Chapter 123: THIRD POV.
"What is it." Flounder said in an unfriendly tone, not even bothering to look up from the steps.
He kept his eyes glued to his feet, his grip tightening on the iron handle as he pulled his weight forward. His voice was just as sharp and cold as it had been earlier in the hallway.
"Do you always have to turn everything into a massive argument?" Jacob asked, letting out a soft sigh.
He was genuinely curious at this point. "I mean, we just cooked a great meal together, and made everyone happy, yet you still look like you want to chew off my head. Is it really that hard to just be normal for five minutes?"
"I only do it if it’s you..." Flounder shot back quickly.
"And what’s that supposed to mean?" Jacob raised a brow, stopping for a brief second at the entrance of the dark kitchen corridor.
He looked at the back of the young man’s head, completely baffled by the sheer amount of hostility he was receiving for absolutely no reason.
"You... You, AHH! Forget it," Flounder wanted to say something more, his lips parting as if a torrent of angry words were about to fly out, but he ended up just gasping aloud in pure frustration.
He shook his head violently, turning away and refusing to finish his sentence as he pushed open the wooden door to the galley.
"No, don’t forget it. Tell me," Jacob insisted, refusing to let the matter drop this time.
They set the heavy iron pot down onto a large wooden table in the center of the kitchen with a loud, metallic thud. Jacob stood up straight, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared directly into the young guard’s eyes.
"Just what did I do to offend you this much? It’s like we became bitter enemies overnight, and I for one, don’t understand why exactly."
"I said forget it," Flounder grumbled, turning his back to Jacob and picking up a wooden lid to cover the soup pot.
He was trying his best to look busy, but his shoulders were stiff and his hands were trembling slightly from the internal tension.
"No, I won’t forget it, now spill the beans, compadre." Jacob said, using a friendly yet firm tone to show he wasn’t going to leave the room until he got a real answer.
"Huh?" Flounder turned around, his face suddenly looking completely confused by the latter part of his sentence.
He blinked his eyes, the strange foreign word throwing him off his guard for a split second.
But the confusion quickly melted back into raw irritation, and he let out a sharp, angry breath.
"It’s because you’re far too kind!" Flounder yelled, his voice echoing loudly against the tight wooden walls of the kitchen.
’The heck?!’ Jacob froze in place, his mind going completely blank as he almost dropped the cloth he was holding in his hand.
He stared at the young guard with wide, unblinking eyes, completely stunned by the outburst.
What on earth did he mean by that? Of all the things he had expected to hear, being accused of being too kind was definitely not on the list. It sounded completely insane.
Sensing the massive misunderstanding due to Jacob’s completely blank and dumbfounded gaze, Flounder took a deep breath and continued, his voice dropping into a lower, much more intense tone as he laid out his thoughts.
"You arrived at the very moment we needed help, as if you were just waiting for us," Flounder said, pointing a tense finger at Jacob’s chest.
"And yet tou saved all of us from those cages, even risked your own life against so many dangerous, armed pirates without asking for a single coin in return."
"Then you took us in on your massive warship, fed us the finest food, clothed us in clean garments, gave us safe shelter, and you even promised to take us all the way back to our own nation safely without demanding a ransom."
Flounder took a step closer, his eyes burning with a strange mix of anger and deep fear. "Not only that, but you even have a whole crew of former slaves who you treat with the utmost compassion and kindness, treating them like equals rather than property. You don’t beat them, you don’t lock them up, and they look at you like you’re some kind of saint."
He let out a bitter, mocking laugh, shaking his head. "It’s just too much to accept. No one in the world is that kind out of the goodness of their heart. It’s far too suspicious. People who act like angels always have a dark, hidden motive."
"I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never does. You’re just not... normal." He ended with an exasperated breath.
’You’re joking... Wait, that’s why he’s been acting like a total prick all this while?’ Jacob thought to himself, completely and utterly flabbergasted by this sudden reveal.
He felt a strong urge to laugh, but he forced himself to keep a straight face as the sheer absurdity of the situation washed over him.
Here he was, thinking he’d accidentally stepped on the guy’s foot during the rescue, or maybe insulted his pride as a royal knight during the first meeting, yet this was the real reason for all this constant head-butting.
The guy wasn’t angry because Jacob was mean; he was angry because Jacob was being too nice.
’Well, if you think about it from his perspective... he does actually have the right to be suspicious,’ Jacob said to himself in his own mind, and he knew he was telling the absolute truth.
Any normal person living in this brutal, unforgiving world would be far too worried when things continued to go their way like that without any visible cost.
In such a cruel world where slavery, human trafficking, and all sorts of terrible horrors existed around every corner, this level of pure, selfless kindness from a complete stranger was practically unheard of.
If someone offered you a free mansion and a feast in a den of thieves, you would naturally assume the food was poisoned or the walls were closing in on you.