Chapter 119
“Is this reality?”
Somehow, I felt like I had a lump in my chest, as if I had indigestion.
Only then did Enoch slowly release me from his embrace. His face came into view. Calm and serene golden eyes scanned my face.
He slowly lowered his hand and took mine. His large, warm hand gently enveloped my bare skin. He looked at me with a steadfast face like an unyielding old tree and said to me,
“Whether it’s reality or not, it doesn’t matter. I have no intention of letting go of this hand.”
I quietly looked down at our clasped hands. I knew it, but now Enoch was no longer a character in printed words.
I suddenly felt that I really wanted to become Margaret.
I also thought that it would be nice to hold the hand of this strong and upright man, like a tree that stretches out only towards me without bending.
I raised my head again and met Enoch's calm gaze. He gently stroked my cheek with his other hand.
Feeling something nudging at my feet, I looked down and saw Eunji struggling to crawl onto my lap, making a fuss as if asking me to look at him.
I smiled, released my hand from Enoch's, and lifted Eunji's body with both hands. Then, I looked at Eunji, who was wagging his tongue with a happy face, and asked Enoch.
“What about the others?”
“I don’t know about the others. Lord and I followed Margaret, you, straight into the river.”
“Ah, jumped into the river… What?!”
I covered my mouth with both hands. I was speechless for a moment, just opening and closing my mouth, before finally shouting back.
“Are you out of your mind?”
At my question, Enoch let out a dry laugh. It was a laugh close to a self-deprecating smile.
“If I were in my right mind, would I have done such a thing?”
He admitted it so resolutely that I was speechless again. Enoch pointed to Eunji with an unconcerned face, as if it were nothing.
“This fellow seemed to be guiding us to where you were. So Lord and I were following behind…”
Then, he looked around with a troubled face as he answered.
“I definitely saw a cabin, but suddenly a thick fog settled in the forest. After that, I lost Lord.”
“Ah, the cabin!”
I was startled and scanned the surroundings. I was in a deep forest where the fog had cleared, but the cabin was nowhere to be seen.
“That’s a strange phenomenon. The cabin was quite large, and it was not far away, but it has completely disappeared.”
Enoch muttered, looking around with me.
“We need to find Kaiden quickly too.”
I was about to answer his words when.
Swish, swish-
Eunji, who was wrapped around my arm, wrapped around my arm and spun around, demanding attention. Enoch looked at Eunji and chuckled.
“This fellow told me your location, so I have to give him praise.”
Eunji stuck out his head and looked up at me, gently closing his eyes. Does he want me to pet him?
I looked at him with a bewildered face and cautiously stroked his bald head.
Then, the fellow who was wrapped around my arm stuck out his tongue and gently wagged the tip of his tail, as if he was in a good mood.
Enoch stared at me for a while, then narrowed his brows for a moment, and took off the jacket he was wearing. Then, he put it around my shoulders and asked.
“It looks like there’s blood on it, are you okay?”
At his words, I looked down at my stomach with the gauze on it. Fortunately, only a little blood had seeped through, so it didn’t look too serious.
“I’m fine with this much.”
“Still, it’s better to get treatment.”
“First, let’s move to a safe place. Enoch’s injuries are more serious than mine.”
I frowned, looking at his torn jacket and the wounds all over his body. It looked like it would hurt a lot, but Enoch nodded with a calm face as if it were nothing.
“I, too, am fine with this much. As you said, it would be better to move to a safe place first.”
With those words, Enoch scanned my outfit with calm eyes.
“And I wanted to ask since earlier, these clothes.”
Enoch pointed to the pants and T-shirt I was wearing. Then, he looked at my stomach again and turned his head slightly.
It was a tight-fitting T-shirt, and the length was short, so it seemed somewhat embarrassing and strange to the imperial citizens.
Enoch was embarrassed, so I became embarrassed for no reason and smiled awkwardly.
“The clothes are very unique.”
At Enoch’s words, I felt excited for some reason and lifted one leg to show him.
“The pants are really comfortable. I feel like I can finally live.”
Enoch’s neatly groomed, calm eyes were warm and affectionate.
The Enoch Crown Prince in Margaret’s memory was a gentleman, but always somehow languid and listless, and without emotion, not like a human being.
It’s cheating to look at me with those seductive eyes with a tearful mole. The trust in his gaze made me feel ticklish for some reason, so I quietly lowered my raised leg.
“If you’re comfortable, that’s all that matters.”
He straightened my hair with a composed expression.
“A Wizard took me in. There was another person. This outfit is what that person gave me.”
I was too distracted at the time to ask, but belatedly I realized that it was Zenas who saved me from the river.
‘That fog, it seems like Zenas’s doing. Is it Magic? But, Mana can’t be used on this island…’
Wait.
“I can’t even control the Mana that’s being suppressed in this body, so how did that person use it?”
Zenas had definitely said that. I realized now that that statement was a little strange.
‘In this body.’ Does that mean he has a separate original body? And he can use Mana with his original body?
“What do you mean by other survivors?”
Enoch’s voice followed, and I came to my senses and looked up at him.
“Ah, there was someone living in that cabin. He saved me. Well, he saved me…”
In the end, he neglected me when I was about to be killed by a Monster.
“It seems like it will be a long story, so why don’t we find Kaiden before the sun goes down? If the sun goes down, the Monsters…”
Before I could finish speaking, Enoch’s tired face came into view. He was rubbing his temples and frowning irritably.
“The Monsters have evolved again.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been fighting Monsters with Lord since yesterday afternoon. Now we can’t be safe even during the day. And they’re no longer in the form of beasts, but Monstrous life-forms that can’t be recognized.”
Monsters appear even during the day. I felt like my head was turning white. The conversation I had with Zenas was becoming a reality so quickly.
“First of all, as you said, it’s urgent to find Lord.”
Enoch stood up and held out his hand to me. I was about to take off the jacket hanging over my shoulders and return it to him, but he made a somewhat dissatisfied face.
“Are you okay? That outfit…”
Enoch slowly put the jacket I took off back on my shoulders and trailed off.
And after brushing against my T-shirt as if unintentionally, he turned his head in surprise. He gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and clutched my jacket tightly.
“I think it would be better to wear the clothes.”
He was too embarrassed, so I reluctantly put on his jacket. His jacket was also tattered, but it would be better to wear it anyway.
When I put on the jacket obediently, he finally looked at me with a relieved face.
Enoch, with his anxiety about Berserk state completely gone, seemed perfect without any flaws.
His painted eyebrows, sharp nose, enchantingly deep and rich golden eyes, red lips, and stubborn chin. All of that was harmoniously and perfectly sculpted on his face.
Being handsome is useless for survival, but it seemed to give peace of mind. I felt the chaos in my heart, which had been caused by Zenas and the fog he created, gradually calming down.
Once I calmed down, I felt like my head was much lighter. Enoch, who had been quietly looking at me, said.
“Now, let’s go find Lord.”
At his words, I nodded obediently.
“Yes, let’s go.”
First, I need to find Kaiden and then tell him more about Zenas.
And I also had to find out where the cabin had suddenly disappeared to.
\ \ *
Luzef was carrying Kaiden’s seriously heavy backpack and moving with difficulty.
“Don’t you have any intention of helping?”
Luzef looked back at Diego and asked, but Diego politely declined with a very polite face.
“I’ll say it again, it’s better to throw away what you can throw away.”
At Diego’s cold words, Luzef bit his lower lip.
“Would you have said that so easily if this was your luggage?”
“If it were my luggage, I think I would have said that it was good to throw it away. It’s a wiser choice than being in danger while carrying burdensome luggage.”
Every word was right, so there was nothing to say. I don’t know how Kaiden carried this heavy thing around.
But I couldn’t throw away the bag. Kaiden carried it around, but the contents of the bag were all things that Margaret needed.
As Luzef stubbornly refused to throw away the bag and struggled to walk, Diego finally sighed and snatched the bag from him.