Deep Sea Embers

Seriously, Duncan almost thought Miss Doll was about to cry and run away based on her stoned expression.

“Thank you!” Alice cries in astonishment.

Duncan: “…?”

“You really bought me new hair!” The next second, Alice’s face was full of smiles as if she had received the most heartwarming gift. “I thought you were just saying it and didn’t mean it last time! Mr. Goathead said the wig used by dolls are very expensive…”

Duncan: “…”

What he had been waiting for did not happen. No jumping with horror, no fainting from shock, not even a weep from the doll. There goes his anticipated fun.

“Captain? Captain, why are you in a daze again?” Alice’s voice suddenly came from the side, bringing Duncan back to reality. She’s so close now that it’s only inches between their noses, “You’ve been in a daze many times today…”

Duncan blinked and retreated a little to gain distance. Then showing a weird and strange face, “I didn’t expect you to have such a carefree heart. Weren’t you quite upset when I told you about the wig? I thought you would put up a fight about using a wig.”

“I’m frustrated with my hair loss, but why should I be frustrated with getting new hair?” Alice blinked her eyes as if something was wrong with Duncan’s view, “I’m a puppet!”

Duncan finally knew what the problem was.

He had taken Alice as a human being since she looked so much like a person. Of course, there’s the occasional head popping here and there, but that’s dismissible due to her carefree attitude. When in reality, he should’ve viewed the doll as a genuine puppet. What does it matter to a puppet if they changed a wig out? Heck, it might not even matter if she changed an arm or leg!

“Forget it, I was overthinking this too much.” Duncan facepalmed and waved his hand for her to continue. As the natural moving disaster on the Boundless Sea, he’s no match for this wacky doll. “Anyways… it’s good that you like it.”

“I like it!” Alice held the wig happily and jumped around like a child, “And what about the rest…?”

“They’re for you too.” Duncan sighed, trying hard to suppress his inner complaint after seeing how visually impacting it was for an elegant gothic doll to behave like a child. “Open it and take a look.”

Alice curiously opened the delicate wooden box. In there sat a set of silver hair accessories made of diamond-shaped flakes lying quietly in the velvet lining.

“Last time, I took away the feather pin you found in the cabin,” Duncan said lightly, “this is my present for that. See, I kept my promise.”

Alice was stunned for a long time. Eventually, she revealed a wide smile that overshadowed her childish antics, “Thank you, Captain! Captain, you are so nice!”

“Don’t be so loud,” Duncan couldn’t help but shush her due to all the buzzing glee in his ear. “It’s just a hair ornament, no need to be so excited.”

“Not only hair accessories but also a wig!”

Duncan faintly flushed with embarrassment, “…. Don’t mention it.”

Alice did not notice the delicate mood of the captain and fully immersed herself in the new gifts. Eventually, she finally found her eyes landing on the last wooden box on the deck.

The container was about half a meter long with an elegant yet simple decoration of brass lock and hinges. In addition, the doll kept getting this strange sensation that it reminded her of her own “coffin box”.

“What is this?” Alice put the wig down and curiously peered down at the thing.

“I bought it from the doll house, but this one is not for you,” Duncan said casually. “If you want to take a look, go ahead and open it.”

Alice nodded and lifted the lid with a curious face. Immediately, the lady came face to face with her own kind inside the container.

Alice: “…?”

“You can call her Nilu,” Duncan’s voice came from the side, “but unlike you, she’s just an ordinary doll. Probably…”

Alice froze for the longest time. Eventually, after nearly ten seconds, she suddenly moved with a click-click sound before her head fell into Nilu’s box…

“He-Hel-Help…”

Duncan sighed and lent a hand by picking up the head. With a shameful expression while screwing her back on: “Do you have to behave like this every time?”

Alice, however, reacted much more strongly, with her face showing disbelief and sadness: “Captain, you… you have a new doll…”

“What nonsense are you going on about!” Duncan instantly picked up on the weird vibe from those words. Without waiting, he lashed out: “Didn’t I say Nilu is different from you? She doesn’t run or jump like you, and what do you mean by a new doll? You make it sound like I have some sort of weird fetish or something.”

“Then why did you bring a new doll home…”

“There’s a very special reason for this,” Duncan exhaled softly and got up to stare off into the sea. “This doll Nilu has another sister called Luni. My daughter took Luni with her many years ago and left Nilu behind. As it so happens, I visited that shop by coincidence today, so…. I figured its fate that I bring Nilu back with me.”

Duncan did not hide the information he had just learned and said it naturally. He’s playing the role of Captain Duncan of the Vanished anyways, so there would be a time when they would learn of his kids. In that case, he might as well be the one to break it out.

Without surprise, Alice popped her eyes in stunned shock at the captain.

“Ca-Captain, you have a daughter?!” The doll cusped her mouth in utter shock, “I… this is the first time I’ve heard it!”

Duncan inwardly sighed, moaning that it’s also his first time as well…

“Is this strange? I also have a son, and I haven’t seen them in a century.” He kept a straight face without breaking character.

“You still have a son!?” Alice nearly fainted at the repeated shock. Her eyes now widened to a tangerine size as her tongue stuttered: “Then does that mean you also have a wife?”

Duncan: “…”

At this moment, both occupants of the ship were staring wide-eyed without anyone to answer them.

“I kind of regret opening this topic with you,” Duncan finally broke the awkwardness and grumbled, “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Oh… Oooh! Okay!” Alice didn’t know what to say so she just kept nodding her head. Then looking down at the new doll named Nilu, she suddenly made an enlightened face like a lightbulb just went off, “AH! Does that mean the feather hairpin I found is your daughter’s?”

Duncan didn’t answer her. Honestly, he wasn’t sure either. But based on the speculation, it’s most likely as Alice said.

Then he noticed the sneaking peek from Alice, “Go ahead, tell me what you’re thinking. I don’t like it when you’re acting all weird like this.”

“Ah, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. I just…” Alice waved her hand and grew hesitant, “I’m just…. I get the feeling you’re more humanistic now.”

Duncan: “… Are you praising me?”

Alice was stumped for a moment until she recalled the lesson from the goat head, which caused her to make an apologetic bow: “Ah, I’m sorry Captain, I shouldn’t have scolded you by calling you humanistic…”

“I… thank you…” Duncan twitched in the mouth before shooing her off due to the exhaustive conversation. “Take the gift and go have fun. I want some alone time.”

“Oh, okay.”