CYSWTF - Chapter 56

Episode 56. Outlaws of the Public Sea (1)


Those cold words made all the hairs on my body stand on end. I quickly approached Prince Kydel and whispered,

“What are you doing? Let’s go.”

Then His Highness Grayon roughly turned around and started off. As I followed him at a brisk pace, Prince Kydel walked away, drooling.

As I walked down the dark hallway, I felt my heart beating wildly in the silence.

‘Where are they going with that suspicious object?’

‘Will I be able to return alive?’

When I went out through the side gate of the Third Palace, someone put a hood over me.

***

“Haa...”

When the hood was removed, a brilliant morning sea spread out before my eyes.

I held onto my hair that was tangled in the sea breeze and looked at the sea surface that seemed to be sprinkled with shards of the sun.

Prince Kydel handed me a wooden cup filled with hot tea.

“Drink.”

I accepted the cup without saying a word. We were at the helm of a large sailing ship.

The men on the deck were wearing black clothes with no marks that could reveal their status.

I don’t know about anything else, but judging by their demeanor, they were definitely not sailors.

When I turned my head, two unmarked ships were following our ship on either side. Prince Kydel was now sailing somewhere with a small fleet.

My whole body was sore from being blindfolded and carried here and there all night, and now I was too exhausted to be afraid.

I blew on my tea and said listlessly,

“Did you become a pirate on the side because it was vacation?”

Prince Kydel opened his eyes wide for a moment and then burst into laughter. He seemed not to have expected such a question.

The men on the deck looked at me with puzzled eyes at that sound, but they didn’t look at me for long.

Even though most of the men were older than him, they were afraid of him.

Prince Kydel said as if to get my attention,

“We are on the high seas.”

High seas? High seas!

“We’ve come a long way...? ...Very much.”

I asked, my eyes welling up with tears.

“Are you going to throw me into the sea?”

“If Miss Loire...”

“Oh, wait! Let’s stop talking about that letter!”

Prince Kydel then made an embarrassed face.

It was obvious that he was displeased with me for noticing and taking the initiative.

However, he soon regained his composure and said,

“That’s impossible.”

“...”

The Lord Grayon I met this time was a suspicious and impatient person.

Her Majesty the Empress and Her Highness the Princess, and looking back, the Tagars seemed to have a cruel side.

So if he ordered me to be thrown overboard, what could Prince Kydel do?

My disappointment must have been evident on my face, as Prince Kydel stared intently at my face and said,

“I will not let that happen.”

“...”

How? How can you do whatever you want with the royal family?

As if he had heard my inner voice, he smiled and answered.

“People like me.”

“Ah. Yes.”

I answered weakly and drank my cup.

His conviction felt absurd, but strangely enough, my energy seemed to return a little.

Even so, the reality before my eyes did not change. My mind was becoming complicated for another reason.

I asked with a fake smile, hoping that my words would sound like a joke as much as possible.

“You are not committing treason right now, are you?”

Then he closed his eyes and smiled back.

“What do you think?”

My hands were shaking, and the tea in my cup overflowed slightly. Then Prince Kydel clicked his tongue and took the cup from my hand.

He said softly.

“Lady Loire doesn’t have much trust in me.”

“...”

He was looking at me and smiling, but anyone could tell that it wasn’t a real smile.

Look at those cold, sunken eyes!

I clenched my molars and pretended to be calm as I took the cup from his hand. Then I took another sip.

“We’re not that close.”

“...”

“But why did you save me? Looking at the current situation, it seems like His Highness Grayon’s judgment was correct.”

No matter what would happen next, it was definitely something very dangerous and secretive. I would not spare anyone who witnessed such a thing.

But Prince Kydel answered coolly.

“I don’t want to answer. I’m upset.” 

I was speechless. This was also a talent.

I spat out in a blunt voice.

“We’re not close.”

“...”

I continued, feeling ten years older.

“So, you know, we’re not close, so why did you spare me by going against His Highness the Second Prince? I’ll live knowing the reason.”

“An apology.”

“I-It’s true that we’re not close...”

Then he opened his eyes arrogantly.

“Don’t people make an effort? Don’t they know gratitude?”

“I’m sorry...”

I felt like I was losing. No, I was losing endlessly.

But what could I possibly expect from a hostage?

I looked up at the clear blue sky of the ocean with a sense of emptiness and detachment.

Then he said.

“Let’s call it a hobby.”

“...Hobby? Risking your life for it?”

He turned away from me without saying a word. It was clear that he didn’t like my question.

But when I thought about it, I didn’t think I had said something so wrong. He had a tendency to risk his life to save me quite often.

“...”

I forgot what I was going to say.

His purple eyes staring at me seemed like a mixture of the blue sea and the red sun. They were expressionless, cold, and intense at the same time.

They were eyes that made all my questions seem meaningless.

He answered nonchalantly.

“I’ll never be bored if I have you by my side. Alive, of course.”

Oh, I see.

I sighed.

“You asked a lot of questions when you helped me. Come to think of it, it’s the first time anyone has done that for me besides my mother... But whether that should be a reason to get involved in something so suspicious is another matter.”

Then he laughed with his heart. He didn’t make a sound, but it was a very cheerful reaction.

‘What is this person...?’

When I saw him laugh, I felt strange again.

That smile was so comfortable that it made me feel comfortable too.

It was as if we were friends traveling across the ocean to the same destination.

It was absurd to feel this way in this situation and in my relationship with him. My reasoning seemed to have broken down due to the extreme fear and embarrassment.

No.

He, who was creating a new weapon with the ambitious Second Prince and secretly going out to the open sea on a suspicious ship, was smiling so comfortably. It was he who had broken down.

Now that I think about it, the man standing at the helm now seemed a bit different from the Locard Kydel I had met in the capital. A more determined, rough-looking man.

A sudden sense of distance swept over me.

He said with a smile,

“I’ll pay you back in full later, so just know that.”

Only then did my heart feel at ease. In his calculations, which I couldn’t guess, I had been valued enough to wait for later.

It was just me who was uncomfortable because I couldn’t fully understand it now, but I wouldn’t suffer any losses later.

He took his eyes off me and looked around the ship, and I followed him and saw a few people leaning against the railing.

Now that I looked closely, they were all lying down, vomiting from seasickness.

“I have a favor to ask. I need seasickness medicine. The ingredients are below.”

If you look closely, this man had a knack for making people unable to refuse him.

I quietly went down to the cabin and made seasickness medicine. Then someone brought me food.

I had been so nervous that I didn’t even realize I was hungry, but my stomach started to churn when I smelled food.

As I was taking a bite of bread, Prince Kydel came in. I made eye contact with him while still eating the bread. I wanted to get angry and say that I should at least eat comfortably by myself, but when I thought about it, this was his ship.

I couldn’t say I wanted to eat with someone, even though I was a hostage. Haa...

He sat down in front of me and started eating bread. It was an unexpected sight.

Where had the elegant table manners I had seen at the Zebron Hotel gone?

He noticed my gaze and smiled.

“It’s a battlefield habit. If your other half is in Beloa Street, mine is probably in Tunbar.”

He spoke in a relaxed tone, but I could tell that the war had left quite a mark on him. Something I couldn’t fathom.

I asked very cautiously.

“Does that mean you are currently on a campaign?”

“To be honest, military action on the high seas without His Majesty’s permission is considered treason.”

“Oh, I see... You didn’t get His Majesty’s permission...”

I nodded, my soul bleached. My reasoning was shattered, and my mouth was babbling on its own.

“If we do this wrong, we could even cause an international conflict...? Even Agael and Smilean. Wow...”

“Cheer up. As long as we succeed, there won’t be any trouble.”

I looked at him with tearful eyes and asked.

“Since we are going to die together, why don’t you tell me what happened? I gave you motion sickness medicine to make your troops more energetic, so now I am an accomplice. What on earth did Director Royman create?”

He answered with a bright smile.

“It’s more fun if you don’t know.”

Fun...

I smiled warmly in response to him.

‘You punk... Are you laughing at the risk of your life?'

Previous                    Next

Support Novellate!