Chapter 5
“It didn’t look like an ordinary wolf either.”
I chimed in at Enoch’s words. It definitely looked like a Monster from a novel, but I couldn’t act like I knew that.
“And Sword Aura didn’t activate.”
I also heard him muttering, ‘If he had used Sword Aura, he wouldn’t have had to use brute force.’
Only then did it occur to me.
‘That’s right. Mana and Divine Power didn’t work on this island.’
Sword Aura, magic, and Divine Power were all useless here. That’s why we had to survive with our bare bodies.
Still, like the male leads, they were all physically capable and good at hunting, so it seemed they didn’t have to worry about food. Thinking about Enoch’s merciless brute strength when he defeated the Monster earlier, there seemed to be no need to worry even without Sword Aura.
“……I don’t know why I’m telling you this, considering what you know, Lady.”
Enoch ended with a remark that ignored me after all.
‘I was complimenting him, but look at the way that man speaks?’
Patience. Patience. They say if you have patience three times, you can avoid murder.
“I don’t know who or why they abandoned the two of us here. And why it had to be you and me of all people, that’s also suspicious……”
Enoch trailed off. He seemed to be suspecting me again.
“If I had intended to kidnap Your Highness, I would have locked you up in a secluded mansion, not in this perilous wilderness.”
I was trying to emphasize that I was harmless as much as possible, but it sounded like I really had thought about kidnapping him.
Enoch’s silence grew longer. Flustered by the awkward silence, I added more.
“Of course, I’ve never thought about it. And I certainly never thought about putting it into action.”
I was being pathetic and long-winded. Even I thought it was a ridiculous excuse, so I don’t know if Enoch believed it.
When no answer came, I turned my head and saw Enoch lying down, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.
Even his profile is fantastically handsome.
The world is so unfair. I gathered the hair that came down to my chest and held it in my hand.
‘Dazzling platinum blonde…….’
In fact, Margaret was also pretty. In terms of appearance alone, she was considered the most beautiful in the Empire.
But her beautiful appearance was overshadowed by her bizarre personality.
After staring at my hair for a while, I asked Enoch.
“It really doesn’t seem like there’s anyone here, does it?”
“We don’t know yet. But I believe there will be. If this isn’t an island.”
Enoch seemed to be hypnotizing himself. That this wasn’t an island.
But if the novel I knew was right, this was an island. A deserted island at that. But I couldn’t tell Enoch that fact, so I just sighed deeply.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”
I got up and turned to face Enoch.
“It doesn’t seem like we were kidnapped. If the purpose was kidnapping, they wouldn’t have abandoned us on the beach like this.”
Enoch slowly sat up, following me. Then, with a thoughtful expression, he said nothing.
Was he thinking of Lordbahn, the deposed Crown Prince? Enoch seemed to think that this was the work of forces trying to harm him.
But I know that the Crown Prince of the Hestia Kingdom, the Imperial Guard Commander of the Empire, the Saintess, the Archbishop, and the archmage are all on this island.
‘All the big shots of the Empire are gathered.’
It didn’t seem like they were just targeting Enoch alone. The strangest thing was that Margaret, just a noble lady, was among them.
I crossed my arms and asked him with a serious face.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on? What were you doing before you came here, Your Highness?”
Enoch’s brow furrowed. He didn’t seem to have any idea, and after a moment of contemplation, he shook his head with a displeased expression.
“I was working.”
“Where?”
“In the Imperial Palace office.”
“What about before work?”
“Before……? I was working all the time.”
“No, I meant what were you doing before you started working. You must have eaten and met people.”
At my question, Enoch looked at me with a flustered expression. It was the first expression I had seen since meeting him.
“I didn’t eat. I had some fruit in the office because I had a lot of paperwork.”
“So, you’re saying you woke up in the morning, didn’t eat, and just worked in the office, and then you opened your eyes and you were here?”
Enoch didn’t answer my question. Silence was affirmation. He avoided my gaze, perhaps embarrassed.
“What about the day before?”
“I woke up in the morning, had a simple meal in the office, attended the cabinet meeting, and then continued to work in the office.”
He was a terrible workaholic. He seemed even worse than Koreans, who are known for overworking.
Lee Jin-joo, a twenty-seven-year-old ordinary office worker, reflects. You have to work like that to succeed and become a Crown Prince.
“Didn’t you go out? Didn’t you meet any outsiders? Have you encountered any suspicious people recently?”
Only then did Enoch frown, as if he didn’t like my barrage of questions.
“It feels like I’m being interrogated.”
“You are being interrogated.”
Enoch crossed his arms with a displeased expression. Then he tilted his head and glared at me.
“I think it’s your turn to be interrogated this time, Lady.”
“You haven’t answered my question yet.”
Where was he trying to escape to? When I stood firm without backing down, he sighed and said in a calm tone.
“I haven’t met any suspicious outsiders. I haven’t been outside the Imperial Palace for the past month because it’s a busy season with year-end settlements.”
Enoch looked troubled as he said that.
I thought his life was boring, but when I thought about it, I didn’t feel like I had spent my past life meaningfully either. That’s how all office workers are.
“What were you doing, Lady?”
“I was……”
I was looking through Margaret’s memories, but I shut my mouth tightly.
I could never say that I was at the mansion, indulging in my hobby with his portrait that I had obtained with difficulty. I didn’t want to get an unpleasant look by confessing the truth.
“I was enjoying tea time at the Flone mansion’s salon. As you can see from my attire, I’ve been indoors.”
In fact, I was wearing an indoor dress and flat shoes.
The dress had a fancy Pichu on the neckline, and there was a lot of lace on the sleeves and hem of the dress. In addition, the large jewel decoration on the neckline was quite flashy.
It was definitely not an outfit suitable for this wilderness.
“Among the people I’ve met recently, there are suspicious people…… I don’t know. I’m very sociable, so I meet a lot of people. It’s hard to tell who was suspicious among those many people.”
Actually, it was more the power of the Flone ducal family than sociability.
Margaret had a picky personality, so she wasn’t a popular person. Enoch seemed to think the same, but he didn’t bother to point that out.
After my words, an uncomfortable silence flowed again.
The sound of waves breaking at regular intervals cut through the silence.
Before I knew it, the sun had completely set and darkness had fallen. The moon that rose above the eerily black sea was very bright.
Enoch quietly opened his mouth.
“I don’t think it’s easy to judge anything yet.”
That was right. First, we need to go up to a high place tomorrow and figure out where this is.
“Let’s conserve our energy and sleep for tonight. We need to find out where this is tomorrow.”
Enoch nodded in agreement with my words.
Soon, we lay down with our backs to each other.
I thought about running away while he was sleeping, but only for a moment. I quickly dismissed the idea after recalling the Monster I had encountered in the afternoon.
First, I should climb the mountain with Enoch tomorrow, assess the situation, and then make a thorough plan to escape.
‘And who knows? Maybe when I open my eyes tomorrow morning, I’ll be in my bedroom. I just had a long dream.’
With such hopeful expectations, I went to sleep. I tried to push the ominous thoughts into a corner of my heart.
That’s how the first night on the unknown beach passed.
\ \ *
Unfortunately, all of this was not a dream. I woke up on the beach where I had fallen asleep yesterday.
The temperature difference was so severe that I thought I was going to die of hypothermia last night. It was because there was no fire.
One night was lucky, but I could never live like this. I didn’t have a lighter to start a fire, but I had to find a way somehow.
I got up shivering, and something that was covering my shoulders fell with a thud.
It was a jacket with fancy gold epaulettes.
“Looks like you’re awake.”
When I turned my head, Enoch was looking at me silently with his arms crossed. As if he had been watching me all night.
