Maelstrom - Chapter 8

【 Siren’s Curse 】

Barbara, who had squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again, erased the old thoughts and shook her head as she watched Ernest walking toward the Angelos with lively steps.

How had that man, who made people tense just by standing still, ended up like that….

“Barbara!”

Ernest raised his voice as he looked up at Barbara, who was perched precariously on the stern railing.

They had only been apart for a few hours, yet he looked so pleased to see her that she asked him,

“Are they alive?”

It was a question stripped of all context, but Ernest understood it and answered, “Wouldn’t most people ask if they’ve been found?”

“It matters more that they’re alive.”

Barbara’s expression didn’t change, but she looked somewhat restless. Seeing that, Ernest didn’t hesitate.

“Let’s go to Thalassa Island.”

“Thalassa?”

It was a question of whether such a place even existed. A small island located far to the south, isolated at the boundary between the Western and Eastern Continents.

That island was the one thing pirates united to keep hidden. A lawless zone free from the Empire’s many restrictions. A place where everything was decided solely by strength, it was a paradise for pirates.

“Yeah. They come and go there all the time, so it’d be best to wait there.”

“….”

Her black pearl-colored eyes, trembling faintly, slowly disappeared beneath her eyelids. It was a beauty stirred by emotions that were ambiguous, something like longing, something like hatred. Wanting to admire it a little longer, Ernest climbed aboard the Angelos, swallowing his regret.

The warm wind, carrying moisture, brushed past Barbara. As it tickled her scalp and slipped away, she recalled the time when she’d first boarded the Angelos and endured countless instances of discrimination simply for being a woman, gritting her teeth through it all. There had been more than a few times she had wanted to throw herself into the dark sea that never revealed what lay beneath.

But when she thought of the small child who had once relied on her with all their strength, even if only for a short time, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“By the way, are you not going to tell me why you want revenge?” Ernest asked casually as he closed the distance to Barbara in a single stride.

“Is that important to you?”

Barbara, who had been tracing the image of a small, pale, chubby hand beneath her eyelids, turned to him as he approached.

“Well. It might be important, or it might not.”

His gaze, fixed on her, was still completely unhinged.

Barbara avoided his eyes and murmured, “You just need to help with my revenge properly. That way, you’ll get the map intact.”

“Ah, I kind of like how you draw such a cold line like that.”

She had spoken deliberately coldly, yet what came back was a perverse response.

Ernest stepped closer and reached out. His hand brushed her waist before gripping the railing tightly.

His eyes, brought right up to her face, were still slick even in this moment.

“You really don’t care about other people watching, do you?”

As his gaze began to grow sticky, Barbara let out a dry laugh.

“Is there anyone here who doesn’t already know I get hard for you?”

Barbara pushed Ernest away as he leaned into her, then rummaged through her coat pocket and took out a cigar.

“Ha…. When will I get to do it properly to my heart’s content?”

Ernest groaned as he buried his face in her shoulder. Even then, she pretended not to notice as his hand slowly grabbed at his own lower body, and she took a drag from her cigar.

It was ridiculously expensive, so she usually saved it to smoke only inside her room, but at this moment, even the salty air that interfered with the cigar’s scent felt welcome.

“You went on however you wanted until dawn yesterday, and now you’re complaining.”

The rich woody aroma thinned the heat still lingering inside her before drifting out. She savored the luxurious taste filling her mouth for a moment, then curled her lips.

They’re alive. What better news could there be than this? As long as they were alive, Barbara would never give up searching for them.

Even if they were dead, she had intended to chase them all the way to hell.

“I brought you good news today, so how about giving me a reward?”

Ernest lifted his head and bit Barbara’s lips before she could even answer. Having just taken a drag from the cigar, the scent lingering in her mouth was what Ernest inhaled instead, and his tongue immediately tangled with hers, slick and sticky.

“Mmm….”

The wet sound of their saliva echoed faintly in her ears, only to be swallowed up by the noise of the busy deck. Pulling his lips away, Ernest took a deep drag from the cigar Barbara had been holding and straightened his body.

“It was a deal from the start. What reward are you talking about for something that’s only natural?”

She grumbled, but the lips exposed under the sunlight were swollen red, and Ernest let out a satisfied smile along with the white smoke rising from deep within his chest.

“You’re so cold.”

Barbara traced the smoke fading into the clear sky before walking toward the captain’s cabin. Before opening the door, she turned back to Ernest and spoke provocatively.

“Who would’ve thought. That Admiral Farrell would get this obsessed over the woman who took his first time.”

“Damn it.”

Barbara had a way of driving people insane. Ernest willingly fell for her provocation and drank down the slick she offered him like a reward.

It felt like he had become addicted to the female body that never seemed to grow tiresome.

***

The voyage toward Thalassa Island went smoothly. It was a day when the favorable wind pushed the ship along steadily.

Rene, who had been watching the distant horizon from the high lookout tower, raised his voice and called out to Barbara while pointing toward a certain spot.

“Boss! Over there, I think that’s the island!”

His youthful face was flushed with excitement.

At his words, Barbara took out her telescope. Sure enough, the place that appeared to be the pirate island was packed with ships docked chaotically. Every single one flew flags with vicious-looking emblems on a black background.

“Raise our flag too.”

They raised the makeshift flag they had prepared on the way.

Like the pirate ships docked there, it was a black flag with a single rose drawn on it.

It was a design Ernest had insisted on, saying her red hair reminded him of a rose. Everyone had been horrified by the romantic remark, yet unable to resist his menacing gaze, they had all ended up agreeing.

Just looking at it made her feel embarrassed, her face heating up, but Barbara endured it.

It was far better than getting beaten for being exposed as not being pirates.

“But where is His Excellency? He said he’d cover his face, but there’s no sign of him.”

When Ernest, who should have been stuck to Barbara like a barnacle, was nowhere to be seen, Alfredo looked for him.

Barbara suppressed the twitching corner of her lips and answered, “He disguised himself too well, so now he can’t come out.”

“What? What did he do? He could’ve just covered his face roughly.”

“How can you do that when you don’t know what might happen over there? If you’re going to do it, you have to do it properly.”

At Barbara’s words, as she jerked her chin toward the island, Alfredo replied as if he still didn’t quite understand, “That’s true, but to that extent….”

But soon, the moment he saw a stranger stepping out of the captain’s cabin, Alfredo trailed off and frowned.

“….”

There was no need to say that every single sailor who saw Ernest froze stiff.

“Have we arrived?”

Alfredo thought he had never heard that low voice, which usually seemed to come from deep in his chest, sound this grotesque.

His body wouldn’t move properly as he creaked around. Standing with his back to Ernest, Alfredo had no choice but to ask Barbara.

“Was that the best you could do?”

“Look. Who would think that person is Admiral Farrell?”

“A perfect stratagem.”

After clapping a couple of times, Alfredo quickly headed down to the lower deck.

If he stayed any longer, he would either burst out laughing and be beaten to death by the admiral, or hold it in and have his heart burst.

And following his lead, the red-faced sailors deliberately turned their backs to Ernest and began moving about here and there.

“…For some reason, I don’t like this.”

There was no way Barbara didn’t recognize the mood just before Ernest exploded. She gently stroked his back as if he might lash out at any moment, trying to soothe him.

“They’re just surprised, so try to understand.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m rather pretty.”

As if she had come out after hearing the rumors, Carly, who had been holed up in the infirmary and rarely came out, saw Ernest, startled violently, and ran away.

Seeing that, Ernest seemed to gain confidence in his own words.

“Well, unless it’s Barbara, what woman could possibly match my beauty?”

His pride soared without limit. Watching Ernest lift his chin and smile in satisfaction, Barbara nodded.

Since he was going to hide his face anyway, following Ernest’s suggestion that he should disguise himself more perfectly, Barbara proposed cross-dressing.

Blond hair, blue eyes, a handsome face that carried a cold edge.

His traits as Admiral Farrell were too distinctive for any pirate not to recognize, so she thought it would be better to change his gender entirely so that no one would even suspect he was the admiral.

Of course, more than eighty percent of her intent was to tease him, but she hadn’t expected him to accept it so readily.