Chapter 121
Knowing or not knowing my feelings, Enoch, who had been holding me tightly around the waist, took out disinfectant from my crossbody bag.
"I'll do it."
"It's uncomfortable for you. I'll do it."
His breath touched my ear every time he spoke. Damn it.
"Wait, ugh."
I grabbed his arms with both hands, but a sudden pain made me stiffen. Enoch patted me gently.
"Margaret, relax."
Hearing those words, I felt like crying for some reason. How am I supposed to relax when you're doing that, Teacher? Damn it, is this some new kind of torture?
I eventually gave up and decided to completely entrust myself to him. I took all the strength out of my body and leaned my back against his chest.
"It would be better to take off your jacket for a moment."
At his words, I endured the stinging pain, took off my jacket, and leaned back against him.
Wearing only a T-shirt and leaning against him, I could feel the texture of his angry chest muscles against my back.
'This feels a little strange.'
I tried to shake off the awkward feeling and watched what Enoch was doing.
With me embraced from behind, he slowly examined the wound on my stomach. I couldn't see his expression right now, which made me a little sad.
'......Wait, what? Am I crazy? Why am I sad that I can't see his expression?'
"Hiss."
At that moment, Enoch slowly removed the gauze from the wound, and I forgot about my wandering thoughts and held my breath.
"Shh, just bear with it a little longer."
I heard a voice soothing me in my ear.
It wasn't unbearable, but he was being so careful, as if handling porcelain, that it made the wound feel even more painful.
After removing the gauze, Enoch opened the disinfectant cap.
"Are you okay?"
He asked for my opinion, and when I nodded, he very carefully sprayed disinfectant on the wound.
"Heuh."
Damn it, it stings like hell! I tilted my head back, rested the back of my head against his chest, and squeezed my eyes shut. Enoch put the gauze back on and gently stroked my hair with one hand.
"You endured it well."
The voice in my ear was excessively sweet.
Was Enoch always like this? For some reason, not being able to see his face made him feel even less like Enoch than usual.
Avoiding the wound, he grabbed my thigh and gently pulled me closer to him again.
"I have to tie you up, so bear with it a little longer."
Enoch soon untied the cut tree branch and threw it down below the large branch we were sitting on.
Due to the reaction from the strong force, the tree branch came up from the opposite side. After wrapping the branch around several times in that way, he tied my legs and his legs tightly with the tree branch.
Now I had no choice but to stick to him like a cicada. Eventually, I gave up and leaned comfortably against him. I had to think of it as sleeping while leaning against a hard, uncomfortable sofa. It was better than leaning against a tree trunk.
At that moment, Enoch's face gently dropped from my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, it's just as uncomfortable for me."
He muttered as if making an excuse, and then rubbed his cheek against my bare shoulder.
"Enoch."
"Yeah?"
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're torturing me."
Then Enoch, who had briefly raised his head, burst into laughter. The laughter, soaked in fatigue and terribly low, was somewhat sensual.
"Margaret."
"Yes?"
"Are you nervous?"
He asked me in a voice mixed with laughter.
"Are you making fun of me right now?"
"Did you just realize that?"
He rested his forehead on my shoulder and burst into laughter again. At that moment, I thought.
'Ha, damn it. Why do I feel good when I'm being teased? I must be finally crazy.'
\ \ \
The unexpected excitement and nervousness caused by Enoch's actions were short-lived, and I fell into a deep sleep without even knowing when I fell asleep.
I had stayed up all night at Zenas's Cabin the day before, and meeting Enoch seemed to have completely relieved my tension. It seemed that I had fallen asleep soundly even in an uncomfortable position.
Then I suddenly opened my eyes. I felt a strange presence somewhere.
When I opened my eyes slightly, I saw something moving. To be exact, a huge group was passing under the tree where Enoch and I were sitting.
I was startled and flinched, and Enoch opened his eyes immediately at that small movement.
"That... seems to be the evolved Monster that Lord and I encountered."
Enoch whispered quietly in my ear.
As he said, the Monsters in the novel that I remembered seemed to have been based on creatures on Earth (and the Monsters I had met so far had been like that), but I couldn't figure out what those Monsters were at all.
There were some that looked like huge, two-legged fish, some that looked like caterpillars and were wriggling, and some that looked like big-headed aliens walking on two legs.
They all seemed to have started from some animal and been horribly transformed.
Even though it was morning when the day was dawning, they were freely roaming the forest.
'Creepy.'
If I fall from here, I'm screwed.
"It's okay."
At that moment, a warm word reached my ear.
"It'll be okay because you're not alone."
Certainly, if Enoch was determined to fight, he could at least get rid of those Monsters and run away, even if he couldn't completely wipe them out.
I couldn't see his face, but his voice alone gave me such a sense of relief.
Eunji, who had been sleeping quietly on my lap, slyly opened her eyes and looked at me, then looked down and jumped up in surprise.
She looked down, then looked at me, then looked down again and looked at me. It seemed like she was asking me to explain what was going on. I shook my head to mean that I didn't know either.
She wagged her tail and looked down with a curious face. I held her body tightly in case she fell.
We sat on the tree, holding our breath like that for a long time, until all the monsters disappeared from our sight.
After the monsters had completely disappeared, the tension was completely released. I leaned against Enoch's chest and sighed.
"Ha. If we hadn't been on the tree, we would have been in big trouble."
"I survived thanks to you."
Enoch added those words embarrassedly.
"It would have been difficult if I had been alone."
I heard Enoch's faint laughter. I could feel the trembling because I was being held by him.
'I'm still embarrassed.'
I awkwardly leaned against him and then slyly straightened my back.
"Shall we go down now? I'm very worried about whether Kaiden is safe."
I wasn't trying to avoid the situation, I was genuinely worried about Kaiden. I was sure that Kaiden would be alive, but you never know.
"You're right, we can't just stay like this."
Enoch, who always growled and kept Kaiden in check, seemed to be worried about Kaiden too.
We untied the rope that had been tying our legs and climbed down the tree. I narrowed my brows and rubbed my legs.
"My legs are numb."
Then Enoch knelt down in front of me on one knee and looked up at me.
"I'll loosen them up for you, so sit down for a moment."
"No. I'm okay."
"It would be better to loosen them up."
"I have to endure this much."
I answered through gritted teeth. He was going to loosen my legs himself. Then my heart would definitely start racing again, and what if Enoch heard my heartbeat!
'That's not going to happen. Protect my legs.'
I shook my head, shook my cramped legs a couple of times, put on Enoch's jacket that I was holding, and adjusted my crossbody bag.
"Shall we go?"
Enoch nodded, getting up from his seat as if he was disappointed. I picked up Eunji from the floor, put her on my shoulder, and wandered through the forest with Enoch again to find Kaiden.
\ \ \
Kaiden was wandering alone in the fog.
At some point, Eunji and Enoch, who had been walking ahead, disappeared. He scanned the surroundings, but the fog only continued to thicken, and he couldn't see an inch ahead.
"Damn it, I thought the cabin was right in front of me."
The moment he discovered a large three-story cabin, a thick fog suddenly enveloped them. After that, he couldn't figure out what had happened at all. Whenever he walked in the direction where the cabin had been, the fog thickened. As if it was preventing him from coming.
He was cautiously walking around for a long time when suddenly the fog cleared and a door appeared right in front of him.
Kaiden crashed straight into the door.
He had been walking without knowing that an object was nearby because the fog was so thick. He cursed irritably and took a step back.
"......This, isn't this the cabin from before?"
He was already standing in front of the huge three-story cabin from before. He looked around again, but Eunji and Enoch were still nowhere to be seen.
He put strength into the hand holding the dagger and stared intently at the wooden door of the cabin.
Margaret might be inside.
As soon as he had that thought, his hesitation disappeared. He slowly opened the door.
The inside of the cabin was quiet.
In the living room on the first floor, a fire was crackling in the fireplace, and there was an empty hammock hanging in front of it.
Perhaps because the fog was thick outside the cabin, the inside was dark enough to require a lantern and was very eerie.
Then,
Thump.
A small noise came from upstairs.
"Damn it, what is it."
Kaiden muttered a small curse and slowly approached the stairs. He slyly looked up, but it was too dark to see well. Could Margaret be upstairs?
Kaiden hesitated for a moment and then soon stepped onto the stairs and went up. When he went up to the second floor, there was a foul smell. It seemed to be because of the amount of trash that was almost touching the floor.
He pinched his nose and carefully scanned the second floor. There wasn't anything special, but he could definitely tell that it was a cabin where quite a few people had lived before.
Thump.
The sound came from upstairs again this time.
Kaiden unknowingly looked up at the ceiling. The sound seemed to be calling him.
'Is Margaret asking for help?'
That was the only thing he could think of. He hurriedly ran up the stairs and arrived on the third floor.
The third floor was even more eerie than the first and second floors. In addition, the intense smell, which was incomparable to the foul smell of the second floor due to the trash, stung his nose.
He covered his nose with his sleeve and scanned the surroundings, and it seemed that the stench was coming from the tightly closed door next to the stairs.
"Is this where the sound came from?"
A sign that read '<Chamber of Rest> Seal' was attached to the door.
Chamber of Rest. Kaiden, who read the sign with a puzzled face, turned the doorknob.
The door slowly opened. There wasn't a single window in the room, so it was so dark that he couldn't see an inch ahead, but as he opened the door, a little light shone in, and he could vaguely see the inside.
In the middle of the room, a complex magic circle was drawn, and a chair was placed in the middle of it. And a person was sitting in the chair.
"......Margaret?"
As Kaiden approached her in surprise,
Bang!
The door closed.
As he turned around to look at the closed door in surprise, he heard something burning behind him. Kaiden turned his head again.
A magic circle was drawn under the chair, and candles were placed around the magic circle at regular intervals. It seemed that the candles had been lit at the same time as the door closed.
The person sitting in the chair was a woman with silver hair. She was bowing her head and wasn't moving, as if she was unconscious.
"Hey."
The moment Kaiden approached her with a puzzled face.
Forgotten memories were suddenly revived and began to swirl chaotically in his head.
\ \ *
Deep inside the Papal State, in an underground laboratory.
Geometric symbols are densely engraved on the floor. Young Kaiden is lying on top of it.
Candles are burning around Kaiden along with the symbols.