CH 154

Lil was about to say something to Cesar, but looked back when she heard the content coming from the sailor. The man’s sweaty face was distorted with fear and agitation.

“…As I asked you before… How many times have you forgiven him?…”

“There’s a Mahin Royal mark on its mainmast! It’s a battleship, a battleship!”

Lil couldn’t hear Cesar as the sailor started to shout again. That was why she wanted to turn her head to ask him to repeat himself, however, the swearing sailor grabbed her arm and began running. Cesar on the other hand didn’t open his mouth nor held her back. Instead, he simply moved away and closed the door. As Lil was being dragged helplessly, she could only watch as the gap between her and Cesar disappeared.

Suddenly, the completely shut wooden door appeared to be as thick and heavy as a stone wall. Lil, losing herself in another hallucination, saw prison bars slamming down. 

‘It’s as if Cesar is imprisoned somewhere… A castle that he can’t escape on his own…’

The entrance of his cabin began to stretch upwards and to each side, several pointed towers with roofs rose. Lil looked up in horror at the citadel. The dark grey stone structure exuded an all-too-familiar majesty.

Upon seeing such a vision, Lil stopped abruptly in the middle of being dragged along.

“No! What are you doing, Captain?!”

“…”

The sailor forcefully yanked on Lil’s arm. As Lil stumbled along with him, she turned her head and looked up at the unbelievable figure. Cesar’s enlarged cabin was undoubtedly transforming into something similar to Mortu’s castle.

‘Cesar will also be confined within those cold walls.’

Lil was reminded of the hand from her nightmares, the one that always reached out to her from the darkness.

‘How come I thought I was locked up alone all this time? When, in fact, there was someone by my side who was also bleeding, losing flesh, and suffering. I’ve always been there with Cesar, who tenderly held my hand and presented me his heart…’

She never knew it was Cesar emerging from the darkness as Lil only saw a hand holding a heart. It became clear to her that he, too, refused to reveal more of himself. 

Knowing this now, she couldn’t bear looking up and facing him. The realisation that she had been repaying him with a mere pool of blood was too overwhelming. She had been obsessed with digging into her own chest and giving back as much as she got, but she couldn’t reach her heart no matter how hard she tried.

That was also the moment where Mortu offered to help her. He cut off different pieces of her flesh and moulded it into a heart. Lil felt relieved when she was able to cheat in this way. However, she became so engrossed in it that she had no idea how much it was costing Cesar or how miserable he became. She always thought he was far from feeling that way because he always dressed neatly, with a shirt buttoned up to his neck and a crisp, scented vest.

‘It’s strange. The sight of Cesar merely looking down on me as I was in a state of despair, doesn’t suit him at all…’

After passing several bulkheads Cesar’s cabin disappeared from view. The artillery deck, where sailors shouted and prepared for battle, was in a frenzy. Dozens of people passed by, but Lil couldn’t see anything. Her consciousness was still in that castle, immersing herself in the darkness. For the first time since she began to have those nightmares, Lil raised her eyes and stared straight into the shadows. 

Someone yelled aloud.

“…Captain! Their red flag is up! They’re asking us to stop for inspection…”

The startled sailor pulled Lil to urge her to make haste. As her feet walked the stairs, the faint light on top of the stairs came closer and closer. With the midday sun at its peak, her vision became hot and bright as she made her way to the upper deck. The glaring light was intense enough to reveal Cesar who had been immersed in the dark.

Blood flowed from the place where his heart had been cut out. Although he stood on his own two feet, he clearly struggled with the excruciating pain. It looked like he couldn’t breathe probably, seeing how he grabbed his empty chest with a distorted expression. Mortu, who shrouded around Cesar, found Lil and stepped aside. Blood dripped from the scythe that the reaper was holding. His gloomy voice chuckled. The god of death started polishing his scythe with a sliver of his darkness and then laughed at the woman who could only stand there dumbfounded and unable to blink.

“…You silly customer. Why are you so surprised? What? Did you think that the heart came from the fields?..”

“..!”

***

“Sir Edgar. A telegraph arrived from the Ashtoro. There’s a galleon spotted a thousand morts ahead of our fleet. How do you want them to proceed?”

Ed didn’t look at the reporting Sagastar. When Ed remained silent, Sagastar cleared his throat in embarrassment.

Ed originally intended to leave Sagastar on that uninhabited island, but unfortunately for him, the commodore wasn’t so ignorant. On the morning they would leave the island, Ed moved the Visha before dawn as he planned. However, there was one variable that Ed didn’t take into account; at that point Sagastar had already boarded the Visha. Ed heard later that after their operating meeting was over, Sagastar took a boat straight to the ship.

Ed glared at Captain Long who together with Sagastar had tricked him. The captain, busy on the deck,  noticed Ed’s gaze and flinched. After he followed the captain with his eyes for a while, Ed eventually opened his mouth.

“The Ashtoro is one of the vassals in the scouting squadron that followed the Serlio route…”

“That’s correct.”

The Ashtoro belonged to the squadron that was assigned a scouting mission ordered by Sagastar. Even after the commodore found Ed, he didn’t give up on his pursuit of solving the attempted murder and kidnapping of the admiral and dispatched patrol ships in all directions. For a change, Ed didn’t consider Sagastar’s stubbornness as useless, so the scouting squadrons continued to carry out their mission.

“Upon review, we found out that it’s a merchant ship departed from Marchand, the owner is Sir Mesonnier, and the captain is… Well, he didn’t write down the name of the Captain as they already found the owner… However, Durin, the pilot that was in charge of the ship, stated that the captain was a small man of mixed race. Unfortunately, that’s how far the description of his appearance goes. Apparently, the man always covered his face with a hat, but it’s said in passing that he was a fine looking man… I mean, the records say…”

Sagastar flipped through the papers and criticised Legardon’s poor reporting system. Nonetheless, Ed held out his hand while leaning against the wheel.

“The ship’s owner…”

“It’s Mesonnier.”

“…”

Sagastar frowned in dissatisfaction upon handing over the report. He was never happy about having to present something crappy. Downcasted, Sagastar blamed himself for not reviewing all the records beforehand. However, contrary to Sagastar’s concerns, the report contained just the right amount of information for Ed to work with. 

‘Mesonnier… The pilot from Marchand addressed Cesar that way…’

“Is this the sailboat you were looking for?”

“No.”

“Then why…”

“It’s interesting to hear about a small, mixed-race man as a Captain.”

“Ah, yes.”

Using the steering wheel as a pedestal, Ed placed the rapport on top of it. He then took out his glasses from his chest pocket and placed them on the bridge of his nose. His fingertips trembled slightly as he pushed up the thin temple of his glasses. Sagastar, who had already noticed those subtle actions from earlier, looked anxiously at Ed’s complexion. As far as Sagastar knew, Ed only wore his glasses whenever he wasn’t feeling well. 

‘It was usually when he stayed up all night for a few days in a row and devoted himself to some strange research… When that happened he would take out his glasses from the third or fourth day… But now, despite eating and sleeping well, his eyes seemed to be dim. In addition, his pale complexion feels ominous, as though it’s a harbinger of disaster… Of course, Edgar is originally a bit pale, from his face to his hands and feet. Despite having spent many years on the ship, he hasn’t tanned his skin even a little… Everyone assumes that’s because of his Northern blood…’

Yet Sagastar has never seen this degree of severe paleness before. Not only was there no blood left in his face, but even the redness of his lips had completely disappeared…