Chapter 85
Yuanna and Diego had barely regained their senses.
But the real problem was the red flower’s horrifying reproductive ability.
As they tried to fix themselves and set off again, the red flowers were multiplying behind them like footprints in the snow, following their path.
“This is… kind of scary,” Yuanna said, turning toward the red flowers with a horrified expression.
“Don’t speak, just hold your nose tightly,” Kaiden said.
Yuanna nodded and immediately pinched her nose shut.
But then, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The group was moving in order: Kaiden, Yuanna, then Diego. Suddenly, the flowers sprouted at a terrifying speed, bypassing Diego and reaching Yuanna’s ankles.
The roots wrapped around her ankle, then grew into a stem, and a red flower bloomed.
“Ahhh! What is this! Ahh!”
“W-wait, stay still!”
Diego tried to remove the flower wrapping around her ankle, but as he inhaled its scent, he became intoxicated as well.
Kaiden managed to pull the flower off Yuanna’s ankle, but by then, she too had been poisoned.
“Damn it, what the hell is this!”
Surprisingly, the red flowers stopped multiplying the moment they were poisoned.
It was as if someone was watching them, manipulating the situation.
Moreover, this time, the symptoms were somewhat different from last night.
Diego’s eyes were vacant, and he seemed completely out of it, while Yuanna was in a full-blown panic.
Kaiden lifted Diego and Yuanna with one arm each and carried them out of the flower patch. As expected, the red flowers didn’t follow, as if their work was done.
“Ah… ahhh…”
Yuanna, hanging upside down on his right shoulder, grabbed her head and let out a strange moan.
“What’s wrong? Hang in there,” Kaiden said as he ran frantically. Diego’s lack of reaction made him even more uneasy. Finally, a massive river appeared before them.
Kaiden thought the red flowers wouldn’t follow them onto this rocky riverbed.
He first put both of them down on the rocks.
Diego, having inhaled relatively less of the flower’s scent, seemed fairly okay. His mind was still functioning. As soon as he set foot on the rocks, he grabbed Kaiden’s wrist.
“It seems I need contact with another person to breathe comfortably.”
Kaiden understood what he meant but didn’t want to match body heat with him, so he pulled his hand away.
But Diego grabbed his wrist again with a pitiful look and shook his head.
“Please… I beg you… save us.”
“This is insane,” Kaiden muttered, giving Diego a displeased look before checking on Yuanna. Her condition seemed more serious.
“Hey, Saint. Are you okay?”
Kaiden eventually squatted down in front of Yuanna, who was sitting on the ground, while still giving one of his arms to Diego.
Yuanna, as if waiting for this moment, urgently reached out and placed her hands on Kaiden’s cheeks.
She gently stroked his face, almost pitifully, like she was treating a lost lover.
“D-don’t… do it…”
She muttered something rapidly, as if entranced.
Kaiden, annoyed, removed her hands and furrowed his brows, leaning closer to listen.
“What?”
“…Don’t. Don’t do it. Don’t!”
“Ahh, damn it! You scared me!”
“Saint,” Diego exclaimed, startled, letting go of Kaiden’s hand and grabbing Yuanna’s shoulders.
“Saint! Snap out of it!”
“Ahhh!”
Yuanna shrank her shoulders, covered her ears, and screamed. Diego stepped back, panicked.
“Don’t… don’t die… I don’t want to live alone…”
She wailed and sobbed loudly, leaving even Kaiden stunned.
Yuanna seemed to be hallucinating. It probably triggered some deep trauma.
“Ah… could that flower just now… be Tentationem?”
Kaiden muttered, and Diego turned to him with a desperate look.
“Tentationem? You know that flower? Please do something for the Saint!”
“It’s a flower developed by the Rohade family. They all look similar, so it’s hard to tell them apart, but judging by the symptoms, it seems to match. But it’s a flower that cannot naturally bloom here…”
“Is there a cure?!”
Kaiden shook his head.
“You’d need proper equipment to make an antidote. We can’t make one here. But if there’s physical contact, the symptoms will fade after a certain amount of time.”
As soon as Kaiden finished speaking, Diego grabbed Yuanna’s hand. But he looked up at Kaiden with a sad face.
“Why…?” Kaiden asked, folding his arms.
Diego sighed and stood up.
“Since I’m poisoned too, it doesn’t seem to work. When I held your hand, Lord, I felt clear-headed. But this doesn’t feel like that at all.”
Indeed, Yuanna was still crying and in pain.
Kaiden bit his lower lip. He knew that if he gave them his body, it would solve the problem, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Lord,” Diego said, kneeling and bowing his head.
“Please… grant us your hands.”
If he closed his eyes and gave them his hands, it would make things easier going forward. That way, he could also explain things to Margaret.
After a moment’s hesitation, Kaiden finally decided to lend them both his hands.
I soaked a sharpening stone in a large wooden basket and peered outside the cabin through the slightly opened door.
“They’re already long past the day they were supposed to return. Something must have happened. Should we go check?”
I asked Enoch, who had been quietly sitting beside me.
Yuanna’s group, which should have returned within five days at the latest, had been missing for a week.
“They’re definitely late,” Enoch replied nonchalantly, patting my head.
“Don’t worry. Sir Diego is capable enough, and Lord Kaiden also has formidable strength.”
True enough, Yuanna wasn’t exactly ordinary either. I agreed with Enoch and took the sharpening stone out of the water, placing it on the floor.
I laid a cloth underneath to keep it steady and held out my hand toward Enoch.
“Hand me your sword.”
I looked at the sword at his waist. Though puzzled, Enoch handed it over obediently.
I sprinkled a little more water on the stone, pressed the blade with my left hand, and maintained the angle with my right as I sharpened it.
At that moment, Ruzef and Asdal returned from scouting outside the cabin, marveling at my work.
“My goodness! Miss Flone, if you escape this island, you could work in a blacksmith’s forge!”
Here we go again.
Asdal rested his chin on his hand with a playful expression, watching me work.
“Working in a forge for a noble lady? How rude of you to say that,” Ruzef scolded him.
Asdal gestured at me with a look of disbelief.
“Hey, you can’t even joke? Working in a forge is a noble service to the kingdom.”
Ruzef fell silent, clearly unable to argue. Asdal shook his head in exasperation.
“Anyway, both of you are hopeless when it comes to Miss Flone.”
“Watch your tongue,” Enoch’s voice dropped low, signaling that he was seriously angry.
“Really, I’m holding a sword here. You don’t want to provoke someone holding a sword. Careful, Crown Prince.”
I sharpened the blade while showing it to Asdal.
Asdal stepped back with his hands behind his back, smiling.
“Miss Flone, don’t misunderstand. That was meant as a compliment.”
“I know it wasn’t,” I said coldly.
“Seems I have no allies,” he mimed wiping nonexistent tears. Always starting trouble and then sulking afterward—it never ends.
Anyway, after sharpening Enoch’s dull sword, I also honed the wooden and stone practice swords and tidied up.
Yuanna and Diego finally regained full consciousness around midday.
Diego, the first to recover in the scorching sun, immediately released Kaiden’s arm and jumped up.
“You were kneeling and begging just a moment ago, and now you don’t even show gratitude?” Kaiden sneered.
Diego straightened his clothes calmly and replied,
“Thank you for holding my hand.”
A completely dry, ungrateful expression of thanks.
At that moment, Yuanna also regained her senses and abruptly removed her hands from Kaiden’s arm.
“Ha, these idiots…”
Kaiden, trying to calm his boiling anger, glared at Yuanna.
She looked around, completely confused about what had happened.
“What’s going on here?”
“Don’t you remember?”
Diego approached her to check her expression. Kaiden, weary, rubbed his forehead.
After hearing Diego’s explanation, Yuanna’s face went completely pale.
“D-did I say something… weird?”
