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Chapter 14
Fortunately, I had always possessed a keen sense of direction, and I found the Cave where Enoch and I had spent two nights without much difficulty.
However, contrary to my expectations, Enoch was not in the Cave. ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
Standing before the Cave entrance with the first ‌‌aid kit clutched to my chest, I stood frozen ‌‌‌‌in bewilderment.
I had never imagined he would leave.
Could he have gone to see the Young Lady?
While I was away, he might have met Yuanna, the Young Lady. Yes, if he had met her, he would abandon someone like me without hesitation.
A ‌‌wave of disappointment crashed over me. Perhaps ‌‌‌‌it felt even more acute because I had yearned for him so desperately while my life hung in the balance mere moments ago.
After spending several days with him, it seemed I had grown attached.
Had his wounds healed completely? They appeared to have improved significantly.
My feet were reluctant to move, but if Enoch was not here, there was no reason to remain. I would have to search for the Underground Bunker alone, as I had originally planned. In any case, I would endure and survive on my own.
'That's ‌‌right. That was always the plan.'
I steeled my resolve and left the Cave.
And at that very moment, I collided with a man standing before the Cave entrance.
Jet-black hair and golden eyes—even the faint teardrop mark beneath his left eye was unmistakable.
Though his ornate uniform was torn in places, the man still carried himself with impeccable composure as he stood frozen, regarding me with an expression of surprise.
It was Enoch.
The jacket he wore concealed the wounds on his forearms, but the color had returned to his ‌‌face, suggesting his injuries were healing well.
"Ah... I thought you had left. It seems your body is doing well. I'm relieved."
Then I ‌‌smiled awkwardly and held up the first aid kit in my arms.
"You said you were going to search for medicinal herbs. I found them. Well, technically it was a first aid kit, not herbs. I scored a complete jackpot."
After rambling on, I belatedly realized he would have no idea what "jackpot" meant.
Enoch stared quietly at the first aid kit in my arms.
After gazing at it ‌‌for ‌‌‌‌a long moment, he suddenly strode toward me with long, purposeful steps. Then he fixed me with a quiet, piercing gaze.
The intensity of his demeanor was so formidable that I instinctively stepped backward. Yet with each step I retreated, he advanced closer.
"Are you... all right."
Enoch asked me in a voice that seemed to suppress barely contained anger. I nodded with a bewildered expression. ‌‌
"...Yes. I'm fine."
I couldn't fathom why he was so furious. What on earth was happening right now?
He spoke to me with a cold expression.
"Enoch."
"Yes?"
"Call ‌me Enoch."
"Yes...? Why should I?"
At my bewildered response, Enoch's brow furrowed as he suppressed his anger. Soon he bit his lower lip firmly, then fixed me with a resentful gaze.
In that instant, my heart ‍‌‌‌seemed to plummet.
'Wow...'
That expression was utterly unfair.
Indeed, people change when placed in extreme circumstances. Was that the reason? Or did relationships become idealized over time?
Yet from our first meeting until now, he has ‌‌done nothing but express his anger. ‌‌‌‌
"You ‌‌won't get hurt. Don't do anything reckless like searching for medicinal herbs."
Enoch gripped both my shoulders, his ‌golden eyes blazing with fierce intensity as he searched my face for a promise.
That's when I noticed it—his hands trembled ‌‌ever so slightly against my shoulders.
"I was worried."
His voice, devastatingly low and spoken so close I could feel his breath, made me hold mine.
For a moment, I nearly fell under his spell.
That was really dangerous. ‌What's wrong with me all of a sudden?
* * ‌‌‌*
Enoch's consciousness returned.
He had no idea ‌‌how much time had passed. The cool air of late afternoon brushed against his nose.
He blinked slowly while lying down, surveying his surroundings, then carefully pushed himself into a sitting position. A sharp ache radiated through his forearm.
He furrowed his brow and looked down at his left arm. It was wrapped in pristine white cloth—unmistakably a piece ‌torn from Margaret's dress.
'Where is Margaret, anyway?'
He lay in the familiar cave, and beyond its mouth stretched a sky painted in crimson sunset.
The sun was setting. That ‌‌‌‌meant ‌venturing outside now would be dangerous. Night was the activity pattern of the monsters he'd learned during his time with Margaret.
The beasts that had attacked him ‌‌‌and Margaret never appeared during daylight, only emerging as darkness fell.
Enoch scanned his surroundings meticulously. The cave was utterly silent. Margaret must have gone outside.
'I'll gather some medicinal herbs. Wait for me—I'll be back soon.'
Now that he thought about it, Margaret had said something like that while he was unconscious.
"Damn it."
Enoch scrambled to his feet. He seized the wooden staff he'd propped against the cave wall—a makeshift weapon he'd fashioned.
He should have ‌‌brought a dagger if he'd known ‌‌‌he'd end up in this situation. But until the moment he'd opened his eyes on this strange island, he'd been attending to duties in the Imperial Palace, so he had no weapons to speak of. ‌‌
He inspected the wooden staff once, then peered outside the cave. Still no sign of anyone.
Awoooo!
A wolf's howl pierced through the undergrowth. Enoch tightened his grip on the ‌‌‌‌staff and swept his gaze sharply across the surroundings, every muscle tense.
"Where the hell did this woman go?"
He suppressed the curses ‌‌rising in his throat and began searching around the cave. But there was no trace of Margaret anywhere.
She had no stamina and was frail. Her delicate frame could never survive this monster-infested night unscathed.
As Enoch, wounded as he was, clenched his teeth and wandered through the forest, the sun sank and darkness fell.
Yet he refused to abandon his search for Margaret.
Why? The old him would never have risked his life ‌‌searching ‌‌‌for her in such uncertain circumstances. But now he simply couldn't leave her to her fate.
"When people are pushed to their limits, they change."
One thing was certain: she was not the Margaret he'd known. That much was undeniable.
"My love for you must ‌‌‌have faded. You bastard. How can love change like that?"
And there was something else—something odd about her that mere change couldn't explain. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling.
Had she truly reformed? Pushed to her limits in this extreme environment, just as she'd always said?
He remained alert, scanning the darkness around him.
Somewhere in this forest, Margaret might be trembling in fear, waiting for help.
Suddenly, Enoch realized how cruelly he'd treated the woman who had loved him so desperately, and his heart ‌grew heavy.
He'd always prided himself on being courteous and gentlemanly, yet...
As Margaret had said, it seemed people changed when faced with extreme circumstances. Or perhaps his nature had been rotten from the start. ‌‌‌
"This is a coconut fruit that grows on palm trees, you ‌see? The sap inside is excellent for replenishing fluids."
"There's always a cave beneath a cliff like that. The path might ‌‌‌‌‌be dangerous, but there's nowhere safer than a place like that."
Ever since waking on this Island, Margaret had made endless efforts to help him. Most of the ‌‌‌‌‌remarkable knowledge she possessed was something he himself had never known.
Did he really need to judge her by past standards and push her into a corner? A belated ‌sense of regret stirred within him.
She must have been terrified when she awoke in this strange place. Moreover, on this Island ‌‌now, there were only the two of ‌‌‌‌them with no one else to rely on.
"You know Young Lady is still under suspicion. When we return to the Empire, we'll conduct a proper investigation into this situation, so you cannot die without my permission."
He had only driven her into a corner with sharp, cutting words when she had nowhere to lean on. So even if she ‌‌‌‌had run away of her own accord, he had no right to complain.
Regardless of anything else, if that were true, Enoch could not find peace even alone.
This sense of responsibility stemmed simply from guilt. It was not born from any other emotion.
Responsibility. Yes. Responsibility.
"Damn it...."
He muttered a curse under his breath and prayed.
Please, just let her be safe.
In the end, Enoch spent the night searching through the Forest for Margaret until the sun rose.
It was truly a stroke of fortune that he hadn't encountered any magical beasts throughout the night, but his search for Margaret ‌‌‌yielded little result.
If she had been hiding to avoid magical ‌‌‌beasts, she might return now that dawn had broken.
He returned ‌‌‌to the Cave with one last glimmer of hope.
It was when he reached the entrance of the Cave, clinging to that uncertain expectation.
A woman with a familiar face ‌‌‌was walking out from the Cave.
Her platinum hair gleamed brilliantly ‌‌in the sunlight, and her ‌appearance seemed as beautiful as an angel descending from the heavens.
'Ah. Yes. I suppose I must admit I've finally lost my mind.'
It wasn't entirely wrong either. He had spent the entire night searching for her alone in a perilous Forest where magical beasts might emerge in packs.
Similarly, she also seemed flustered upon discovering him. In her arms was a pure white box whose purpose was unclear.
"Ah.... I thought you had left. It seems your body is fine. That's a relief." ‌‌‌‌‌
She spoke while showing him the box she was holding.
"You said you were going to find medicinal herbs. I found them. To be precise, it's a first aid ‌‌kit. I totally scored ‌‌‌‌big."
It seemed she had wandered through the ‌‌Forest ‌‌all night searching for medicinal herbs to ‌treat his wounds.
Enoch let out a sigh of frustration. In such extreme circumstances, she prioritized others over herself.
Was she really the Margaret he had known? ‌‌She could have easily died.
'But thanks to this, I'm now certain of one thing.'
He ‌‌‌‌had misjudged Margaret, seeing only one facet of her and misunderstanding her.
Despite barely being able to take ‌care of herself, she had tried so hard to save him with her small frame....
What was the reason she cared for him enough to risk her life like this? Enoch ‌‌suddenly found himself curious about that.
"Enoch."
"Yes?"
"Call me Enoch."
Perhaps that's why he said such a thing so impulsively. ‌

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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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