Chapter 67
Enoch was so surprised by my bold suggestion that he rushed to me in a panic.
“Margaret, absolutely not.”
He grabbed my hand with a face full of worry, glaring fiercely at Asdal.
“Enoch.”
I patted his shoulder. Enoch turned to me with a stubborn look. His worry for me was still evident.
I smiled at him and took out a Flare from my pocket.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll shoot it if anything happens.”
Enoch’s face was full of dissatisfaction, but he didn’t argue with my decision any further.
“Who said I would go with the Young Lady?”
Asdal shrugged with a seemingly nonchalant expression and said to me.
“His Highness promised himself.”
Royals are generally sensitive to ‘promises.’ They believe there is nothing more dishonorable than breaking a promise. That’s why they don’t make promises lightly in the first place.
As expected, Asdal glared at me with a displeased look.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll go with The Saintess.”
“I’ll go.”
Only then did Asdal accept the offer. He probably didn’t like the idea of Yuanna, whom he protects and cherishes, doing menial work.
‘Wait, now that I think about it, this is so unfair. I’m not doing menial work either. Margaret is also a noble!’
Is Asdal and Diego’s protectiveness of Yuanna really just guilt, as Yuanna said?
Certainly, it didn’t seem like a light emotion, like falling in love with her at first sight and cherishing her with affection.
Suddenly, I wanted to find out what had happened between Yuanna, Asdal, and Diego.
‘I need to find out soon.’
I stopped Enoch from offering to come with me and packed a Spear to catch fish and a basket to carry them in.
Then, I diligently packed weapons into my crossbody bag. Flares, Flare bullets, and even a Bomb.
Of course, our noble prince didn’t pack anything, but he still had some manners as a royal, so he carried the basket for me.
And so, I headed to the valley with Asdal.
We didn’t say a word to each other the whole way, but we weren’t exactly on friendly terms, so I didn’t mind.
If I remember correctly, in the Langrid Empire, Enoch was by far the best swordsman, followed by Diego. And Asdal was a hidden master who could spar with Enoch and Diego.
Even if his survival skills are zero, he has a talent for strength and swordsmanship, so he might be good at throwing a Spear, right?
But my expectations were shattered. Asdal couldn’t even handle the Spear properly. I couldn’t stand watching him awkwardly standing in front of the valley, repeatedly stabbing the Spear into the water with clumsy movements, so I finally said something.
“Do you even know how to throw a Spear?”
A look of embarrassment flashed across Asdal’s face at my question, but he quickly retorted.
“You’re not any better at it. But I’m probably better than you. Just stay out of the way, since you’re only hindering me.”
Asdal pushed me away, leaving behind those absurd words. I was pushed back helplessly and stared blankly at his back.
‘Fine. Let’s see how well you do.’
I can rest now, so how great is that?
I hummed and sat on a nearby rock, watching what Asdal was doing.
After stabbing the Spear into the water for a long time, Asdal finally lost his footing and fell.
“Damn it!”
The elegant Asdal cursed and punched the surface of the water. However, he was drenched by the water that splashed up from the impact, making him look even more pathetic.
“Are you okay?”
I was surprised and ran to him, and he blushed as if he was embarrassed and shut his mouth tightly.
Is this what they call looking like a drowned rat? The muscles in my face twitched. Trying my best not to laugh, I held out my hand to him.
“Get up.”
Asdal stared at my outstretched hand with a slightly bewildered look, then refused my help and got up on his own.
I looked at his empty basket and sighed.
“Looks like you didn’t catch a single one.”
He shut his mouth tightly with a flushed face. I had no choice but to approach him and take the Spear from him. He looked at me with a surprised expression.
“What are you going to do?”
I neatly took off my sneakers and dipped my feet in the valley water. Then, I took a stance and looked for fish reflecting on the water’s surface.
“At this rate, we’ll be here all night. We can’t starve, can we?”
“What does that mean…”
I readjusted my grip on the Spear. And when I saw a fish shimmering on the surface, I immediately plunged the Spear down.
I had been catching fish with a Spear ever since I came to the island, so now I was trained and could easily Spear hunt. When I pulled the Spear out of the valley water, a fish the size of my forearm was wriggling on the end of the Spear.
“If we catch a few more of these, we can have a meal.”
I skillfully drained the blood from the fish with a Wooden Knife and put it in the basket. Then, I made eye contact with Asdal, who was staring at me with a dazed expression.
“What’s wrong?”
He seemed startled and came to his senses, stepping back. Asdal looked back and forth between the fish in the basket and me with an unbelievable expression.
He rested his chin on his hand and stared at me, then glanced down at the fish in the basket again.
“Hmm. Did Duke Flone perhaps do fishing?”
“…Do I have to answer that?”
When I asked back in disbelief, Asdal closed his mouth with an embarrassed look. He seemed to realize that he had said something nonsensical.
“I’m curious why the Young Lady insisted on hunting with me. There must be a reason. You know that I distrust you, don’t you?”
He crossed his arms as if he really couldn’t understand, and scanned me up and down.
“I don’t know what Banhwang is thinking, protecting the Young Lady, but don’t get cocky because of it.”
He scratched my nerves in a very leisurely tone. He even smiled naturally, as if to emphasize that he was in a superior position in this relationship.
I frowned and glared at him.
“I’ve never gotten cocky relying on Enoch in the first place. If anything, it’s the opposite. Does everyone look ridiculous to you, Your Highness?”
“You don’t know about the relationship between me and Banhwang.”
“Well, sometimes what you see is all there is.”
“Is the reason you brought me here to show off that you’ve changed? If so, I want to tell you that it’s useless. Just because you’ve changed a little doesn’t mean my judgment of you will change.”
I caught another fish with the Spear and lifted it up, smiling.
“What would I gain by showing Your Highness that I’ve changed? That requires a willingness to improve the relationship.”
Asdal’s eyebrows twitched. He stroked his chin as if he was amused and looked at me.
I simply cleaned the freshly caught fish and put it in the basket.
“And make sure you know this. I have no intention of improving my relationship with Your Highness.”
“…What? Then what’s the reason? The real reason you brought me here.”
“I gave you an opportunity.”
I shrugged, washing my fishy-smelling hands in the valley water.
Asdal tilted his head, glaring at me without understanding. It meant to keep talking.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to kill me. Or it’s easy to frame me with false charges.”
“Are you serious?”
He asked me back as if he was dumbfounded. Of course, I wasn’t serious. But,
“Do you really think that the reason I came hunting with Your Highness is to get on your good side? To be tested by you?”
Asdal didn’t deny it. And he didn’t bother to hide his thoughts, nodding and asking back.
“Isn’t it?”
“Well, don’t you think that I brought you here to test you instead? I wanted to test Your Highness’s survival skills. People who are useless in life-or-death situations are not needed.”
I deliberately chose cold words that would scratch his nerves.
Asdal looked flustered, as if he had been caught off guard by my words. But that was only for a moment,
“You’re nothing but arrogant, daring to.”
He muttered with an angry face. It was quite a bit of anger, but I didn’t flinch.
I had been trained for this while dealing with Enoch, Kaiden, and Luzef.
Honestly, it was Enoch who despised me and exuded a suffocating sense of intimidation.
“If this were the Hestia Kingdom, you wouldn’t have been fooled by my shallow tricks.”
I said to Asdal with a mocking tone.
“But Your Highness, this isn’t the kingdom. Please admit it now.”
