Captain – Chapter 351 – The Girl Like a Lone Whale

Whether her “No” meant she wasn’t angry or that she hadn’t misunderstood, Vivian’s inquiry into Richi had finally come to an end.

After the young woman spoke, the dim room returned to deathly silence.

She lowered her head slightly, gazing through her snow-white hair at the broken floorboards without saying a word, as if unable to find another topic of conversation, or perhaps unaccustomed to such situations.

This was quite normal.

Hundreds of years ago, because of her madman of a father and those horrifically inhumane experiments, she had been a caged monster from birth, spending her days behind prison-like high walls, surrounded by the smell of chemical reagents, never seeing daylight.

Back then, apart from her fellow Blood Cravers—who were themselves lifeless and zombie-like—all she saw were test subjects who were either wailing or deeply unconscious. She rarely, or perhaps never, had the opportunity to converse with others.

Even after leaving that prison and beginning to work for the Lady, she was surrounded only by the uncommunicative Water Ghosts.

Besides occasionally talking with Longfellow and hearing the Lady’s gentle and tolerant teachings, all she heard were the sounds of cannon fire, tides, blood dripping on the deck, and the desperate, shrill cries of pirates.

How was that different from deathly silence?

Perhaps it was because of such profound loneliness, such a yearning for ordinary life and normal conversation, that she felt this person before her was different, and that she had…

That strange and awkward feeling?

Reflecting on these long yet almost deathly silent centuries, Vivian’s head drooped further, her pale hair gradually covering her even paler face.

She suddenly felt afraid.

Not because of the shadow in her heart, but because of the inevitable parting to come.

Reαⅾ oո ΚаtRеαdіոɡСαfe

She had lived for hundreds of years, trudging alone through suffering and torment for centuries. Although her eternally stagnant heart and age still prevented her from fully comprehending death or adapting to solitude, she viewed it more lightly than most people in the world.

In this regard, she was actually quite similar to that Siren.

If she hadn’t been burdened with so much, if she didn’t have responsibilities she couldn’t let go, perhaps she would have long ago been unable to endure her hatred and weariness of this world, choosing to embrace eternal slumber.

But now, her thoughts seemed to have changed.

Did she not want… to part?

Thinking of this, the young woman suppressed her complicated thoughts and glanced at the person beside her. She found him holding the wine bottle, examining those ancient, obscure inscriptions with a relaxed and carefree expression, seemingly unconcerned about their journey.

Combined with his earlier words, she suddenly felt a coldness in her heart, as if it had snowed, and the thoughts she had just moments ago resurfaced.

What meaning could this have?

For the pursuit of freedom, he could abandon everything, even life itself.

Yet she was bound by responsibility and guilt, unable to step away from the Death Silence.

People who didn’t belong to the same world—how could they hope to stay together?

Regardless of success or failure, survival or death, the end of that beam of light would be the end of their companionship. Sometimes, parting in life or death made no difference.

Silently mocking herself, the young woman’s blood-red eyes returned to indifference, as if she had made a decision.

Rеad оn ΚаtRеаdіոɡСаfе

She wanted to break that deliberate silence, to say something about the Mermaid or their upcoming voyage, but didn’t have the chance to speak.

Because Richi suddenly asked her a question.

“Are you done asking?”

This question made the young woman pause briefly, though it wasn’t actually abrupt.

As a philosopher once said, thought is the fastest thing in the world. The young woman’s seemingly complex mental activity had in fact taken only a very short time.

Therefore, in Richi’s eyes, that conversation meant to satisfy the young woman’s curiosity seemed not to have ended yet.

After a moment of silence, Vivian gave a low “Mm” in response.

“Good,” Richi said, placing the wine bottle beside him and looking at the young woman before asking in a slightly hoarse voice: “Then isn’t it my turn now?”

“What?”

Vivian couldn’t immediately understand this statement.

“You’ve thoroughly questioned me, from outside to inside, even digging into the depths of my heart. Add to that having seen my background and intelligence reports—you’ve seen right through me. But I know very little about you. Isn’t this an unfair deal?”

The young man was a pirate who valued profit highly and never wanted to lose out in a transaction. Information exchange was also a form of trade, so from any perspective, his words made sense, at least by pirate logic.

But the young woman knew otherwise.

For pirates, profit was certainly important, and information sometimes more valuable than gold and silver. But the issue was that it had to be useful information with visible returns and benefits, not a worthless story from hundreds of years ago.

Rеaԁ oո KαtReаdinɡСаfe

Her story.

“There’s nothing worth hearing about my past.”

Vivian slightly lowered her eyelids and said flatly: “Besides, since you could find that wine, you’ve probably already read his notes.”

The predecessor of the Death Silence was the Taranhof, a vessel prepared by Duke Manfred for escape and relocation. Even before being wanted by the Empire and leaving the family estate, he had already moved his most valuable possessions onto the ship.

Those possessions, besides the wealth and luxuries he had gathered through various means, also included all his experimental equipment, the surviving test subjects, and that notebook filled with his mad ideas and results, recording most of the processes since the experiments began.

The notebook naturally recorded everything that had happened to the young woman.

“Oh, you mean that book?”

Richi showed no sign of guilt about prying into the Castein family’s secrets, and by extension Vivian’s. He shrugged indifferently and said: “I have seen the records about you, but just like you, there’s still one question I haven’t found an answer to.”

Although she had already guessed this, seeing the young man’s casual, or rather malicious, admission, Vivian couldn’t help but give him a cold glare. After hesitating for a moment, she asked in an unfriendly tone: “Go ahead, what’s your question?”

“As luck would have it, it’s the same as what you asked.”

Richi looked at the young woman’s pale profile and asked softly: “Why are you willing… to work for the Lady?”

He was genuinely curious about this.

Because during their time together and after reading that notebook, he was certain that even though Vivian, unlike him, harbored deep gratitude toward the Lady, it should still have been impossible for her to command the Death Silence and carry out acts of killing across the sea.

Reаd on ΚαtRеαdіոɡCаfe

Whether judgment or strategic moves, none of it suited her.

In these aspects, she was merely a blank sheet of paper.

A blank sheet deliberately stained with bloody colors.

On this point, Richi’s judgment basically aligned with Roy’s.

Whether because she hadn’t anticipated the young man would ask such a question, or because he had touched a certain place in her heart, Vivian fell into a prolonged silence.

After what seemed like a long time, thinking he wouldn’t get an answer, the young man supported himself on the ground to stand up. After bending down to pick up the wine bottle and glass, he walked toward the wooden door, saying in an unconcerned tone: “If you don’t want to say, then…”

“Sin.”

Richi’s words were interrupted by this light, floating word.

His footsteps halted, and he turned sideways with slightly raised eyebrows to see the young woman leaning against the wall, her head tilted slightly upward, her gaze drifting, fixed on nothing in particular.

For some reason, he suddenly felt she was somewhat pitiful.

Like a lonely, sorrowful whale.

“Because I bear an indelible sin.”

She spoke as if in a dream, like the mournful song of a whale.