Chapter 806 - 363: Princess Mette (2)

Chapter 806: Chapter 363: Princess Mette (2)

"Alright, then, Captain Riven, may I have the honor of inviting you and your crew to dinner?"

"You know I definitely won’t go." Mike replied bluntly.

"Riven..." Princess Mette’s voice carried a hint of the weakness and pleading that only a mother can have.

"Even if it’s just for me, okay? I just want to know how you’ve been lately, to hear you talk about your sailing stories. It’s been... almost two years since I last saw you."

Riven pressed her lips tightly, her mind waging an internal conflict.

Reason told her she should refuse immediately, then raise the sails and escape from this suffocating place.

But when she saw those cautious expectations and undeniable joy in her mother’s blue eyes, her heart, wrapped in a hard shell, was still pricked.

She remembered when she was a child, those eyes read Andersen’s fairy tales to her on winter nights in Norway.

It was also those hands that taught her how to ski, how to spin on the ice. Those deliberately buried memories surged back like an uninvited tide.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but couldn’t bring herself to say the cold "No."

Lin Yu’an watched quietly from the side, clearly sensing Riven’s internal struggle.

After a long few minutes of tug-of-war, Riven finally looked up, her gaze once again resolute, but what she said surprised everyone.

"I’m not going to Dune Restaurant." She rejected the formal and distant invitation first.

Then, looking at her mother, she spoke deliberately, "If you really want to have dinner, you can stay on our ship."

"What?" Mike was the first to shout, clearly disagreeing with the decision.

Princess Mette was stunned, then a burst of indescribable radiance exploded in her eyes.

"Alright!" Before Riven could change her mind, she immediately agreed, as if afraid the opportunity would slip away a second later.

"Then you arrange the dinner! Do I need to have some ingredients sent over from the ship’s chef?"

"No need." Riven’s tone was still somewhat stiff, but not as cold as before.

Having received a definitive answer, Princess Mette visibly relaxed, a genuine smile spreading across her face.

Naturally, she walked up, holding Riven’s hand, "There’s still a few hours before dinner, sweetheart, you have to accompany me for a good stroll through Nassau’s market..."

"I don’t have time..." Riven instinctively refused.

Mother and daughter fell into another stalemate.

"Go, sweetheart." At this moment, Mike, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke up.

He walked to Riven’s side, gently placing his rough hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

"Your captain has planned everything. I can handle the ship’s resupply and checks, it’s just an afternoon."

Seeing the conflict in his daughter’s eyes, his voice became incredibly gentle, "Go, listen to what she wants to say, she is your mother after all."

Those words were like a spell that released her bindings, instantly relaxing Riven’s tense body.

She glanced at her father, then her mother’s regained joy in her eyes, finally sighing in helplessness, silently consenting.

"Alright." She compromised, "But only for two hours."

"Three hours!" Princess Mette immediately began to bargain.

"Two and a half, not a minute more!"

"Deal!"

Seeing the mother and daughter bicker like little girls, even Mike couldn’t help but laugh.

Soon, Princess Mette took the reluctant but ultimately compliant Riven to a black car that had been waiting outside the pier, driving towards the center of Nassau.

The deck once again returned to calm.

"Whew..." Mike let out a long puff of smoke, leaning against the ship’s railing, as if he had just fought a tough battle.

"Sorry, Lin," he said to Lin Yu’an, a look of apology on his face, "for letting you witness a joke, my family’s issues... are a bit complicated."

"I understand." Lin Yu’an simply replied.

"Alright, enough about that." Mike quickly regained his carefree demeanor as the old captain, pointing towards the shore.

"We can’t just sit around, I need to head to the pier office to confirm the weather forecast for the next few days and catch up with some old pals."

"What about you? Any plans? How about coming with me? I’ll introduce you to some captains."

Lin Yu’an glanced at the long bridge connecting Paradise Island, and then at the bustling tourist pier in the distance, smiling.

"I plan to wander around first, to fully experience the city of Nassau."

"Alright, that’s a good idea, but remember, don’t go to the tourist area, there’s nothing there except expensive rum and counterfeit goods."

Mike advised, "Walk through those alleys south of Bay Street, that’s where the real Bahamas is."

"Got it."

The two agreed on a time to meet back on the ship in the evening, and then disembarked.

Lin Yu’an didn’t visit any famous tourist spots; instead, he strolled along the wooden walkway of the yacht harbor, turning down several guides offering "glass-bottom boat tours" or "swimming with mermaids" packages.

He walked straight through the water-tight Prince George Pier bustling with large cruise ship tourists.

There, the air was filled with the sweet-sour scent of cheap sunscreen and sugary cocktails, as tourists wearing various printed T-shirts crowded around like a school of lost sardines.