Chapter 29
If he were to completely lose his mind, that would be troublesome for me as well, so I needed to put him to work more actively.
“Hey, Margaret. By ‘from now on’… I meant something that needs to be done right away.”
“Hunting is something that needs to be done right now too, you know? And you might want to keep moving your body in the future as well. Try taking charge of it.”
In response to Kaiden’s question, I answered as if I knew nothing.
Kaiden stared at my face for a moment.
“You… you’re just taking advantage of the situation to make me the meal duty, aren’t you?”
“You noticed?”
When I asked with a smile, Kaiden let out a sigh and shrugged exaggeratedly.
“I was the one who asked first, so I’ll let myself be fooled. But—”
He stepped closer, then slowly bent at the waist toward me.
His face suddenly came right up close. When our eyes met, he smiled with a pretty eye-smile.
Tilting his head slightly, he tapped his own cheek with his finger.
“Kiss me here.”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll just go hunting myself.”
I answered sharply and stood up, but Enoch’s voice cut in between us.
“I think the lord talks too much. Would you like to never use that mouth again?”
With a very firm and precise motion, Enoch pushed Kaiden away from me.
His tone sounds like it’s getting rougher… Is that just my imagination?
Kaiden, who had been pushed aside without resistance, looked at Enoch with a baffled expression.
“That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”
Kaiden shot back in an irritated voice. When I saw madness flicker in his eyes, I was startled and jumped to my feet.
Both men looked at me at the same time.
If Kaiden, who couldn’t control his emotions, and Enoch, who went berserk at the sight of blood, were to clash, it would be an absolute disaster.
I dipped my finger to my lips, then pressed that finger to Kaiden’s cheek.
“There, okay? Don’t misunderstand—I didn’t do it because I like you. Now go hunting.”
Both Enoch and Kaiden stared at me blankly, as if they couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Kaiden was the first to recover. He looked at me with a pretty eye-smile, his face satisfied. In contrast, Enoch looked slightly angry.
“Margaret.”
Sensing the start of Enoch’s scolding, I hurriedly slipped away.
“I’ll go catch some fish. Enoch, could you light the fire again?”
I could feel the stares of the two men piercing into my back, but I didn’t turn around.
Kaiden won’t go berserk like Enoch too… right? Should I run away while I still can?
I seriously thought that for a moment, then pressed my temples hard. My head throbbed.
Still, if I help control Kaiden’s flow of mana, he probably won’t go berserk…
For now, without me, there was no one to stop Enoch’s seizures, and no one to control Kaiden’s madness.
“Margaret, you worry me too.”
“But Margaret, whatever the reason, developing an interest in you is my emotion. So I decide that. That lecture just now was a bit arrogant.”
I recalled the words the two men had said to me not long ago.
Why would they say things like that and mess with my head…
If they had just confessed outright, I could have comfortably rejected them, but what was with that ambiguity?
I had been living without much thought, but after hearing those words, I couldn’t help becoming conscious of them. A sigh escaped me.
I’ll think about it later. Later. Hunting comes first.
After spending quite some time hunting fish in the water, I began preparing to make charcoal.
Lately, Kaiden and Enoch had often hunted wild animals, so we were getting enough protein.
The problem was that ordinary firewood made grilling meat difficult.
It either burns too easily, or it doesn’t cook well.
So today, I decided to make charcoal.
I dug a pit and filled it with thin twigs suitable for tinder, then added short logs to turn into charcoal.
“What are you doing?”
Enoch, who had approached as I stacked the logs into a pyramid shape and lit the fire, asked.
“I’m making charcoal. Ah, charcoal is—”
“I know what charcoal is. I was just wondering what it is that you can’t do.”
He didn’t seem like he was joking. Feeling embarrassed, I scratched my cheek. It wasn’t like I was doing anything impressive enough to be praised…
“It’s really easy to make.”
I’d done it plenty of times while camping. Enoch, arms crossed, stared at my face for a moment, then murmured quietly.
“When we return to the Empire, I should definitely meet Duke Flone at least once.”
At his resolute tone, I nodded vaguely. That issue was still far off, so I’d put it aside for now.
“I’ll handle the fire. You do something else. You’ll hurt your wrist.”
Enoch took the wooden stick from my hand and sat neatly beside me.
Perhaps he’d gotten the hang of it by now—he worked quickly and lit the fire with ease. He set the flame to the small pieces of wood inside the pyramid.
After checking that the temperature was high enough by the color of the flames, he used the ash we’d gathered to tightly seal the openings of the wood pyramid.
“We can check it in an hour or two.”
At my words, Enoch nodded.
“By the way, any news from Sir Diego?”
“It seems he recently moved his base as well. Other than that, there was no particular news.”
Enoch still hadn’t said he would join them. Why was that?
Maybe it would be better to meet the female lead sooner rather than later. And yet, at the same time, part of me wished we wouldn’t meet her.
I don’t even understand my own heart.
I should just wait quietly for the right time.
By the time Kaiden returned from hunting, the charcoal was finished.
He approached the cabin carrying a small bird, his eyes widening when he saw the charcoal.
“Margaret, you even made charcoal? Wow. I can tell you the truth now. You’re not a noble, are you?”
At Kaiden’s habitual question, I shrugged and shot him a sideways glance.
“And you—do you think you act like a noble?”
“Nope. I’ve never thought of myself as a noble, so I’m fine.”
He was so shameless that I had nothing to say. Damn it. I should’ve answered that confidently too.
“Enoch and I will prepare dinner, so go wash up. You worked hard.”
At my words, Kaiden shook his head, smiling brightly.
“I’m not going to wash.”
“What? Why? That’s gross.”
“You even kissed me—washing right away would be such a waste.”
“When did I ever kiss you?”
Could that really be called a kiss?
I was dumbfounded and about to retort when—
Enoch, who had been quietly sitting beside me tending the charcoal, stood up.
With an unhurried stride, he approached Kaiden.
As Enoch’s face suddenly drew close, Kaiden staggered back in surprise.
“W-What is it?”
Before Kaiden could react, Enoch boldly rubbed his cheek with his hand.
Black charcoal smeared messily across Kaiden’s left cheek—the spot I’d touched earlier.
“What the hell is this supposed to be?!”
Kaiden slapped Enoch’s hand away, clearly offended, completely unaware of what his own face looked like.
“There’s something dirty on your cheek. Don’t be irritating in front of Margaret—go wash.”
Enoch replied in a very calm voice, then returned to my side. When our eyes met, a languid smile curved his lips.
What is that—why is he smiling so sexily?
While I was spacing out at his alluring smile, he was already checking the lit charcoal beside me.
Hey, get it together.
I forced myself to refocus and turned my head, then said to Kaiden, who was making an obscene gesture behind Enoch’s back:
“Kaiden, stop that and go wash. Your cheek is covered in charcoal.”
“What…?!”
Kaiden touched his cheek in shock, then cursed when his palm came away black.
Watching him sprint toward the river in a panic, I burst out laughing.
The next day, I went to the river with a spear to hunt fish.
Soon, I should ask Kaiden to make a fish trap or something.
I was tired of going into the water dressed like this every time.
I really want to find modern clothes soon.
My dress was a mess, but Enoch’s uniform was just as tattered.
In the original story, Yuanna clearly changed into pants and a T-shirt she found on the island… She even had boots like walkers.
There were supposedly quite a lot of clothes hidden around the island.
It’s not even a survival game for finding supplies. No matter how I think about it, hiding modern items all over the island is strange.
Just like a game.
Lost in those thoughts, I was finishing my fishing and stepping out of the river when—
I heard rustling from nearby bushes. If it wasn’t an animal, it sounded like a person moving.
Acting nonchalant, I removed the three fish skewered on my spear and set them on the ground.
Then I gripped the spear firmly and threw it.
I aimed slightly off from where the sound came from—but a piercing scream rang out.
I picked up the flare gun I’d set down by the riverbank and walked toward the source of the noise.
“Damn it! What do you think you’re doing, Lady Flone?!”
There sat Bishop Rujef, whom I had met before, collapsed pathetically on the ground and glaring up at me.
