I'm the Pirate Queen

"Has that woman gone mad! She's admitting to murder in front of everyone out in the open?"

"Look at how badly she's dressed. She's probably the type who would stab someone for only a hundred dollars!"

"How did someone this dangerous even get on board? Is the ship's security that lax?"

Hank staggered back in fear and shock. "Lilibeth... You... You have really committed murder? No wonder you're always so cold. What kind of a monster are you?"

I looked at his cowardly face and felt nothing but disdain in my heart. Everyone I killed were animals that deserved it. That included the thugs who once tried to kidnap him. That day, I came back covered in blood and told him I had slipped while cleaning. He looked at me disgusted and told me to wash up quickly.

Meanwhile, that idiot Tiger was rubbing his hands together, thrilled. "Hot dang! This woman has teeth! Winnie, keep going! Drag everything out into the light!"

Winnie no longer bothered to hide the malice on her face thanks to the encouragement. "Second question!"

She stepped behind me, then suddenly grabbed the collar of my uniform and yanked it down, revealing a long, terrifying scar across my back that was more than four inches long.

The crowd started screaming in fear.

Hank's eyes went wide as he pointed at my back, his hand shaking. "What... What is that? You never let me see your back before!"

Winnie turned proudly to the camera. "Look closely, everyone! That's a scar caused by the injury from a blade! Now, Lilibeth, tell me the truth. Did you get that scar when you were prostituting yourself and some jealous wife came after you when you slept with her man in the past?!"

The comments exploded again as filthy words started to fill the screen.

[So she used to prostitute herself? No wonder she reeks of it!]

[She looks like the type that ruins any man she touches. Serves her right for being a homewrecker!]

[Hank must be cursed to end up dating someone who slept around like her!]

I forced down the urge to crush Winnie's throat.

That scar...

I got it three years ago while covering the retreat of a passenger ship full of elders and children on the Wild Oceans. A stray round from a rifle owned by a mobster grazed my back.

Because of that scar, the International Shipping Guild secretly gave me its highest award. But now she was turning it into the mark of a homewrecker.

I took a deep breath and said, "No."

The machine then showed…

Truth.

Winnie's expression froze for a moment, as if she was not very happy with this result. She gritted her teeth and kept trying to ruin my reputation. "Even if it was not from a man's wife, it had to come from fooling around with all kinds of shady men!"

Hank's face darkened with rage. He rushed forward, pointed his finger at me, and shouted, "Lilibeth, you disgust me! I thought you were just some poor but honest woman, but I never knew you were this filthy behind my back! If you don't explain yourself in front of everyone today, we're finished!"

Explain?

In ten more minutes, we would be people from two different worlds. What was there left for me to explain to a man like you?

"And the third question?" I leaned back into the chair and prompted Winnie lazily.

Winnie's eyes moved around as she said, "Third question!"

She pulled a dull gray conch shell from Hank's pocket, its surface carved with strange patterns. "Lilibeth, this piece of trash is what you gave Hank for his birthday last month! You lied and told him it was some family heirloom, but really you picked it out of a trash heap by the shore, didn't you? You're just a gold digger, trying to mooch off Hank!"

The moment the conch shell came out, Kaplan's amused expression suddenly wavered. He frowned, as if trying to remember something while keeping his stare on the conch.

Meanwhile, the livestream comments were already tearing me apart.

[This is hilarious. She gave him a conch shell for his birthday? What was she thinking?]

[Even if she's poor, she could at least buy a piece of cake that's worth a few dollars, right? Instead she gives him trash!]

[I feel so bad for Hank, letting a gold digger near him like this.]

Hank looked completely humiliated as he snatched the conch shell from Winnie's hand and threw it on the deck. "Lilibeth! you have embarrassed me enough! I bought you expensive skincare and you give me this piece of junk in return? This isn't over!"

I watched the conch shell roll across the deck, my eyes cold. That was no ordinary conch shell. It was a Poseidon Emblem I had carved out with my own hand.

As long as someone carried that conch shell anywhere on the open seas, even if they crossed paths with the most vicious pirates, one blow from it would be enough. Every pirate would steer clear of them. Some would even provide armed escort.

If that thing ever went up for auction on the black market, the opening bid would start at fifty million dollars! I gave it to Hank so he could run his future shipping business in peace, yet he threw it on the deck like garbage.

"Hank." My voice was calm. "Since you didn't want that conch shell, then I'll never give you another one even if you get on your knees and beg me someday."

Hank heard my words like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard. "Beg you? Me? Begging a toilet cleaner? Are you insane?"

Kaplan looked away from the conch shell and waved his hand. "Enough. It's just a useless seashell, so stop wasting my time. This truth or dare is getting so dull. Since this cleaner has such a thick hide, we're going back to the previous game."

He pointed at the shark tank, where the water was churning. "Get in! Get down there and swim two laps for me! If you survive, I'll throw in another hundred grand!"

The security closed in at once, their expression vicious. I simply let them shove me toward the shark tank, but Winnie suddenly spoke up after she schemed for a moment. "Wait! Captain Levin, there's something you need to know. This woman has very nimble fingers. If she pulls some trick in the tank and hurts your precious sharks, that would be bad!"

Winnie paused, her voice full of malice as she finally said, "How about tying her hands and feet before you throw her in?"

The whole deck went silent again. Even the wealthy guests who had seen plenty in their lives were taken aback. If someone were thrown into a tank full of starving sharks with their hands and feet tied up, they could not even make it to the surface for air, much less avoid being torn apart by the sharks. There would not be much of a corpse left to find after that.

Hank frowned and a flicker of hesitation crossed his face. But when he saw Winnie's pleading look, he turned his head away without a word after a glint could be seen in his eyes.

Kaplan waved impatiently. "Do it. Move fast. Don't spoil everyone's fun."

A vicious glint appeared in Winnie's eyes. Shielded by the bodyguards and hidden from the livestream camera, she leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Lilibeth, you can drown in that tank now. A cheap woman like you is never worthy of Hank."

One of the bodyguards pulled out a rope. He was just about to tie me up when a deep voice belonging to a man came from the couch's direction. "Wait."