Chapter 44
He had a slightly feverish and somewhat decadent look.
I don't know if it was because of his intense gaze or his overwhelming aura, but I couldn't even think of pushing him away.
"There's no way you're Margaret."
That's the first thing he says after waking up.
His certainty that I wasn't Margaret made me feel flustered, and I avoided his gaze.
"What are you talking about? If I'm not Margaret, then who am I?"
"I don't know either. But whoever you are, please stay as you are now."
'Stay as I am now...'
Judging from his words, it didn't seem like Kaiden knew what he was saying. But somehow, those words were a great comfort to me.
"When you jumped in to kill those Monsters, I thought I was going crazy."
Kaiden gritted his teeth and growled at me.
"No matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem like I just couldn't control my emotions."
He tilted his head slightly.
I blankly stared at his sharp jawline and his lips, which were coming closer as if to kiss me.
"What are you going to do, Margaret? If I really become interested in you."
His whispering words made my mind freeze, and I couldn't answer, only swallowing hard.
I put my hand over Kaiden's lips, which were about to kiss me.
Kaiden seemed surprised for a moment, his eyes widening, but soon he smiled sweetly and left a ticklish kiss on my palm.
"Huh? Margaret, answer me."
He grabbed my wrist and kept pressing his lips against my palm. The feeling of his breath on my hand made my fingers curl up.
I pulled my hand away from his grasp, and Kaiden didn't force me to stay.
"What do you mean, what am I going to do? What kind of answer do you expect me to give to such ambiguous words?"
I rubbed my wrist where he had grabbed me, tilted my head slightly, and asked him cautiously.
"Your suspicion of me hasn't changed, has it?"
Kaiden closed his mouth as if he had been caught off guard by my question.
"For now, let's just think about surviving on this island."
Whether his interest in Yuanna was directed at me or not, would things really be the same after we escaped this isolated island?
Kaiden Blake Rohade.
He might not be able to exert much power on this isolated island, but he was one of the most renowned Wizards on the Eastern Continent, and a Magic Tower Lord.
Would such an important figure really say that he liked Margaret, whom he had so despised, even after leaving this island?
There's something called the shaky bridge effect.
It's not that your heart beats because you're in love, but you mistake it for love because your heart is beating.
People often experience this phenomenon when traveling, but we're experiencing a similar phenomenon by going through hardships together in an extreme environment like this.
Besides, Kaiden hasn't met Yuanna yet.
"But..."
"What are you doing now?"
Kaiden was about to open his mouth to refute my words when Bishop Ruzef appeared at the right moment and pulled Kaiden away from me.
He stood in front of me, shielding me as he looked at Kaiden as if he were a perverted molester.
"That shameless Wizard...!"
Bishop Ruzef raised one arm and blocked my path protectively.
"Don't Wizards have any manners?"
At Bishop Ruzef's words, Kaiden crossed his arms and replied irritably.
"I don't want to hear that from a shameless cleric."
"What kind of wealth and glory would I enjoy by healing that Wizard bastard..."
"I would have survived even if you hadn't healed me?"
Kaiden shrugged his shoulders and replied in a tone that showed no gratitude at all.
"I don't die easily, usually. My body is just like that."
A body that's just like that?
"Kaiden, what does that..."
"Margaret!"
I was about to ask about Kaiden's meaningful words when Enoch, who had just woken up, came over and hugged me tightly.
Enoch hugged me for a moment, letting out a hot sigh. Then, he cupped my cheeks with his hands and looked me up and down.
His black hair was disheveled over his forehead. His Golden Eyes, staring intently at me, scanned me anxiously.
Perhaps it was because of the beauty mark under his left eye, or because he also had a slight fever and a flushed complexion, but his gaze seemed particularly captivating today.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Does anything hurt?"
"No."
"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
"I'm fine. Really."
Only then did he look relieved and hug me again. He buried his face in my shoulder and took a deep breath, as if smelling my scent.
"Do you know how I felt when you ran towards the Monster?"
Enoch raised his head again, looked at my face, and said firmly.
"Don't do anything so reckless again."
And as soon as he finished speaking, Kaiden, who was sitting next to him, retorted irritably.
"I hope you haven't forgotten that I and my lackey are here too."
Only then did Enoch's gaze reach Kaiden.
Then, Kaiden's fierce gaze and Enoch's murderous gaze met.
I saw the two men's war of nerves beginning and hurriedly intervened.
"I'm fine, but it doesn't seem like you two are? Let me check your condition."
I brought the first aid kit and examined Kaiden and Enoch's wounds in turn.
Bishop Ruzef didn't come close to us with a sulky face, perhaps because Enoch and Kaiden hadn't said a single word of thanks to him.
Then, it was only when it was time for dinner that he ate some fruit with a relieved face.
I had no appetite, so I put the fruit aside and brought the cut tree branches to finish the shoes I had been making during the day.
They weren't straw sandals, but I had to make something similar. I really couldn't wear those flats.
I peeled the bark off the tree branches and smoothed the sharp parts, then asked Enoch.
"I heard the situation from the Bishop, roughly? What happened to those Monsters?"
Only then did Enoch stop thinking and look straight at me.
"It seems that the Monster's corpse was the problem. It seems they smelled it and came. When they first appeared, they kept wandering around the corpse."
It was the same thing Bishop Ruzef had said.
Was it really as Bishop Ruzef said, that the dead Anaconda Monster was carrying eggs, and other Monsters had gathered to protect the female and her offspring because that Monster had died?
This was a pretty plausible hypothesis.
If there really were eggs in her belly, did the offspring in those eggs die too?
There was no way to know since we wouldn't be going back there.
Kaiden sat with his chin propped up, eating grapes with an indifferent expression, then frowned.
"I thought there were only Wolf-type Monsters, but snakes..."
"It seems that other types of Monsters exist as well. We need to be especially careful from the time the sun sets."
At Enoch's words, Bishop Ruzef and I nodded.
"Enoch, and you seemed to be maintaining your reason even after seeing blood. Do you remember?"
At my question, Enoch frowned. He pondered with a troubled expression, then shook his head.
"I don't remember. I don't know how I did it."
"Hmm. Still, it's a good sign that you can endure it with willpower. Maybe your trauma is being healed. Think carefully about how you felt at that time."
I hoped his trauma would be healed soon. There were too many situations where we would see blood on this island, so I didn't want him to Berserk state.
I began to weave the tree branches and make knots to create a flat shoe sole.
Enoch, Kaiden, and Bishop Ruzef watched me as if I were a strange sight. It was embarrassing, why were they staring so much?
Anyway, it was absolutely impossible to make sturdy shoes like straw sandals, so I had to make them into a slipper shape so I could wear them. If I could just hold out with these until I found modern clothes and shoes...
"First, we need to find a safe place and move again."
At my words, everyone fell silent again. That riverside cabin had been built with so much effort.
"How are we supposed to escape from here?"
Kaiden said, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
"It would be nice if we had a clue about the Escape Gate, but it's difficult. First of all, Alea seems to be leaving marks, so how about looking for those marks?"
I listened to Kaiden's words and made another suggestion to them. The three men looked at me.
"Alea?"
Bishop Ruzef asked me with a puzzled expression.
I took out a Flares from my dress pocket and showed it to him.
"It seems that Alea is the owner of this Magical Artifact. Besides this, the name Alea is engraved on places like cliffs."
Bishop Ruzef looked surprised when he saw the name Alea engraved on the Flares.
"Is the first aid kit and this also in the Eastern Continent language?"
I nodded at his question.
It would be revealed that it wasn't the Eastern Continent language when we escaped the island, but at least it wouldn't be revealed while we were on this island. There was no plausible excuse that came to mind anyway.
"Margaret is right. It seems urgent to find even a clue. So far, the only thing we've found on this island is this one word, Alea."
I nodded in agreement with Enoch's words.
"The Escape Gate that Kaiden mentioned might really exist. There are Magical Artifacts and Monsters, so I can't guarantee that there isn't something else on this island."
Enoch, Kaiden, and Bishop Ruzef nodded as if they agreed with my words.
"I think it would be better not to settle in one place for too long and explore the entire island."
"The entire island? I went up the mountain and saw it, it's really big here, Margaret."
Then, when Kaiden refuted my words, Enoch defended me again.
"I know. I can't say the island is small, but we have to do it if necessary, don't we?"
There was a certain power in Enoch's words that made you want to follow them. Perhaps it was because he was a commander in the army and a person who would lead a country.
Anyway, this time Kaiden couldn't refute and closed his mouth.
First of all, by scouting the island and rummaging around, we could acquire even one more hidden item, which would increase our chances of survival.
And it wasn't a lie that there was an Escape Gate.
It was a cowardly thing to say, but I still kept silent about the Bunker map. That was really my last card.
"Margaret is right. We have to do something."
Everyone kept a positive silence in response to Enoch's answer.
So, we ended up deciding to explore the island the next day, looking for a refuge.
I finally finished the slippers and put them on, and they looked pretty decent even to me.
Let's pretend I didn't notice the three men blushing when they saw my bare feet.
They're like sandals to wear on rainy days, and they're good, why. And you guys were wearing shoes that were comfortable to move in because you were men. I was wearing flats, flats.
