The Daughter of Evil - Volume 3 - Chapter Ep4

Epilogue-To the Blue Country; Scene 5
Praeludium of Red, page 255-258

♣ Yukina ~On the HMS Victoricia, “Stern Deck"~

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“Hoist the anchor! We’re setting sail!”

I could hear the sailors’ bellows coming from the main bridge. It seemed that it was finally time for the ship to depart. Admiral Dylan had been meeting with the registered surveyor, but when he noticed me he jogged over.

“You should head back to your cabin soon. This place is gonna be swaying quite a bit come sendoff.”

“Thank you for the concern. But I’d like to stay here a little longer. I’ll go back when I’m done writing my notes.”

I was running out of pages in the notebook that I’d been using from the start of my journey. The entire chronicle of my trip was in it.

There were some things I could use as material for a novel, but there were also a lot of useless miscellaneous notes.
What should I do regarding the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” and “demons”? I would probably run into some obstacles writing the truth the way things were now, and I doubted that anyone would believe me.

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A single man came up to the stern deck.

Unlike when he’d been in the palace, he was wearing a casual traveling outfit. All of the sailors saluted him simultaneously.

Admiral Dylan spoke to him.

“My liege. We’ll be departing soon. It’s gonna–”

“I know. Three people belowdecks were worried about her not coming back. I just came to call on her.”

The three people belowdecks were probably Shaw, Gumillia, and Germaine.

When I looked closely at him–Kyle’s right eye had a fresh bruise on it.

“What happened to your eye?”

“I was punched by Chartette earlier.”

“Oh my…Is Miss Chartette under arrest now?”

“I told General Lily…though she’s not a general anymore, is she? –I told Lily to settle it peaceably. I’m no stranger to Chartette.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

“And I got a souvenir.”
“…?”

Kyle Marlon had been released from the demon, and had been able to return to his human form.

Of course he had very little memory of his time in his demon form. Why had he gone to the forest? I could imagine the gist of it, but the reality of it would remain a mystery.

The military expansion policies that he’d enacted, and his personal grudge against Germaine–was that his own will? Or was it the influence of the demon? Kyle himself was the only one who knew. As long as he wouldn’t tell me himself, I wasn’t able to learn the truth. I wasn’t sure, but I wondered if Kyle would ever talk about it with anyone.

After everything, Kyle and Germaine had a chat just the two of them. Naturally, that took place at a bar. Neither of them told me what they’d talked about, but as I’d caught sight of Germaine good-humoredly supporting a dead-drunk Kyle, I figured they must have cleared up their bad blood.

“Mister Kyle.”

“What is it, Yukina?”

“Is it alright that you’re leaving Lucifenia?”

“General George, Lily, and Clive are still there. As long as I leave it to them there won’t be any problems. I think.”

In addition to me, Gumillia, and Germaine, my father had called Kyle to Marlon as well. They were on good terms, but even so a mere merchant summoning a king was an unthinkably reckless act. Apparently Shaw was up all night worrying about whether he should broach the topic or not.

But Kyle readily obliged his request. Perhaps for him it was a perfect excuse to return to Marlon.

He probably wanted to return go back to dispel the misgivings inside himself.

Like why had his mother, the Empress Dowager Prim, given him a vessel with a demon dwelling inside it.

In my opinion there were other concerning things to think about. According to what Kyle told me, the iron masked group that had attacked Germaine–the Special Maneuvers Task Force–had unexpectedly disappeared from the palace.

The Special Maneuvers Task Force, and their leader Ney. I had a feeling that they were going to be trouble for us in Marlon.

“Keel’s likely to criticize me once we’ve arrived. For accusing his beloved daughter of being a criminal.”

Kyle made a slightly troubled smile. That was his true smile; I knew it well, from long ago.

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The ship moved away from the coast.

Our destination on the other side of the sea was my homeland, the country of Marlon.