The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 48

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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 48
“I wish you’d rely on me a bit more.”
Dilshad tore a piece of curtain and tied it around my waist.
“I’m relying on you quite a lot.”
“Now I understand why those people say you’re always lying.”
Why won’t he believe me? The only reason I can hold on right now is because of him.
“Yesterday.”
Dilshad, kneeling and holding the poker steady so it wouldn’t pierce my leg, started to speak.
“Whatever that woman said, don’t pay it any mind.”
That woman—he must mean the steward.
The last thing the woman who swung the iron rod said, right after we failed the mission. It was nothing much.
‘Save me.’
She didn’t want to die.
It was what everyone wanted, and unlike me, she had failed. That was all there was to it.
There was no reason to dwell on it.
“She was just trying to kill me and got hit by the Living Armor’s sword instead. It’s not your fault.”
…….
Dilshad straightened up.
“All done? You really do manage everything.”
I swung my leg casually, and the poker held firm—comfortable enough.
“Answer me, Tatiana. Everything that happened here is because of Ode. You’re the victim.”
His stern face softened with desperate pleading.
“……Yes. You’re right. It’s all because of that madman. I’ve done nothing but try to survive.”
I reached out my hand.
“That’s still true now. It’s your wish too, isn’t it?”
Even if we escape safely, everything that happened here will stay with me. I’ll be different from who I was before.
But I can’t die.
“……I’ll make my own wish come true.”
A warm, strong hand grasped me firmly.
We arrived at a hill where lush green grass stretched endlessly across the landscape.
The vista flowing into the bright sky felt entirely at odds with my situation. In this surreal scene, even the wind became strangely vivid.
“The Third Game is a treasure hunt.”
Ode, dressed in a neat suit with shoulder-length purple hair swept back, spoke.
“There are two hidden treasures. Time limit: six hours. Whoever holds a treasure by 1 p.m. survives.”
“So you can steal them. If nobody finds them, you just kill two people.”
At my words, Ode’s smile deepened.
“Where should we search?”
Ode held up a staff with an embedded ruby and pointed to the forest behind the hill.
I started walking at once.
“Quite the willful doll, I must say.”
Ode muttered, shaking his head.
“Tatiana.”
Ben, who rushed after us, called out to stop me.
“Thank you so much for all your help so far. But I can’t give up, so we’re going to work really hard in this game. So you two stay strong as well.”
…….
I was exhausted, yet Ben’s eyes still shone with vitality.
A face striving to stay alive.
If I didn’t harm others like him—if I fought only my own battle—I might not fall apart.
That realization irritated me, so I didn’t answer and headed into the forest.
The air was filled with the scent of grass. Fresh wind flowed, and a mountain bird sang among the leaves with a soft flutter.
“Tatiana, be careful you don’t get pricked.”
Dilshad said, pushing through the brush.
“The treasure will be hard to find anyway. Even if we do find it, fighting is unavoidable if we want to hold it until 1 p.m.”
I spoke to Dilshad, who was checking the base of a tree. He rose and turned to face me.
“So why don’t we just kill Ben and Lili right now?”
He stepped closer and pulled me into an embrace.
“Don’t say that. I’m trying not to kill those two, but I want to. Because you’d suffer and grieve.”
“I…….”
“You don’t need to change. I’m already that kind of person. The harder you try, the heavier my guilt becomes.”
I didn’t know what to say. The emotions I felt were too foreign, too frightening to put into words.
I lowered my gaze, lost in thought, when something touched the crown of my head—a gentle press and release.
When I looked up, Dilshad was smiling brilliantly, his eyes curved. The tips of his ears flushed red.
“When I’m controlled by the treasure, we agreed we’d live together in a small village while I earn money with my magic.”
Dilshad held my hand as we walked and spoke.
“Doesn’t it sound nice? I don’t know much about what life you lived in the Empire, but it must have been hard.”
Anyway, I won’t go back to the Empire. If Dilshad really stays with me, I won’t be afraid to settle in unfamiliar land.
But he’s the protagonist.
“You still have to go. You came with us to return to your homeland too.”
Dilshad and I walked through the forest path like we were strolling, barely looking for treasure.
“That’s why I got on the boat in the first place.”
I didn’t bother asking why he’d gotten on the boat then.
It seemed like something I shouldn’t hear.
“What was your life like before you were caught by the Touring Group?”
I knew a few things from the original source, but not the details. I wanted to hear it directly.
“Pretty ordinary. Pull off one big score and you can rest for a while. I studied magic and tended a garden.”
“You gardened?”
“What’s with that look? Don’t you know I mainly use Earth Attribute Magic? I’m very close with soil.”
After chatting about mundane things with an indignant Dilshad, we discovered Lili.
“Lili? Why are you alone……?”
Dilshad blocked my path forward.
She, who had already suffered a grave injury, leaned against a tree, breathing heavily.
Looking closer, blood seeped through the cloth wrapped around her left shoulder and stained her clothes.
“There was a beast…….”
“Where is Ben?”
When Dilshad asked, Lili winced and pushed herself to sit up.
“If I keep slowing him down, it’ll be hard to find the treasure. He promised he’d come back for me.”
Since Ben always prioritized Lili over his own life, I didn’t think he’d abandon her. But something felt off.
“He left you here even though another beast could show up?”
…….
Lili fell silent. Instead, her eyes—filled with desperate longing to live—fixed on me.
And my suspicion proved exactly right.
“Gaaahhhh!”
Ben appeared from behind with a scream.
At the same moment, Dilshad pushed me out of the way.
Clang!
He drew his sword from his hip and blocked the Iron Rod that Ben swung.
Just as I landed hard and tried to get up, it happened.
Without crutches, ignoring the pain, Lili rushed forward and raised a Dagger high.
“Ugh—!”
I rolled away quickly, but the dagger still carved a long wound along my left thigh.
A burning sensation spread like fire, and the wound throbbed.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Lili, tears streaming down her face, raised the dagger again toward me as I lay on the ground. But she didn’t bring it down.
Dilshad had thrown his sword at her.
“Li—li…….”
Ben, crumpled on the ground with barely a breath left, called out her name with all the strength he had.
“Tatiana.”
Seeing my injured leg, Dilshad cursed under his breath and swept me up, pulling us both away from the pair.
“Wait a moment. I’ll make sure to finish this properly and come back.”
I quickly grabbed at his sleeve.
“Just… just leave it.”
I looked at the two of them.
Ben crawled across the ground with his last strength and grasped Lili’s hand.
Lili, blood at her lips, wiped the corner of her mouth, smiled brightly, and collapsed into his embrace.
They didn’t have much time left.
The least I could give them was the chance to share something other than Survival in their final moments together.
“……I need to look at the wound, so I’ll tear your pants.”
Dilshad, too, judged that the pair could no longer move, and tore open my pants.
“The wound isn’t very deep.”
He tore his shirt for the bandage and carefully gripped my thigh.
But when his hand touched something rough instead of smooth skin, he withdrew and examined the inner side of my thigh.
“What is this……!”
It was a scar I’d made scratching myself while trapped underground.
Dilshad’s eyes widened like saucers, trembling like turbulent waves.
“Stop the bleeding.”
…….
His face grew complicated, perhaps because he knew it wasn’t an easy-to-injure location.
But he treated the urgent wound first. Once the bleeding slowed, he applied medicine he’d brought.
It was then.
“The winners of the Third Game are Player 199 and Player 200! Please return to the hill to receive your rewards.”
Ben and Lili were dead.
At the same time, it meant we had finally Survived this damnable 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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