Sea Monster Stew Chapter 61

Biche felt a warm warmth and slowly opened her eyes. She could feel a gentle hand stroking her hair.

Her eyes met a pair of amber eyes staring intently at her face. 

 

Kisa was letting her use his arm as a pillow while using his other hand to carefully tidy the disheveled hair on her forehead.

The moment she saw him lying facing her, all sleepiness fled. 

 

Biche hurriedly checked her own body and his clothes first. 

 

Fortunately, both Kisa and she were fully dressed.

The pleasant scent of soap wafted from his cleanly washed body. 

 

Having shed his blood-stained clothes and now wearing a neat shirt and pants, he looked quite handsome, albeit a bit rumpled.

However, she was bothered by the fact that she was wearing a comfortable lace nightgown instead of her ash-colored dress.

 

“…Um, my clothes…”

“I changed them for you. They looked uncomfortable.” Kisa replied nonchalantly, gently closing his eyes. 

 

Biche stared at him blankly with an awkward expression.

 

It was so strange. This was her first time lying face-to-face with a man like this, yet instead of feeling weird or uncomfortable, it was rather soothing. 

 

Even though the other person was the ‘Live-Skinner Kisa’ she had so feared, she wasn’t scared at all.

 

‘…Was the giant’s face the real problem after all?’

 

Biche tilted her head, recalling the giant’s terrifying face. 

 

To think such a beautiful man was hidden inside it, and that this person was once her lover… The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed.

But as if to prove they were once lovers, being so close to him didn’t feel awkward at all.

This situation of lying with his firm arm as a pillow, and the affectionate hand stroking her hair, felt strangely familiar.

 

‘…Could this person… Perhaps save Calante and Fui?’

 

As for a way to save her two friends who had been taken to Hildert’s territory, for now, she had no choice but to rely on Kisa’s pirate crew.

If these people, united by revenge, were to attack Hildert’s territory, if only she could save Fui and Calante then…

 

“What are you thinking about?”

Kisa whispered in a deep, sleepy voice, his eyes still gently closed. Biche hurriedly averted her gaze, which had been staring at him as if mesmerized.

 

“J-just that we really were lovers, that kind of thought…?”

“Why?”

 

He chuckled softly and pulled her a little closer.

 

“Is it more comfortable than you thought, being like this?”

“…Yes.”

 

“Of course it’s comfortable. You loved using my arm as a pillow so much.”

 

Her gaze was stolen once more by his sculpted face as he slowly opened his eyes. 

 

His cool, sea-like gaze held an affectionate warmth within it.

She was almost embarrassed by how easily she was letting her guard down. 

 

What on earth was happening? It was as if his body temperature was imprinted on her own; without her realizing it, her heart had grown calm.

After a moment of fluster, Biche turned her gaze to his left wrist. 

 

She unconsciously touched his hand, where the skin tone was subtly different.

It felt firm, like a living person’s hand, but its temperature was as cold as ice. 

 

It sent a shiver down her spine, as if she were touching a corpse’s hand.

 

“Your hand… didn’t it hurt?”

“…I don’t know. I wasn’t in my right mind at the time either.”

His voice was low and soft. Yet it held a certain threat and, at the same time, actually seductive quality.

“It was the day I heard the news that Hildert had become an Imperial privateer… I just couldn’t hold onto my reason.”

“Why…?”

“Because his ulterior motives were so obvious. What other reason would that proud bastard have for submitting to the Emperor?”

Kisa gritted his teeth and buried his face in the nape of her neck.

“It’s obvious. It was surely to get you, who had returned to the Duke’s house, back into his grasp.”

“Then, the reason you cut off your own hand was…”

 

“I had to stop you from falling back into that bastard’s clutches at the very least.”

He held her body tight with one arm and whispered.

“You know it too, right? There’s no such thing as a second chance now. If you fall into his hands again, you’ll end up…”

A cold hand dug deep inside her nightgown. 

 

Before Biche could even be startled, he pressed firmly on the brand covering her back with his icy, fake hand.

“…After all the feelings I put into sending you home…”

 

“Wait a moment, Kisa.”

 

“To hand over his precious daughter to a former pirate… Count Fion must be out of his mind too. And Duke Akstain as well.”

 

The moment she heard the words ‘precious daughter,’ her breath caught. 

 

Biche blinked her wide eyes and stared blankly into space. 

 

It seemed like all the puzzles were finally falling into place.

‘He thought… I was a cherished member of the family.’

That’s why he erased himself from her memory and sent her back to her homeland. 

 

To the Live-Skinner Kisa, Arcobicche was the noble young lady of the House of Akstain.

 

The reality was far from it, but it seemed he had rationalized his choice to send her away by clinging to that consolation.

So it wasn’t just out of revenge that he cut off his own wrist. Tears welled up in Biche’s eyes for a moment.

A person so consumed by the need to protect someone that he mutilated his own body, and succeeded in escaping from that hellish prison island. 

 

She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Kisa must have felt back then.

 

‘If it’s this person… wouldn’t it be okay to reveal my true self?’

‘Even if I reveal that I’m not a complete human like you, even if I tell you that the blood of the sea monsters you so detest flows in my veins… Would we still be okay?’

A flicker of hope rose within her, but she was still afraid. 

 

She didn’t want to lose this warm gaze that would surely turn cold the moment he learned her true identity. 

 

She didn’t want to see him regret pointlessly cutting off his own hand.

 

“…I wish I could get my lost memories back.”

 

Biche instinctively wrapped her arms around his thick neck and whispered.

“I’m curious about how we met and fell for each other.”

“…You might be disappointed if you heard the details.”

 

He chuckled softly, his laughter spilling over her collarbone.

 

“I remember you being really disgusted because I followed you around shamelessly and pestered you.”

That couldn’t be. 

 

If someone this beautiful chased after her and courted her, her shoulders would probably have shrugged with pride on their own! 

 

Biche stroked his shortly trimmed hair and tilted her head.

Could it have been because of Hildert? Back then, Hildert was extremely wary of her forming relationships with others.

 

“You mistook me for one of Moose’s lovers.”

 

“Really? Well, that’s a bit…”

 

“Isn’t that too much?”

He chuckled and slowly lifted his head from where it was buried in her neck.

“You were the one who misunderstood on your own. Of course, I was deliberately deceiving you too.”

 

Suddenly, because he lifted his head, the tips of their noses touched. Their heated breaths mingled subtly. Biche flinched in surprise and gripped his shoulders tightly.

 

“Kisa?”

“…I like it.”

Kisa stared intently into Biche’s eyes with a smoldering gaze and whispered lowly.

“What do you like…?”

“You’re calling me Kisa, not Muir. It’s far more intoxicating than I vaguely imagined.”

 

Kisa unhesitatingly bit her lower lip. 

 

Instantly, a wholly unexpected sensation coursed through her body. 

 

His lips skillfully broke down her resistance.

A hot tongue slipped between her teeth. 

 

The deeper the kiss became, the more violently Biche’s heart raced. 

 

Her reason grew hazy. Her body was reacting independently of her own will.

Kisa’s touch felt so familiar, as if it were deeply imprinted somewhere in her memory. 

 

Shedding even the faint remnants of her wariness, Biche slowly let herself be consumed by him.

His hot lips enveloped her body and mind softly, yet intensely. 

 

Her head was in a whirl, the boundary between reality and memory gradually crumbling.

It was strange. 

 

A sense of relief, as if she had found something she had long yearned for, seeped into her. 

 

An emotion as deep and dangerous as the ocean’s abyss, yet simultaneously captivating, swallowed her whole.

 

Before she knew it, Kisa was on top of her, peeling off her thin lace nightgown. 

 

With incredible skill, he bared her and pressed down on her lower body.

Even though it was just their bodies touching, she felt a peculiar thrill. 

 

Especially when his large hand slowly swept down her bare back, her lower belly tingled strangely.

 

“Mngh…!”

 

Kisa held Biche’s cheek and kissed her even deeper. It was a more lingering, profound kiss than before.