Chapter 4
\ \ *
As the sunset began, the sun quickly went down.
We couldn't wander through the forest any longer, not after encountering a Monster.
My startled heart still hadn't calmed down, but dwelling on that feeling wouldn't help.
We eventually returned to the beach and looked for a place to sleep.
And by chance, we found a huge log lying under a palm tree.
The log had fallen towards the beach, and it seemed like a good place to hide beside it. Although it was a beach, it was closer to the edge of the forest, so it seemed safe from sandstorms.
We decided to make our shelter for the night here.
I first settled down next to the log and dug out the sandy ground to the size of a person could lie down.
Then, I picked up pebbles and laid them on the dug-out ground to prevent the sand from collapsing while we slept.
"We need branches. We'll lay them on top of this."
Enoch, who was watching what I was doing, looked at me with a face that said he had a lot to ask but didn't know where to start.
"Your Highness, branches."
At my repeated words, Enoch glanced at me with a dubious look and went to find branches.
I placed the branches Enoch brought tightly on top of the pebbles. Then, I spread the moss I had gathered from the forest widely on top of the branches.
The clumps of moss were moist and fluffy, making them suitable for use as toilet paper in the wild, and they were also good for laying under our sleeping place.
"We also need broad leaves to put on top of this fluffy moss..."
I was about to say that we needed leaves to put on top of the fluffy moss.
But before I could even speak, Enoch had already found broad leaves and laid them on top of the bed I had made.
Following that, he used the fallen log as a support and erected a long, thick tree trunk at an angle. A slanted roof was created over the makeshift bed.
It seemed like a plausible sleeping place had been prepared. Unexpectedly, Enoch and I worked well together.
"Don't stick too close. I have no desire to sleep with Lady Flone."
At Enoch's words, I glared at him.
"I could say the same thing? How do I know what you'll do?"
Then he stared at me as if he was dumbfounded.
"You?"
"No, I mean, Your Highness."
I brazenly corrected my honorific.
Enoch looked displeased but didn't push it further and shut his mouth. He seemed unable to adapt to my change.
But there were too many things we needed to solve to dwell on such changes.
Anyway, Enoch gave me the spot next to the log and took the outer spot for himself. To show such kindness even to someone he dislikes. His manners are top-notch as expected.
Sitting on the makeshift bed and looking at the sunset sky, I turned to Enoch with a serious expression.
"Your Highness."
Enoch looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Aren't you thirsty?"
Enoch, who seemed to have been very tense, glared at me with a deflated face. I shrugged and got up from my seat.
"Wait here. I'll go get some coconuts."
The palm trees were right behind us.
'I'm also good at climbing trees.'
I had even climbed trees and picked bananas, which only true experts could do. Of course, it would be better if there were any unrotten coconuts lying on the ground.
But Enoch stopped me with a distrustful look.
"Where are you going? Stay put."
"I'm not going far, it's right behind us. I'm really thirsty."
"I don't trust you. You're always thinking about escaping at the first chance you get."
I couldn't deny it, so I had nothing to say.
"I've told you, haven't I? Lady Flone hasn't been completely cleared as a suspect. So stay alive and stick by my side until we return to the Empire."
...Something about that didn't sound right, but anyway, he was telling me not to think about escaping.
I understood why he was reacting like that, so I just let out a tired sigh.
"Just explain what the fruit looks like. I'll go get it."
Enoch said, looking at me with a troubled face. He seemed to have judged that it would be easier to catch me if I ran away if I was on the beach rather than in the forest.
That was true too. I had no choice but to explain to him what a coconut looked like.
He listened quietly to the explanation and disappeared, returning a while later with two coconuts.
"Did you climb the tree to get them?"
"No, there were many lying on the ground as Lady Flone said."
He despised me in words, but he diligently did everything I asked him to do.
"But what does being thirsty have to do with this fruit?"
"This is a coconut that grows on palm trees? The sap inside this coconut is good for replenishing moisture."
I tapped the coconut and continued.
"This one looks good. If you eat a fruit that's too ripe, you can get diarrhea. You're likely to lose moisture trying to replenish it."
I looked for a stone that could split the coconut.
And I was diligently hitting the coconut shell with the stone when I heard Enoch sigh next to me.
He snatched the coconut from me and split it in half with his bare hands.
His strength is amazing as expected. No, is this just brute force? This is the first time I've seen someone split the hard coconut shell with their bare hands, which even a knife can't easily cut through.
"Wait a minute! Don't drink it like that!"
I barely managed to stop Enoch from drinking the coconut as it was. He looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"The ones on the ground might be rotten. Insects might have gnawed at them."
I examined the inside of the coconut and smelled it. Then, I dipped my finger in the sap and tasted it lightly. It was a taste I had experienced before.
"I've checked it, so you can drink it now."
At my words, Enoch also lifted the coconut he was holding and drank the sap. I was thirsty too, so I swallowed the sap that poured out through the split gap.
"I feel alive."
I put down the coconut and took a deep breath.
"You know more than I thought."
Enoch said with a face that was much more relaxed after replenishing his moisture. I shrugged in silence in response.
Come to think of it, in the original story, Margaret and Enoch had a hard time replenishing moisture until they met the female lead, drinking rainwater or collecting dew for days.
But unlike the original story, Enoch was adapting easily thanks to me, and I was keeping myself alive from the Monster thanks to Enoch.
'Is this what they call a win-win situation?'
Thinking that, I raised my head. The sky was already dyed a light purple. I sat down and stared blankly at the sky.
I still don't know what's going on.
Whether I'm really alive. Whether this is really inside the novel.
"Lady Flone seems to have become a different person."
Enoch, who had been examining me with a calm face, opened his mouth after a long time.
"I am a different person."
I was just stating the facts, but Enoch didn't believe me. No, why? He was the one who said I seemed like a different person first.
"To be sure, when I look at Lady Flone's judgment and coping methods now, I doubt whether you are the Lady Flone I knew."
Enoch had a face that said he needed an explanation, but I didn't have anything to explain.
"Your reaction is different from that of a typical noble lady. Usually, they aren't as calm as you are when faced with this kind of situation."
I nodded in agreement with Enoch's words. But again, there was no way to explain it.
The original Margaret Rose Flone was a duchess's daughter who was caught up in aristocratic superiority. Of course, she wouldn't be able to act skillfully in this kind of situation. She would never have been to such a deserted beach.
But the me before the possession was someone who had lived a completely different life from Margaret.
That's because I was a Girl Scout leader and instructor who enjoyed hardcore camping.
After being an instructor, I even got a job at a company that sold camping equipment. I enjoyed all kinds of outdoor sports, and I even had an outback experience when I traveled to a tropical region.
At that time, I lamented that my life was so spectacular, but now that I think about it, it's not a bad spec for being stranded on a desert island.
Of course, there's no such thing as a good spec for being stranded on a desert island, but I think I have a higher chance of surviving than the average person, right?
Who knew that those experiences would be so helpful.
Of course, as I said before, my combat power is zero, so I would die immediately if a Monster or wild animal appeared.
"People tend to change when they're driven to extreme environments."
I focused on the fact that I had changed and made an excuse.
Acting like I wasn't Margaret was never a good choice. It was like voluntarily making myself look suspicious.
I might be suspected of kidnapping Enoch or that I was the one who created this situation.
I had a hunch, but as expected, Enoch had a face that said he couldn't understand my words.
"Well, that's rare."
Soon, he replied in a calm voice.
Only then did I realize that I shouldn't have said that in front of him, who had been through all kinds of battlefields. It was like showing off in front of an expert.
In the end, I had no words to refute, so I closed my mouth. And I lay down on the narrow makeshift bedding and looked up at the sky.
While I was just staring blankly at the sky, Enoch spoke first.
"That wasn't an animal from earlier. It had an aura similar to a Monster."
