Chapter 122
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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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Chapter 122
"Margaret..."
At that moment, Enoch spoke quietly, wiping his face with a dry cloth.
"Margaret might have returned to the cave where we were staying."
His desperate voice carried a mixture of longing and a fragile thread of hope.
However, Kaiden and Rujeep were somewhat skeptical of the opinion that Margaret might return.
The last expression they remembered on Margaret's face had been filled with betrayal.
"Still, I think it would be wise to search the cave once more. What if we split into groups and move separately?"
At Rujeep's question, Enoch merely nodded silently while Kaiden stared fixedly at the grimy earth beneath them.
An uncomfortable silence fell between them once more.
After a long moment, Enoch cursed—uncharacteristically—and hurled the cloth fragment he'd been holding to the ground. It was a piece of Margaret's dress.
Presumably from her crossbag, they had followed this trace all the way here, far from the cave.
"Damn it, isn't this all because of some useless plan we concocted?"
At Enoch's reproach, as if he'd lost his reason, Kaiden sprang to his feet as well.
"Are you blaming me now? I believe Your Highness also consented to it?"
At Kaiden's words, Enoch irritably unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. Then, swinging his wrists, he glared at Kaiden provocatively, as if he wanted to fight.
"Did it look like I was blaming? As Rodban said, I also agreed to that plan, so I had no intention of blaming anyone—but it seems you have a guilty conscience."
Enoch clenched his teeth, suppressing the emotions boiling up inside him. His face looked unusually impatient and anxious, unlike his usual self.
"Damn it, are you seriously saying that now?!"
The two men finally seized each other by the collar and fought. Punches were exchanged and they rolled across the ground without restraint.
Rujeep frowned as if watching savage beasts and stepped back at a distance.
Then Diego stepped in. He approached Enoch and Kaiden in a single stride, separated them both at a distance, and then nodded to Rujeep.
"Restrain him, Bishop."
At Diego's words, as if coming to his senses, Enoch exhaled an irritated breath, stopped his fist mid-swing, and shook off his hand.
The problem was Kaiden. Rujeep hesitated before joining Diego in restraining the raging Kaiden.
Blood streamed down from his head between eyes reddened with congestion. With a ghastly expression, Kaiden thrashed about until his body was finally bound firmly to a tree.
"Let go of me!"
Enoch too had blood streaming from his head. As he tidied his clothes and roughly wiped his bloodstained face with the back of his hand, he looked at Kaiden with a weary expression.
"Are you alright?"
Diego asked Enoch in a tense voice. His eyes showed concern that Enoch might rampage upon seeing blood.
Enoch exhaled a sigh, his face exhausted.
"I'm fine. I can control the rampage now."
Both Diego and Rujeep looked surprised at his words. They seemed curious about how he'd gained such control, but Enoch offered no explanation.
"You couldn't find Flone Young Lady, then?"
Rujeep asked quietly, gauging the atmosphere.
Enoch ran his hand through his hair with an unsettled expression. Deep despair washed over his face.
He couldn't continue speaking, his lips merely trembling before he finally closed his mouth. His eyes had already become bloodshot.
I didn't know how far Margaret had misunderstood our words or how she'd twisted them, but how terrified must she have been alone? How much must she have suffered?
Merely thinking of it made my chest feel heavy as if a stone had settled there. My throat tightened so much I could barely breathe.
"Give up. We can't find her."
At that moment, someone replied.
It wasn't Enoch who answered. A youthful boy's voice came from somewhere.
All the men looked around, searching for the direction of the sound.
Kaiden, who had been struggling against the tree binding him, turned his gaze upward with a hardened expression.
"Who are you? Don't hide in a place like that—come down here, you bastard."
"Sorry. I can't do that."
Enoch, along with Rujeep and Diego, followed Kaiden's gaze and looked up at the tree.
On the thick branch sat a boy wearing the same robe as Kaiden.
With silver hair and crimson eyes identical to Kaiden's, he swung his legs leisurely as he answered in a relaxed tone.
"I can't use my power here."
"Then get lost."
The boy showed no particular reaction to Kaiden's crude language.
As Rujeep and Diego felt bewilderment at his expressionless demeanor, Enoch recognized that the boy before him was 'Jenas Igran Rohade'—the one Kaiden and Margaret had mentioned before.
"Hello."
The boy greeted Enoch, Rujeep, and Diego. Diego drew his sword and pointed it at the boy.
"Who are you?"
Rujeep turned to Kaiden and Enoch and asked. Kaiden replied without taking his eyes off the boy.
"I told you last night. There's a sorcerer who's lived a thousand years on this Island."
Rujeep recalled the conversation they'd had while Margaret was poisoned by toxic gas and bedridden, and finally looked up at the boy with a startled expression.
The boy waited for their conversation to end, then shrugged and opened his mouth.
"I was curious, so I came to see."
And very slowly, with an air of leisure, he surveyed the gathered group.
That demeanor poured oil on the raging fury burning within Kaiden.
Kaiden snapped all the vines binding his body and stood up, looking at the boy above him.
"You came because you were curious? You bastard, you saw everything, didn't you? I told you to come down before I drag you down, you son of a bitch."
"I don't want to."
The boy shrugged and answered with perfect composure. He swept his gaze across the group with an impassive face, then spoke slowly, as if sighing.
"I came to tell you an interesting story...."
Like a turtle walking slowly, he paused again, tilted his head slightly, and looked down at them. As if a god were gazing down upon mortals.
"...Won't you listen?"
Enoch stood with his arms crossed, looking up at the boy. His eyebrows rose in displeasure.
"An interesting story?"
The boy nodded at Enoch's question.
"Yes. It'll be very interesting."
The boy spoke slowly, word by word, then stopped. He looked up at the sky for a moment, building suspense, before continuing slowly.
"It's about our Margaret."
At the boy's words, Rujeep felt bewilderment. 'Our'? The possessiveness the boy had revealed toward Margaret was far from ordinary.
"The Margaret you know isn't Margaret."
At his shocking statement, everyone froze in surprise. The boy smiled, as if he had wanted exactly this reaction.
"It seems another soul has entered Margaret Rose Flone."
A smile as bright as a flower bloomed across the face of the emotionless boy who had shown no expression until now.
* * *
I had no idea how much time had passed. The dim underground made it even harder to keep track of time.
As I rustled and made my presence known, Silver Earthworm crawled over from beside me and lifted its face onto my arm.
I picked it up and placed it on my shoulder, then calmly surveyed my surroundings once more.
The Underground Tomb seemed to hold nothing more of particular significance to discover.
Perhaps these skulls had drawn me here for this very reason.
To make their deaths known.
With a heavy heart, I offered a prayer for the skulls, then carefully examined the walls. Light was seeping through somewhere.
As I ran my hands along the wall and checked the crevices, I found a place where air was flowing through. It was clearly an outer wall.
'The problem is that I'd have to destroy the wall.'
Using a flare would be difficult. If the ceiling collapsed along with it, I'd be buried alive.
'What should I do?'
I was deep in thought when it happened.
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
I heard the sound of skulls moving behind me. Too unsettled to even turn around, I froze in place.
The skulls were moving and approaching rapidly. Soon they rushed past me and slammed their bodies against the wall with a loud thud.
"What, what is this?"
I stared blankly at the skull that had fallen apart on the ground.
More skulls came rushing in and rammed their bodies into the wall one after another.
Dozens of skulls came charging and crashed into the stone wall, and with crackling sounds, fragments of the stone wall shattered.
Thud, thud.
The skulls sacrificed their bodies against the stone wall without rest. After this action repeated for a long time, a corner of the wall finally broke through.
"Good heavens."
Light seeped through the broken wall. The opening was wide enough to pass through if I bent down.
The skulls, as if they had fulfilled their duty, lost their strength and scattered across the floor.
"Thank, thank you."
I offered my gratitude to the skulls. Though I wasn't sure if they could hear me.
Perhaps they had helped me so that I wouldn't become a victim like them.
I quietly left the Underground Space through the broken hole.
As I climbed along the outer wall, an Underground Staircase lit by torches was revealed. It was a narrow staircase that only one person could barely pass through.
Both sides of the staircase were blocked by stone walls, with only paths leading down and up.
I decided to explore the upper level first.
I thought this might be the Bunker itself.
On Alea Island, the Bunker was the only place that could have such a space. The location was definitely around here too.
So I slowly climbed the narrow staircase that stretched straight upward. And I soon reached the upper level.
There was an Underground Corridor to the left of the staircase, and at the end of the corridor was a door. I stopped on the staircase and looked at the corridor, then looked up the staircase again. It seemed I could go up one more level.
'Should I go all the way up first and then come back down?'
In the end, I didn't open the door and went up to the next level. There might be a passage leading outside. I climbed to the end of the staircase with faint hope.
As expected, at the end of the staircase was a door that seemed to lead to the outside.
The problem was that the door was firmly locked—and from the inside, there was no way to open it. I was at a loss.
Then it suddenly occurred to me: the key that Yuanna possessed. Could this be a door that needed to be opened from the outside?
Since I'd entered through a back passage, this might indeed be the main entrance.
'Am I... trapped?'
My heart raced violently. Tension and fear washed over me, but I forced myself to stay calm and assess the situation.
'First, there was a room on the lower level earlier. Let me check that out.'
I descended the Underground Staircase again and stood before the lower-level door I'd seen before. I wasn't certain there was a room behind it, yet something told me there would be.
I grasped the doorknob and turned it. It wasn't locked—the handle rotated smoothly. I slowly pulled the door open.
The room inside was pitch-black, revealing nothing. The darkness itself felt unsettling, so I opened the door wider and took a moment to breathe deeply.
'What do I do? I should probably light something up.'
The instant that thought crossed my mind, light suddenly blazed to life throughout the room.
"Damn, you scared me!"
I jumped back, pressing myself against the doorframe. Torches mounted on the walls had ignited. Living on this Island, my heart would never get a moment's rest.
"So it really was magic."
It was clear that powerful magic had been cast over this Bunker—or what I assumed to be one.
I surveyed the room carefully.
Just as I'd read in novels, the room was filled with modern conveniences. I was momentarily speechless.
The room contained a bed, a sofa, a desk, racks of hanging clothes, and shelves brimming with food and daily necessities.
Though it was described as a single-occupancy space, it seemed spacious enough for Enoch, Kaiden, and even Rujeep to live here comfortably.
Who on earth had created such a room, and why?
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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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