Sea Monster Stew Chapter 48

A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment. A wordless tension coiled around her entire body.

 

“From now on, you will live quietly here, like one of the dead.”

The Duke withdrew his gaze from Biche and spoke in an indifferent voice. 

 

His eyes were steeped in sharp contempt, as if her very existence was nothing but a blemish, a reminder of the family’s misfortune. 

 

His scornful eyes swept over her from head to toe.

“I heard from the maids who attended your bath. They said you have a terrible, unsightly scar on your back, something truly horrifying to behold.”

 

“……”

“You couldn’t possibly have lived as a slave, could you? What exactly were you doing in that pirate den?”

“I was…”

“Enough. Hold your tongue. I’ve no desire to dirty my ears with it.”

 

Biche was momentarily taken aback. +

 

The image of her maternal grandfather from her memories—always cold and aloof—had materialized before her eyes in stark reality.

‘That’s right. Now that I think about it… Even when I was little, he was only kind to me when Mother was nearby.’

The inexplicable anxiety and fear she felt in her childhood came flooding back. 

 

In that moment, she realized with painful clarity that she had never been fully accepted by her grandfather.

“…So the act you put on in the great hall was just a facade after all.”

“What choice do I have with so many watching? If I were to treat you coldly, people would speak my daughter’s name lightly and tarnish Arwen’s honor.”

Biche narrowed her eyes and stared at the Duke’s wrinkled face.

 

“Where exactly is my mother? The Count’s estate was already in ruins.”

At Biche’s question, the Duke’s clouded eyes instantly grew moist. 

 

He pressed his wrinkled hand hard against his eyes, and thick tears quickly soaked deep into his wrist.

These were not the fake, theatrical tears he had shown in the great hall.

“Arwen…”

The Duke hung his head low and sobbed. Tears dripped steadily down his wrinkled cheeks.

“She passed away five years ago.”

 

Instantly, something inside Biche’s chest crumbled to pieces. 

 

Her ears rang, and her heart pounded noisily against her chest. She was too stunned to speak, her breath caught in her throat.

“…That’s a lie. It can’t be. Wh-why would Mother…”

 

All the strength drained from her body. 

 

Biche felt as if the ground had given way beneath her feet, sending her tumbling headlong into an endless void.

Five years ago was when Biche had been taken by the Crocus pirates. 

 

So, did that mean her mother had died not long after Biche herself was kidnapped onto the slave ship?

“Why…? How… how did it happen…?”

 

Biche let out a trembling, ragged breath and bowed her head deeply. Tears fell thick and fast onto her knees.

The only reason she had been able to endure five years in that horrible pirate den was the hope that she would someday see her parents again.

But at that moment, everything collapsed.

“Please, tell me. How… how did Mother…?”

“Arwen was always frail. After you disappeared, she languished, sick with grief, and eventually passed away.”

“Th-then… what about Father?” Biche lifted her head, gasping for air. 

 

The Duke stared back at her with red-rimmed eyes, then slowly shook his head.

“He disappeared.”

“Disappeared…?”

“Literally. After Arwen died, that damned father of yours vanished without a trace.”

Biche struggled to draw breath. Suspicion welled up deep within her. 

 

Could it be that the Duke had eliminated her father, who had always been a thorn in his side, right after her mother’s death?

The thought of her father bleeding under the swords of the Ducal knights made her head spin. 

 

Biche gripped her skirt tightly and stared directly at the Duke.

“By any chance… Do you know where my father is?”

“How dare you ask me about that monster’s whereabouts?!”

 

The Duke suddenly slammed his fist on the table with a loud bang, erupting in anger.

“You…! Who do you think ruined my daughter Arwen’s life?!”

 

“If… if you hate me that much, I will leave this castle this very day. So please, give me back my friends.”

 

Biche shot up from her chair, her voice trembling as she made her demand. 

 

But the Duke only curled one side of his mouth in a bitter, mocking smile.

“How dare you call those sea scum your ‘friends’? I see one’s breeding cannot be changed.”

He let out a hollow laugh and muttered under his breath.

“I truly wished you had died and disappeared in that pirate den… Why did you have to come back alive…?”

Biche stared at the Duke, biting her lower lip hard. Now everything was clear.

 

Her return to the Helio Empire was a catastrophe no one had wished for.

“I told you, if I am such a shameful and hateful sight, I will leave this very day.”

As she forced out the words that felt like a quiet surrender, a scornful smile played on the Duke’s lips.

“Rumors that the Duke’s granddaughter has returned alive have already spread throughout the imperial capital.”

“Th-that’s impossible. I haven’t been back at the ducal estate for long.”

“The imperial capital is where gossip travels faster than on the sea. At a time like this… I cannot let you roam free.”

Without realizing it, Biche pushed her chair back and stumbled away. 

 

Retreating slowly from the Duke’s chilling gaze, she suddenly turned and ran for the door.

She had to escape. Driven solely by that thought, she frantically flung the door open.

Blocking her way were knights with expressionless faces. 

 

They had appeared like ghosts in the dim, lightless corridor, clad in black armor. 

 

The knight at the forefront approached Biche and spoke in a cold voice.

“Come with us quietly. By the Duke’s order.”

They were the same knights who had taken Calante and Fui, and brought her to the ducal residence. 

 

Their eyes held that same contempt again. This time, there was a hint of relief in them too.

It seemed the knowledge that the woman they had treated roughly was not someone the Duke valued put them at ease.

“Lock her in the tower. She won’t even think of causing trouble there.”

The moment the Duke’s command echoed from the study, the knights roughly seized Biche by both arms. 

 

She was dragged away down the corridor, powerless to resist.

They marched up a high, spiral staircase and shoved her into a room at the top. 

 

The door was slammed shut from the outside, and one of the knights engaged the lock.

“Behave yourself.”

With that short warning, the sound of their footsteps thundering down the stairs faded away. 

 

Biche pressed her trembling hands to her chest and looked around.

 

It was a room surrounded by damp stone walls on all sides. Patches of moss the size of palms clung to the floor here and there.

Although a thick carpet had been laid down, a chill persistently rose from the stone beneath. 

 

A draft seeped in through the walls, which were bare of any tapestries.

The bed and furniture were steeped in a thick smell of damp and mold. 

 

The window, barred with iron, was only as wide as two hands put together. 

 

Thick cobwebs were woven between the heavy iron bars.

Faded, indistinct stains were splotched across the bedding, which seemed long neglected. 

 

In a corner of the room, a small hole suggested mice came and went. 

 

In a candlestick fixed to the wall, only the remnants of a candle, half-melted away, remained.

It was a dreadful place in every way. 

 

Even the servant quarters she had stayed in on the Karabas pirate island were cleaner and better.

 

Biche slid down with her back against the door. Only after being left alone did the fear and shock wash over her all at once.

 

‘I am truly unwanted anywhere.’

Just then, moonlight seeped in through the iron bars of the window. But even its light offered her no comfort.

 

* * *

 

Even the handful of moonlight was imprisoned by the iron bars, filtering faintly into the room. 

 

Biche, suffering from the chill and damp seeping up from the stone floor and the musty smell of mold, woke from a fitful sleep.

She had fallen asleep leaning against the door, unable to even think of making it to the bed. 

 

Hugging her knees, she stared blankly at the desolate room.

‘…Are Calante and Fui safe?’

She sat dazedly, gazing at the hazy moon beyond the bars. 

 

Everything that had happened to her in the past few days felt like a dream.

She had fallen into a deep sleep and woken up in the middle of a storm-tossed ship, met Calante and returned home, only to be dragged before her grandfather like a criminal.