Chapter 159: Chapter 163: Exhausted Physically and Mentally from Communication
The Bone Dove, enveloped in Spectral Flame, circled twice above the deck. Out of the flames, cargo from the Plunder City-State materialized, and Alice stared blankly at the object that first appeared before her for a long while before finally lifting her head to look at the captain.
Honestly, Duncan almost thought that the doll would cry and run away at this instant—it was the most likely reaction he anticipated from Alice. But after a long staring contest between the simple-minded doll and himself, she finally nodded blankly, “Thank you!”
Duncan: “…?”
“You really bought me new hair!” The next second, Alice’s face lit up with joy as if she had received the most heartwarming gift, “I thought you were just joking last time! Mr. Goat Head said that wigs for dolls are quite expensive…”
Duncan: “…”
The persecution he had eagerly awaited did not happen, and his malicious plan had faced a major failure from the very beginning—the supposed victim was beaming with joy, filled with heartfelt gratitude.
Duncan felt like an entertainer who had lost his source of amusement.
“Captain? Captain, why are you spacing out again?” Alice’s voice suddenly rang out, snapping Duncan from his reverie. She held the wig on tiptoe, her face nearly touching Duncan’s nose, “You’ve been daydreaming a lot today…”
Duncan blinked and drew his face back a bit, looking at the cursed doll with a puzzled expression, “I didn’t expect you to be so broad-minded—weren’t you quite upset when we talked about wigs last time? I thought receiving this gift would at least cause you some internal struggle…”
“I’m upset about losing hair, why would I be upset about getting new hair?” Alice blinked, as though she found Duncan’s worldviews questionable, and explained, “I’m a doll!”
Duncan finally realized where the problem lay.
Alice was usually so lively aboard the ship, bouncing around. Apart from her surprisingly sturdy cervical spine, she looked just like an ordinary human, and having been around her for so long, he unconsciously treated her as one—overlooking her unique perspective as a doll…
As a doll, why would she care about wearing a wig! Would humans care about changing into a new pair of shoes?
“Forget it, I must’ve thought too much,” Duncan covered his face and waved his hand, as the greatest disaster of the Endless Sea once again felt unable to maintain his composure around Alice, “Anyway… as long as you like it.”
“I do like it!” Alice chirped, holding the wig then craning her neck to see the rest of the items on the deck, “And these other things…”
“This is for you too,” Duncan sighed, trying to ignore the visual shock of an elegant Gothic doll holding a wig in high spirits, and turned to pick up a box from the deck, “Open it and see.”
Alice curiously opened the delicate little wooden box to find a set of silver hair ornaments, made of diamond-shaped thin plates, lying quietly against the velvet lining.
Her surprise lifted her gaze to the captain, who nodded slightly at her.
“Last time, I took away the feather hairpin you found in the cabin,” Duncan spoke casually, “I promised you a new one, and now I’m keeping that promise.”
Alice stared for a long while before it dawned on her, her smile containing an unprecedented happiness: “Thank you, Captain! You’re too kind!”
“Not so loud,” Duncan was startled by the doll’s suddenly high-pitched voice that made his ears buzz and couldn’t help but wave his hand, “It’s just a hair ornament, no need to get so worked up.”
“It’s not just the hair ornament, it’s also the new hair you bought me!”
Duncan felt a bit embarrassed, a strong sense of shame washed over him as if his plan to tease had turned into a heartfelt thank-you from the recipient: “… don’t mention that wig anymore…”
But Alice, oblivious to the captain’s nuanced feelings at the moment, was completely immersed in her joy. Soon, she naturally noticed the last wooden box on the deck.
It was a wooden box over half a meter long—or rather, a chest—with elegantly simple decorations and brass locks and hinges, exuding a sense of luxury.
And for some reason, it reminded her of her “house”.
“What’s this?” Alice set aside the wig and hair ornament in her hand and moved forward with curiosity, pushing the wooden chest, then looked up to ask.
“I bought it from the doll shop as well, but it’s not for you,” Duncan said offhandedly, “You can open it and take a look.”
Alice uttered an “Oh,” and with curiosity, she opened the chest.
A delicately crafted, classically styled young girl doll lay quietly inside a wooden box.
Alice: “…?”
“You can call her ‘Niru’,” Duncan’s voice came from the side, “but unlike you, she’s just an ordinary doll… probably.”
Alice, however, didn’t respond for quite some time. Nearly ten seconds later, she finally moved with a click-pop sound, and her head fell into Niru’s box and rolled together with the small doll inside…
“Help… help… help me…”
Duncan sighed, expertly picked up Alice’s head and put it back in place, looking helplessly at this embarrassing creature: “Do you really need to react like this?”
Alice just held her head with both hands, straightened her neck, and then stared at her captain with wide eyes full of disbelief: “Captain, you… you’ve got a new doll…”
“What nonsense!” Duncan felt there was something off as soon as he heard this and quickly interrupted her before Alice could blurt out more rubbish, “Didn’t I tell you, Niru is different from you, she won’t be running and jumping around like you, and what do you mean by ‘got a new doll’? You make it sound like I have some sort of peculiar collecting habit.”
“Then why would you buy a doll if not because…”
“There’s a very special reason for this,” Duncan breathed out softly, stood up, and gazed at the distant surface of the Endless Sea, trying to suppress the nonsense in Alice’s silly head with a serious and deep expression on his face, “This doll named ‘Niru’ and another named ‘Luny’ were originally a pair. Many years ago, my daughter took ‘Luny’ with her, and now by coincidence, I’ve discovered ‘Niru’, covered in dust in a shop. I thought… I should buy her.”
Duncan didn’t conceal the information he had just learned and spoke of it naturally—as it was, he now had to play the role of “Captain Duncan” well, and from this persona, he had to “naturally know about his children’s affairs.”
Alice’s eyes widened unsurprisingly, staring at her captain in confusion.
“Captain… you have a daughter?!” The doll clutched her head as if afraid it would run away from shock the next second, “This… this is the first time I’m hearing about this!
Duncan sighed internally, thinking he himself was also hearing about it for the first time…
But he maintained the same expression on his face, merely nodding slightly: “Is that so strange? I also have a son, and I haven’t seen either of them for a century.”
“You have a son too!?” Alice’s surprise grew even stronger, and she stepped back twice. Then her eyes whirled around as her brain processed the information, and she suddenly blurted out, “Then they must have a mother too?”
Duncan: “…”
In that instant, it was just a stare down between the two.
“I’m beginning to regret starting this conversation with you,” Duncan finally sighed after a long while, his face showing signs of weariness, “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Oh… oh! Okay!” Alice’s mind apparently filled with wild guesses, paused for a moment, and then nodded repeatedly. She then looked down at ‘Niru’ in the wooden box and had a sudden realization, “Ah, that feather-shaped hairpin I found in the cabin last time… Could it be your daughter’s?”
Duncan neither confirmed nor denied.
He wasn’t sure about this himself, but considering the nostalgic feelings that had involuntarily risen in his heart when he saw that hairpin, it was probably not far from Alice’s guess.
He then noticed that Alice was sneakily sizing him up, noticing the strange, hesitant expressions that occasionally crossed the doll’s face.
“Just speak your mind,” he said coolly, “sneaking glances like that is even ruder than speaking without restraint.”
“Ah, it’s nothing, nothing, I was just…” Alice waved her hand, hesitating before speaking, “I was just suddenly feeling… you seem to still have some humanity in you.”
Duncan: “… Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
Alice suddenly hesitated, then, as if she remembered something Mr. Goat-Head had taught her, showed an apologetic face: “Ah, sorry Captain, I shouldn’t have insulted you by saying you have humanity…”
“I… thank you,” Duncan sighed, waved his hand, looking utterly drained, “take your gift and go back, I want to be alone for a while.”
“Oh.”