Chapter 60
It was absolutely outrageous.
Katrina, dumbfounded, ignored it.
Whether he came to fetch her or not, Katrina had no intention of going.
Splash—!
She could hear waves crashing near her ears.
Hmm…
She tried to ignore it, but now she heard the swaying of water.
…Swaying? Why is it so loud?
Katrina’s room was always quiet. This wasn’t a place where such noise should exist.
Something felt off, so she opened her eyes—and was greeted by a bright blue sky. It was blinding.
At the edge of her vision, she spotted a head of red hair.
‘…What the hell?’
Her gaze naturally dropped.
Why is his face in front of mine?
“Oh, you’re awake?”
Is this… a dream?
It must be a dream.
She had definitely fallen asleep in her room. There’s no way she’d be here otherwise…
Then again, this was how her possession began.
She snapped fully awake.
Katrina hastily sat up.
‘What the hell—’
She was on a boat.
And the sea surrounded her.
[I’ll come get you.]
Was that what the letter meant?!
…That lunatic had kidnapped her.
Katrina stared blankly at Sylas.
What had just happened was so overwhelming, her brain couldn’t process it right away.
Now that she thought about it, every time she met Sylas after returning, it had always been something like this.
They had never met under normal circumstances. And this time…
‘He kidnapped me onto a boat?!’
She looked around.
If he tried anything funny, she was ready to scream her lungs out.
But—
Nothing.
It was just her and Sylas on the boat.
Not a single sailor in sight.
“…Are you insane?” Katrina stuttered, unable to believe the situation.
This was crazy.
Absolutely insane.
“Of all things, you drag me out to sea?!”
“Then where should I have dragged you to?” he said casually.
That’s not the point!
Sylas sat down in front of her, his fingers lazily playing with her jet-black hair as if amused by the whole situation.
“Now that you’re here, just enjoy it. You can’t go back anyway.”
Can’t go back?
Katrina looked out at the ocean again. No land in sight.
Just how far had they come?
…Wait, how had she not woken up this whole time?
“What did you do to my body?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you inject me with sleeping drugs or something?”
It would’ve been hard to tamper with food in Abiche.
So it had to be an injection.
Her anger bubbled up. This bastard really had no limits.
“Have I ever used anything sharp on your body?” Sylas stretched out on the same deck where he had laid her down.
“Sure, I’ve gone around stabbing people and living like a thug, but I’ve never stuck anything pointy into you.”
“…”
“Oh, wait. There’s one thing.”
He grinned and stuck out his tongue playfully.
Katrina’s face twisted in disgust.
“Besides kissing, I’ve never stuck anything into you.”
“Do you ever think before speaking?!”
The more she talked to him, the dizzier she became.
“I didn’t inject you with anything. But I did borrow a bit of another power.”
“Another power?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
…Soon enough?
Just how long was she supposed to stay on this boat?
Wait—if she was stuck here, then the wish stone negotiations…
“Sylas, turn the boat around. Right now!”
She yelled, panicked.
She had to get back to Abiche.
“It’s too late, Katrina. You should’ve run when you had the chance.”
“You said we’d meet later! I have something important to do, Sylas!”
“Something important?”
Katrina clammed up.
No need to mention the wish stones.
She forced herself to calm down.
“Then when can I go back?”
“In about a week?”
“What?!”
She had to stay on this boat for a week?
…Fortunately—or unfortunately—her plans wouldn’t be ruined. It was cutting it close, but still manageable.
“We’re going to an island.”
…An island? Out of nowhere?
She couldn’t guess what he was thinking anymore.
“You said in the letter you were throwing a party.”
“Oh, that?”
He nodded like he just remembered.
“We’ll throw the party on the island.”
“Ha…”
Katrina gave up trying to reason with him. It was pointless.
No matter what she said, Sylas clearly had no intention of letting her go.
She couldn’t even swim back.
‘Please don’t tell me it’s some deserted island.’
She began to worry.
What if he was planning to abandon her on a remote island as revenge?
…No. He couldn’t be that unreasonable.
She wanted to believe that.
‘Besides, it’s not like anyone’s coming to rescue me.’
The Abiche Duchy had probably realized by now that Katrina was missing.
But no one would come looking.
No one cared where she had gone.
Her head throbbed.
Night fell.
The ocean was truly a mad place.
As night came, the temperature dropped drastically.
Katrina hugged herself and shivered. Thankfully, there were blankets on board.
She wrapped herself in multiple layers.
“Cold?” Sylas asked.
Come to think of it, he was only wearing a thin shirt.
He hadn’t even buttoned it properly—his chest was fully exposed.
“…Aren’t you cold?”
Katrina found him baffling.
Even wrapped in blankets, she was still freezing.
“You’ve always been sensitive to cold, haven’t you?”
“…You’re the weird one for dressing like that.”
“Wait right there. I’ll warm you up.”
“…What?”
“How are you going to warm me up?”
Sylas brought over a spherical object.
When he tapped it, it began to glow bright red.
He placed it in front of her.
Like a heater, the air warmed up instantly.
“…It’s giving off heat?”
“Feels nice, right?”
“Is this… an artifact?”
“Good guess.”
…That’s not something to casually admit.
Why did he have an artifact on him?
“Sylas, just to check—you did register that with the temple, right?”
“Of course not.”
That’s illegal!
Seriously, this man was insane.
Had he learned nothing from watching the downfall of House Carlo?
‘If something goes wrong, I’ll get caught up in it too…’
Given her history, Katrina grew anxious.
Then—plop. A raindrop fell from the sky.
The ocean’s weather was unpredictable.
Soon, a sudden downpour began. Katrina hurried to cover her head with the blanket.
She was about to head inside when she spotted something in the distance.
A swirling mass over the sea.
Was that… a tornado?
“…If we run into that, won’t the boat sink?”
“Oh. Yeah, probably.”
…Yeah, probably?!
