Chapter 0: Prologue

Creak. Creak.

The grating sound of wood rubbing against wood brought Claire back to consciousness.

His vision was blurry and out of focus, and his eyes felt incredibly dry.

As he blinked repeatedly to steady his gaze, a dim interior came into view.

A small window allowed a patch of sunlight no larger than a palm to filter in.

The floor was made of old wood with dirty buckets rolling around and ropes strewn everywhere.

He didn’t know where he was, but it certainly wasn’t his home in London’s East Yard.

The realization that he was in a strange place startled Claire, and he tried to sit up.

Before he could even fully rise, a groan escaped his lips.

“Ugh. Ow…”

The back of his head throbbed as if it were about to explode.

As Claire curled inward from the pain, a chilling voice drifted from behind him.

“It looks like you’ve woken up.”

Claire, who hadn’t sensed another presence at all, jumped in fright.

“Who, ugh…!”

The moment he turned, a pair of rough hands grabbed him and slammed him back down onto the floor.

His already aching head struck the boards again, leaving his mind in a daze.

Leathery, coarse fingers brushed against Claire’s cheek as he twitched from the shock.

“For a softie who spends his time wrestling with stethoscopes in some London corner, your skin is as tender as a girl’s.”

The voice was metallic and rasping, the tone incredibly vulgar.

Claire forced his eyes open and managed to see the face of the man pinning him to the floor.

A face deeply tanned by the sun, yellowed teeth, and a messy, overgrown beard and hair.

The moment he saw the plain cotton striped bandana wrapped around the man’s head, Claire realized the truth.

‘This guy… he’s a pirate.’

The reality of being pinned beneath a pirate out of nowhere sent Claire into a state of shock.

The unidentified pirate seemed to have no intention of letting Claire adjust to the situation.

He rudely fingered Claire’s frozen, pale cheek before starting to unbutton his shirt.

“What… what are you doing?”

“If you stay quiet, you won’t get hurt, Mr. Aristocrat.”

The man licked Claire’s white neck with a foul-smelling tongue.

Claire was forced to realize the reality: this man was attempting to commit a lewd act upon him.

“Let go! I’m a man!”

The pirate showed his yellow teeth and chuckled, then thrust his palm inside the clothes to grope Claire’s flat chest and nipples.

It was as if he were trying to engrave the fact that he already knew Claire was male.

At this rate, he would be violated.

A chill ran down his spine.

He hadn’t even had an experience with a woman yet, and now he was to be taken by a man—and a pirate at that.

At the horrific premonition, Claire struggled with all his might, trying to push the pirate’s body away.

“Ah, I told you not to waste your energy.”

Even though Claire was desperate, the pirate’s voice was laced with amusement, making it even more terrifying.

As if enjoying the resistance, the pirate licked the shell of Claire’s ear and easily pinned both of Claire’s hands with just one of his own.

Claire had a fair amount of confidence in his physical strength, given that he performed surgeries with ease and enjoyed hunting and polo.

Yet, he was utterly powerless against this man.

His wrists, gripped by those brutish hands, burned with pain.

He twisted his entire body to escape, but the man’s sturdy frame didn’t budge.

Claire’s struggling froze the instant he felt the man rub a large, fully erect member against him from below.

“I was just waiting for you to get up, and you’re much better than I expected. With this, I could really learn to adore you.”

As the hideous face drew closer as if to kiss him, a surge of nausea welled up in Claire.

Just before their lips touched, the brute closed his eyes.

In that momentary lapse when the grip weakened, Claire desperately twisted his arms free.

Then, with all the strength he could muster, he swung a punch at the man’s face.

Thwack!

With a heavy impact sound, the man’s head snapped to the side.

Taking advantage of the opening, Claire desperately pushed him off and scrambled away.

But before he could even stand up, he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck with immense force and shoved back down.

His decisive strike had been useless.

Looking back, he saw the man clutching his bleeding nose with one hand while holding Claire firmly with the other.

Just as the man’s beast-like eyes flared with rage, Claire felt a massive impact in his abdomen, like being hit by a metal weight.

“Urgh…!”

Having been struck in the solar plexus, Claire collapsed to the floor without even being able to scream.

The pain was so intense he couldn’t breathe.

While his whole body trembled from the agony, the pirate mercilessly hauled Claire back up.

“You little btch, I’m going to fcking kill you!!”

The man’s nose looked strangely crushed, as if it were broken.

The enraged pirate raised a bear-like forearm into the air.

It was a terrifying fist that looked like it could crush Claire’s small head in a single blow.

Was his short life going to end like this?

Claire closed his eyes and imagined the worst pain that was about to follow.

“Hieek!”

A death rattle was heard, but the punch never landed.

At the same time, the hand gripping his collar let go, and Claire, losing his support, tumbled to the floor.

Hurriedly opening his eyes, he saw someone holding the pirate’s arm.

“…I believe I told you not to touch this one.”

“A-Admiral!”

A tall man, who had appeared out of nowhere, was holding the pirate’s arm with a harsh grip.

He shifted his gaze from the pirate toward Claire.

Soon, Claire’s frightened blue eyes met a pair of sharp, deep green eyes.

The man called “Admiral” muttered lowly.

“…It seems he is alive, fortunately.”

“I wasn’t gonna kill ‘im! I just wanted to have a bit of fun, but the damn b*stard started struggling—”

With a heavy thud, the hideous pirate couldn’t finish his sentence and was sent flying backward.

The man’s foot struck the sprawled body once more.

Thud! Crack! Thud! Crack!

The merciless kicking continued for a while.

Claire watched the relentless violence while trembling uncontrollably.

Only when the pirate’s arm was twisted at an odd angle and bloody foam began to leak from his mouth did the man stop the violence.

“I want to throw you into the sea, but I will settle for this. Never defy my orders again.”

The pirate couldn’t respond, only emitting strange, wheezing groans.

The way he was convulsing made it clear he was severely injured.

“Now get out. Vanish from my sight.”

As soon as the man spoke, the massive brute struggled and practically crawled out of the room.

Claire was appalled that the monster still had the energy to move after such a beating.

No, it would be more accurate to say he was more appalled by the man who had suppressed such a monster in an instant.

Claire observed him with his blue eyes.

Despite his overwhelming strength, unlike the previous pirate, this man had refined and handsome features.

However, his expression was as cold as ice, so Claire took a few hesitant steps back in fear.

The man glanced at Claire once and then left the room without saying a word.

“Haa… Haa…”

Once the door closed, it felt like he could finally breathe.

The pain in his abdomen and the back of his head, which he had momentarily forgotten due to the extreme tension, returned all at once.

Even through the pain, Claire struggled to grasp the situation.

‘Exactly… what happened? Where is this?’

As the question arose, Claire realized that this creaking room was swaying.

At the same time, the sound of crashing waves reached his ears.

‘Is this a ship? If so…’

Claire bit his lip.

Combining the information of the pirate who had attacked him and the fact that he was inside a vessel, only one conclusion could be drawn.

‘I’ve been kidnapped onto a pirate ship.’

His body began to shiver involuntarily.

He had heard so much about the cruelty and violence of pirates that his ears were practically calloused.

The situation was already at its worst, but a deeper sense of despair wrapped around his body.

‘This is impossible. For what reason? Why on earth was I kidnapped by pirates?’

Claire was a young surgeon from London’s high society.

In his life, there had never been even the slightest connection to the filthy word “pirate.”

However, the green-eyed man who had just saved him looked somewhat familiar.

As he struggled to recall him, his memories gradually returned.

Before losing consciousness, Claire had been at the Thames River docks.

Although he had only recently graduated from medical school, he was already starting to make a name for himself in London for his skill.

Since requests for house calls were always overflowing, he didn’t want to accept a call to the docks where rough sailors swarmed.

He had only gone because the daughter of Count Carlo, who had just arrived from France, was reportedly in critical condition and unable to move from a harbor inn.

However, when he actually arrived, her injury was nothing serious.

A young lady who had never jumped from a height greater than a stair step had simply become bored during the long voyage, climbed a mast, and lightly sprained her wrist.

After providing simple orthopedic treatment and receiving a fee far more generous than the procedure warranted, he had left the harbor inn.

He should have just gone straight home.

While walking along the docks, Claire had run into Henry, a close friend of his older brother.

He had heard that Henry had recently returned from serving as an officer in the Indian territories, but he hadn’t been able to meet him due to being so busy lately.

Upon hearing that Henry was soon to board a warship again for the Caribbean, Claire felt they couldn’t just part ways like that and entered a pub by the docks with him.

That was the root of all the trouble.

‘Surely at that time… there was a suspicious man.’

Despite his throbbing headache, his memory of one man was incredibly vivid.

And for good reason—he had a very striking appearance.

Inside the pub, packed with boisterous, rugged men, that man had stood out alone.

He had a build that was strangely slender compared to his tall stature.

Wearing a black coat over a clean blue shirt, his face—framed by jet-black hair—was exceedingly handsome.

While his clean appearance was out of place among the sailors in their tattered clothes, the reason he remained so deeply etched in Claire’s mind was likely because his eyes had been flashing as he stared continuously in Claire’s direction.

“Why does he keep looking this way?”

“Who knows. Maybe he’s a former patient of yours?”

Claire hadn’t agreed with Henry’s remark.

He felt that the man was someone he wouldn’t have failed to remember if they had ever met before.

“Are you a doctor?”

When they had finished a fair amount of drinks, the man had approached and asked in a low, husky voice.

Up close, his deep green eyes were reminiscent of the sea near the equator.

But even though they were a clear emerald color, it was impossible to peer inside them.

Thinking they were eyes as transparent as the shallows yet as deep as the abyss, Claire thought he had answered the question with a simple “yes.”

Just as he recalled that much, Claire’s concentration was broken.

The closed door opened, and someone stepped inside.