Secrets of the Azure Sea

Tomorrow, Floria will muster up the courage to explore the island and see if she can find something she can do. She can’t just sit around idly.

“Aura, I’d like to get up early tomorrow and take a look around the island. See how the islanders live and all that.”

Aura’s eyes went wide with surprise, but she quickly agreed and said she will accompany her there. It seems Zanarf has strictly instructed her to accompany Floaria wherever she goes when he’s not around.

“Um, Aura, do you happen to know where Zanarf is? Is he coming back tonight?”

“I don’t really know for sure but it seems Kirie went to the ship with some fresh bandages and hasn’t returned yet. He was lightly injured in the shoulder, so he may be staying on the ship tonight, and Kirie tends to him while she’s there. I heard Master Zanarf has been busy during the day, but I’m sure that Kirie is taking care of him at night.”

Her heart aches at the thought.

Kirie was someone who had earned Zanarf’s trust. As a healer, she could touch his body and stay by his side day and night to care for him.

“…Are you sure you’ll be alright alone tonight?”

“Yes, thank you. I’m going to rest now, so you can leave.”

After sending Aura away, Floria lit a single candle by her bedside, it was a simple candle but she it has a unique shape, it was made by pouring hot wax inside one large shell. Then, she turned to look outside the window.

The night sky was spread wide, with countless stars twinkling. Leaning out of the window, it felt as if she could almost reach the stars. In the bay to her right, Zanarf’s sailing ship was visible. Seeing the flickering campfires on the deck, she imagined that Zanarf and Kirie were surely inside that ship.

—In the same cabin for the past two days?

The thought made her chest tighten painfully.

It wasn’t strange. Kirie was a healer. Still, she felt crushed by the realization that Zanarf had chosen to rely on Kirie’s care rather than on her, his wife, whom he had wedding ritual with.

—What am I hoping for? That wedding ritual was just an obligation. As Kirie had said, it was a necessary act to protect me after he kidnapped me.

Additionally, it was to show the islanders that he had taken the spoils from Franz and claimed them as his own.

Because she was a princess and the wife of Franz, it was done to make an example of her. It’s not the he desires her for her own.

To prove this, since the wedding ritual, Zanarf hadn’t tried to touch Floria at all.

Looking towards the bay, the sailing ship floated quietly on the calm night sea. Unable to fall asleep, she sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the ship.

She wondered if Zanarf had already fallen asleep.

When she gently closed her eyes, she recalled his warmth.

When she had been thrown from the small boat into the sea, he had held her tightly.

Despite having felt him so close, now she could only imagine him from afar.

It felt just like being in love…

“Please don’t tell me you tried to look at the night sky and fell out the window. The sea lies far below that window.”

“…Zanarf-sama…!?”

Floria jumped up and turned to the door. At the door stood Zanarf, bare-chested, with a cloth wrapped around his right shoulder.