Chapter 99
Diego looked devastated at her question.
“That is, The Saintess….”
Kaiden quickly cut him off as he showed signs of telling the truth.
“The Saintess. She didn’t say much. Don’t you remember anything?”
The things Yuanna had said while suffering from hallucinations seemed like trauma even if one listened casually.
It seemed unnecessary to remind her of her memories when she couldn’t remember anything at all.
“I don’t remember anything. It stopped right after that strange Red Flower wrapped around my ankle.”
At her words, Kaiden sighed and looked back and forth between Diego and Yuanna.
“That Red Flower is a unique poisonous flower called Tentationem, secretly experimented with and developed by the Rohade family.”
The two looked at Kaiden with surprised eyes. Kaiden continued his explanation without paying attention.
“The toxicity of the poison from the Tentationem flower has more acute properties than chronic ones. So, if you are poisoned by this poison, you will experience mental illnesses such as impulsive excitement and hallucinations, and you will temporarily lose control.”
“Excitement and hallucinations… Those are the symptoms Sir Diego and I experienced last night.”
As Yuanna answered with a haggard face, Kaiden nodded.
“That’s right. Among the neurotransmitters in the human body, there is one that excites the brain. The addictive substance from this flower is exactly that kind. Only the low body temperature of a person who is not addicted degrades the function of this substance. That’s all I know.”
Diego, who was listening to Kaiden’s explanation, asked him with a serious face.
“Why on earth did the Rohade family make this flower? What are they trying to do? And why is a flower developed by the Rohade family here?”
“I don’t know either. I’m not very close to the family members. But it’s definitely suspicious.”
“And Lord, have you abandoned honorifics now?”
Diego frowned and asked somewhat dissatisfied. Kaiden shrugged as if he was dumbfounded and replied as if asking if that was important now.
“Considering how much you guys made me suffer last night, don’t expect me to use honorifics, okay?”
At Kaiden’s words, Diego eventually closed his mouth without being able to refute anything.
“This island and the Rohade family may be related.”
Kaiden nodded in agreement with Yuanna’s words.
“It’s just a guess, but that’s a possibility.”
“From what I can see, Lord, you don’t seem to be poisoned.”
At Diego’s question, Kaiden rested his chin on his hand and recalled his memories.
“My memories are hazy now, but I was experimented on when I was young. Thanks to that, I became immune to poison.”
“What kind of experiment did you undergo…”
“Sir Diego. It’s rude to ask such a thing directly.”
Yuanna scolded Diego. Then, Diego scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed face and asked Yuanna.
“Are you okay, The Saintess?”
Kaiden clicked his tongue and looked at Diego. He seemed preoccupied with taking care of Yuanna. Kaiden, who was massaging his stiff neck and quietly watching the scene, asked.
“But Sir Diego, why do you take care of The Saintess so much? Do you like her?”
“Isn’t it better than what Lord does to Lady Flone?”
And Yuanna, who had already returned to her original condition, smiled cheerfully. Kaiden had nothing to say at her words, so he quietly shut his mouth.
“And Sir Diego taking care of me? It’s nothing. Prince Asdal and you feel guilty towards me. I didn’t really want to talk about this, but the situation is what it is…”
She spoke calmly as if she were talking about something insignificant.
Diego silently organized Yuanna’s messy clothes without any reaction.
‘It seems like there’s some troublesome story involved.’
Kaiden inwardly regretted asking and quietly listened to her explanation.
“When I was attacked by Monsters, the two of you abandoned me.”
“We didn’t abandon you. You were attacked by a Tarantula monster and fell off a cliff, so we thought you had died instantly.”
“But, I lived.”
As Diego immediately retorted, Yuanna raised her hands and shrugged with an innocent face.
Hearing those words, Kaiden was briefly impressed.
‘……Is it common to survive after falling off a cliff?’
He couldn’t help but seriously consider that.
“We were still fighting the Monsters even before The Saintess came. We didn’t have time to go find you.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Yuanna nodded at Diego’s continued rebuttal. It wasn’t a sarcastic tone, but a face that really understood Diego.
Kaiden crossed his arms and quietly watched the two’s debate.
“That’s why I said I would give my life to protect The Saintess.”
“No, I’m really okay.”
Yuanna sighed. Then, she pointed to Diego with a face asking Kaiden for agreement.
“Did you see that? I said I understand, but he’s still like that. He must not have had any intention of saving me in the first place. Otherwise, there’s no need to feel that guilty.”
Yuanna shook her head with a disgusted face. Kaiden also clicked his tongue at her words.
Yuanna swept her hair back with a rough gesture, then scratched her ear as if she was annoyed and looked down at Diego.
Even Kaiden couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed by her rather rough appearance. Her behavior was as frivolous as his, as if looking in a mirror.
“Haa, annoying, really. I’m really not resenting you. I would have done the same. We were all strangers at the time.”
Yuanna sighed and looked at Diego.
Kaiden sensed that even though she was talking as if it was nothing, the situation at the time was more serious.
After watching the two confront each other for a while, he raised his head and looked up at the sky.
Quite a bit of time has already passed. Will we be able to return to our destination within the scheduled time?
Kaiden was about to cut off the conversation when he suddenly looked at Diego with a thought that came to mind.
“But anyway, isn’t there something wrong with your chivalry? You also stole Margaret’s dress while she was taking a bath.”
It was an incident that everyone found out about when Margaret stole Diego’s clothes in the cabin as revenge. Yuanna also shrugged and stepped back as if she had no intention of defending him.
Diego slowly knelt down in front of them with a painful face.
“That’s right. I lack chivalry. At the time, I wanted to relieve my guilt towards The Saintess. Even if it was a wrong way.”
Silent tears streamed down Diego’s cheeks. A teardrop that formed at the tip of his chin fell on his fist placed on his knee.
It was an upright attitude that anyone would call the embodiment of chivalry.
However, Kaiden’s reaction to Diego was a bit subtle. It didn’t seem like he was just taking care of her out of guilt.
‘It seems like there’s some more personal emotion mixed in.’
Yuanna was looking at him with a face that said she didn’t know what to do with that idiot and was sighing.
Likewise, Kaiden was also very tired and looked down at Diego.
Diego seemed to be in a state of confusion due to guilt over committing an act that went against his beliefs and an unknown emotion towards Yuanna.
It seemed like he had lost his mind because he couldn’t handle the various tangled emotions.
‘When I think about it, it seems like no one here is sane. Am I normal enough?’
Kaiden rested his chin on his hand, pondered about it, and nodded.
Now that he had found out what had happened to The Saintess, he thought he could be praised by Margaret for doing a good job.
After a while, Kaiden and his party finally arrived at the place where Yuanna had first woken up. It was a gravel field with a huge river flowing in front of it.
“His Highness the Crown Prince and I also woke up not far from here.”
Diego said while looking around the gravel field. Kaiden stood on a large rock, looked down at the gravel field, and rested his chin on his hand.
“The Key was just lying on the floor. Within reach. Isn’t it strange… It really doesn’t seem special.”
Yuanna was standing in the position where she had first collapsed and was carefully examining her surroundings.
Diego, who had gone out far and briefly scanned the surroundings, returned to them and reported the situation.
“I looked around over there too, but there doesn’t seem to be anything.”
At that time, Yuanna, who was standing by the water and looking into the water, bent down. She put her hand into the water and took something out.
“Oh? There is something?”
“Huh?”
What Yuanna picked up was a thin piece of cloth. And there were pictures and letters engraved on the cloth.