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Chapter 86
Diego's face darkened at her question.
"Well, the Holy ‌‌‌Maiden... she..."
Seeing him about to confess the truth, Kaiden quickly cut ‌‌him off.
"Holy Maiden. I didn't say anything. You don't remember at all?"
The things Yuanna had said while suffering from hallucinations looked like trauma at first glance.
Since she couldn't remember ‌‌‌anything anyway, there seemed no need to ‌‍deliberately remind her.
"I don't remember anything. It all went blank the moment that strange flower wrapped around my ankle."
At her words, Kaiden sighed and looked between Diego and Yuanna alternately.
"That red flower is a special poison ‌‌called Tentationeм that the Rohade Family secretly experimented with and developed."
Both of ‌‌‌‌them stared at Kaiden with startled eyes. Kaiden continued his explanation without hesitation.
"The addictive nature of the poison from the Tentationeм flower is more acute than chronic. So when someone becomes addicted to this poison, they experience impulsive excitement and hallucinations—mental disorders—and temporarily fall into an uncontrollable state."
"Excitement and hallucinations... those are the symptoms Diego and I experienced last night."
Yuanna answered with a haggard face, and Kaiden nodded.
"Exactly. Among the neurotransmitters in ‌‌‌‌the human brain, there's one that causes excitement in the brain. The addictive substance from this flower is that same type. Only the low body temperature of someone not addicted can ‌‍diminish this substance's function. That's all I know."
Diego, ‌‌‌‌listening to Kaiden's explanation, asked him ‌‌seriously.
"Why did the ‌‌‌Rohade Family create such a flower in the first place? What were they trying to do? And why is a flower developed by the Rohade Family here?"
"I don't know. I'm not particularly close with the family members. But it's definitely suspicious."
"And Rodban, have you now abandoned formal speech entirely?"
Diego asked with a frown, seeming somewhat displeased. Kaiden shrugged as if bewildered, answering as if to say this wasn't important right now. ‌‌‌
"After what you all put me through last night, don't expect me to use formal speech, alright?"
At Kaiden's words, Diego finally had nothing ‌‌to say and closed his mouth.
"This Island and the Rohade Family might be connected."
At Yuanna's words, Kaiden agreed and nodded.
"It's just speculation, but that's possible." ‌‌
"It seems you don't appear to be addicted to the poison, Rodban."
At Diego's question, Kaiden rested his chin on his hand and searched his memory.
"My memory's getting hazy now, but I was subjected to experiments as ‌a child. Thanks to that, I developed a tolerance to the poison."
"What ‌‌‌kind of experiments could possibly..."
"Diego. It's rude to ask something so directly."
Yuanna scolded Diego. Then Diego, looking embarrassed, scratched the back of his head ‌‌‌and asked Yuanna.
"Are you alright, Holy Maiden?"
Kaiden clicked his tongue, watching Diego. ‌He seemed preoccupied with looking after Yuanna. As Kaiden massaged his stiff neck and quietly observed this, he asked.
"But why do you take such good care of the Holy ‌‌‌Maiden? Do you like her?"
"Isn't it relatively mild compared to what you do for Flone Young Lady?"
And Yuanna, ‌‌‌‌who had already returned to her normal condition, smiled with an easy-going laugh. At her words, Kaiden had nothing to say and quietly closed his mouth. ‌‌‌
"And ‌‌‌Diego taking care of me? It's nothing. Both Asdal and Diego feel guilty ‌‌‌toward me, so that's why. I didn't really want to talk about this, but given the circumstances..."
She spoke matter-of-factly, as if discussing something trivial.
Diego, without any reaction, quietly tidied up Yuanna's disheveled ‌‌clothes.
'There seems to be some annoying history tangled up in this.' ‌‌‌
Kaiden privately regretted asking the question and listened quietly to her explanation.
"When we were attacked by Monsters, those two abandoned me."
"We didn't abandon you. You were struck by the Tarantula Monster and fell from the Cliff, so we believed you would have died instantly."
"But I survived."
As Diego immediately countered, Yuanna raised both ‌‌‌‌hands and shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant expression.
Hearing those words, Kaiden paused in admiration.
'...Is surviving a fall from a Cliff really that common?'
He couldn't ‌help but seriously ponder such a thing.
"Until the Holy ‌‌‌‌Maiden arrived, we were still fighting the Monsters. We didn't have time to search for you."
"Yes. I understand."
At Diego's continued rebuttal, Yuanna nodded her head. It wasn't ‌‌‌‌‌‌a sarcastic tone—her expression genuinely showed she understood Diego.
Kaiden folded his arms ‌‌‌and quietly watched the two of them debate.
"That's precisely why I said I would dedicate my life to protecting the Holy Maiden."
"No, really, I'm fine."
Yuanna sighed. Then she pointed at Diego with a look seeking Kaiden's agreement.
"See? Even though I say I understand, he's ‌‌still like that. He probably never intended to save me in the first place. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for him to carry such guilt, right?"
Yuanna shook her head with an expression of utter exasperation. Hearing ‌‌her words, Kaiden also clicked his tongue. ‌
Yuanna swept her hair back with a rough gesture, then looked down at Diego while picking at her ear as if annoyed.
Her rather coarse demeanor left even Kaiden somewhat flustered. Her mannerisms ‌‌‌were so similar to his own—equally frivolous, like looking in a mirror.
"Ugh, this is such a pain, really. I'm not resenting you. I would've done the same. We were all strangers back then."
Yuanna sighed and looked at Diego.
Though she spoke as if it were nothing, Kaiden ‌‌sensed that the situation at that time had been more serious than she let on.
After watching the two of them face off for a moment, he lifted his gaze ‌‌‌‌to the sky above.
Quite ‌‌a bit ‌‌of time ‌‌‌‌had already passed. Would they be able to reach their destination and return within the scheduled timeframe?
Kaiden was about to cut off the conversation when a sudden thought made him look at Diego.
"But doesn't the knight's chivalry have quite a few flaws anyway? You even stole Margaret's dress while she was bathing."
It was an incident everyone had learned about when Margaret took revenge by stealing Diego's clothes in the Cabin. Yuanna, showing no intention of defending him, shrugged and stepped back.
Diego slowly knelt before them with a pained expression.
"You're right. My ‌‌‌chivalry is lacking. At that time, I wanted to ease the guilt I carried toward the Holy Maiden. Even if it was through improper means."
Silent tears streamed down Diego's cheeks. A teardrop caught at the tip of his chin fell onto his clenched fist resting on his knee.
It was the kind of upright bearing that would make anyone ‌‌call him the embodiment of ‌‌‌‌chivalry.
Yet what Kaiden sensed from Diego's reaction was somewhat ambiguous. It ‌didn't seem like he was simply looking after her out of guilt.
'It seems like there's something ‌‌‌‌more personal mixed in.'
Yuanna stared at him with an expression of not knowing what to do with ‌this foolish man, sighing.
Similarly, Kaiden also grew quite exhausted and looked down at Diego.
Diego seemed to be ‍‌‌in a state of confusion, torn between guilt over his ‌‌actions that contradicted his beliefs and some inexplicable emotion toward Yuanna.
It appeared that the ‌‌‌tangled mess of emotions had become too much for him to bear, as if he'd lost his grip on reason.
'Come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be a single sane person here. Isn't that what makes me normal?'
Kaiden rested his chin on his hand and nodded thoughtfully at such a notion.
He'd managed to learn what had happened with the Holy Maiden in the meantime—at this rate, he might even earn praise ‌‌‌from Margaret for a job well done.
After some time, Kaiden's party finally arrived at the place where Yuanna had first awakened. It was a gravel beach with a massive river ‌‌‌flowing before it.
"The Crown Prince ‌‌‌and I regained consciousness not far from this location."
Diego spoke while surveying the gravel beach. Kaiden stood atop a large rock, gazing down at the expanse below, his chin resting thoughtfully in his palm.
"The key was simply lying on the ground. Within reach of my hand. Strange, isn't it? ‌‌‌‌There doesn't seem to be anything particularly special about this place."
Yuanna stood at the spot where she had first collapsed, carefully examining her surroundings.
Diego, who had ventured further out to conduct a cursory search, returned to their side and reported his findings.
"I checked that direction as well, but there doesn't appear to be anything of note."
Just then, Yuanna, who had been standing at the water's edge peering into the depths, bent down at the ‌‌‌‌waist. She plunged her hand into the water and withdrew something.
"Ah? There is something here after all?"
"Hmm?"
What Yuanna had retrieved was a thin piece of cloth. And upon the fabric were inscribed both ‌images and characters.

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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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