Changes Over Half a Year

Jamie was slow to process what his sister had just said.

"What did you say? Our sister was kidnapped?"

"Half a year ago... wasn't that right when I first set sail?"

Ella nodded, her eyes red.

"It happened only a few days after you left."

Jamie looked as though he had been punched in the face. His face flushed as he clenched his fists.

"They actually dared to kidnap someone in broad daylight!"

He turned and headed for the fence. "I'm going to save our sister!"

"Stop!"

Grace's expression changed slightly. She hurried forward and grabbed his arm.

But the moment her fingers touched Jamie's clothes, she jerked her hand back as though burned and hastily retreated two steps.

Jamie did not notice his mother's tiny reaction.

Grace knew her child too well.

Jamie had had a temper just like his father's since childhood. He always looked cheerful, but the moment something happened to his family, his rage would ignite, and not even ten oxen could pull him back.

What was more, he had always been especially close to his sister Ivy.

The siblings were five years apart. Whenever Jamie got into trouble as a child, Ivy was the one who pleaded for him. Later, when Ivy went to the tavern to learn cooking, Jamie would rather walk several extra miles after finishing his farmwork each day than let his sister return alone.

That was precisely why they had never dared tell him the news.

"Do you even know what kind of place the Nautilus is? You've been sailing for half a year—haven't you heard of it? Everyone aboard is a vicious Pirate! Your father had one leg broken. If you go, you'll only be throwing your life away!"

Jamie froze and instinctively looked at his father.

When they had