North x Northwest

g an explanation and opened the shutters.

“What are you doing?”

Cesar was silent for a while, not looking back.
Lil had no difficulty guessing what he was thinking.
His gestures signified that that story was about to come out again.
But this time, Lil has no objection.
The Bell Rock couldn’t sail due to a lack of crew and the southern seas would soon become a battlefield.
In fact, even if the Bell Rock departed, it wasn’t clear where to go or what to do.
She couldn’t say that she wanted to keep playing the part of a pirate.

Cesar opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Liloa.
Only fifteen people have been filled in this week.”

“So?”

“That’s still less than half of the original crew.”

“So? What do you want to say?”

“Half of the League has the opinion that we should watch the Mondovi fleet’s movement for the time being without undertaking any activities.
Liloa, we can’t guarantee long-term voyages as long as the Admiral’s roaming the southern seas.
Why do you keep on recruiting?”

“If the Admiral comes as you said, there’s no guarantee that Panichi will be safe.
So, what are we going to do? Stay here like sitting ducks?”

Lil walked nervously and sat down on the bed.
Cesar walked over calmly and sat down next to her.
His warm and tender hands took hers.
With him acting like that, Lil felt like she could no longer vent her anger.
After taking off her necklace, Cesar diligently collected her messy little hairs with his finger and put them behind her ear.

“Liloa.
I love you.”

Out of habit, Lil instantly opened her mouth.

“I love you too.”

“Now, this kind of life… Can’t you see the end?”

Lil closed her eyes tightly.
She pressed her lids hard in the hope to keep the tears at bay.

‘What can I say? The answer is already a given.
It was clear from the beginning that Cesar didn’t rescue me to live a life of piracy.
He still desires the life he had before.
The life in which we’ll settle in a peaceful village and continue our overflowing love… Then one day, I’ll give birth to a child and we’ll raise that child… We’ll happily grow old together…’

Lil, who felt suffocated, struggled to answer lightly.

“It’s what we expected, right?”

“…”

In an instant, his face was filled with happiness.
She could see it despite how faint it was.
The sound of him exhaling in joy and the feeling of his breath on her cheek suffocated her only more.
Lil wanted to turn her head.

“Okay… Give me time to think.”

Lil smiled at Cesar as he approached for a kiss.

Years ago, when Cesar invited Lil to go with him, the word ‘together’ reflected a very clear desire.
Cesar asked her to go with him, but he didn’t say he’d set her free.
Nevertheless, it was the unchanging truth that Cesar rescued Lil.

‘It feels like I’m in debt for the rest of my life.
But does it have to be love?

Must the princess, saved from the monster by a brave knight, love the knight? Even if the princess never wished for his salvation and she never wanted his love? Rather, the princess warned him, don’t reach out to me.
But the knight saved her and loved her anyway.

What should the princess do?

When she receives unsolicited salvation and unwanted love, and when she tells lies that she doesn’t want anything else, can she continue to pretend to believe that lie? Can she ignore him by pretending she doesn’t know? He who gave up everything for her salvation…’

“I love you…”

Lil lived in Mortu’s castle.

Mortu’s an undertaker and the god of death from ancient tales.
When the men of the Empire gained reputation and fame, their grave sites would match their status.
They would be buried with the best view, which could even lead to territorial disputes.
But if they were married, they simply dug a hole next to it and had the coffins prepared for their wives to only fit the hole.
Of course, because the woman’s body wasn’t measured, it could differ from the size of her coffin…

If the man returns home and thinks, ‘Uh, I think she’s a little too tall.’ Mortu would cut off her legs.
If he thinks, ‘Hm, she looks a little overweight.’ Mortu would cut her torso.
A woman’s body would be altered all her life, by severing her flesh and bones.
And if her body didn’t fit into the coffin, it was mutilated even in death.

After reading Mortu’s ghost stories as a child, Lil suffered from the illusion that he was always following her.
The experience of having her mouth closed and her legs controlled by someone else felt like Mortu cutting up her body.
The god of death, who cuts bodies and makes them ready for their coffin, has mutilated Lil alive for as long as she knows.

‘Those who are trapped in such a situation, won’t they desire freedom?’

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