MLCIEF 03

Chapter 3

“Oh my God, are you okay? Benji? Hey Martin, Benji is here!”

He also looked surprised to see Alice and Martin here, but he couldn’t respond as he kept coughing up seawater.

Benjamin, who had always been weak from studying too much, looked worse than Martin.

He had even lost his glasses and was squinting like a blind man.

“What is this? Where are we? Where is this place, Alice? And why are you here too?”

Just then—

“Count, Lady Delphien Pierre has not regained consciousness! She did cough up water, but…!”

Alice, who overheard the shout from the other group, doubted her ears.

A Count? Lady Pierre?

Suddenly, she remembered the headline she had seen in a tabloid before boarding the ship to the Lambit Kingdom.

Count Theodore Parhan and Lady Delphien Pierre, soon to be engaged!
They boarded together to attend the coronation of the Lambit Kingdom!
Will their romantic connection grow stronger as they act as honorary envoys?

Don’t tell me… that man is Theodore Parhan?

The 3rd Knight Order he led was infamous across the continent as the “Black Wolves of the Frontier.”

But that wasn’t the only reason he was famous.

No matter how she thought about it, the “Count” mentioned alongside Lady Pierre could only be Theodore Parhan.

Even in this chaotic situation, Alice instinctively analyzed it like a detective.

So… that man who I mercilessly… kicked in the plaza…
is the famous Theodore Parhan… a war hero…?!

And on top of that, he was the eldest son of the Parhan Ducal House.

The heir.

‘This can’t be…’

Feeling dizzy, Alice curled up slightly, shivering, and glanced again at his profile.

Now that she thought about it, he looked exactly like the handsome noble who appeared on the front page of tabloids every day.

‘No…!’

Alice grabbed her hair.

The 3rd Knight Order led by Count Parhan was known as the Empire’s strongest sword, crushing rebellions and destroying enemy forces in record time.

The special unit within it was infamous for infiltrating enemy lines alone and assassinating leaders.

This young hero, called the “Sword of the Empire,” was someone every citizen knew.

He was even more famous than the princes fighting for succession.

‘Oh no… this is bad…!’

Alice anxiously brushed back her wet hair.

‘No wonder… the deck restrictions were so strict…’

Lower-class passengers had not even been allowed on the upper deck during the voyage.

At the time, she hadn’t thought much of it—but it was because high-ranking nobles were onboard.

Still—

‘Storms at sea are fair… whether you’re first class or fourth class.’

She had a strange realization, but this was no time to be spacing out.

Turning her gaze to the vast ocean, she saw waves crashing indifferently, as if nothing had happened.

She tried to think of a plan, but everything felt hopeless.

One side was endless ocean.

The other—an endless jungle known as the “Bottomless Pit of Deep Green.”

If she recalled the map correctly, walking back to the Iterion Empire from here would take months.

“Anyway… this really must be the Atis Jungle…”

Meanwhile, while Theodore went to check for more survivors along the coast, Delphien Pierre regained consciousness.

“Cough…! Where… am I? Cough!”

After coughing weakly for a while, Delphien trembled with a pale face.

Still unable to understand the situation, she called for her maids.

“…Where is this? Where are Adele and Lara?”

“My lady, you’re awake! Are you alright? According to His Excellency… this place is… likely the Atis Jungle.”

“What? Atis?”

Although her maids were gone, fortunately both her guards, Kettler and Ribeyong, had survived.

Even so, they couldn’t reassure her.

As they wrung water from her soaked hair, she cried out:

“Where is Adele…? It’s so cold! I’m cold and dizzy!”

Realizing her maid was gone, Delphien began to sob, overwhelmed by a hardship she had never experienced.

She couldn’t understand why such a disaster had happened to her.

She had just attended the coronation with Theodore.

Soon, she was supposed to have her engagement ceremony.

And after that—

She would prepare for a grand wedding next spring and enjoy her elevated status in society.

“My lady, a rescue ship will surely come. The Empire will send a search party.”

Delphien curled up as she listened.

As her senses slowly returned, the wind from the sea felt like lashes against her wet body.

At that moment, Alice—who had overheard everything—let out a bitter chuckle.

‘…No rescue ship is coming.’

She would bet on Martin that it would take at least three weeks for news of the shipwreck to reach the Empire.

Even if it arrived sooner, finding this exact location would be nearly impossible.

If they just wait here… they’ll all starve to death first.

‘Now what do we do?’

Walking unsteadily while supporting her fake belly, Alice looked at the darkening horizon.

The sea was calm now, but the wind along the shore was growing stronger.

‘What else can we do?’

She squeezed water from her skirt again and made a simple decision.

“We walk back.”

If this really was the Atis Jungle, and the ship sank on the third night—

Then she could roughly estimate their location.

She stared into the dark jungle.

If they crossed it northeast, they might reach the Empire’s border.

It would take two or three months.

But what did that matter?

‘We have to survive no matter what.’

Alice lightly shook her belly.

A faint rattling sound came from inside.

Relieved, she thought about her future.

‘First, I’ll use the reward money to pay off all my debts. Then I’ll pay the overdue rent and expand my detective office.’

Imagining a bigger office and a proper signboard on a main street warmed her heart.

‘I’ll hire a few subordinates too.’

Martin was too slow to be useful.

In this desperate situation, hope was her only weapon.

‘Let’s survive, Alice.’

Just then, Martin whined beside her.

“Sis, I’m so cold… and hungry. The wind is too strong.”

“……”

Alice turned to look at her twenty-year-old brother whining behind her.

Then suddenly—

She saw the man returning from the coastline.

Startled, she quickly moved behind Martin.

Benjamin, still unsteady, rubbed his eyes and asked,

“I think I heard that man is Count Theodore Parhan. Is it really him?”

He trembled but looked curious.

“I don’t know. Check with your own eyes.”

Since Theodore’s face appeared in newspapers every day, anyone in the Empire would recognize him.

Alice replied coldly, not wanting to get involved with him again.

“So what if he is? Will he save us too?”

“From now on… it’s every person for themselves.”