Chapter 38
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Chapter 38 11. The One Who Holds the Key I transferred the bombs into the bag Kaiden had woven from branches. I made sure to wrap each bomb carefully with the cushioning material from the wooden box to prevent them from colliding and detonating. Rujeep, who had been quietly observing my work, asked a question.
"Young Lady, where on earth did you find such magical artifacts? It's remarkable how quickly you've learned to operate them."
"I found the magical artifact by chance. As for how it works, I figured it out by experimenting with it."
Rujeep looked at me as though my explanation was insufficient, but I offered no further elaboration. It seemed wiser to remain silent than to risk misspoken words. Once we had gathered our supplies, we set out in search of our next settlement. Naturally, we couldn't locate a suitable settlement immediately, so we had to camp for about two days. By the third day, exhaustion had rendered us all silent as we trudged forward. When I climbed to the summit of a solitary mountain, the cliff I had previously noted as a promising location for a cabin came into view.
"Shall we head in that direction? There might be a cave near that cliff."
At my words, the three men exchanged glances before nodding in agreement.
"If Margaret says so, then that's how it shall be."
"I'll do whatever you say."
"I trust only you, Young Lady."
Enoch, Kaiden, and Rujeep answered in turn. Why are they all deferring decisions to me? This makes it seem as though I've become the leader of this team. In truth, I couldn't imagine any survival expert among them who surpassed me. Naturally, this brought me no joy. Is this really a romance fantasy novel...? I ended up taking the lead and walking ahead. After walking considerably further, I finally discovered the cabin that had appeared in "More Important Than Survival" at the base of the cliff. 'Found it at last!' I had wondered if it would actually exist, so I was immensely relieved to find it without wandering the Island for too long. However, what we discovered was not merely the cabin. I stopped in my tracks upon seeing three figures emerging from the vegetation on the opposite side. A woman with reddish-brown short hair dressed in clerical vestments, a man with short dark brown hair in an Imperial Guard uniform, and a man with pink hair in a crown prince's attire—all three of them noticed us simultaneously and wore expressions of shock. It was unmistakably Yuanna, Diego the Imperial Guard Commander, and Crown Prince Asdal. Damn it. Life truly is constructed with the most wretched timing imaginable. I'm certain of it. 'Should I run away? Or should I seize the cabin first?' "Oh my, there's a woman?"
Yuanna was the first to speak. Upon spotting me, her face brightened considerably. Now that I thought about it, Yuanna in the novel hadn't disliked Margaret. Rather, she had been fond of her as a fellow woman. It was Margaret who had harbored dislike and caused her suffering.
"It is dangerous."
Crown Prince Asdal stepped forward to block Yuanna's approach toward me. True to his nature as a tragic male lead, Asdal was undeniably handsome. His mysterious pink hair and drooping eyes gave him a gentle impression, and he likely commanded considerable popularity among women. Even in this wilderness, he exuded an aristocratic refinement, and his languid gaze emanated a sense of oppression distinctly different from Enoch's. Yuanna's interest quickly waned at Asdal's intervention, and she retreated. More accurately, she withdrew because engaging in a verbal sparring match with Asdal seemed far too troublesome. Asdal smiled with ease and drove his point home with another remark, as though driving a wedge.
"I think I know that woman. It's dangerous, so don't get close to her. She's a madwoman."
No matter how I thought about it, the descriptor "madwoman" attached to a noble Young Lady seemed far from ordinary. XX. Moreover, wasn't Asdal keeping watch over Yuanna as if cautioning her not to get bitten by a rabid dog? I found myself genuinely curious to meet the Margaret from the past.
"Is that so? Hmm... now that you mention it, even her shoes look rather strange..."
Upon hearing Asdal's words, Yuanna tilted her head and looked at me, then cast a subtle glance downward at my feet. She had apparently noticed the wooden slippers I had made myself. I fidgeted with my toes, feeling oddly embarrassed. 'Don't be ashamed. My slippers are something to be proud of! Handmade slippers from an Uninhabited Island!' After thinking such things, I felt even more pathetic and gave up. Just as Enoch, Kaiden, and Rujeep had been when they first saw me, Asdal was equally unfavorable toward me. He spoke as if issuing a warning.
"Stop right there. Rather than bothersome collisions between us, wouldn't it be better to assess the situation from where you stand?"
Asdal surveyed our group with a displeased expression. His gaze swept across Enoch, Kaiden, and Rujeep in turn before finally fixing on me. Then Enoch and Kaiden simultaneously blocked my path. Asdal disappeared from view. Come to think of it, Enoch and Kaiden had met the Young Lady Yuanna, so why were they unbothered? Though puzzled, they remained motionless, channeling all their attention solely toward protecting me. At that moment, Diego drew his sword and pointed it toward us. Oh right, I had forgotten that Diego was the Imperial Guard captain. When we crossed over to the Uninhabited Island, he was the only one among the male leads who had awakened fully armed. In other words, he possessed a sword. That woodcutter bastard, acting like a dress thief...! Diego is the Imperial Guard captain of the Langrid Empire, so why is he pointing his sword at Enoch's side?
"You two weren't meeting periodically and exchanging information, were you?"
I leaned toward Enoch and whispered softly enough for only him to hear. Then Enoch narrowed his brow and let out a sigh.
"It wasn't like that from the beginning. He's been increasingly disobedient as time goes on."
Enoch looked at Diego with the expression of a mentor observing a wayward student. ...Was Diego going insane? That seemed to be the case. 'Damn it, there's not a single sane person here.' There were many contenders for Margaret's title of madwoman. It was a more popular title than I'd expected.
"Why are you standing there, Bishop?"
At that moment, Diego directed the question toward Rujeep, who had been standing behind me. Rujeep stepped forward slowly from behind my back with a startled expression.
"Indeed. I thought the Bishop was dead? Why come forward?"
Asdal gestured again toward Rujeep. The hesitant Rujeep looked back at me. It seemed he had something to say to me, but Rujeep hesitated and faltered. He walked toward Asdal with very slow steps, repeatedly glancing back at me as if asking me to hold onto him. He was filming a melancholic melodrama all by himself. At least he was well-suited for the female lead role. Not me, but Rujeep. Regardless, Enoch pointed out Diego's insubordination.
"It seems you hadn't even thought to greet me. Diego."
Rujeep stopped midway and let out a relieved sigh. Meanwhile, upon hearing Enoch's words, Diego's face showed sudden realization, and he belatedly dropped to one knee. Then he placed his clenched fist over his chest and bowed his head in salute.
"For the glory of Langrid. I greet you, Your Highness."
Only then did Asdal acknowledge Enoch and offer a greeting.
"Right. I'm late with my greetings too, aren't I? It's been a while, Half-Prince. I must say, it's quite surprising to find you here."
Half-Prince? What does that mean? Is it an abbreviation? Something like "the Crown Prince who dies if you fall for him"? Or perhaps "the Crown Prince who kills if you defy him"...? I looked up at Enoch with a puzzled expression. Enoch narrowed his brow as if annoyed. The two of them seemed to know each other quite well.
"And how did you come to be in this place, Arrogant One?"
Arrogant... what? Not a hardtack biscuit? This also seems like an abbreviation. Something like "master of arrogance"? It's not "the steadfast defender Asdal," is it? My uncreative mind could only conjure up trivial nicknames that seemed to have no connection whatsoever. In any case, I watched Enoch respond to the strange epithet with an even more childish one, my gaze bewildered. It was a manner of speech entirely unlike Enoch. Could Enoch actually speak so childishly? As I stood there with a face full of questions, Enoch offered a brief explanation.
"The Hestia Royal Family calls that fellow 'the arrogant Asdal.' Half-Prince is just the shortened version."
Now that I thought about it, Enoch had studied abroad at the Hestia Kingdom Academy when he was younger. Recalling Margaret's memories, I nodded in understanding. Above all, I was delighted that I had guessed the abbreviation correctly.
"So you mean Biscuit Prince, right?"
Biscuit Prince—how amusing.
"It's not biscuit, it's arrog—" Asdal began to object to my question but then closed his mouth with a doubtful expression. I continued with my questions.
"What does Half-Prince mean?"
"It means a half-blooded prince. Now it would be a half-blooded crown prince."
To give someone such a nickname based on their birth status—how cruel. Perhaps my feelings showed on my face, because Asdal smiled with his eyes when he looked at me. His gaze seemed to say, "What, do you have a problem with that?"
As if Half-Prince and Arrogant One were all the same to him. Even so, half-blooded? That's truly rude, coming from a Biscuit Prince...! It was the sort of remark that would surely cause an uproar if the people of the Langrid Empire heard it. Enoch furrowed his brow.
"Your arrogance remains unchanged."
"This is neither Empire nor Kingdom, so who would dare reproach me for such words?"
Asdal responded with brazen nonchalance. But Enoch dismissed Asdal's nonchalance as if it were beneath him.
"Does anyone know where this place is, or how we came to be here?"
"Well, I opened my eyes and found myself here. Half-Prince, you didn't kidnap us, did you?"
"Why would I do such a thing? You're the suspicious one. Is this some scheme of the Hestia Kingdom?"
The verbal sparring between Enoch and Asdal continued. Meanwhile, Yuanna, having lost interest, sat atop a wooden post to rest. Whichever side won, it seemed she was clearly on my side, her annoyance evident. The Yuanna I knew from the original story was vastly different from this woman. She seemed utterly indifferent to every man in this place. I glanced toward the Cabin. In front of it lay a large, ownerless backpack. Moss clung to the pack, and dried leaves stuck to it as though they were one, looking as though they had been soaked and left to dry. It appeared to have been sitting there for quite some time. 'What on earth is that doing there? Who brought it here?' A black rod that looked like a sword sheath was half-inserted into the backpack. Its shape was unmistakably that of a sheath—a longsword sheath at that, the kind used by knights. It was an absolutely essential weapon in this perilous wilderness. 'We absolutely must take that!' Having resolved myself, I was about to step toward the backpack when Diego pointed his sword directly at me. The moment Diego's sharp blade turned toward me, Enoch and Kaiden rushed forward in a panic and embraced me simultaneously.
"What are you doing, Diego?"
"You scared the hell out of us, you bastard!"
Both men were genuinely terrified. Diego didn't lower his sword even as Enoch stepped forward. He truly seemed to have no regard for princes or anything else. Asdal stroked his chin thoughtfully as he watched us, then moved to stand beside Diego and pointed at the backpack.
"I'd prefer to avoid such quarrels, but it seems we cannot yield that bag either."
"We don't care if you're a prince—if you threaten our Margaret, we won't let it slide, you damn bastards. Stop acting like fools and get out of here, now."
Kaiden spewed a stream of crude and vulgar curses, but Asdal and Diego didn't even blink.
"It seems those people are quite desperate about it. I'm curious what might be inside."
Yuanna, who had been sitting quietly, smiled prettily and spoke toward Asdal and Diego.
"Let's compromise. If that's too difficult, then take the bag by force. One or the other. I'd like to become friends with that woman over there."
Yuanna grins and looks at me. Even as I looked around in confusion, the "woman over there" that Yuanna spoke of wanting to befriend was unmistakably me alone. I had somehow become the villainess being hunted by the heroine. So... why me and not the male leads...?
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