The Pirate King's Daughter - Chapter 67

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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 67
“……Just go ahead and tell me what happened next.”
Kies pressed the back of my head, cradling it in his arms.
‘I wonder if I should tell him.’
It seemed like the kind of thing that would anger him, and I worried it wouldn’t be good for his body.
“Something really terrible happened to me.”
“……What is it?”
“I’ll tell you later. But when you’re all better, you have to scold me, okay? Promise me. Something really, really terrible happened.”
Kies buried his lips in my hair and spoke as though making a vow.
“All right. I promise I’ll scold you properly.”
As we exchanged these careless words, we didn’t have to wait long before I heard footsteps rushing toward us.
“Dilshard must be here!”
Just as I tried to sit up, Kies tightened his grip around me.
“I’m still cold.”
“That’s exactly why we need to go quickly.”
I pressed my body against his again.
He flinched slightly, then nuzzled his face into my hair like a petulant child.
“I don’t want to go.”
“I know it’s hard. It’s all right. I’ll ask Dilshard to carry you.”
……
As I brushed away the chill from his skin, Dilshard arrived shortly after.
“Tatiana!”
“Dilshard, I’m here……Kies, let go of me.”
I couldn’t move an inch.
“Are you the one who’s hurt? Let Tatiana go.”
When Dilshard reached to pull back the cloak, fire flashed in Kies’s eyes.
“Take off your shirt and hand it to me, then turn around. Tatiana needs something to wear.”
“What……?”
Dilshard hesitated before suddenly launching into a string of curses.
“You bastard, using your pain as an excuse to strip her clothes off? And you call yourself a crown prince—just a perverted freak, aren’t you?”
“No, I took them off myself.”
“You’re deceiving her, Tatiana. Please don’t fall for these tricks. Back away. You’re fine—why are you clinging to him like that?”
When Dilshard tried to pry me away, Kies held firm to the cloak.
“Take off your shirt. She needs clothes first.”
“Damn it, seriously…….”
Dilshard spat out a curse and quickly stripped off his shirt, shoving it under the cloak.
“Turn around.”
“You turn your head, and let her go already.”
“Both of you turn your heads.”
The two of them stared each other down until I moved to lift the cloak, at which point they both hastily turned away.
Once I’d dressed and stood up, I spoke to Dilshard.
“Kies is in pretty bad shape. Could you carry him for me?”
“Fine. I can walk on my own……!”
Kies tried to stand and follow me, but his legs gave way and he nearly collapsed.
“Don’t be stubborn about it.”
Dilshard caught him quickly and offered his back, and Kies, no longer able to resist, climbed onto it without complaint.
We made our way to the cave entrance, where Dilshard’s vine wrapped around our waists and lifted us easily to the surface.
Everything proceeded smoothly after we reached the village.
Berto and Perian, who had arrived earlier, had somehow already arranged the treatment preparations with the tribe’s help.
“The water is too hot. Could you make it a bit more lukewarm?”
Perian said this to one of the people assisting with the treatment.
Thinking I’d only be in the way if I stayed, I stepped outside, where Marika, the tribal chief’s wife, approached me.
“Tatiana, we’ve prepared some clothes for you. Would you like to change?”
She’d stubbornly called me ‘Laeira’ before—why had her attitude suddenly shifted?
More troubling was that Saulo was nowhere to be seen, while Aso, the tribal chief, had taken charge of directing things.
After what had happened, he shouldn’t have been able to do this if he’d suffered any serious injury.
“Something plain, please.”
“Of course. This way.”
“Wait.”
Dilshard, who had stripped off his shirt to give to me, approached with a stern expression.
“Don’t go alone.”
He said this while fixing Marika with a hard stare.
“All right. Let me take this off first, then we’ll go together.”
Dilshard and I headed toward the house where I’d stayed before.
I’d made a dramatic escape from here just hours ago, yet here I was walking back through my own feet.
“Why are you coming in?”
Pudding asked Dilshard, who was following me into the room.
“It’s dangerous. I’ll turn my back, so don’t be difficult.”
I ignored their bickering and picked up the clothes laid on the bed—a simple one-piece dress of coarse fabric, not fine silk.
After changing, Dilshard and I stepped outside, where Aso, waiting for us, bowed his head respectfully.
“Tatiana, there is something I would like to say to you. May I?”
“Please say——”
“No. Get lost.”
I struck Dilshard on the back.
We were in enemy territory, dependent on their help—what did he think he was doing, showing hostility like that?
“Please, go ahead.”
“……I thought it best if we moved to another location. I’ll lead the way.”
Aso led us not to the Meeting Hall but to a simple house not far from where I’d been staying.
“Please sit here.”
As I sat down at what looked like a dining table, Marika brought tea with practiced ease.
“Don’t drink it. There could be poison in it.”
“Dilshard, if you do that one more time, I’m throwing you out.”
Of course, I had no intention of drinking it myself, but it wasn’t something to say in front of our host.
Dilshard glared at Aso with open defiance.
“Please forgive me. It’s been a trying day. I hope you can understand.”
As I offered this half-apology, the tense Aso finally spoke.
“I apologize. My mistaken beliefs clouded my judgment. I committed acts I should never have committed against you all.”
The sudden change in his position felt suspicious.
It wasn’t something a person could come to understand in just a few hours—the actions had been quite immoral.
“Your change in attitude is a bit startling.”
“I was uneasy from the start. You seemed far too weak to be a goddess.”
What one individual wouldn’t do, the group accomplished because they were together.
‘Responsibility gets distributed, after all.’
Especially when those in power come forward to incite the people.
“And to be frank, those who doubted whether you were truly a goddess now believe you are, and they fear you.”
“I……?”
“If I’m being honest, Tatiana is closer to an angel.”
I ignored the nonsense from Dilshard and asked Aso directly.
“What do you mean?”
“My father has turned ninety-three this year. As a demon, that’s not a particularly advanced age, so he deliberately made himself appear older.”
“And?”
What did the demon chief still being in his prime have to do with me being a goddess?
“My father, who attacked you, has lost all his Demon Power and withered like any ninety-three-year-old human.”
“What did you say?”
I was so startled I started to jump up, and the table rattled.
Lucas’s power had deflected the false magic of the Expedition Group leader and resisted the siren’s attack.
But that was all—I’d never taken anyone’s power away.
“Pudding, do you know anything about this?”
Could this be the treasure’s power as well?
But Pudding shook her head, knowing nothing.
“From what I can sense, he has become much like an ordinary human.”
“Where is he now? May I see him?”
Following Aso behind the partition that cordoned off one section of the room, I found Saulo lying on a bed.
“……!”
The robust man had, in an instant, lost both fat and muscle, his frame gaunt and withered, his once-vibrant eyes growing dim.
“Tatiana.”
His dry voice called my name weakly.
“I have committed a grave offense through an old man’s greed. I beg your forgiveness that I cannot rise to apologize.”
“I don’t understand. When a demon loses their Demon Power, does their Life Force run out?”
“It would be fair to say the Life Force I had artificially extended has simply returned to its proper span.”
Something felt strange about all this.
If he hadn’t attacked me in the first place, none of this would have happened. So while a part of me thought he deserved it, the sight of him facing death stirred a sense of guilt.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t do this, so I don’t know how to restore what was taken.”
“I do not wish for it to be restored. I always wanted to become human like the rest of my tribe.”
Saulo’s expression seemed genuinely at peace—his shoulders, which had seemed heavy at first, had relaxed.
“I only worry about my son now as I approach death. He must hand over his position during such difficult times.”
Saulo took Aso’s hand in his wrinkled fingers.
“Tatiana, my son will take responsibility for guiding you wherever you are bound. I am truly sorry, and I thank you.”
……
After our final conversation, I left the house, escorted out by Aso.
“Tatiana, there is one more thing I would like to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
“Please make my wife and my child human as well.”
“As I said, I didn’t do this.”
If Aso attacked me like his father did, the same result might occur—but would it really?
“I beg you. I wish to grow old alongside my wife. And I want my child to walk the same span of time with the person they love, like any ordinary person.”
“I don’t know what side effects there might be.”
“That doesn’t matter. I believe it to be the will of the goddess.”
“……I’ll think about it.”
“Thank you.”
As I watched Aso bow deeply, my heart grew troubled.

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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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