“Mom! I want to see dolphins too!”
“It’s night right now, so you won’t be able to see them. I promise I’ll let you see them tomorrow.”
“A promise!”
“Darling, let’s go over there. The sky is really beautiful.”

Tender, happy conversations exchanged by strangers brushed past Selenia as they went by.

The cruise ship Le Phare.
They said the name meant a lighthouse that illuminates the sea.

Everyone aboard this cruise—
everyone except Selenia—looked happy.

Selenia walked slowly across the deck. She knew that this engagement would be more miserable tomorrow than it was today, and the day after that even more so.

She knew…
she had always known.

Wandering aimlessly, Selenia eventually reached the far end of the deck, where there were few people. Clutching the railing, she slowly sank down to the floor. The world spun, and her stomach churned.

There was nowhere on this ship for Selenia to escape to.

Le Phare, slicing through the boundless ocean, was like a massive sperm whale.

“This isn’t the engagement I wanted….”

Selenia spilled out her sorrowful tears.

‘If you’re going to behave this way, then leave this family.’
‘Father…!’

‘Once you leave, you’re no longer part of this family anyway! Can’t you do even that much for your own household? What about your siblings? Do you think good marriage prospects will come to them if you fail to marry properly? It’s only if you restore this family that your younger siblings will survive! And your mother—!’

‘Don’t bring Mother into this! Ah!’

‘You ungrateful wretch! You’re just like your mother! How dare you glare at your father like that and talk back! If nothing else, that pretty-faced mother of yours at least gave you a nice face—so you should use even that to be of some help to this family!’

Whenever Selenia recalled that conversation, it felt as though her breath were being crushed out of her.

All his life, her father had doubted her mother.

He was a short man with a thickset build. No matter how generously one put it, he could not be called handsome or charming. In contrast, her mother was so beautiful she was praised as a white lily even within high society—beautiful enough to draw every eye the moment she appeared at a social gathering.

Her father had loved her mother.

The one who reached out first—to a man who had never dared step forward on his own—had been her mother.

‘Your father—don’t you think his smile is cute? Handsome men always know their worth. I thought your father would spend his whole life looking only at me.’

Her mother had loved her father sincerely.

It was her father who had endlessly doubted that love, cornering and crushing it.

‘What were you talking about with that man? You were smiling again, weren’t you? You go mad the moment you see a man… smiling at everyone… spreading yourself everywhere….’

They were words no husband should ever say to his wife—vile ab*se beyond imagining.

In the end, her father drove her mother to a slow death, and afterward, he projected her shadow onto Selenia.

Selenia scrubbed her face with her palms.

Among the siblings, Selenia alone resembled her mother. And so, among the two daughters, Selenia had become today’s sacrifice.

Rosend was a notorious brute in high society, yet her father had forced this engagement through. More than anything else, his purpose seemed to be making Selenia—who looked like her mother—unhappy.

‘You need to learn how terrifying the world really is! Don’t you think you’ll come to your senses once you see how filthy those pretty-faced men really are?’

In the end, Selenia had been a substitute sacrifice for her mother.

She couldn’t forget her father’s face as he said those words, smiling meanly.

In place of her mother, her father had passed down his punishment to Selenia.

***

“Your Grace, it’s time for you to go out.”

Daniel cracked his eyes open at Selva’s voice, which woke him from sleep only in the late dawn. The old woman greeted him with a gentle smile.

“Where did Antoni go… ha. Selva. My morning hasn’t even begun yet.”

Daniel muttered in a hoarse voice that sounded as though it had crawled up from h*ll itself. The rolling of the cruise ship, the rhythm of the waves that accompanied it, and the noisy stirrings of unseen beasts beneath the water—he hadn’t slept properly thanks to it all. His nerves were stretched razor-thin.

And on top of that, this accursed headache.

‘Is it that time again.’

With an irritated motion, Daniel dragged the pillow over his face. He felt like sinking straight down into the depths below the water. The curse that had been passed down through his family had dragged Daniel’s life into the mire as well. When the time came, the unrelenting headaches surged in waves, severe enough to stir murderous impulses.

“What do you mean, Your Grace? Morning began long ago. It’s already six in the evening.”

Daniel let out a low groan.

Only then did he understand why Selva—rather than Antoni—had come to wake him. The seven o’clock dinner would soon begin. It meant he had no time to dawdle and had to get up at once.

After all, as the one who had set Le Phare afloat on this vast, open sea, he was expected to make at least a brief appearance.

If Antoni had been the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes, Daniel knew he would have hurled the pillow he’d been resting on without a second thought. His aide must have sensed that much and made a hasty retreat.

Daniel pushed himself upright. The blanket slid down over a body like carved marble, completely bare.

Selva handed him a robe and spoke in her gentle voice.

“I’ll prepare something light for you.”

“An espresso and a slice of toast will be—”

“I’ll add a warm soup and some salted bread as well.”

Knowing it was better to at least pretend to eat than to try and win against the old woman’s stubbornness, Daniel nodded indifferently. He picked up the medicine that was always kept on the table and chewed it down without water, then reached for the newspaper.

What a remarkable world.

To think he could read a newspaper while out at sea. The advances born of magic and science were nothing short of astonishing. It was thanks to that progress that Daniel had been able to set this massive hulk of steel afloat on the ocean in the first place.

He had bought a failing shipyard for a pittance and poured money into it relentlessly. The result was Le Phare—the largest cruise ship ever built, and at the same time, one praised as the most beautiful.

Daniel let out a crooked smile.

It wasn’t a pleasant start to the day, but unlike his mood, his business was sailing smoothly—just like this ship.

He absently toyed with a cigar, then rose to his feet. It would be best to wash up quickly before Selva came back in to scold him again. Perhaps the medicine was kicking in; the dreadful headache was finally beginning to ease.