Chapter 3
2. To Be Abandoned on This Godforsaken Island
“I should probably go up the mountain first. It’s best to check the terrain from a high place. If it’s inland, I won’t see the horizon, but if it’s an island…”
If it’s an island, I’ll see the horizon.
Enoch trailed off, as if he didn’t even want to consider the latter possibility.
I was being dragged along the beach by my wrist, looking up at the sky. The sun was already setting.
Climbing a mountain at this hour wasn’t a good idea. If the sun set while we were climbing, we’d likely be stranded. More than anything, the problem was the Monsters that came out at night.
Enoch, who had been acting like he wanted to kill me just moments ago, had calmed down a lot. He was starting to realize that there wasn’t much I could do here.
“It would be better to climb the mountain tomorrow. We shouldn’t climb if the sun’s going to set.”
Thankfully, Enoch understood me right away.
“I didn’t know the Lady was capable of such normal thinking.”
I frowned at Enoch’s words. Was that a compliment or an insult?
“As the Lady says, we’ll climb the mountain tomorrow. We should look around a bit more first.”
He was very quick to grasp the situation, as expected of someone who had rolled around on battlefields.
Come to think of it, Enoch was a prince born from a commoner maid, yet he became the crown prince solely through his abilities. He had earned numerous merits on the battlefield, defeating all his other brothers to seize the crown prince position.
As described in the novel, he was a very ruthless man who never knew how to back down.
And that was the man who went mad with obsession and madness for the female lead after coming to a deserted island.
…Is it really okay for me to be alone with this man? He hasn’t gone crazy for the female lead like in the novel yet, so it should be fine…?
Anyway, he finally let go of my wrist. I massaged the wrist he had been holding and let out a sigh of relief.
And then we walked along the beach again.
After walking along the beach for a while, I stopped in my tracks. Enoch, who was walking ahead, turned around, sensing my hesitation.
I stood on the beach and looked at the mangrove trees that were vaguely visible between the palm trees. Mangroves mainly grow in rivers that connect to the sea or lakes.
‘The fact that there are mangrove trees means that water flows here. Should I go into the forest after all?’
Then, I rested my chin on my hand and opened my mouth with a face of anguish, like a cold-blooded philosopher.
“I think the beach ends here. I think we really need to make a decision now.”
A huge cliff blocked the end of the sandy beach. The path ended here.
Enoch seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he silently followed my gaze into the dark forest.
“We need to find a place to sleep before the sun sets.”
I nodded in agreement to Enoch’s words.
So we decided to look for a place to hide for the night. If necessary, we would prepare a place to sleep on the beach where we had first woken up and moved.
Actually, it would be faster to move separately in this kind of situation, but Enoch kept me by his side and wouldn’t let go.
What if we can’t find a place to sleep before the sun sets? My lips felt parched at the thought. I need to hurry.
Some time later, we were searching the forest near the beach.
Awoo-!
A wolf’s howl came from somewhere. A chill ran down my spine from head to toe.
‘Could it be, a Monster…? It can’t be, right?’
My heart was pounding. It doesn’t make sense. I know that Monsters only appear at night?
I felt like my blood was drying up from the rising fear.
“Is that a wolf…?”
I turned to Enoch to ask if it was a wolf’s howl.
That was the moment.
The sound of bushes violently rustling came from the forest, where there had been no sign of anyone. The sounds that had been heard in the distance were closing in. And it became close in an instant. My hands were clammy with tension.
Thud thud thud thud.
The approaching footsteps were frighteningly fast. It was such a fleeting moment that I didn’t even have time to grasp the situation.
The moment I thought I saw a glimpse of gleaming eyes between the tall bushes,
Thwack!
Something huge drew a large semicircle in the sky and leaped up. And it fell right towards me, mouth wide open!
It was a Wolf-type Monster. The long tongue that protruded between its sharp, dense teeth writhed flexibly like the body of a snake.
Overwhelmed by the bizarre sight, I couldn’t even scream.
At that moment, Enoch quickly pulled me into his arms.
Using the force of pulling me as a reaction, he turned half a circle and easily avoided the Monster’s attack.
The creature that landed lightly on the ground and growled at us was definitely one of the Monsters described in the novel.
I took a deep breath in Enoch’s arms.
Enoch tightened his grip on me and broke off a thick branch from a nearby tree. The creature didn’t miss that fleeting gap and rushed towards us.
‘Fucking hell!’
Fortunately, Enoch’s agility and strength were beyond imagination. He re-gripped the tree branch with one hand and used it to pierce the Monster’s back, driving it down.
Thud! The dirt floor vibrated with a huge roar. It was a merciless display of brute force. The veins on Enoch’s firm forearm, which was holding the tree branch, stood out.
Yelp!
Unlike its initial momentum, the Monster let out a pathetic sound and collapsed to the ground. It was motionless, as if it had stopped breathing. Black blood stained the dirt floor.
Enoch took a rough breath and raised his lowered upper body.
I was still in his arms, panting in shock. Enoch’s forearm, with its angry veins, was flushed red as if it would burst.
Well, he had killed a Monster in one blow with just a tree branch… Ordinary strength wouldn’t have been enough.
Come to think of it, Enoch in the original story had trauma related to blood. I remember it was a war aftereffect.
‘What exactly were the symptoms?’
I tried to recall, but I couldn’t remember anything, perhaps because I was so startled by the Monster.
In the end, I gave up trying to think and looked up at the sky.
In the original story, Monsters only appeared at night. But these Monsters that attacked us appeared even though the sun hadn’t set yet.
‘Why?’
The red sunset sky came into view through the dense bushes. Looking around, I noticed that it was dark only where we were, because of the dense trees.
‘Maybe the keyword isn’t night, but darkness.’
Monsters can move as long as it’s dark, and the time when darkness lingers the longest is night, so that’s when they’re most active.
‘Then that explains why the Monster appeared at this time.’
Then Enoch pushed me away as if getting rid of something dirty and shook his hand. He glanced at the dead Monster once and then looked at my face.
“I don’t know what that is. Are you alright, Lady?”
“…Pardon?”
I was so surprised that I understood his question a beat late. Then he approached me with a serious expression.
Enoch, standing in front of me, tilted his head and calmly examined my face. Soon, his hand touched my cheek.
The moment his warm body temperature touched my cheek, I gasped.
It was a completely different reaction from before, when he had pushed me away as if getting rid of something dirty.
He asked me with a serious face, as if looking at a wounded comrade.
“I’m asking because you have a face like you’re about to die. Are you alright?”
Perhaps he really was reminded of his own comrades.
“Ah… Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for saving me.”
My voice trembled loudly because the fear hadn’t completely subsided. My face flushed with embarrassment.
He stared at me silently, then frowned as if annoyed. Then he held out his hand to me.
I looked at his hand blankly, not knowing what he meant. Then he shook his hand, urging me on.
This time, it wasn’t forcibly pulling my wrist, but an invitation. It seemed to be a consideration of sorts, seeing as there was an option to not take his hand.
“You know you’re still a suspect, Lady. When we return to the Empire, you’ll be properly questioned about this situation, so you’re not allowed to die without my permission.”
‘Questioned? What did I do wrong?’
As I hesitated, Enoch glared at me as if something else displeased him. Then he added a final word like a sigh.
“Hurry and grab it. It’s dangerous.”
It was a very irritable tone.
What is this? This tsundere-like charisma is annoying, but reassuring.
