Chapter 33
I wrapped the vine around my waist, tied the Spear in between, and smiled. Enoch had been catching fish himself for the past few days, but he seemed busy today, so I had to step up.
“Fish. The ones you’ve been eating for the past few days. I’m going to catch them.”
“Wait a minute. Is what I’m hearing real? Margaret Rose Flone, of all people, is going fish hunting?”
I was too annoyed to answer Kaiden’s repeated questions, so I just nodded.
“I’m going crazy. You’re going to catch fish with that Spear? Are you really a noble Lady?”
“That’s discriminatory. A noble Lady can’t go fish hunting?”
“Even a noble young master wouldn’t go fish hunting. Especially not with that Spear.”
I retorted, feeling a surge of emotion, but then I had to admit that my question was strange.
That’s right. What noble would go fish hunting? Especially with a Spear. Even I thought it was ridiculous. But even if you’re a noble, you have no choice if your survival is at stake.
“Anyway, I’m tired of eating fish, but there don’t seem to be any animals to hunt nearby.”
It seemed like it was really time to move our base. We needed to find an environment with more abundant food resources.
Just as I was thinking that, Enoch returned.
Enoch came back with a bunch of coconuts in his arms, and when he spotted Kaiden, his face crumpled.
He roughly put the coconuts down in the cave, came back, grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from Kaiden.
“I definitely tied him up.”
At Enoch’s muttering, I finally noticed the piece of cloth dangling from Kaiden’s right wrist. He must have tied Kaiden up with that before leaving the cave.
“Don’t get close to Margaret.”
Enoch blocked my way again and glared at Kaiden.
“Now I’m being treated like a germ.”
Kaiden grumbled, but neither Enoch nor I gave him a special response.
I told Enoch for now.
“Don’t tie him up again. I asked him to do something.”
At my words, Kaiden pouted his lower lip and retorted rebelliously.
“I’m not going to do it.”
“Then no food.”
“How much firewood do I have to get?”
Kaiden quickly gave up, tidied up his spot, and approached me.
I told him to get enough firewood for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you this for a while, Margaret. You’re really different from the Margaret Rose Flone I know, aren’t you?”
Kaiden suddenly said.
“You’re not someone else?”
I couldn’t readily deny it.
Kaiden rested his chin on his hand and scrutinized my face. Of course, he was soon stopped by Enoch.
Enoch took care of me as meticulously as a mother wolf taking care of her cub. And I didn’t refuse his protection.
“That’s because you don’t know Margaret well. You don’t know Margaret’s true self.”
Enoch suddenly said to Kaiden in a boastful tone.
What is it? Enoch probably doesn’t know my true self either. It was funny.
At Enoch’s words, Kaiden crossed his arms with a displeased look, frowned, and turned to me.
“What is your true self?”
This time, Enoch also turned to me. Receiving the expectant gazes of the two men, my heart grew heavy. Why are you being so burdensome?
“Uh… um, Bear Grylls?”
Of course, I said it as a joke, but Enoch and Kaiden, who had no idea who that was, looked at me as if they didn’t understand.
Anyway, in the novel, Kaiden lived alone without participating in community life, even though there was a female lead.
But I don’t know why he’s still staying in the cave without leaving.
Besides, I thought Enoch was the one who despised me the most, followed by Kaiden. But now, both of them were friendly to me.
I have a good feeling. I hope this friendliness continues.
With that thought, I turned my back on Enoch and Kaiden and went hunting.
Fortunately, Kaiden had done everything I asked him to do while I was out hunting. He even caught two rabbits with Enoch.
Kaiden was very excited.
“I feel like my head is clearer. My condition is really good.”
He said to me with a bright smile. It seemed that physical labor was effective in opening the flow of Mana.
‘Yeah, that’s much better than hunting Monsters dangerously.’
I settled down in front of the cave and started cleaning the rabbits. Kaiden, who approached me, asked with a surprised look.
“You… do you do this too?”
The nuance was strange. I glanced at Kaiden and continued cleaning in silence. Meanwhile, Enoch was preparing the barbecue.
“Shall I help?”
I shook my head at Kaiden’s question.
“It’s okay. Help Enoch prepare the meal.”
It would be difficult for even me to clean a large animal like a wild boar alone. But I could easily handle small animals like rabbits and squirrels.
Of course, this was also something that a typical noble could never do.
Despite my words, Kaiden wandered around with an unbelievable look on his face, watching what I was doing.
As I skillfully cleaned without hesitation, he finally backed down.
“…I’ll go prepare the meal.”
He eventually went to help Enoch quietly.
My cleaning of the game ended sooner than Enoch and Kaiden’s meal preparation. I quietly watched them prepare the barbecue skewers and yawned.
‘I’m bored.’
I couldn’t stand being still, so I ended up wandering around the cave and cleaning.
Kaiden, who found that sight, made a really strange face.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, Your Highness? Do noble Ladies normally clean too?”
At Kaiden’s words, Enoch, with a face that was now used to it, chuckled.
“Don’t you know after living together for a few days? Margaret is not an ordinary noble Lady.”
Enoch had a proud smile on his face as he said that.
There was even a hint of pride, like a father boasting about his daughter who came in first place at a gifted academy.
‘No, Kaiden was originally strange, so that’s fine, but…’
How did Enoch become like that?
I shook my head, looking at Enoch, who had a proud look on his face.
Anyway, the cleaning was perfectly finished, and we shared a hearty meal for the first time in a while.
\ \ *
The next day, we finally decided to move our base.
Kaiden knew the location of a place with a large river flowing through it.
And Enoch unexpectedly agreed with his opinion that it would be better to build a base near the river than on the beach.
There was the advantage of being able to fish in the sea near the coast, but there were no other special advantages.
However, the reason why we, or rather Enoch, couldn’t give up the area near the coast was in case a ship happened to pass by the sea.
But it had already been almost a month since we woke up on the island.
Now, survival was more important than waiting for rescue, and we decided to change our living rules to prioritize survival but not give up on rescue.
In addition, we also needed to find information about the name Alea.
I packed my luggage diligently.
But all I had to take were the medicine bottle, the Spear I had worked hard to make, the bamboo tube, and the tree rope that Kaiden had made.
I also took the dress scraps that were turning into rags. Even a piece of cloth is precious on this deserted island.
We decided to make coconut bowls again when we found a new base. There were plenty of palm trees, so there was no need to increase the luggage unnecessarily.
“Kaiden, are you going too?”
At my question, Kaiden immediately made a disappointed face.
“Why are you only asking me that question? Crown Prince Enoch is obviously going with us, but not me?”
At Kaiden’s question, I was rather flustered and glanced at Enoch, who was behind him.
Enoch stopped packing and laughed as if he was dumbfounded.
“Are you even asking that? There was never any room for you to squeeze in between us in the first place.”
“If there’s no room, you can make one, right? If Margaret gives me a chance.”
Kaiden and Enoch looked at me at the same time.
I stopped packing and sighed wearily, receiving the gazes of the two men.
‘Ah, should I just abandon both of them and leave?’
