid the deeply sleeping Tatiana on the bed.
She’d said she’d eat moderately, yet here she was—completely drunk in front of a hostage-taker, nearly getting kidnapped again. It infuriated him.
‘She doesn’t even know what I feel every time I search for her.’
A stone seemed to sit heavy in his chest.
If only she’d clearly explain what had happened while he was away at war.
“Mmm…”
Tatiana stirred restlessly.
Her fair cheeks flushed like watercolor bleeding into paper—and spite mingled with something else entirely.
Kies reached out unconsciously before stopping himself.
He recognized what this impulse was. He’d felt it before, long ago.
No—the moment he admitted his concern for Tatiana, he realized it.
‘Maybe Perian was right. I haven’t healed yet.’
He’d thought those emotions were dead.
But they could still be killed now—just a small spark not yet extinguished.
‘I can’t let it grow any further.’
Kies deliberately turned his gaze away and searched for the magic lamp.
Tatiana might wake at dawn, and for reasons he didn’t know, she hated dark, confined spaces.
‘I know nothing.’
Kies lit a soft glow and left the room, hurrying back to the clearing.
Something told him he shouldn’t stay on the ship.
“Haha! Look who lasted so long!”
Perian, whose head was planted on a table, spoke thickly.
“I’m not ‘sir,’ I told you…”
That table reeked of alcohol.
Berto’s massive frame had attracted the drunken pirates, and he now lay unconscious in the corner, completely gone.
Pudding, small jellyfish that it was, had drunk as well and was similarly sprawled out.
“Kies.”
Dilshad alone sat at a relatively clean table, waving him over.
“Why aren’t you eating meat?”
In front of Dilshad were only grilled fish and vegetables.
“I cooked so much, I’m sick of the smell of grease now. You look fine?”
“I haven’t managed to eat properly either.”
Kies didn’t so much as glance at the food, finding a fresh glass instead and pouring mead to the brim, then drained it in one go.
“Is Tatiana asleep?”
Dilshad asked while sliding a plate of meat forward, his gaze steady.
“Didn’t wake once.”
Kies spoke irritably and put meat in his mouth.
Dilshad poured mead into both his glass and Kies’s, then drank his in one swallow.
“You two are pretty high nobility, aren’t you?”
“Does it still show that much?”
“These days it’s less obvious, but you never hid it from me anyway.”
Still, there had been no precise explanation. Dilshad had never pressed the matter.
“I’m curious about something.”
Kies looked at Dilshad, inviting him to continue.
“When you go back, what happens?”
“We need to execute the one who sent us to the end of the world and reclaim our position.”
“No, I mean—Tatiana.”
Kies’s hand holding the glass stilled.
“I don’t know what Tatiana did in the Empire, but the fact that she still can’t be trusted suggests something serious. Could she be connected to whoever did this?”
Kies didn’t answer readily.
Historically, treason resulted in Guilt by Association.
Duke Frey had certainly been involved, so by law Tatiana would likely not escape unscathed.
Yet Tatiana was his blood relative, a victim, and the very person who’d already reported Duke Frey’s crimes to him as Crown Prince.
‘She can at least avoid execution.’
Whatever it took, he’d ensure that outcome.
“What’s your status?”
When Kies simply drank without answering, Dilshad asked with a grave expression.
“Surely when you go back, Tatiana will be in danger?”
“I can prevent that. All Tatiana has to do is obey me.”
“…Words ring hollow when you’ve been abandoned here.”
Dilshad added more meat to Kies’s now-empty plate.
His temperament was foul and prickly, but the ship’s cook had always been good about making sure they ate.
“You really aren’t eating?”
“I had some while grilling earlier.”
And so Kies drank with Dilshad until every other pirate had finally collapsed in place.
And the next day.
Kies woke squinting against the bright sunlight.
“When did I fall asleep?”
It seemed he’d passed out eating at the table, and Dilshad was nowhere to be seen—probably already back to the ship.
“This has never happened before. Everyone’s in terrible shape.”
He looked around to find all the pirates sprawled out cold.
Kies quickly left the clearing, intending to wash first. And then.
“…!”
He faced the empty dock.

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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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