The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 51

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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 51
“Scars?”
Perian peered at the inside of my thigh and went still.
Multiple deep scars, layer upon layer—some faded pale with age, others raised in dark brown. He couldn’t possibly mistake them for anything but the marks of deliberate self-harm.
“It’s fine.”
I tried to close my legs, but Kies gripped my knee.
“It’s not fine.”
I’d already angered him once. I couldn’t push back again.
“Kies, step outside for a moment.”
Perian straightened from his crouch and spoke. Kies glared at him fiercely.
“If Tatiana says she doesn’t want treatment, I won’t treat her. I won’t cause another wound out of concern—that’s the one thing I refuse to do.”
……
Kies’s gaze fell on my scars.
“It’s not that you don’t trust me, is it? And right now, Tatiana is the one suffering most.”
“……Please.”
Kies tapped Perian’s shoulder and left the Infirmary.
“Just sit for me.”
Perian, supporting my back, spread a towel beneath my thigh and brought out the disinfectant he’d prepared.
It seemed he was going to treat the dagger wound first.
“Hold onto my shoulder. It’s going to hurt.”
Agh!
The healed wound tore open again, and pain blazed through me, hot and searing.
Before I knew it, I was clawing at Perian’s shoulder—which I’d been holding so gently—and burying my face against him, swallowing back whimpers.
“You did well. Now I need to dry it and apply medicine. Just lie back.”
After examining the wound on my hand and even giving me a fever reducer, Perian finally opened his mouth again.
“Now—may I look at the scars? If you’d rather I didn’t, just say so. I’ll leave it alone.”
The man who’d been absorbed in treatment switched to a gentle expression.
It felt strange. Here he was, having come to rescue me reluctant as he might have been, and now he was taking all this trouble.
I didn’t want to expose my shame either.
But with Kies and Dilshard already aware of the scars, I knew they’d hound me if I refused treatment.
“Please.”
Perian smiled reassuringly, then gently stretched my thigh to examine it, even pressing the scarred skin with his fingers.
“The only way to really reduce scars is surgery, but there’s also a risk it could make them worse. You’d have to decide very carefully. And we can’t do it here—we’d have to go back to the Empire……”
His voice trailed off, and his straight brows tensed.
“……They itch and throb, don’t they?”
“Yes.”
“When I apply medicine to the wound on your back, I’ll apply it here too. The scars won’t shrink, but the pain should ease.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
Perian studied me as if he had something to ask.
‘Is he going to ask how I got them?’
But contrary to expectation, different words came from his lips.
“What’s the real reason you won’t go to the Empire?”
“I mentioned it before.”
“Is that all there is to it?”
“Even if you don’t trust me, you can see now that I’ve changed. The Tatiana from the Empire wouldn’t betray you like this.”
It was better than the sharp wariness I’d shown before, but I didn’t want to convince him further.
I was too exhausted for it.
“The changed me doesn’t want to go to the Empire. It’s more horrifying than anywhere else. Never, not even at death’s door, would I return there. It’s the country that made me hurt myself for eight years.”
Perian’s warm green eyes went wide.
I took a long breath in and let it out slowly, calming myself.
“I’m truly grateful you came to rescue me and treated my wounds. I said I wouldn’t be a burden, but I was, and I’m sorry for that.”
Whether intentional or not, I had received help, and that was the truth.
Thinking of how awful it must be to care for someone like me, I felt genuinely guilty for putting him through it.
“Kies and Berto are just kind-hearted people who were worried about me. I’ll be more careful not to grow closer.”
I spoke while looking him straight in the eye, and Perian’s face twisted.
“I was worried too. Our relationship may be complicated, but anyone would be concerned if someone was kidnapped.”
“Oh……”
At his unexpected words, I trailed off and blinked.
He was too good at managing his expression to trust. He’d never shown anything but disdain in his eyes.
“What exactly do you take me for?”
“An evasive bastard?”
At his blunt answer, Perian let out a hollow laugh.
“How can you trust treatment from an evasive bastard? How can you casually swallow medicine without knowing what it is?”
“You can be evasive and kind at the same time, can’t you? Besides, the way you argue with a wounded person doesn’t exactly scream ‘kind.'”
“And who’s the one always complaining?”
Perian grumbled as he wrapped a bandage around my leg, which had absorbed most of the medicine.
“Even after taking the fever reducer, your temperature could spike again. You mustn’t do anything—just rest.”
After tucking the blanket carefully around me, he straightened up.
“There shouldn’t be any danger now, so don’t worry. Forget what I asked too. Right now, rest is the most important thing.”
“Wait.”
I quickly grabbed his arm as he moved away.
There was one thing I couldn’t rest easy about yet.
“Is Berto very angry? You can probably tell from what you’ve seen, but Dilshard has gone through a lot.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.”
“But……”
It wasn’t just anyone—it was Berto.
If he’d resorted to throwing punches, he might decide not to travel with Dilshard anymore.
“If anything, because they fought, there’s nothing more to worry about. Men usually settle things with their fists and move on.”
Perian tucked my arm back under the blanket and pulled it up again.
“If you’re really concerned, sleep for now and talk to Berto tomorrow.”
It still felt unsatisfying, but that seemed reasonable enough, so I nodded.
The moment I closed my eyes, Perian began tidying up. Using the rattling sounds as a lullaby, I fell deeply asleep.
* * *
A slave’s body burned. In a face twisted by agony, only one thought remained.
I want to live.
Even as burned skin peeled away and blackened, even as breath stopped, that face screamed: I want to live.
Gagging——!
A servant’s throat was crushed. The face twisted with effort darkened, foam flecking the lips.
In a fleeting moment, our eyes met. They were shrieking: save me.
But I turned away.
Choking——!
A sword pierced a steward’s belly. Blood sprayed from her mouth as she turned, disbelief written across her face.
Her burst-veined eyes told the one who killed her: save me.
Splash!
I surfaced from the water, exhaling the breath I’d held, and blood blossomed in the bathtub. Looking down at my chest, blood was seeping from the gaping wound.
I couldn’t breathe. Fire consumed my body.
“P-please. No. Save……”
As I tried to scream in terror, someone approached.
“Tatiana.”
Lily laughed clearly.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. So why do I have to die?”
“I—I have work to do. I have to save the world, save more people——”
“That’s a lie. You just wanted to live. Like us.”
“No! I received a mission from an angel!”
“An angel? You harbor a demon’s power.”
Lily picked up a dagger.
“Your own father locked you away for a reason. Why didn’t you just die then? Scurrying like a cockroach, all you do is cause trouble.”
“P-please. Save me. I was wrong.”
The blade, honed to a razor edge, gleamed as it rose toward the sky.
“No. You never listened to me, not once.”
Without hesitation, Lily drove her arm down in a vicious arc.
And in that moment, my body was shaken violently, and my eyes snapped open.
“Gasping——!”
“Tatiana!”
Berto was looming over me, his face urgent.
“H-ha…… ha……”
The room was dark. My heart was hammering, my breathing shallow.
“It’s all right. It was only a dream. You’re safe now.”
Berto pulled me close, cradling my head with his large hand against his chest.
Behind him, a softly glowing Magic Light was visible.
‘A dream……’
It was all a dream.
But it had been so vivid that my body wouldn’t stop trembling.
I leaned against him, steadying my breathing.
“Don’t worry about anything. I’m here. I won’t let you go through that again.”
Once I’d calmed down somewhat, I pushed Berto away.
“Thank you. I guess I was just tired.”
“……Yes.”
Berto poured water from the pitcher on the side table and handed it to me.
“You can rest easy now. I’m here.”
I drank slowly and handed back the empty glass, which he accepted naturally and set on the side table before settling onto the edge of the bed.
“Did you finish searching the area? With so many strange creatures around, it must have been difficult.”
“……Kai’s Pirate Crew helped a lot. Don’t worry about it.”
I’d deliberately burned that bridge once. Now I’d incurred a debt instead.
“I really ought to thank Kai properly.”
“We did that on your behalf. Don’t concern yourself.”
“I see.”
Silence fell. Maybe because I’d seen him angry earlier, it felt a little awkward.
“Um, about Dilshard……”
“Stop.”
I glanced toward Dilshard sleeping nearby, and my words died.

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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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