88.

I never went into detail with Norma about my physical condition. Whoever the other person was, I didn’t want to give anyone an upper hand, not even him.

Luckily, he never pressed for more details, and we both diligently drank the contraceptive tonic from the Eastern Continent, known for its potency. Despite knowing that my body made it difficult to conceive, I couldn’t shake the habit of taking the tonic. The last thing I wanted was for things to become complicated if a child ever came into the picture.

More than anything, the thought of a child—’my’ child—felt utterly foreign.

Since becoming the head of the McFoy family, I’d never considered pregnancy or childbirth as part of my life plan.

Especially not a child between me and Norma.

Honestly, I still couldn’t fully believe that Norma Diazi loved me or that we were actually married.

But a child? That would mean crossing a bridge that I could never return from.

Love, romance, and marriage were already bewildering enough, but the thought of a child felt like venturing into completely unknown territory.

And somehow, because of these nightly encounters that had become a routine, taking the contraceptive tonic was now just another part of my day, making Erika’s concerns understandable.

When I didn’t respond and kept my mouth shut, Erika flipped a page of her papers with a casual, almost dismissive tone.

“Well, if it’s just curiosity about something new, I suppose you’ll tire of it soon enough. I trust you’ll manage as always.”

In that moment, I found myself swallowing hard, like a child caught in a lie. Before I could gather my thoughts, Erika pushed a new report toward me.

“Next up is the Nekta Kingdom. Interestingly, the report came from Lord Kano’s deputy—Percy.”

“I see.”

I pictured Percy, the man with a nearly shaved head, always by Kano’s side, trying to keep him in check.

With his awkwardly dyed black hair, he looked like a troublemaker, but he worked hard to keep Kano’s impulsiveness in line—a surprisingly responsible pirate.

“As you can see, there doesn’t seem to be any pressing issues. But…”

“But what?”

“Did you give him a hard time the other day?”

I couldn’t quite understand which day she was referring to or whom I had supposedly scolded. After all, I’d reprimanded countless people just yesterday.

Erika slid a document closer, revealing the subject of her question—none other than Kano.

As soon as I saw his name, the painful memory of my interrupted proposal surfaced, and my face twisted in irritation. My expression darkened further as I skimmed through the text.

“A vacation? A whole month?”

“Yes. Lord Kano is requesting a month-long leave. Considering that our trade with the Nekta Kingdom has stabilized, you could approve it, don’t you think?”

“Is he trying to make a point?”

“Pardon?”

“What right does he have to ask for time off?”

“Is this because something happened between you two?”

Erika wasn’t fully aware of what had happened at the tower that day. She only knew that Kano had barged in right before I proposed to Norma, causing my plan to fall apart.

She had helped me prepare for that proposal, even cutting into her own sleep, so she had been just as furious with Kano at the time.

“Who cares about that scoundrel! He’s a complete bastard, always trying to bite someone’s head off!”

“…”

Erika blinked at Aisa’s unexpectedly prolonged outburst.

‘I had no idea she was still this angry.’

For Erika, the failed proposal had long since become a thing of the past—it had been nearly two months, after all.

Besides, it wasn’t her own proposal that had failed, so it wasn’t something she held onto.

Of course, Erika had no idea that when Aisa mentioned “trying to bite my head off,” she meant it almost literally. Erika assumed it was just a figure of speech.

After all, while Kano’s behavior and speech were rough, befitting his pirate nature, he often treated Aisa as if she were something precious and delicate.

So it never crossed her mind that Kano might have literally tried to bite Aisa’s lips during that encounter.

‘Ah, so it wasn’t just that Kano’s appearance ruined the proposal—there must have been a big argument on the tower that day. How childish.’

Erika easily surmised that Kano had been upset by Aisa’s impending marriage and, unable to control his temper, had clashed with her directly.

‘He acted like he didn’t care whether she married or not, but I guess he couldn’t stand it in the end. It seems he cares about her more than I thought.’

Aisa continued to fume at her desk, clearly still seething with anger. Watching her like this, Erika couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity for Kano.

‘This is going to drag on longer than expected. Does that mean Kano plans to hole up in Ogia for a while?’

As she contemplated this, Erika’s thoughts shifted from the heated dynamics of her superior’s tangled relationships back to the more pressing practical matters on her desk.

Just as Kano had placed someone to keep an eye on Erika, she, too, had planted her own informant to keep tabs on him. According to her source, Kano had gone to Ogia, a place he hadn’t set foot in for years.

‘Ogia’ was an island of perpetual revelry—a den of drinking, dancing, and debauchery, where the sounds of merrymaking drowned out everything else, even the dying breaths of those who succumbed to their vices. It was a haven for forgetting the burdens of reality.

‘It wouldn’t do for things to stay strained between them for too long.’

Kano was talented, and he managed a great deal of the trading enterprises he had tied up. While their alliance with the McFoy estate was bound by oath, and he wouldn’t dissolve it out of spite, Erika could only hope he would pull himself together soon.

* * *

A massive figure stirred awake on the sandy shores of the beach. The early summer sun had begun to warm the air, but the salty breeze made it hard to open his eyes fully.

“…The wind’s salty.”

Kano rubbed his face against the rough sand. He’d spent the night drinking until dawn, rolling around on the beach rather than making it back to his lodging in Ogia. Empty bottles littered the sand around him, strewn about like old companions.

‘Why did I hold her so tight around the waist and wrist? Shouldn’t have done that.’

Regret gnawed at him constantly since that day.

‘And the way she looked at me when I bit her neck—like I was some kind of pervert. Shouldn’t have bitten her.’

Even though time had passed since their fight on the tower, Aisa’s frightened face, her furious expression, stayed with him, refusing to fade.

‘I spent years holding back, and I blew it in a single moment, getting kicked out of her good graces. This has to be a nightmare.’

For someone like Kano, who had always embraced the comings and goings of life with ease, this first experience of unrequited love hit him harder than he could have imagined.

‘Damn it, that sly fox. I should’ve punched his smug face when I had the chance.’

He had put on a brave front when he bumped into Norma Diazi on his way down from the tower, but since the day he’d been slapped across the face by Aisa, Kano had been reeling, struggling to pull himself together.

“—Boss!”

‘Aisa, that stubborn woman. What does she see in that pale, girly-looking guy that makes her protect him so much?’

“Ah, Captain!”

‘I’ve done so much for her!’

What Kano had done, in truth, was pursue Aisa after she decided to remain single, despite never being asked to do so.

“Captain, why are you doing this? Sleeping on the beach like some vagrant! This is just sad.”

Before Kano could spiral deeper into self-pity, Percy, his loyal deputy, who had scoured every beach on Ogia, finally found him.

Percy had long since stopped feeling irritated with his captain. Now, he just felt sad.

Seeing his captain, who had once been the envy of other pirates, lying on the sand like a washed-up seaweed made Percy’s heart ache. He couldn’t help but feel a surge of pity as he looked down at the forlorn man.

Percy knelt down, trying to rouse Kano from his stupor, but the captain only blinked up at him with disinterest.

“Come on, get up. There’s a letter from McFoy.”

At those words, Kano shot up, and Percy’s heart broke for the second time that day.

“What? What does it say?”

Kano, with his bloodshot eyes and unkempt stubble, asked urgently. His reaction was so pathetic that it tugged at Percy’s heartstrings even more. He handed the rolled-up letter to his captain, grimacing at the sight.

Kano hastily unrolled the letter. It bore the seal of the McFoy head, meaning it wasn’t from Erika—it was directly from Aisa.

“She says… to take a vacation.”

“…”

“…And, she also says she doesn’t want to see your face for a while.”

Percy hesitated but ultimately delivered the message bluntly. While he wasn’t particularly strong, he had a way with words—one of the reasons he had become Kano’s deputy.

“Enough… I can read it myself.”

Kano’s voice was dazed as he stared down at the letter, the words blurring in his vision.

‘That heartless witch. She could’ve given our captain a chance.’

Percy couldn’t help but feel worried that his captain might spiral further into despair. He found himself resenting Aisa McFoy for her coldness, even though he knew well that she was under no obligation to accept Kano’s feelings.

But he couldn’t help it—his sympathy for Kano got the better of him. He swallowed back his frustration and spoke carefully.

“Captain, since you’ve got some time off, maybe you should clear your head, like in the old days. Have some fun and let loose.”

“…Shut up. My head’s pounding.”

“Captain, you’re still popular, you know. The ladies in Ogia haven’t forgotten about you! Just yesterday, a few women were asking me where you were! There are plenty of beautiful women here, some even more stunning than Lady McFoy—”

Percy realized he had gone too far and clamped his mouth shut. Kano’s fierce gaze was fixed on him, enough to make him flinch. In the past, a comment like that would’ve earned him a punch.

The fire in Kano’s eyes might have dimmed, but it was still enough to unnerve Percy. He couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad sign.

As Percy awkwardly kept his head down, Kano slumped back onto the sand, lifeless. In truth, the reason he’d come to Ogia was exactly what Percy had suggested.

He’d hoped that immersing himself in a whirlwind of partying and women, like in the old days, would help him forget the sting of being slapped and rejected by Aisa.

But despite his impulsive trip to Ogia, nothing had gone according to plan. He found that he was no longer able to enjoy himself so casually with just anyone. His body and heart had become accustomed to restraint—proof of the years he’d spent pining.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it!’

Kano writhed in frustration, grinding himself against the gritty sand.

‘What the hell did she do to me, that witch?’

Once again, Aisa hadn’t done anything in particular, but he still couldn’t help but blame her for his misery.

“How could she not see me as a man? Did she ruin her eyes staring at those damned documents?”

Kano wasn’t used to not getting what he wanted. Be it people or possessions, he had always managed to claim what he desired.

And until now, he had never had to face someone he liked who showed not even the slightest interest in him. He didn’t know how to react, how to cope.

Recalling Aisa’s dazed, entranced expression whenever she looked at that pale fox made Kano feel like he preferred the days when she didn’t even know what love was.