The bone dove surrounded by spiritual flames circled twice above the deck. The cargo from the Pland city-state emerged from the flames. Alice looked at the first thing that appeared in front of her in a daze, and after a while she looked up at the captain.

To be honest, Duncan almost thought that the puppet was going to run away crying. This was the most likely reaction he had expected from Alice. As a result, he stared at the silly puppet for a long time before the puppet finally nodded blankly: "Thank you!"

Duncan: “……?”

"You really bought me new hair!" The next second, Alice's face was full of smiles, as if she had received the most exciting gift. "I thought you were just joking last time! Mr. Goat Head said that wigs for dolls are very expensive..."

Duncan: “…”

What he had been looking forward to for a long time did not happen, and the persecution suffered a huge failure from the very beginning - the persecuted guys were very happy and even full of gratitude.

Duncan felt that at the moment he was like a fun-loving person who had lost his fun.

"Captain? Captain, why are you daydreaming again?" Alice's voice suddenly came, waking Duncan from his distraction. The puppet stood on tiptoe holding the wig, with its face almost close to the tip of Duncan's nose, "You've been daydreaming many times today..."

Duncan blinked, pulled his face back a little, and looked at the cursed doll with a strange expression: "I didn't expect you to be so broad-minded - weren't you quite depressed when I told you about the wig last time? I thought you would struggle in your heart after receiving the gift this time..."

"I'm frustrated about my hair loss. Why should I be frustrated about getting new hair?" Alice blinked her eyes and explained as if she felt that Duncan's worldview was problematic. "I'm a puppet!"

Duncan finally figured out what the problem was.

Alice was usually too lively on the boat. Apart from the strange bones in her cervical vertebrae, she looked like an ordinary human. After spending a long time with her, he unconsciously treated her as a human being - but ended up ignoring the special values ​​of this doll...

As a puppet, she wouldn't care about wearing a wig! Would a human care about getting a new pair of shoes?

"Forget it, just think of it as me overthinking it." Duncan covered his face and waved his hands. As the biggest natural disaster in the vast sea, he once again felt the tension in front of Alice. "Anyway... as long as you like it."

"I like it!" Alice held the wig happily, then stretched her neck over Duncan's shoulder to continue looking at the things on the deck, "The rest..."

"This is for you, too," Duncan sighed, trying to ignore the visual impact of an elegant and beautiful Gothic doll holding a wig in high spirits. He turned around and picked up a box from the deck, "Open it and take a look."

Alice curiously opened the exquisite little wooden box and saw a set of silver hair accessories made of diamond-shaped thin sheets lying quietly in the velvet lining.

She looked up in surprise and saw the captain nodding slightly to her.

"Last time I took away the feather hairpin you found in the cabin," Duncan said calmly, "I promised you to buy you a new one. Now I'm fulfilling my promise."

Alice was stunned for a long time, and finally reacted, smiling with unprecedented happiness: "Thank you, Captain! You are so kind!"

"Don't be so loud." Duncan's ears were buzzing because of the puppet's sudden high-pitched voice. He couldn't help but waved his hand, "It's just a hair accessory. There's no need to get so excited."

"Not only the hair accessories, but also the new hair you bought me!"

Duncan was suddenly a little embarrassed, with a strong sense of shame lingering in his heart, as if he was trying to make a fool of himself but was solemnly thanked by the person involved: "...Don't mention the wig..."

Alice, however, was completely unaware of the captain's subtle mood at the moment. This simple-minded puppet was now completely immersed in joy. Then, she naturally noticed the last wooden box on the deck.

It was a wooden box more than half a meter long - or a wooden box, with elegant and simple decorations and brass locks and hinges, which gave it a sense of luxury.

And for some reason, it reminded her of her own "house".

"What is this?" Alice put the wig and hair accessories aside, walked forward and pushed the wooden box curiously, then looked up and asked.

"I also bought it from the doll shop, but this one is not for you," Duncan said casually, "You can open it and take a look."

Alice said "oh" and opened the wooden box curiously.

A delicately crafted, classically styled girl doll lies quietly in a wooden box.

Alice: “……?”

"You can call her 'Nilu'," Duncan's voice came from the side, "but unlike you, she's just an ordinary doll... probably."

Alice didn't react for a long time. After nearly ten seconds, she suddenly moved. With a light click, her head fell into Nelue's box and rolled together with the small doll inside...

“Help… help… help…”

Duncan sighed, picked up Alice's head and put it away with ease, looking at this embarrassing guy helplessly: "Is this why you react?"

Alice just held her head with both hands to straighten her neck, then stared at her captain with wide eyes, her face full of disbelief: "Captain, you... you have a new doll..."

"What a mess!" Duncan felt something was wrong when he heard this, and quickly interrupted Alice before she could say more trash. "Didn't I tell you that Nilu is different from you? She doesn't run and jump like you, and what do you mean by having a new doll? You make it sound like I have some weird collecting fetish."

"Then buying a doll wouldn't be a mistake..."

"There is a special reason behind this," Duncan exhaled softly, stood up and looked at the sea in the distance, trying to suppress the trash talk in Alice's silly mind with a serious and deep expression on his face. "This doll named 'Nilu' and another doll named 'Luni' were originally a pair, and many years ago, my daughter took 'Luni' away. Now, by coincidence, I found 'Nilu' left in the store and covered in dust. I think... I should buy her."

Duncan did not hide the information he had just learned, and said it in a natural manner - no matter what, he now had to play the role of "Captain Duncan" well, and based on this character setting, he must "take it for granted to know the affairs of his own children."

Ellie's eyes widened without any surprise, staring at her captain in astonishment.

"Captain...Captain, you have a daughter?!" The puppet held his head with both hands, as if he was afraid that his head would run away from home in the next second due to shock. "I...this is the first time I've heard of this!"

Duncan sighed inwardly, thinking that this was the first time he had heard of this...

But his face still maintained the same expression as always, and he just nodded slightly: "Is this strange? I have another son, and I haven't seen them for a century."

"You have a son?!" Alice was even more shocked. She even took two steps back. Then her eyes turned around twice. She didn't know what was going on in her head, and suddenly she said, "Then don't they have a mother?"

Duncan: “…”

At this moment, he and Alice just stared at each other.

"I kind of regret bringing up this topic with you," Duncan finally sighed after a long while, and said with a vicissitudes of life, "I don't want to talk about this."

"Oh...oh! OK!" Alice didn't know what she was thinking about. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded repeatedly. Then she looked down at "Nielu" in the wooden box and suddenly understood, "Ah, that feather-shaped hairpin I found in the cabin last time... could it be your daughter's?"

Duncan remained noncommittal.

He wasn't actually sure about this, but considering the nostalgic emotion that emerged from his heart when he saw the hairpin, it was probably not much different from Alice's guess.

Then he noticed that Alice had been secretly looking at him, and noticed the strange expression of wanting to say something but stopping herself from appearing on the doll's face from time to time.

"Just say whatever you want to say," he said calmly, "looking at you furtively is even more rude than speaking without restraint."

"Oh, nothing, nothing, I just..." Alice waved her hands and then said hesitantly, "I just suddenly felt that... you still seem to have some humanity."

Duncan: “…Are you praising me?”

Alice was startled for a moment, and then she seemed to recall what Mr. Goat Head had taught her, and an apologetic expression appeared on her face: "Ah, I'm sorry, Captain, I shouldn't have called you inhuman..."

"I...thank you," Duncan sighed and waved his hands, looking exhausted, "Take your gift and go back. I want to be alone for a while."

"oh."