Chapter 32
Compared to Enoch, I wasn’t particularly good at starting fires—but it wasn’t as if I was bad at it either.
First, I cut some thoroughly dried bamboo and split it in half. In one of the pieces, I drilled a small hole, stuffed tinder underneath, and flipped it over. With the other piece, I rubbed it vigorously on top as if sawing back and forth. The pressure combined with the frictional motion was meant to create an ember.
After a while of sawing like that, smoke began to rise from below. I blew gently into the hole in the bamboo. When I saw a spark, I moved the bamboo aside and kept blowing softly on the tinder.
“Bring me some dry leaves. The driest ones you can find—quickly.”
Lujeff, who had been standing there dumbfounded watching me, hurried off and came back with some dry leaves.
I used them as secondary tinder and coaxed the ember into a flame.
“My goodness.”
Lujeff clapped with a vacant expression.
“You saw how it’s done, right? Next time, Bishop, you do it.”
Like a well-behaved student listening to a teacher, Lujeff nodded vigorously.
In the end, I started a fire, grilled him some fish, and even shared purified water with him.
But after eating enthusiastically and drinking his fill, the man showed no sign of wanting to go home.
To make matters worse, he voluntarily cleaned up the sticks we’d used for grilling and even started tidying the place.
“Um… could I stay here?”
“You do remember calling me a witch, right? Have some shame.”
At my words, Lujeff pressed his lips tightly together again. Even when told to get lost and go home, he stubbornly stayed put, refusing to leave until Enoch and Kaiden returned.
Naturally, when Enoch and Kaiden found him, all hell broke loose.
Watching their quarrel reminded me of the time Kaiden had stubbornly settled himself in our cave.
This is bad. This route feels strangely familiar.
But the sun was already setting, and I couldn’t just chase Lujeff out into the forest at night where monsters roamed. In the end, we decided to let him stay for just one night.
“You worthless lackey. Don’t even think about coming inside—stand guard outside or something. You priests are good at that, aren’t you? Guarding.”
Kaiden snarled as he chased Lujeff away when he tried to enter the hut.
Lujeff glared at Kaiden, his face flushed with anger, but in the end, he couldn’t muster a single retort.
Still, wandering the forest at night wasn’t an option, so he seemed determined to endure it somehow.
“Well, it is dangerous outside…”
When I spoke up, Lujeff looked at me with eyes full of expectation, visibly moved.
Unfortunately for him, I had no intention of meeting those expectations.
“Sit at the entrance and keep watch. If human scent spreads outside, monsters might gather.”
Lujeff stared at me in despair, while Kaiden burst into loud laughter.
In any case, ever since we moved closer to the river, encounters with monsters at night had decreased, and even the frequency of wolf howls had clearly dropped.
Do monsters avoid coming near water?
When I woke up in the morning, Enoch had brought back a bamboo container filled to the brim with blueberries.
I was sitting in front of the hut, brushing my teeth with a chewing stick I’d made a few days earlier.
Seeing this, Lujeff tilted his head with a curious expression.
“What is that?”
Enoch and Kaiden each sat down on either side of me, chewing their own sticks and brushing their teeth.
“It’s brushing teeth.”
After scrubbing my teeth with the stick and rinsing my mouth with water, I turned to Lujeff.
“Ah—do you not brush your teeth, Bishop?”
At my question, Lujeff blinked in confusion, clearly flustered.
Thinking about it again, it really was strange. Maybe because of some magic affecting this island, no one smelled bad—but still, not brushing your teeth felt gross.
I cut a thin twig about the length of my forearm and roughly one centimeter wide, then handed it to Lujeff and told him to chew the end.
The fibers stimulate saliva production, and saliva neutralizes food residue. Once the fibers fray, you can use them to brush your teeth.
“Simple, right?”
Lujeff nodded while chewing the stick.
“Hey, errand boy. You should head back now.”
While eating blueberries for breakfast, Kaiden hinted pointedly at Lujeff.
With a sneer, he scanned Lujeff’s appearance with open disdain.
“Before meeting Lady Flone, perhaps. But now that I’ve met her, how am I supposed to live without her? I’m not leaving.”
Lujeff said something bizarre, but I ignored him and kept eating my blueberries.
Today would be a good day to scout the path to the bunker. Now that I’d found a map with its location, finding the route should be a piece of cake, right?
“Stop plotting nonsense and go find your god. What—he’s not answering? Figures. There is no god.”
“Watch your tongue!”
“Am I done talking? No. Think about it—if there really were a god, would we have ended up here?”
The two of them raised their voices louder and louder.
My ears started to hurt, and I frowned slightly. Seeing that, Enoch—who must have been watching—spoke quietly.
“Both of you, stop it. Don’t be noisy in front of Margaret.”
There must be some kind of magic woven into the word Margaret.
Kaiden and Lujeff immediately shut their mouths and glanced at me nervously. I swallowed a hollow laugh at the sight.
After watching them for a moment, I gathered up the empty bamboo containers and stood.
With a stone axe tied to my waist with vine and a harpoon in hand, I turned to Kaiden and Lujeff.
“I’m going out to scout.”
Since we’d moved to a new place, it was important to survey the surroundings—to check for dangers and see what useful resources might be nearby.
Lujeff looked at me like he was seeing something utterly incomprehensible.
“Lady, your bizarre appearance is something I’ll never get used to, no matter how many times I see it.”
That must be a mandatory line for male leads meeting me for the first time. Is there a checklist they’re required to follow?
This time, neither Kaiden nor Enoch responded. Enoch was busy preparing for a hunt, and Kaiden looked too annoyed to bother.
Undeterred, Lujeff asked another question.
“Are all noble ladies as adaptable as Lady Flone?”
As if. I was just too lazy to answer, so I let the question pass through one ear and out the other.
“Kaiden, keep trying to send Bishop Lujeff back while I’m gone.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll give him a proper thrashing and kick him out.”
“Could you not let me stay a little longer?”
Kaiden and Lujeff answered at the same time, their voices overlapping so badly that I couldn’t tell what either had said.
Too lazy to ask again, I decided to just leave.
Judging by the noisy sounds behind me, the two of them had already started fighting again.
Meanwhile, Enoch grabbed his weapons and followed after me.
I turned back with a puzzled look.
“Did you have something to say to me?”
“Today is my turn to hunt.”
He answered quietly.
“I thought Kaiden was always the one hunting?”
At my question, Enoch looked at me and laughed.
“Didn’t you complain that His Grace only ever brings back birds?”
That made it sound like I was a picky child.
“I never complained…”
I’d only said that eating nothing but birds and fish was getting monotonous, and that we needed proper meat.
I hadn’t even told Kaiden to go hunt. I’d planned to make traps myself to catch something like a boar within the next few days.
“I’ll catch a rabbit, at least.”
At Enoch’s offer, my eyes lit up.
“Really?”
Enoch, who was rolling up his jacket sleeves with an indifferent expression, nodded.
Maybe because the hut was so noisy with Kaiden and Bishop Lujeff, Enoch seemed all the more dignified and composed by comparison.
He was the crown prince, after all.
Ever since I’d started calling him “Enoch” instead of “Your Highness,” I kept forgetting that fact.
If we escaped this deserted island and returned to the Empire… what would our relationship become?
“But why do you keep following me? I’m going scouting.”
“I thought I might hunt while accompanying you.”
His words put me in an awkward position.
Because after parting with Enoch, I planned to head north alone to search for the path to the bunker.
The unease I failed to hide darkened Enoch’s expression slightly.
“Do you dislike going with me?”
“It’s not that…”
In the end, I let out a sigh.
“No. Let’s go together.”
It couldn’t be helped. I’d have to give up on finding the bunker location today.
I didn’t want to raise suspicion, and no matter what, I couldn’t tell even Enoch about the bunker.
It was my last resort for survival.
Walking behind Enoch, I rummaged through the pockets of my dress.
The flare was still safely tucked away.
Neither Kaiden nor Enoch had asked for it.
And I had no reason to give them what I’d found, so I was keeping it myself.
I’d also brought the bunker map, and thankfully, it was still there too.
I was so busy rummaging through my pockets that I didn’t notice Enoch stop walking—and I ended up bumping my face straight into his chest.
Not his back. His chest.
Which meant he’d been watching me fuss with my pockets the whole time.
Realizing that, I felt strangely deflated. Am I an idiot…?
Enoch’s face was cold and firm, as always flawless, with no opening to exploit.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I know you’re preparing to leave.”
At Enoch’s sudden words, I fell silent, unable to respond.
