Chapter 30
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Chapter 30
Even though I told him I wasn't Flone Young Lady, he still called me by that name.
Right. I knew he wouldn't believe me. I picked up the spear and shrugged at him.
"I thought you were a wild beast. Who told you to sneak around and spy like that?"
Rujef was still fair and beautiful. But his temperament was so fierce that he was a difficult man to befriend.
The mistress Yuanna had known Rujef since the time of the Papal See, yet even so, it took quite a long time for her to grow close to him.
"Who spied? I didn't spy on anyone!"
Rujef cried out as if screaming, then stopped short.
He looked at me with a startled expression, scanning me from head to toe, then glanced over my shoulder.
There, spread across the Gravel Beach, were the fish I had caught.
"Did you really hunt fish?"
I nodded with a puzzled expression. He stared blankly at the fish scattered across the Gravel Beach, swallowing hard—he looked quite hungry.
It seemed he had been watching me catch fish in the water.
"Flone Young Lady actually hunted... I can't believe it even seeing it with my own eyes. This is absurd. Even a passing demon would laugh at this."
Rujef rambled on, his mind completely gone.
'A passing demon would laugh? That's way too much.'
But it wasn't I who answered Rujef's words.
"Who spied on what?"
It was Enoch.
His raw, sharp gaze turned toward Rujef. Enoch made no attempt to hide his displeasure.
"It's been a while, Bishop. But if you value your life, you'd better keep that mouth shut."
His low, murmuring voice sounded like a beast growling.
If a voice alone could tear someone apart, I thought Enoch would have shredded Rujef long ago.
Enoch seemed to be wary of almost everyone except me.
Of course, given our situation, we couldn't trust anyone. Yet it was still an unfamiliar sight to me.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince?"
Rujef looked at Enoch with disbelief in his eyes.
Enoch and Rujef reacted as if they were meeting each other for the first time on the Island.
It seemed Diego hadn't told his group that he met Enoch regularly.
"There are no other people?"
"That... I don't know."
It seemed Enoch had also kept secrets about his own group.
Diego was one of those who would want to monopolize the Saint Yuanna, so it made sense.
Rujef glared at me with a fierce, twisted expression. "Your Highness, how did you come to be here? No, why are you with such a witch-like Young Lady? Did this witch do something to you?"
Self-inflicted, as they say, but since it wasn't really something I did, I was sick of hearing that witch nonsense from him.
"I was suspicious from the moment she asked me to make a love potion. Anyone who tries to win someone's heart so easily isn't a normal person. You witch! Explain what's going on here!"
"Sigh...."
I pressed my temples firmly with a tired expression. It wasn't difficult to silence Rujef's mouth. In the end, I loaded the flare gun and pulled the hammer back.
"Bishop? Are you trying to make a fuss again?"
I aimed the muzzle of the flare gun directly at Rujef's face.
"You know what this is? Bang!"
I mimicked pulling a trigger and firing a gun, and Rujef's face went deathly pale.
"If you know, shut up and raise your hands. Before I shoot."
It was a line I'd always wanted to say before I died.
Rujef dropped to his knees in humiliation, raising both hands. His pristine bishop's robes were a mess, yet his water-blue hair still gleamed like silk.
His drooping eyes gave him a docile appearance, but you really can't judge a person by their face alone. Such a pitiful expression hiding such a vile temperament.
"This witch, after all...!"
Thwack!
Rujef didn't finish his sentence. Kaiden appeared from nowhere and kicked him squarely in the back.
"Ugh."
Kaiden pressed his foot down on Rujef's back and laughed.
"Want to die? I despise you priests anyway."
At Kaiden's words, I recalled the deep historical animosity between mages and priests.
"What's this—even wearing bishop's robes? An archbishop? Did you crawl here hoping to die by my hand?"
As Kaiden continued, Rujef's face beneath his boot twisted grotesquely.
"You filthy mage...!"
Now that I thought about it, priests treated mages as humans with corrupted souls.
Mages were similar to modern-day scientists, conducting all manner of research.
When it came to research, mages wouldn't even shy away from human experimentation.
In truth, the Temple conducted experiments too, but they only did so in the shadows while publicly condemning mages.
Naturally, mages despised such priests in return.
Enoch, who had been quietly observing the two of them, let out a sigh.
Rujef was quietly brushing himself off and straightening his clothes.
"Hey, lackey. Who told you to get up?"
When Kaiden tapped his shoulder, Rujef's face twisted viciously.
Priests commonly called themselves servants of God when humbling themselves. Mages had picked up on this and used the term "lackey" as a derogatory word for priests.
"Keep your mouth shut, you loser."
At Rujef's words, Kaiden burst into raucous laughter.
"You lackeys really don't know how to curse properly."
"Don't put us on the same level as you. It's degrading."
Rujef spoke through gritted teeth, glaring at Kaiden.
Kaiden picked at his ear and nodded dismissively. It only infuriated Rujef more, which was clearly intentional.
I linked arms with Enoch and watched the two bicker before asking Rujef a question.
"Are you alone?"
From what I remembered, Rujef had been traveling with Yuanna's group.
Rujef turned to me, his face flushed red from his verbal sparring with Kaiden.
"No, I have companions."
So he was traveling with the heroine after all.
"Then why are you wandering alone?"
Rujef's face reddened for a different reason this time. He glanced nervously at Kaiden and Enoch before looking past my shoulder.
At the end of Rujef's gaze lay the fish I had caught earlier.
It seemed he was indeed hungry.
"I was looking for something to eat...."
Rujef spoke hesitantly.
"...Truth is, I haven't eaten anything but fruit for days now."
Embarrassed by this admission, his face flushed crimson as he faltered.
"I used to hunt small animals like rabbits, but lately there haven't been any huntable beasts around. And no one here knows how to fish...."
No one who knows how to fish.
Only then did I recall that the male leads here were merely the Royal Guard Knights Commander, a clergyman, and the Crown Prince. Of course they wouldn't have experience fishing....
"Will you share some fish with me?"
At my question, Rujef's face brightened. But the moment our eyes met, he immediately shifted into a guarded stance.
"Wait, is Flone Young Lady really the Flone Young Lady I know?"
This must be a mandatory line for all the male leads meeting me for the first time. Perhaps it's on some required checklist of questions.
"Whether you know this Flone Young Lady or not, what does it matter? Either way, you won't see Margaret after today."
At Enoch's ominous murmur, Rujef froze and clamped his mouth shut.
'You won't see Margaret after today'—those words sounded exactly like a death threat.
What, am I Medusa? Does everyone who sees Margaret once have to die?
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it.
Grrrrrowwwl.
And in the silence that followed, a loud, demanding sound emanated from Rujef's stomach.
When we both turned to look at him, he panicked and bowed his head, his face burning bright red.
The sun was beginning to set anyway, so it was time for us to have dinner as well.
In the end, I brought Rujef along and we gathered around the campfire. I'm too kind for my own good. I can't bear to see anyone going hungry.
I roasted the fish I had hunted earlier over the fire, and when Rujef saw it, his eyes widened in wonder.
"So this is how you cook fish."
As Rujef spoke, he licked his lips, seemingly unaware he was even doing it.
How hungry must he have been.... Food really is that important.
I handed him another fish from my own portion as he devoured the roasted one ravenously.
He thanked me repeatedly with a grateful expression.
Indeed, hunger strips away all pride. He even accepted kindness from someone he dislikes with gratitude.
Rujef eventually finished eating with satisfaction, having consumed even Enoch's portion of fish.
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