The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 62

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 62
“But everyone trusts Basil.”
As I sat before the modest campfire and spoke, Kies replied in an offhand tone.
“I don’t entirely trust him.”
“You don’t trust him, yet you came into the Jungle blindly?”
“Because it was the best option. The Commander’s daughter helped us escape, so changing our appearance there would have been too risky.”
I stammered and fumbled my words, but this protagonist was different.
“Tatiana, here.”
Just then, Dilshard handed me a full bowl of barley porridge with dried meat.
“…Thank you.”
At this rate, I’d gain weight even in the Jungle.
After eating, we decided to turn in early since we had to move at dawn.
But there was one problem.
“Berto, I suppose we’ll have to share a tent?”
I looked at Berto and asked.
Dilshard would take first watch, and there were two tents. So two people per tent would work fine.
Naturally, I thought the tallest of us, Berto, should share with the smallest, me.
“…Yes.”
Berto, who claimed he couldn’t enter the young lady’s tent, hesitated at my suggestion before reluctantly agreeing.
But then Dilshard objected.
“Are you insane? The tent’s spacious enough. Just let the three of us sleep together and let Tatiana have her own.”
Perian immediately frowned.
“Spacious? You expect me to squeeze between these two giants?”
“I’ll share with Tatiana. Surely I’m better than a complete stranger—we’ve suffered through hardships together.”
This time it was Kies.
“Hardly strangers when we’ve endured so much together. And isn’t a stranger better than a broken engagement?”
At Dilshard’s rebuttal, Berto nodded in agreement.
“The tallest and the smallest sleeping together makes the most sense.”
“I’m tall too. It’s only a three-centimeter difference.”
The three of them wouldn’t stop.
Was this really necessary? Of course, sleeping with me would be more comfortable for them, but still—they weren’t children.
“Devious and childish.”
Pudding whispered into my ear.
“That’s not why they’re fighting.”
“Tatiana is foolish.”
“Want to be punished?”
It wasn’t that I was naive in my thinking.
These were protagonists. Even if they actually slept beside a woman they liked, they wouldn’t do anything inappropriate in secret.
“All of you, be quiet. Are you trying to summon every beast in this place?”
Finally, Perian lost his patience, and things grew quieter.
“I’ll share the tent with Tatiana. The three of you need to keep watch—if you’re going back and forth, won’t you wake us? We need to conserve our strength.”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“You three still seem to have energy to spare, but we don’t. Now let’s just sleep. Tatiana, come here.”
Perian pulled me by the arm.
“Oh, okay. Sleep well, everyone.”
Before I knew it, I was being dragged along. Perian lay down on the outer side first and pulled his cloak over himself.
“If you try to cross over, I’ll attack.”
Pudding, settling in the middle, issued Perian a warning.
“Please don’t treat me like the beasts outside.”
We’d come this far into the Jungle anyway—did gender still matter?
I curled up and lay down beside Perian.
“Pudding.”
I lifted the cloak slightly, and Pudding slipped right in.
As I closed my eyes, I heard the three men murmuring to each other and the sound of insects.
“Tatiana.”
I opened my eyes at the quiet voice and found Perian, whom I’d thought was already asleep, lying on his side facing me.
“What?”
He simply stared at me without speaking.
The night-darkened green of his eyes seemed heavy with unspoken words.
“Don’t worry.”
“…About what?”
At my words, his straight brows tensed.
“Just, all those worries you have about me. What I’ve done and what I’ve promised haven’t changed, and they won’t change no matter what happens.”
“Why do you keep trying to make me out to be a villain?”
Perian bristled—he looked both wronged and angry.
“I don’t think you’re a villain. If anything, I think you’ve been generous with me.”
“Me?”
His brows twitched with displeasure this time.
First he doesn’t want to be called a villain, and now he’s upset at this too.
“Despite your unease, you haven’t come to hate me like you used to.”
Perian had lived a thorough life. That was how he’d survived.
But that he’d accepted someone as strange as me to this degree was certainly a good sign.
‘At least he didn’t press me about knowing Basil beforehand.’
Though that too could be my misunderstanding.
“Or was it all just an act? I thought you were quite comfortable with me—angry sometimes, sarcastic too.”
“Ha…”
Perian sat up from where he’d been lying.
“So you want to know my true face?”
He leaned toward me as if threatening, his lips curling into a twisted smile.
“…”
I grabbed Pudding’s head as he tried to burst out from under the cloak.
“You don’t trust me either. Just me. So why do you keep playing the victim?”
My words, spilled out desperately, were cut short by what Perian said next.
“I’ve never played the victim…”
“Then why did you say that only to me? Why do you always say different things to me?”
His wide eyes looked less frightening than pitiful.
Had the fact that I wouldn’t return to the Empire been weighing on Perian?
“Unless you tell me everything honestly, I have no intention of accepting you. So don’t fool yourself into thinking I’m being generous.”
He leaned close as if he wanted to scare me, delivering his warning before abruptly turning away and lying down.
My chest tightened. My attempt to reassure him had only become a heavy truth for him instead.
‘This is difficult.’
Looking at Perian’s broad back, I lay awake for a long time.
* * *
By the fourth day crossing the Jungle, I was too exhausted to think about my conversation with Perian.
“Hah… hah…”
As I forced my heavy legs forward behind Kies, who was cutting through the brush with his sword, sweat I hadn’t even wiped away streamed down my face.
The soles of my feet burned. The blisters, swollen tight, were on the verge of bursting—if they hadn’t already.
Kies glanced back and offered his hand.
I reached for it readily, but slipped on moss just as I was about to cross.
“Careful.”
“Ah… thank you.”
My mind felt numb. I thanked Kies with a beat of delay, and he turned to speak to the others behind us.
“We’ll make camp here today.”
“I’m fine…”
“If you collapse, it’ll only slow us down.”
Kies spoke firmly.
I couldn’t lift my head. Yesterday too, I’d kept us from making good time because of my weakness.
We were supposed to meet Basil a week after we set out, but we were already falling a day or two behind.
Frustrated with myself, I bit my lip when suddenly Kies scooped me into his arms.
“…?”
“I’m going to the river and back. Keep watch on the area.”
Kies carried me off toward the river.
And then he humiliated me completely.
“I said I’ll do it!”
He removed my shoes without permission.
My feet, sweat-soaked and covered with blisters, lay bare under the sunlight.
“Stay still. Why won’t you rest even when I offer to help?”
Kies ruthlessly unwound the bandages wrapped around my feet.
“This is embarrassing! Don’t!”
There was certainly going to be a smell.
As Kies touched my feet without hesitation, I jerked them back instinctively, and water splashed onto his face.
“…”
A water droplet traced down his sharp jawline with a soft plop.
He stared up at me with only his eyes, looking positively menacing.
“That’s—that’s your fault for touching my feet without asking!”
Kies wiped his face roughly and spoke with the rationality of an actual commander.
“How were you planning to treat your feet on your own? Taking care of you is part of my responsibility as the leader of this group.”
“Still…”
As I stood with my lip jutting out and eyes averted, I noticed Kies wading into the water with his pants rolled up, and I spoke.
“Then you’d be fine if I just grabbed your feet and touched them right now?”
“…I have better stamina than you, so that won’t be necessary.”
“No, that’s not what I’m asking. Could you really bare your feet under my nose without any hesitation?”
“When did I…!”
Kies trailed off, then suddenly smirked, pulling one corner of his mouth up into a grin.
“So if you’re saying it’s okay for you to do the same to me, does that mean I can do anything I want?”
His large hand immediately snatched my foot.
At the leisure in his eyes—as if he’d do anything—I quickly shook my head.
“No? Absolutely not? Maybe I’m crazy. That’s not what you meant?”
“So stay still before I do what I actually want to.”
Kies spoke brazenly, cradling the sole of my foot in one hand and carefully pouring water over it.
‘He’s changed.’
The tender prince had returned as a cunning schemer.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————