The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 40

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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 40
“You’re too close—ugh!”
Dilshad lurched upright, only to collapse back onto the bed with a gasp of pain shooting through his back.
“Why do you keep moving?”
Tatiana rose from her chair to inspect whether the wound had reopened.
“Do it again and you’ll regret it.”
“…Yes.”
Dilshad buried his face in the pillow once more.
“Remember when that madman combined the treasure he stole from you with his own?”
The memory drifted back hazily—it had been just before sleep claimed him.
“So he’s being controlled by the treasure the same way I was? Doing something insane?”
“Exactly. So here’s what I’m wondering—do you have any idea why the treasure made you do that?”
Dilshad combed through his memories carefully.
When the treasure came into his hands, he’d been consumed by nothing but raw, overwhelming desire.
The questions he’d carried about his bond with Tatiana and the three of them—the pity he felt for her, that even her kindness drew suspicion.
The instinct to protect her had felt, in a way, perfectly natural.
“Since you and that lunatic act differently, I can’t figure out what the treasure actually wants.”
Dilshad had no answer.
The treasure had only amplified and fed his desires.
He didn’t trust people. He’d been hurt countless times.
But Tatiana was a fool. The kind of fool who took lashes and rejection for strangers, yet still tried desperately to help them.
‘Could it be that I truly…’
Dilshad lifted his eyes to her blonde hair.
Even consumed by desire, he’d left only a kiss upon her hair—a form of restraint to avoid being despised.
He was certain now. The treasure didn’t control people.
“Dilshad, was that a difficult question? You don’t have to answer. Either way, the game will begin unless we take back that treasure.”
It simply awakened them to their truest desires.
“Still, at least we’ve bought another day. The others should be here soon—just hold on a bit longer.”
“Yes…”
Dilshad watched her face nervously, his lips trembling.
“What? Are you upset because I lied about Pudding going to fetch Kies?”
“No, it’s just… they can’t come right away.”
“Come on, Kai will lend us a ship. I even cured his incurable disease.”
“That’s the thing… I destroyed Kai’s helm wheel on the way out.”
“…”
Tatiana’s expression hardened entirely. Whatever softness had lingered vanished.
Slowly, she raised her hand and wove her fingers through his hair, then gripped.
“Once your back heals, we’re settling this.”
It didn’t hurt, but the lethal warning made him go rigid with fear.
“I—I was being controlled by the treasure—”
“I don’t care.”
“…I’m sorry.”
* * *
“How long will it take to build a new helm wheel?”
A member of Kai’s Pirate Crew answered Kies’s question—a sailor who handled repairs.
“Three days.”
“That won’t work. We’re in a hurry. We just need temporary operation—it has to be finished today.”
“Damn it, Captain. This idiot doesn’t seem to know anything about piracy, does he?”
The pirate sailor stared at Kai with bewilderment.
“Forget piracy—do these people even look like real pirates to you? Just get it done.”
Kai dismissed the sailor and turned to Berto.
“Still, you must understand. A helm wheel is precision work. The only reason he can build one is because he trained at a shipyard. Without that, we’d be stuck on this Uninhabited Island for good.”
“It needs to be done as fast as possible. In three days, we’ll lose our chance of finding Tatiana.”
Berto’s face was calmer than Kies’s, yet his hands, clasped behind his back, were slick with sweat.
They’d searched for Pudding, but of course—a man willing to destroy another’s ship wouldn’t have left Pudding behind.
“You all seem odd to me.”
Kai opened his mouth with a puzzled air.
“Tatiana got along with him, didn’t she? Why are you so sure she was kidnapped? Maybe they were in on it together—stole money and fled.”
The realization that they’d never considered such a thing made both Kies’s and Berto’s faces go rigid.
“With the sea as dangerous as it is, you daft fools shouldn’t be out here at all. We’ll handle the ship—you two figure out where they might’ve gone.”
Kai left to check the pirate vessel for other damage.
“Is it because of me?”
Kies muttered vacantly.
“I told him to leave the ship with me that day.”
That distant memory—the day he’d first learned Dilshad was male—swelled inside him now as regret.
“That’s not it.”
Perian shambled over, his words slurred.
He was a wreck from last night’s drinking and the lingering effects of medicine.
“Tatiana was always anxious about drifting. She wouldn’t even let anyone exercise so we wouldn’t waste food. She wouldn’t risk the sea without a navigator.”
Perian, barely able to stand, draped himself across a chair and continued.
“It’d make more sense for her to steal money after reaching the City, then flee in the dead of night.”
Berto flinched at the words “nighttime escape.”
“Which means Dilshad’s real target wasn’t money—it was Tatiana.”
“Why…”
Berto asked reflexively.
“Who knows? Maybe he just liked her. He’s used to crime, so when she wouldn’t accept him, he took her by force.”
Berto’s hands clenched as tension coiled through them, veins rising.
That scene played again in his mind—the one that never left him. Kissing her. Sinking with her into the Deep Sea.
Berto was a man of chivalry. He would have acted the same for anyone, not just her.
Yet why couldn’t he forget that sensation? Why did it burn in him now?
“We should borrow an escape boat. The longer we waste time, the harder she’ll be to find.”
Kies turned toward where Kai’s Pirate Crew was stationed.
“He’s lost his mind. Berto, talk him out of this.”
“…”
Perian’s jaw dropped at Berto’s silence.
“You’re not actually going along with this insane plan, are you?”
“Kies, if you sail out now, we won’t be searching for Tatiana—we’ll be searching for you.”
Kies hesitated as Berto spoke words of reason.
“If his purpose was really kidnapping, Tatiana will be safe. And…”
He wanted to tell him that Tatiana could transform into a fish so breathtakingly beautiful that she could never drown, that she wouldn’t die. But—
“…didn’t we give her an Artifact too?”
For some reason, Berto wanted to keep it to himself alone.
“Even if the repairs take time, we’ll be better off with the pirates’ help than searching alone.”
If Tatiana were in true danger, he’d have said so. But she wasn’t—not right now.
“…Damn it.”
Kies cursed under his breath, sweeping back his hair.
“Perian, ask Kai for cooperation and check that the pirate ship has enough medical supplies and medicines. Berto, consult with their navigator and narrow down our destination.”
“As you command, Your Highness.”
Perian answered with playful formality, trying to lighten the heavy mood.
Both men left as instructed, and Kies began searching the entire island.
Pudding could hide its presence, and its poison was highly lethal. There was a chance Dilshad had left it bound on the island—or worse, killed it.
His hands fumbled through the void for hours. Night fell, and darkness so complete that he couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Then pale dawn light broke again, and the Sea turned emerald—the color of her eyes.
Kies collapsed at the makeshift dock where the ship had been moored.
“Where did it all go wrong…”
Last night, he should have stayed in the room instead of going to the clearing to drink. If he hadn’t accepted Dilshad, Tatiana wouldn’t have been taken.
‘If I’d abandoned the Succession Rights from the start, none of this would have happened to her.’
Each wrong choice kept placing her in danger.
It was while Kies was spiraling into despair, digging at his own thoughts,
Splash!
“Hey! You three useless brothers!”
Pudding erupted from the Sea, scattering droplets.
* * *
Two days had passed, and Dilshad and I were dragged somewhere with cloth binding our eyes.
“Ah, can you hear me? You should hear me crystal clear. I developed this myself.”
The madman’s voice came through, loud and echoing as though he were speaking into a megaphone.
The blindfolds fell away at once, and Dilshad’s eyes squinted against the harsh sun before a colossal wall came into view.
A wall made from towering hedges that climbed toward the heavens.
“Welcome, all participants in Ode’s Game!”

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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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