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Chapter 2
2. Abandoned on This Wretched Island ‌‌
"We should climb the mountain first. From higher ground, we can ‌survey the ‌‌‌‌terrain properly. ‌‌If we're on a continent, we can search for nearby settlements or villages. ‌‌‌But if this is an island...."
If it were an island, we'd see the horizon.
Enoch trailed off, ‌‌‌‌clearly unwilling to entertain that possibility.
With my wrist still firmly in his grip, I walked along the ‌‌Beach and gazed up at the sky.
The sun had already descended considerably.
Climbing the mountain at this hour was unwise. If the sun ‌‌set ‌‌‌while we were ascending, we'd be trapped. ‌‌
Beyond ‌‌that, monsters emerged at night—another pressing concern.
Enoch, who moments ago had regarded me with lethal hostility, had noticeably tempered his demeanor.
He was beginning to ‌‌grasp that my options here ‌‌‌were severely limited.
"I think we should save the mountain climb for tomorrow. We can't risk the sun setting while we're ascending."
Fortunately, Enoch grasped my meaning immediately.
"I didn't realize the Young Lady was capable of such rational thinking."
At his words, I furrowed my brow.
Was that a compliment or an insult?
"You're right. We'll save the mountain for tomorrow. For now, let's explore the immediate surroundings more thoroughly."
Like a man who'd crawled through battlefields, his situational awareness was remarkably sharp.
Indeed, Enoch was a prince born to a commoner maidservant who'd become Crown Prince through sheer ability alone.
He'd seized the position by amassing countless battlefield victories and surpassing all his brothers.
The novel had portrayed him as utterly ruthless—a man who knew no retreat whatsoever.
And yet, ‌‌stranded on this deserted island, he'd descended into obsession and madness over the heroine.
...Wait, am I really safe being alone with this man?
He hasn't descended into obsession with the heroine yet, so it should be fine...?
In any case, he finally ‌‌released my wrist. I rubbed the reddened skin and exhaled in relief.
We resumed our walk ‌‌along the Beach.
After walking for some time, I stopped. Enoch, who'd been ahead, turned back with a puzzled expression.
"What ‌is it?"
Instead of answering, I stood at the ‌‌water's edge, gazing at the mangrove trees faintly visible between the palm trees.
Mangroves typically ‌‌grew in brackish regions.
'If mangroves are present, freshwater flows nearby. Perhaps ‌‌venturing into the Forest would be wise.'
I rested my chin in my hand, my expression turning contemplative like a cold philosopher, and spoke.
"The Beach seems to end here. I think we need to make a decision now."
A massive cliff blocked the end of the sandy shore. The path terminated here.
Enoch, apparently sharing my thoughts, silently gazed with me into the dark Forest ahead.
"We need to find shelter before nightfall."
I nodded in agreement at his words.
So we decided ‌‌to search for a place to spend the night, with the Beach where we'd first awakened as a backup option, and we set out.
Ordinarily, it would've been faster to split up, but Enoch kept me firmly at his side.
If we failed to secure shelter before sunset, what then? ‌The thought made my lips go dry. We had to hurry.
It was some time ‌‌later ‌‌‌‍when I was searching ‌‌‌through the Forest near the Beach.
Awooooo—!
A wolf's howl echoed from somewhere. In that instant, goosebumps erupted across my entire body.
'Surely not... a monster...? No, that can't be right?'
My heart hammered violently. This made no sense. I'd always understood that monsters only appeared at night.
The rising terror made my blood run cold.
"Is that possibly a wolf...?"
The moment I turned to Enoch to ask if that was indeed a wolf's cry,
the sound of dense ‌‌undergrowth crashing violently erupted from the previously ‌‌silent Forest.
The distant successive sounds rapidly closed the distance. And in an instant, they ‌‌were upon us.
Tension made my palms slick with sweat.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
The eerily rapid approach gave me no time to comprehend what was happening.
Between the tall undergrowth, I thought I glimpsed a pair of gleaming eyes,
Crack!
An enormous creature ‌‌arced high into the sky in a great semicircle. And it plummeted directly toward me, its jaws snapping open with a sickening sound.
It was a wolf-form monster.
Between its sharp, densely-packed teeth, a grotesquely elongated tongue writhed with serpentine flexibility.
Overwhelmed by that grotesque visage, I couldn't even scream.
Then Enoch ‌‌‌swiftly pulled me into his arms.
Using the momentum ‌‌‌of pulling me close as a pivot, he spun a half-rotation and gracefully evaded the monster's assault. ‌‌
Landing lightly on the ground, the creature that snarled toward us was unmistakably one of the monsters described in novels.
I drew a deep breath, nestled against Enoch's chest.
Enoch tightened his grip ‌‌‌around me and snapped a thick branch from a nearby tree.
The creature didn't miss that momentary opening and lunged toward us.
'Damn it!'
Fortunately, Enoch's agility and ‌monstrous ‌strength exceeded imagination. Gripping the branch in one hand, he drove it straight through the monster's spine and plunged it downward into the earth.
Boom! The ground trembled with a deafening impact.
Truly befitting a high-tier male lead. His strength was utterly merciless. Veins bulged prominently across Enoch's solid forearm as he gripped the branch.
Screech!
Contrary to its charging momentum, the monster shrieked pathetically and ‌‌collapsed to the ‌‌‌‌ground.
It lay motionless—it seemed to have stopped breathing. Dark blood soaked the earth. ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌
Enoch drew ragged breaths as he straightened his hunched frame.
I remained cradled in his arms, ‌‌still gasping in shock. Engorged veins pulsed visibly across his forearms.
Indeed, to have killed a monster in a single strike with just one hand and a mere branch... it would have been impossible ‌with ordinary strength.
Now that I think about it, the original Enoch had trauma related to blood—was he all right?
I recalled it was a aftereffect from the war.
'What exactly were the symptoms again?'
I tried to search my memory, but startled by the monster, nothing came to mind.
Eventually, I gave up thinking and ‌‌gazed upward at the sky.
In the ‌‌original story, monsters were said to appear only at night. ‌Yet this wolf monster that attacked us emerged before the sun had even set.
'Why is ‌‌that?'
Through the dense ‌‌‌thicket, the crimson-tinged evening sky caught my eye. Looking around, I realized that only where we stood were the massive trees ‌‌‌‌‌so thick and overgrown that darkness reigned.
'Perhaps the keyword isn't night, but ‌‌darkness itself.'
Monsters might move whenever darkness falls, regardless of the hour—and since night is when darkness lingers longest, that's simply when ‌they're most active.
'That would explain why a monster appeared at this hour.'
Just then, Enoch pushed me away as though brushing off something filthy, and dusted off his hands.
He glanced at the dead monster once, then cast a fleeting look at my face. ‌‌
"I haven't the faintest idea what that thing was. Are you unharmed, Young Lady?" ‌‌
"...Yes, what?"
Bewildered, I grasped his question a beat ‌‌‌‌too late. At that, his expression grew serious as he approached me.
Enoch tilted his head slightly and calmly examined my face.
Soon his hand came to rest against my cheek.
The moment his warm touch met my skin, I caught my breath.
It was a far cry from how he'd pushed me away moments before, as though I were something unclean.
With the grave expression of one regarding ‌‌‌a wounded comrade, he asked me.
"You look like you're about to die, so I'm asking. Are you truly all right?"
Perhaps ‌‌he was genuinely remembering his fallen comrades.
"Ah... Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."
My voice trembled ‌‌‌audibly, fear not yet fully dissipated. ‌‌‌
Shame burned across my face.
He ‌‌‌regarded me in silence for a moment, then ‌‌‌‌his expression twisted with annoyance.
Then he extended his hand to me.
I stared at his hand uncertainly. He ‌‌shook it impatiently, urging me.
This time it wasn't a forceful grip on my wrist—it was an invitation.
The fact that ‌I had the choice not to take it suggested this was ‌‌‌his way of showing consideration.
"You understand you're still under suspicion, Young Lady. When we return to the Empire, I'll interrogate you properly about this situation. So you're not permitted to die without my consent."
'Interrogate? What have I possibly done wrong?' ‌‌
As I hesitated, Enoch's eyes narrowed as though something displeased him further.
He added a follow-up remark with a ‌‌‌sigh.
"Take my hand. It's dangerous."
His tone was distinctly irritable.
What was this? This exasperating yet oddly reassuring tsundere-like force.

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