Chapter 39
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Chapter 39
Yuanna possessed a gentle face with a subtle smile, yet her presence was formidable.
Moreover, Asdalh wasn't merely a crown prince—he was notorious for his arrogance and narcissism.
Yet she handled such a man with such effortless composure.
'That's actually... admirable?'
I wanted to ask her the secret behind it. Of course, that thought shattered immediately.
"I'll give you time to befriend that woman at the Saint's discretion, but we'll negotiate after securing the item. Diego, bring that bag."
Asdalh no longer referred to me as a madwoman—now I was "that woman." It felt like a promotion in status from mad Young Lady.
Though I was still just "that woman" without a name.
At Asdalh's command, Diego moved.
Damn it, this was serious. To survive on this Island, I couldn't afford to lose my weapons. Besides, they had a sword and we didn't. I absolutely couldn't concede.
I pulled a flare from my pocket, loaded it, and pulled the hammer back. The ammunition was plentiful.
Asdalh stared at me with confusion. He must be wondering what I was doing with that strange red stick.
'If you're curious, I'll show you.'
I fired the flare straight into the sky.
Red smoke pierced through the leaves and burst into a massive firework in the sky.
Boom! Bang!
From experience, Monsters never appeared in broad daylight when the sun blazed fiercely, so I fired without hesitation.
Asdalh and Diego squinted as if they couldn't believe what they'd witnessed.
"What in the world...?"
As Asdalh gasped, Diego quietly added his observation.
"It seems that magic from before was Flone Young Lady's doing."
Hearing that, Asdalh let out a hollow laugh.
"A witch? I suspected something was off about her from the moment I saw her in the Langrid Empire. She's finally caused trouble."
Asdalh looked at me with apparent sympathy and offered advice.
"If the Young Lady is truly connected to this incident, you'll have much to handle when you return to the Empire. Will you be alright? How about I introduce you to a competent lawyer?"
He spouted such kind nonsense, and his face was filled with 'interest' as he looked at me.
I couldn't understand why he found me interesting when he believed I'd kidnapped him. Was he a pervert?
"I didn't cast magic—I used a magical artifact. I found it myself."
"Well, if the Young Lady says so, I'll believe it."
He clearly had no intention of believing me...!
"Even if I explained kindly, you wouldn't understand anyway. You saw the fireworks burst in the sky just now, right? What do you think would happen if I fired this at a person?"
As I pointed the flare at the sky and asked, Asdalh's eyebrows twitched upward.
He seemed slightly flustered. Seeing that Diego didn't dare approach either made me want to laugh.
"If you understand, shut your mouth and raise your hands."
Both men wore bewildered expressions, momentarily unable to comprehend my words.
I waved the flare and furrowed my brow.
"I'll shoot?"
As I flicked my finger as if pulling the trigger, Asdalh forced a smile to hide his panic and raised his hands. Diego reluctantly sheathed his sword and raised his hands as well.
Maintaining tension, I aimed the flare at them and slowly approached the bag.
Diego, who had been observing me cautiously, ignored my threat and made a move to draw his sword again.
This time, I didn't hesitate and fired a flare.
Boom! Crash!
The massive boulder struck directly by the flare exploded with a deafening roar into fragments.
Wasting ammunition on something like this...!
No matter how plentiful my ammunition was, it still felt wasteful.
'But I can't let them take the bag with my weapons.'
Diego quickly raised both hands in alarm.
Some people simply don't understand unless you speak to them with force.
I shouldered the bag while keeping the flare trained on him. It looked like I was robbing a bank, but securing the bag was the priority.
I'd actually wanted to try something like this. It felt like farming in a game. Survival on an uninhabited island really does come down to equipment.
At least it was clear that I held the advantage in terms of items. I had the flare and a first aid kit. And now I'd added the bag to my arsenal.
Then Diego moved in a way I hadn't anticipated. He suddenly crouched and rolled across the ground.
Startled, I lowered the flare, and in that moment Asdal charged toward me.
Of course, Asdal didn't reach me before Enoch blocked his path, and Diego, who had rolled across the ground, was kicked by Kaiden.
"You bastard...!"
Kaiden rushed at Diego.
No matter how extraordinary his brute strength was, he couldn't defeat a trained knight—and the youngest captain of the Imperial Guard wielding a real blade at that.
But Kaiden prevailed in a way that differed slightly from my expectations.
Diego threw a stone at the hand holding his sword. While Diego's real blade clattered to the ground, Kaiden swiftly mounted him and drove his fist down into his face.
He was just swinging his fists wildly, technique be damned. It was absolute chaos.
As I was contemplating what to do about these men, Yuanna approached me.
"So you were the Young Lady of the Floné Duchy. I've heard the name Margaret before."
When our eyes met, she smiled beautifully with her eyes. It was a smile captivating enough to ensnare even me, a woman.
Because of the short hair that shimmered around her neck, her expression seemed somewhat cold when she wasn't speaking, but when she talked, she appeared infinitely gentle and kind.
Yet the subtle charisma that emanated from her words made it impossible to look away.
It was easy to see why the original story's male leads were so drawn to her.
"Is my hair unusual to you? Well, noble Young Ladies don't cut their hair, do they?"
Noticing that I was looking at her hair, she brushed it back naturally. Even that graceful gesture felt remarkably alluring.
Yuanna continued speaking with a soft smile.
"I'm not a noble, so I cut mine as an act of rebellion. Thanks to that, I got to see the shocked faces of those rigid old fools at the Papal See. The Young Lady would have found their expressions quite amusing too."
Ah, that's right. She had originally been a commoner. More than that, she had a past of surviving through pickpocketing in back alleys.
Then one day, extraordinary divine power suddenly manifested within her. Because of it, she was forcibly dragged to the Papal See and made into a saint, stripped of all her freedom.
She had always resented the Papal See for shackling her hands and feet, and as a result, her relationship with them was strained.
"What's in that bag?"
Yuanna asked in a languid voice, pointing to the bag I was carrying.
"I don't know either. I'll have to open it to find out. But I'm certain there's a sword in it."
I answered while pointing to the long sword sheath protruding from the top of the bag, then quietly raised the flare and aimed it at her.
She had been naturally reaching for my bag.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"You're sharper than you look."
In response to my question, she raised both hands in a regretful gesture and stepped backward.
"Your Holiness!"
By coincidence, Diego—who had been exchanging blows with Kaiden—noticed me aiming the flare gun at Yuanna and shouted in our direction.
All eyes turned back toward us.
"I'm fine."
Yuanna smiled with ease and spoke to Diego.
Asdalr, restrained by Enoch, stood with his arms crossed, quietly observing the situation.
When he saw me facing off against Yuanna, he snorted and laughed.
"You handle the Saint quite skillfully. Impressive."
What is this? Is he showing off?
His handsome face was pleasant to look at, but that was where it ended.
Since Enoch was positioned beside him as if ready to rush toward me at any moment, I had no attention to spare for Asdalr.
"Young Lady, where did you pick up that object?"
Yuanna pointed at the flare gun in my hand. I answered while keeping it aimed at her.
"I found it on the Mountain."
"Hmm... I see. Let's set that aside. I don't think everyone waking up on this Island is because of you, just because I found you suspicious."
She approached naturally, resting her chin in her hand with a contemplative expression.
She didn't seem to believe I would actually fire the flare gun at her. Or perhaps she believed she could dodge something like that.
"Let's forget about such tedious talk and get along well, Young Lady. I think it would be fun if you attended to me a bit. You've seen so much from the sidelines—I'm sure you'd be good at it."
She suddenly threw something absurd at me.
"Pardon?"
What is this lunatic saying?
"Isn't there an option to be friends?"
"I've never had friends, so I haven't thought about that option. But I'd much rather see that pretty face of yours attending to me. It's a face I'd love to make cry."
Yuanna smiles with a knowing look in her eyes.
Is she a pervert? I was momentarily at a loss for words.
'Now I understand why she has no friends...'
Of course, Margaret has no friends either.
"If you agree, I'll stop those men. Those two follow my every word unconditionally. It seems you're the one in control over there, so if I have you, that should work out nicely."
From what she was saying, it appeared Asdalr was merely a figurehead, and Yuanna was the true leader of that group.
It wasn't unexpected for a novel's heroine, but still.
The fact that she'd "found a weakness" didn't feel sticky like in a novel at all.
Again, Yuanna showed not a shred of romantic interest in any of the men here. Yet she seemed far too interested in me.
Was she saying that if I sacrificed myself, we could resolve this situation peacefully? But unfortunately, I had no desire to make such a sacrifice.
"What do you mean agree? Attend to you? Do you really think I'd accept such a ridiculous proposal? No matter what you say to persuade me, I have no intention of handing over this bag."
"If I offended you, I apologize. Well then, how about this? You keep the bag. But don't leave—stay here with us. How about we live together?"
This obsessive heroine is relentless. Absolutely persistent.
"I have absolutely no intention of living communally with your group."
If our numbers increased, it would only make it harder to slip away to the Bunker alone if things went south.
"Why not? Our chances of escape increase if we combine our strength, don't they?"
"Well, there's a saying: too many boatmen steer the vessel into the mountains."
"Oh my, that's quite an apt expression."
Yuanna responded with practiced ease, and she seemed to genuinely believe what she was saying.
'The original work never mentioned Yuanna having this kind of personality!'
The other male leads were certainly as I remembered them, but Yuanna's atmosphere was entirely different from how she was described in the original work.
Was it because the novel was narrated from Yuanna's perspective? Why was she alone so different?
"...Then how about the Saint attending to me instead? I'm someone accustomed to being served, not someone suited to serving others."
"Ah, that won't do. I need to maintain control. That way, my voice holds more weight."
"Why must the Saint's voice carry more weight? I'm not convinced."
"Well, there are several reasons I can't speak of, but the biggest one is that I hold the key. The key to our escape."
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