Chapter 146
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Chapter 146
No, I had never thought about them in such concrete terms.
In truth, I had consciously avoided the issue. I wanted to prioritize survival above all else. I refused to let anything take precedence over survival and escape.
"A difficult question to answer, isn't it?"
Yuanna asked me with a look of complete understanding. I nodded in agreement. Even reconsidering it now, I felt it wasn't the right time to dwell on that matter.
I still believed in the Suspension Bridge effect. Who could say whether their feelings would remain the same after we escaped the Island?
These were people who despised me when I was in the Langrid Empire. That's why I was terrified. What if their hearts changed again once we returned?
If all these emotions were erased after our escape, my heart would break. For all of us to remain unbroken, I had to act correctly now.
Then I found myself curious about Yuanna's own feelings.
It seemed I had never witnessed her opening up deeply about her own story. Perhaps there had been no point of intersection between us.
"What about you, Holy Maiden?"
"Pardon?"
"Have you never had anyone you liked? Not even now?"
Yuanna's eyes widened in surprise, as though she hadn't expected the question to turn back on her.
"Well...."
Her expression faltered momentarily, her words trailing off. It wasn't the look of someone caught hiding something, but genuine shock at an unexpected question.
"No."
Then she answered firmly. So firmly that it felt awkward to ask again.
I glanced at Kaiden and Diego, still bickering in the nearby tree. I had thought Diego harbored feelings for Yuanna, but from her oblivious expression, perhaps he didn't?
I tilted my head in confusion, then decided to dismiss the matter. If she said there was nothing, then there was nothing.
What mattered to us was survival.
I slowly surveyed our surroundings.
On the opposite tree were Enoch and Asdal, while the unconscious Rujeep was bound tightly to a branch directly above them.
We had to keep watch in shifts and sleep, prepared for any unexpected danger or attack. That's why we had climbed into the trees in pairs, though the team assignments had worked out rather awkwardly.
A mage and a knight, a Crown Prince and a Crown Prince combination. Though admittedly, pairing Enoch and Kaiden would have been problematic too.
As I quietly surveyed the surroundings, I turned back to Yuanna.
"Do you know what the Rohade siblings' purpose is in opening the dimensional gate, Holy Maiden?"
At my question, Yuanna furrowed her brow and closed her eyes, her face contemplative. After a long moment of thought, she shrugged and answered.
"I don't know exactly. But what's certain is that it wasn't an experiment to satisfy Jenath and Anata's personal desires. It seemed like quite a few people's interests were involved."
She furrowed her brow and shook her head with an expression of incomprehension.
"Actually, I have many questions too. Before I turned back time, I didn't even have the presence of mind to ask them various things."
Only then did I recall her diary from when everyone had died and she alone remained, wanting to end her own life.
I couldn't dare claim to understand her state of mind at that time. So I offered no clumsy consolation. Instead, I asked her.
"Are you truly alright, Holy Maiden?"
"Pardon?"
Yuanna tilted her head with a bewildered expression. I spoke in the most measured tone I could manage.
"Among all of us, you're the only one who remembers the past that has disappeared. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to carry memories alone."
"Ah...."
Yuanna's mouth hung open slightly, momentarily at a loss for words. It was unlike her usual composed demeanor.
"Don't worry. I'm fine...."
It was the first time I'd seen her look so flustered since we met.
"Well, I mean, it's fine...."
She couldn't finish her sentence and merely repeated the same words before clamping her mouth shut.
At that moment, rain began to fall from the sky, one drop at a time.
Yuanna's eyes trembled violently. Her face grew progressively obscured, much like the darkening weather itself.
I quietly gazed upward at the heavens.
"It's raining. On a day like this, no one would hear even if someone were crying."
Yuanna's eyes widened as she looked at me. The tip of her nose flushed red. She furrowed her brow and her face contorted as if in pain.
The rain poured down in torrents.
Yuanna kept her head bowed, and I couldn't tell whether she was truly shedding tears or not.
She remained like that for a long while, her head lowered until the rain ceased.
* * *
The clear weather after the storm was intensely hot. Yet this mad Island remained beautiful nonetheless.
For several days, we hadn't encountered any Monsters. So now, instead of sleeping in the trees, we set up a Barrier and rested beneath them.
Fortunately, Asdal possessed the ability to sense Monster movements through his mana sense, and he said there were almost no Monsters in the vicinity.
It appeared that sealing the mother entity had indeed noticeably reduced their numbers.
Before long, it became late afternoon with the sunset approaching. We seemed to have covered about half the distance to Jenas's Cabin. We needed to travel the same distance again, so the party required adequate rest.
We remained vigilant against Monsters during our movement to prevent Jenath from pinpointing our location through them, and we never forgot to maintain our Barrier.
We built a campfire and sat around it, each lost in our own thoughts. A long silence persisted.
"It seems no one intends to speak. This is precisely why the atmosphere grows heavy. If no one wishes to talk, allow me to share my thoughts."
Asdal, unable to bear the silence and fond of speaking, finally opened his mouth. He surveyed those gathered, crossed his arms, and let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Throughout my life since birth, I have never once considered myself to be anything less than noble."
It was an exceedingly arrogant statement, but Asdal had earned the right. As the legitimate Crown Prince, he had grown up surrounded only by happiness and beauty—until he met his former wife.
"Since arriving here, I've experienced nothing but things I've never encountered before. Of course, everyone except Flone Young Lady has felt the same."
Asdal winked at me.
"I've had many thoughts indeed. I've even gained some enlightenment. I've come to realize that I was merely a canary trapped in a cage all this time."
The canary metaphor was rather extreme, but if I objected, it would only become tedious. So I listened quietly to his words.
"I'm not a pessimist, but to be honest, I don't believe we can all escape this Island safely."
It wasn't pessimism—it was the truth.
We had been deliberately ignoring the assumption that we couldn't all escape together unharmed.
What had started as an attempt to lighten the mood had instead made the atmosphere even more grim.
Whether Asdal realized this or not, he continued speaking.
"So, if anyone has final words or requests for those who manage to escape, wouldn't it be best to say them now?"
He seemed to have been waiting all this time just to say those words. He clearly had something he wanted to leave behind.
"Don't tell me we'll all make it out, so such assumptions aren't necessary. Let's face reality. Of course, I'd like for everyone to escape, but there are always contingencies."
"Very well. I had things I wanted to say anyway, so this works out perfectly."
Surprisingly, Kaiden—the most fastidious and pessimistic among us—was the first to affirm Asdal's words.
He stretched both arms behind his head, interlaced his fingers, and leaned the back of his head against his palms with a composed smile.
Likely not just Kaiden, but all of us had things we wished to say.
"Then I'll go first."
Asdal spoke first.
"If I fail to escape, would you find Aberdeen Christine in the Hestia Kingdom? He's my nephew. You won't need an explanation for why. When I say I'm looking for him, he'll probably guess the reason himself."
Diego expressed his confusion at Asdal's words.
"The Christine Viscount Family, then...."
"That's right, my distant nephew. There's no trustworthy successor to follow after me within the royal family."
"Still, these are your final words, yet you have nothing to say to your own blood."
Diego asked again with an expression of incomprehension. At that, Asdal nodded without hesitation.
"Nothing. That's how royalty works—we move according to the greater cause and live only for that cause."
His face looked strangely relieved.
With Asdal's words, silence fell for a moment. In that space, the crackling of the campfire mixed with the chirping of insects, a shrill sound cutting through the air.
Now that the conversation had truly begun, something felt strange. Not just for me, but for everyone.
We now stood at a crossroads—either we would survive and escape, or we would fall before death's threshold.
"Please deliver a message to the Biltherheim Duchy on my behalf. Tell them: 'You are always right. I respect you.' That's all I ask."
The moment Diego finished speaking, Kaiden raised one hand with a half-hearted gesture and spoke in a listless tone.
"Tell the Tower of Magic to proceed with the plan as scheduled."
"A plan?"
When I questioned him, Kaiden crossed his arms and smiled with casual confidence.
"I was already devising a plan to destroy the Rohade Family even before coming here."
Ah.... Knowing Kaiden's past, it wasn't strange that he'd been plotting such a thing. After all, his conflict with the Rohade Family was well-known.
Yuanna, who had been quietly waiting for our conversation to end, finally spoke.
"It's my turn, isn't it? There's probably no one waiting for my news, but still, please deliver a message to our great Pope. Tell him: 'I sacrificed my very life to ruin your experiment. The result is your defeat. What will you do now? You've raised a tiger.'"
Everyone looked at Yuanna at her words. As their gazes focused on me, she smiled with an unbothered expression.
"What?"
At her innocent question, everyone shook their heads.
Unlike the others, I knew that her soul was bound to this Island, so her words struck me all the more painfully.
Yet Yuanna herself remained composed, calmly turning her gaze toward Enoch. It was his turn to speak next.
Enoch had been quietly silent, but when attention shifted to me, he opened his mouth with a sigh.
"When you inform my aide Ludvin of my death, he'll handle the rest on his own. So the words I wish to leave behind...."
Enoch, trailing off, glanced at me sitting to his left.
"I'll tell them directly. Right before."
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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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