TRIML 62

Chapter 62

Kaiden took off his mage’s robe and hung it over a tree branch to dry, then checked Margaret’s condition once more as she lay unconscious.

Lighting a campfire in the middle of the night was dangerous, but if he left her like this, her body temperature could drop and kill her.

“The bag…”

Come to think of it, the bag Margaret had been carrying was gone. It must have been torn loose when she was flung away by the spider’s legs.

Margaret treated the items in her bag like her own life—he couldn’t imagine how devastated she would be if she realized they were gone.

“…First things first, she has to live.”

Kaiden knelt in front of Margaret and checked her pulse. His hand trembled as he placed it against her neck.

He didn’t know whether it was from tension, the shock of falling off the cliff, or simply because she still hadn’t opened her eyes.

Thankfully, her pulse was steady.

“Haa.”

Relief washed over him like a tide.

Kaiden doubted he would ever forget how he felt in the moment Margaret fell off the cliff.

“Damn it, Margaret. Please, just open your eyes.”

He muttered while rubbing his face tiredly.

No matter how earnestly he begged, her closed eyelids didn’t so much as twitch.

Slowly, he lowered his head and rested his forehead against her shoulder. Hot emotions surged up his throat.

Margaret struggled desperately to survive, yet more than anyone else, she treated her own life as disposable.

Whenever danger appeared, she never hesitated to sacrifice herself for others.

It had been the same with the anaconda before, and it was the same just now.

She could have used him as a shield to save herself, but she didn’t.

Kaiden had been watching Margaret closely.

Her personality and way of speaking had changed in ways that couldn’t be explained by a single word, as had her experienced responses in crises.

She could recognize and read languages even he had never seen before, and she handled strange magical tools with unsettling familiarity.

Whenever they were together, monsters always seemed to target her first—yet for some reason, the suspicious monster egg reacted favorably only to her.

She was unusual.

What was more, she even knew the secret of his earrings—a secret he had never told anyone.

Had she said she knew who made them? It was suspicious, but there was no way to verify the truth right now.

She must have thought he wouldn’t realize why she kept forcing him into physical labor. As if—he was quicker to catch on than anyone.

But the strangest thing of all was Kaiden himself.

At some point while watching her, he had completely sunk into her presence.

That was why, despite knowing she was suspicious, he couldn’t hide his fondness for her and acted in such a contradictory way.

Margaret was always at the end of his gaze. And it wasn’t just distrust that put her there—he realized that now.

“This is my fault. If I hadn’t…”

He swallowed the rest of his words along with his emotions.

If he hadn’t called her out to the cliff—no, if he hadn’t doubted her in the first place—she would never have been put in danger.

He gently stroked her ice-cold cheek with his thumb. It was so cold that it felt devoid of life.

Guilt weighed down on him so heavily it made breathing difficult.

“I understand saying strange things like that to someone you don’t even like. It’s because of the earrings, right?”

Kaiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his forehead still resting on Margaret’s shoulder.

Margaret had sincerely dismissed even his inexplicable fondness for her as “the earrings malfunctioning,” never taking his feelings seriously.

That was understandable. He had never shown her trust from the beginning.

Even he himself couldn’t understand how he’d developed feelings for Margaret Rose Flone—someone he once despised.

But one thing was clear.

He didn’t want Margaret to die.

Even if he were the one to get hurt or put in danger, he wanted to save her.

Kaiden decided to completely cast aside the last remnants of doubt he had toward her.

What mattered now wasn’t whatever secrets she held, but understanding where these inexplicable emotions and confusion were coming from.

So from now on, he would act and speak according to his instincts.

When I opened my eyes, it was the middle of the night.

I felt a warm presence, but it was a bit suffocating. Once my vision cleared, the first thing I saw was a solid, bare chest. Startled, I shot upright.

Silver hair gleaming white in the moonlight.

A half-naked man furrowed his brow and twitched his eyebrows.

“Mm.”

It was Kaiden.

Wait—why is he taking his clothes off here?

Then I realized how cold I felt. Being soaked probably made it worse.

Ah—was that why? To raise my body temperature?

But the one who seemed more out of it was Kaiden.

I cautiously placed a hand on his forehead. He was burning up.

I was still wearing my wet dress, while Kaiden had taken off his top and was holding me to warm me—no wonder.

“Damn it.”

Catching a cold at a time like this—this was bad. Really bad.

‘I had emergency medicine in my crossbody bag.’

I looked around for my bag, but there was nothing resembling one anywhere.

“Don’t tell me…”

Had it fallen into the river?

If the flare and explosives got soaked, they were useless—just junk.

“Shit!”

I grabbed my head in frustration. Kaiden’s fever needed to go down.

After checking his temperature again, I made up my mind to start a fire.

Lighting a fire at night wasn’t ideal, but if Kaiden died of hypothermia, that would be far worse.

“Something’s not right. Why are you the only exception?”

“I’ve thought it was strange for a long time. There wasn’t just one or two things. Margaret, tell me—what are you hiding?”

“Trying to run away again? You’re always thinking about escaping, aren’t you? You planned to abandon us from the start.”

I recalled the conversation Kaiden and I had just before the tarantula appeared.

His reasons for doubting me were perfectly reasonable. If our positions were reversed, I would’ve done the same.

I knew he was “pretending” to be interested in me. But vaguely suspecting it and having it confirmed were two very different things.

Right. I’m not the protagonist of this novel. Yuanna is.

I never expected the male leads to suddenly change their attitudes just because I behaved a little differently. It was a bit bitter, but that was reality.

I pushed aside my pointless thoughts and reassessed the situation. Starting a fire came first.

“Ha… damn it. Even my Zippo lighter was in the bag.”

If I’d had it, starting a fire would’ve been much easier.

With a sigh, I stood up and pulled the dagger from Kaiden’s waist.

On a nearby branch were his shirt and mage’s robe—probably hung there by him. I wished I could take off my dress too.

‘This feels awful.’

But there was no way I could actually be naked in front of Kaiden, so I approached the branch still wearing my damp dress.

The shirt was completely dry, and though the cloak was still damp in places, it seemed usable.

I helped Kaiden put his clothes back on, draped the robe over him like a blanket, and stood up.

We were in a forest not far from the river. The area was surrounded by massive leaves, like a natural fortress—how had he even found a place like this?

I started searching the area for firewood.

After wandering around for a while, something white glimmered in my vision.

Don’t tell me—it’s another monster?

I swallowed hard in fear, unclenched my fists, then slowly moved forward.

When I got closer, I realized it wasn’t a monster, but a fist-sized egg. Its silvery surface reflected the moonlight beautifully.

The shape was far too familiar.

It looked just like the one I’d seen on the cliff—the mysterious egg that had started all of this.

“…No way. It can’t be.”