The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 60

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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 60
“Berto’s here!”
Pudding delivered the news like a bolt from the blue.
“Hide!”
I grabbed Basil and dragged him along.
“Ugh!”
If I went out now, I’d run straight into him. And he wasn’t the type to believe a denial, no matter how convincing I made it sound.
“Wh-where…!”
Basil panicked in sync with my urgency, stumbling over his own feet.
I yanked open the wardrobe and shoved him inside, then slammed the door shut.
At that exact moment, a knock sounded at the door.
“Tatiana.”
My heart lurched.
At this pace, he’d come straight to my room the moment he arrived back.
‘How…?’
Did he see me coming to the inn?
“Tatiana, I know you’re in there.”
Now that I’d been caught, dragging out time would only make things worse for me.
I opened the door wide.
“I was in the bathroom. Didn’t expect you back so early?”
“I left something behind. Mind if I come in?”
“Go ahead.”
I stepped aside, and Berto entered the room before closing the door behind him.
I felt trapped in hell.
“Why didn’t you come to the shipyard?”
Berto sat down in the very chair where Basil had been moments before, and asked the question.
His amber eyes swept across the table with indifference. Fortunately, because I hadn’t served tea, only the water glass I’d drunk from remained on the surface.
“I was out looking around the market, and suddenly needed the bathroom, so I came back for a bit. I was planning to leave soon anyway.”
I tried to stay composed, but my heart was pounding so violently I was sure Berto could hear it.
“Tatiana.”
Berto called my name softly, his expression unreadable as always.
‘…He knows everything.’
My shoulders sagged along with a quiet sigh.
“I’m sorry.”
I couldn’t tell him to stop meddling in my affairs the way I used to.
Without responding to my apology, Berto rose to his feet and immediately opened the wardrobe door.
“Get out.”
Basil, crouched in the corner, looked at me with worried eyes.
I nodded to reassure him, and he slipped out of the room.
‘Here I am, always suspecting him, and getting angry about it.’
And I’d been caught in another lie.
Ashamed, I hung my head low, and a familiar hand cradled it gently.
“You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Berto knelt on one knee beside me, his deep coffee-toned voice soothing as he spoke.
“You have secrets you haven’t shared with us yet. I don’t think I can force you to tell me what they are.”
Looking up at Berto’s warm face made my chest feel dizzy.
“It’s just… I’m worried. I don’t know how to make you trust that I believe in you.”
“…I trust you.”
Berto smiled softly.
“I know. But I’d like you to trust me even more. Enough that you don’t have to face danger alone.”
I bit my lip.
‘I want to tell you.’
I didn’t want to carry a burden like the world’s destruction.
But with every action I took, entire worlds hung in the balance—the lives of the protagonists themselves. I couldn’t make a decision lightly.
“Don’t do this. I’m not forcing you.”
Berto reached out and pressed his thumb gently against my lips to stop me from biting them.
“I was just sharing my honest feelings. Don’t hurt yourself like that.”
His thumb rubbed softly over the marks my teeth had left.
His amber eyes, darkened with something deeper, surveyed my lips with intensity. The gentleness in his touch grew more forceful.
I only realized I’d been holding my breath in the strange air when our hands clasped tightly.
“Tatiana.”
A shadow fell across my face, and then Berto withdrew his hand and sat back in the chair.
I drew in a long breath and released the tension that had risen in my shoulders.
“Grant me one wish.”
And with that shameless request, the ticklish feeling shattered completely.
“…You already used your wish last time.”
“In exchange, I won’t tell the others that you lied again and secretly met with a demon.”
He spoke with an easy smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
‘Is he blackmailing me?’
I was definitely going to need to reassess Berto’s character.
I should’ve seen it coming once he started enjoying cons.
“What’s the wish?”
“I won’t ask you any questions. Just take me with you once, the next time you have something secret to do alone.”
Berto really did stand out among the male leads with his distinctive personality.
“Fine. But don’t actually ask me about it. Even if I suddenly turn into a demon.”
“That’s already familiar. I’ve even seen you turn into a fish.”
He’s so irritating.
“Should I head out?”
“Oh, you need to get to the shipyard anyway. But I need to stop somewhere first.”
“Where?”
“The Flower Shop. Go on ahead—I’ll catch up soon.”
After hearing about Dilshard before, I’d planned to buy a flowerpot once we reached the city.
“Let’s go together. I have time.”
“Okay.”
I was grateful he’d agreed to come along, but seeing his stern expression the entire time we were picking out the flowerpot made me think I should come alone next time.
* * *
“Pudding, don’t you want to go swimming?”
I asked Pudding, who was eating a cake filled with figs with a blissful expression on his face.
“We can swim when we go out to sea anyway.”
I’d even bought a swimsuit so we could play together, but my little darling had no sense of awareness.
“Or we could go to a beach where Kies and Perian aren’t around.”
Pudding said it without any concern.
This morning, when Kies said he was going to teach Perian to swim, Pudding had said he’d come along, only to be rejected.
“I don’t even want to tell small lies like that.”
If I snuck off to swim and got caught later, it would be so embarrassing.
“Is the Empire really that conservative?”
Pudding asked with cream smeared on his mouth, and I wiped it away with a napkin from the table.
“Quite conservative, actually. Nobles don’t tend to swim at all, and their dresses show the chest but the legs are almost completely covered. Everything’s long skirts.”
Even the knee-length skirt I’m wearing now might be considered overly exposed to the three boys’ standards.
I’m from the Empire myself, but it really is something strange to witness.
“That’s odd.”
Pudding showed little interest and concentrated on his second slice of cake.
“Extra edition! There’s a new incident!”
Sitting on the terrace, I waved at the voice of the newspaper boy selling papers.
Since we’d be setting sail again soon, I wanted to check if anything dangerous like a kraken had appeared.
“One coin, please.”
I paid the boy who came running over and unfolded the newspaper.
The Birth of the Pirate King!
“…?”
I blinked at the headline and read it again.
But the letters remained the same.
I thought the Pirate King was supposed to be whoever found the treasure Pudding guides them to.
Though it had been a long time since Pudding was active.
I figured the standards for becoming Pirate King might have changed with the times.
“Pudding, a Pirate King has appeared.”
“Huh?”
Pudding swallowed his cake and flew over to look at the newspaper with me.
Three hundred years since the execution of the last Pirate King.
And now, a successor has appeared.
The moment she appears, backed by towering waves, the battle ends.
A single bullet lodged in her Revolver.
It cuts through the sea and charges forward, toppling hundreds of enemies.
⋮
Her name is none other than Tatiana.
Captain of the Jellyfish Pirates, she becomes the master of the seas.
“…”
Why is my name appearing here?
I hurriedly turned the page. Five attached sheets fell out.
“Insane…”
At the top was a Wanted Poster marked ‘WANTED’.
And below it, I was grinning brightly, oblivious to what was happening to me.
“We haven’t even found all the treasure yet.”
Pudding wasn’t even surprised, extending a tentacle to check the next wanted poster.
“This is absolutely insane…”
Kies, Berto, Dilshard, and Perian. Bounties were on all four of them as well.
“Ten thousand gold coins!”
I flinched at a voice I heard from the street beside the terrace and quickly covered my face with the newspaper.
My heart was racing.
Ten thousand gold coins on my head—roughly two billion won in terms of our currency. That was the amount.
The Navy was determined to capture me no matter what it took.
“That’s quite an impressive bounty for a first one.”
“She’s a Pirate King, a Pirate King. It wouldn’t be strange even if another zero was added.”
I rose slowly, still holding the newspaper.
I had to escape as quickly as possible.
“Hmm, it’s a bit unusual that a weak Contractor like you is the Pirate King. You’ll protect me, right?”
Pudding, who could hide his appearance and flutter about, perched on my shoulder and hid himself among my hair.
That’s when it happened.
“Tatiana!”
The name of the Pirate King echoed through this crowded, bustling area.
At the same moment, the sound of military boots struck the ground with the thunderous force of galloping hooves.
I cursed under my breath and desperately pretended not to notice the protagonists being chased by the Navy. But—
“Tatiana, here!”
Perian, running hard, called out to me again with a bright smile on his face.
“I’m going to kill that crazy bastard.”
I threw down the newspaper and bolted.
On this hot season, beneath the clear and crisp blue sky, the chase between the Pirate King and the Navy had begun.

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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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