Empress of the Sea|✔️

Chapter 28

Rewritten
***

Suzy Aranaz hated birds almost as much as she hated paddling boats.

"Captain, can you row for a while? My arms are starting to burn," she said, nudging her nose as the bandage at her shoulder. Mere days ago she'd been shot with a poisonous arrow. At least that's what Sehyun said as he stitched her skin.

Thankfully, she was an Aranaz. A member of the strongest, most resilient family in Spain. Out of all the countries, only six had a family of power.

Tereline had the Djords with unbelievable strength in mind and body, Auber had the Fiores with near-perfect minds and the ability to create foolproof strategies, Britain had the Grangers with excellent senses, India had utmost control over their minds and incredible healing abilities, and Spain had the Aranazs with immunity to poison and pain. And of course, there was Ireland with Branches having the ability to survive even the toughest of situations and the mind to overcome even the worst of traumas. They could take the burden of a whole country with a healthy amount of stress.

Shame they were vulnerable to diseases.

Despite the Aranaz's immunity to pain, Suzy's immunity to feelings was her own quirk.

The captain had mentioned on many occasions that he was envious of her immunities, but Suzy always replied that she wished she had his intellect.

Sehyun grimaced as he hated rowing boats as well. "Maya, you were so insistent to come, so why don't you relieve Suzy of her duty?"

Sending Sehyun a glance of anger, she snatched the paddles out of the quartermaster's hands. She would rather get married than deal with Sehyun's sarcasm and passive aggression. She couldn't say anything back. Maya knew there was no winning against someone who had never been proven wrong.

Not even by King Djord--on multiple occasions.

He picked fights with everyone and never lost. He had a way with words that pissed her off.

Sehyun beamed without his eyes, entwining his fingers together. "Illorin," he said, turning to face the gunner. He inhaled. "Nevermind."

The gunner had been snapped out of his daydream. "Aye," he muttered before returning to drag a hand in the sea.

"Captain," Suzy said, standing up causing the boat to rock. "We're almost there."

Maya rowed the rest of the way, wiping sweat off her brow every once in a while, and was about to kiss the sand after finally reaching land. The tropical island looked normal from the shore, but Suzy had told her that the rowdiness started right behind the treeline.

It took Maya a moment to hear the fiddles and the screaming, but once she did, she wanted to forget the sounds. Wanted to pretend they didn't exist.

She snuck a peek at Sehyun who seemed equally disgusted if not more. She felt the urge to complain to him just as she always did. After every function and family dinner, she would not waste time to find Sehyun and complain about the other nation's princes and princesses, how she would have to be elegant for hours at a stretch, how her father kept her oppressed and rarely listened to her, and how her mother did nothing to help her.

To Sehyun, her only talent was complaining. She would complain about the useless things her teachers would teach expecting him to do something.

But he'd merely said, "Why would I help someone who does nothing to help themselves?"

He was so annoying. Especially when he was right--all the time.

Maya would never do anything to solve her problems. She relied on Sehyun to do it for her in the name of "helping her."