Chapter 22
The chest of angry muscles pressed against my back. His body was hard without any softness, like a sculpture carved by an artist.
"I'm, I'm okay. Thank you."
I turned my head away, feeling inexplicably embarrassed.
With my waist still in his hold, I looked down at Kaiden. He was still holding my wrist. His strength was so great that I couldn't easily pull my wrist away.
"Excuse me."
Then, I heard Enoch's low voice asking for understanding. Immediately, Enoch's large hand wrapped around my wrist in one go.
He easily pulled my hand away from Kaiden's grip. Only then could I step out of his arms and stand properly.
Enoch grabbed my wrist.
"There's a mark."
He gently stroked my reddened wrist with his thumb. The area where his fingers brushed felt ticklish, making me feel strange.
"Shall I kill him?"
"Yes."
I answered reflexively to Enoch's muttering, then startled and shook my head.
"Wait, what? No. Hold on. You need to control your anger."
When I hurriedly stopped him, he burst into laughter. As if he had no intention of doing so from the start, he immediately changed the subject.
"This man seems to be the archmage Kaiden."
He immediately recognized Kaiden's identity.
Well, Enoch is the crown prince of the empire, so it would be absurd for him not to know the existence of the archmage. Moreover, Kaiden was one of only five archmages on the continent.
"Let's move the luggage first, and then move this guy too."
Enoch looked at Kaiden with a displeased face and sighed.
"...I don't like it, but the mage's knowledge might be useful."
After saying that, Enoch looked at me as if asking for my opinion.
"We'll take him in, but we'll tie him up. If you don't agree to tie him up, we'll throw him away."
...He wasn't really asking for my opinion. He seems to think I wouldn't agree to tie up Kaiden.
But, how could that be? I nodded vigorously, agreeing with his opinion.
Enoch moved the luggage, such as the coconuts and the Spear skewered with ducks, into the cave.
Then, he took the torn dress fabric that he had used as a bandage the day before yesterday and tied Kaiden's arms and legs tightly.
Since the entrance of the cave was slightly above the ground, Enoch had no choice but to pick up Kaiden and carry him in.
He put Kaiden down on one side of the cave and went to prepare dinner. I quietly checked on Kaiden's condition.
"Is he hurt?"
Blood was seeping into his shirt through the robe.
I hurriedly looked back at Enoch. Fortunately, Enoch seemed busy dividing the fruit into coconut bowls.
After hesitating for a moment, I carefully took off Kaiden's shirt. I had to check how serious the wound was.
"Oh my..."
There was a long scar near his chest. It was a wound scratched by a Monster.
The wound was deeper than I thought, and the condition seemed serious. I must not have seen the blood earlier because he was wearing a mage's robe.
"I need to stop the bleeding first."
I muttered to myself, then belatedly realized that I had been exposing Kaiden's wound for too long. Cold sweat ran down my spine.
'Enoch is busy preparing dinner, so he probably didn't see it, right?'
Thinking that, I slowly raised my head, but my ominous premonition did not fail.
Enoch was looking at this way with a bewildered expression.
"Wound..."
Enoch was staring at Kaiden's wound, then belatedly closed his eyes tightly as if realizing something.
"...Margaret, you might as well tie me up too."
Damn it. How could I have been so careless?
I tore off more of the dress fabric and tied his hands and feet.
As I was tying him up, the rampage started, and he exhaled hot breaths with a painful expression.
"Haa..."
"Enoch?"
I carefully called his name.
As if that was a signal, his breathing stopped abruptly.
But Enoch, who seemed to have stopped for a moment, gritted his teeth again and made an animalistic sound. He jumped up from his seat with his hands tied.
'This is useless!'
I quickly pulled Kaiden and avoided Enoch, who was rushing at me. Perhaps because he had lost his reason, he lost his balance and immediately fell to the floor.
I ran to him and stepped on him to prevent him from getting up, pressing him to the floor.
"Stop it, Enoch. Wait."
With the monstrous strength that Enoch possessed, he would have already pushed me away and escaped, but surprisingly, he became docile after being stepped on by me.
Enoch glared at me with resentful eyes filled with tears.
I barely suppressed the urge to quietly remove my foot.
"Margaret."
He called my name in a very cracked voice.
"Get rid of this, while I'm asking nicely."
Then he started growling and snapping again.
"No."
I pointed at him with a firm and fierce finger, even if he moved slightly.
I spoke in the most firm and serious voice possible, like a mother scolding a disobedient child.
"Stop it, Enoch. Right now."
The madness gradually disappeared from Enoch's eyes. I sighed in relief.
"This actually works."
Enoch, who had lost his strength, fainted as he was. I moved him to the side of the cave wall and tied his wrists and ankles tightly with cloth.
"Hoo... That's it."
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I quietly looked at Enoch's peacefully sleeping face.
Then, I suddenly felt a sense of futility and sat down on the spot.
"How did these people survive in the original story without me?"
I've never seen Yuanna control Enoch so roughly in the original story. I ruffled my hair and groaned irritably.
"Damn it, it's hard!"
But let's treat Kaiden first.
I put aside my thoughts and started treating Kaiden's wound.
I wet the dress cloth, which I used as a towel, with water flowing in the cave and wiped the area around the wound clean. Then, I washed the cloth clean again and gently pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding.
Kaiden let out a faint groan, as if he could feel the pain even though he was unconscious.
Then, I suddenly remembered the Monster I had encountered a few days ago while being chased by Kaiden.
The loud noise that echoed in the forest. The Monster, which had me in its sights at the time, disappeared in a hurry as if it had discovered something else.
Was Kaiden the cause of that loud noise at that time?
'Could it be...'
I shook my head and cleared my thoughts. Let's ask Kaiden about it later when he wakes up.
After disinfecting the wound by pouring disinfectant on it, I looked for a bandage.
Since it was the chest area, I had to use more bandages than I thought, but there weren't many bandages left. It would be a big problem if someone got hurt again in the future and needed bandages.
Just in case, I looked at the bandage packaging again. The transparent packaging of the bandage had 'Roselastic' (elastic band) written on it. This bandage had the advantage of being able to be washed and reused several times.
"I can recycle the ones Enoch used too. That's a relief."
I felt somehow reassured.
"Yeah, after all, in the jungle, first aid kits are more important than the male leads."
I cut a flesh-colored medical adhesive tape and attached it to the finishing part of the bandage to fix it. And after checking Kaiden's cheeks and neck to check his temperature, I was relieved.
"Ugh..."
Enoch, who had fainted, quickly regained consciousness.
He slowly opened his eyes, sitting with his body leaning against the wall.
"Are you okay?"
At my question, Enoch looked at his tied hands and feet with a dazed expression for a moment.
Seeing his face gradually becoming filled with self-loathing, I approached him.
"I'll untie your wrists."
At my words, he quietly raised his head.
His face was expressionless, but his deep golden eyes seemed to be swirling with intense emotions that I couldn't understand.
He slowly held out his wrist towards me. I untied the knot that tied his wrist and closed the medicine box with a tired face.
"Margaret, are you okay?"
He asked, looking at my complexion with a worried face.
"I'm not okay. I'm tired to death."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, so you don't have to be sorry."
At my words, Enoch closed his mouth again with a heavy face.
When I put away the medicine box and tried to move Kaiden, Enoch came and helped. He moved Kaiden to one corner and then belatedly checked on Kaiden, who had finished his treatment.
I hugged the first aid kit and returned to my seat.
"Margaret."
I was about to lie down on the floor when I looked at Enoch. He came to me and knelt on one knee.
"Is the wound okay? Not that mage, your wound."
Enoch carefully touched my cheek. The bruise had subsided a lot, so it didn't hurt to touch it that much now.
He lowered his voice and said to me as if whispering a secret.
"If you ever feel like getting rid of that guy, tell me. It's not that difficult."
No, getting rid of Kaiden might be a little difficult?
"Are you going to have another fit if you do that?"
Enoch smiled at my question.
"Then it will be easier."
It's a strangely eerie thing to say. I felt uneasy because his latent brutality was awakening little by little.
He's not really going to go crazy like in the novel, is he?
