Chapter 40
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Chapter 40
"...What? An escape key?"
I asked back in surprise, but Yuanna showed no intention of answering.
"You really have no intention of coming with me? Not even as friends? Then I'll have to take the bag."
"Listen, Your Holiness. Please explain what you mean by having an escape key...."
As she ignored my words and reached toward me again, Rujeep came rushing over. He pushed Yuanna aside and blocked my path.
"That's enough."
"Anyone watching would think I'm devouring the Young Lady. Your reaction is truly disappointing."
Despite Yuanna's words, Rujeep remained unmoved, still blocking my way.
Beside us, Kaiden and Diego were still grappling with each other.
It was remarkable that not a single drop of blood had been shed despite their fierce struggle.
For Diego to hold his ground so firmly against Kaiden, who possessed such tremendous strength, he was clearly no ordinary man.
As the fighting showed no signs of ending, Enoch finally moved.
"Stop it."
Enoch grabbed Kaiden by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back, then drove his fist into Diego's face.
Diego, struck by Enoch, flew lightly through the air and crashed into a wooden pillar.
'...?'
Wait, why was telling them to stop so violent?
Moreover, he had sent a large, muscular man flying with a single punch.
I lost my words and stared at Enoch.
I had known it, but Kaiden and Enoch both possessed monstrous strength equally.
"Get up and stop. Margaret is waiting. If blood is spilled, it will be troublesome. My control over the berserk state is still unstable."
At Enoch's words, Kaiden grumbled and got to his feet.
Now that I thought about it, if Enoch saw blood, he would have a fit—we had nearly faced disaster.
'I was so preoccupied with Yuanna's strange words that I forgot to consider that.'
But the problem was that Diego returned at precisely that moment, his face smeared with blood from various wounds.
"You cannot simply leave. Please defeat me before you go."
Diego seemed to be gradually forgetting the very fact that he was the captain of the Imperial Guard of the Langrid Empire.
I understood that living on this uninhabited island, where monsters outnumbered people, would drive anyone mad, but still—one had to maintain one's sanity.
I turned to Enoch with concern and pressed my forehead.
A bad premonition is never wrong, and a faint madness began to swirl in Enoch's golden eyes as he gazed at Diego.
"Wait, just a moment...!"
"It is dangerous. Do not approach."
I tried to rush toward them in alarm, but Rujeep quickly stopped me.
"No, that's not what I meant...!"
Enoch slowly turned his body.
Diego's face grew puzzled, as if he had noticed something odd about Enoch's state.
Asdal seemed to have noticed Enoch's condition as well, for he called out to him.
"Hey, Half-Emperor."
But Enoch did not answer.
A harpoon lodged beneath Enoch's feet as he moved toward Diego. He stopped and gazed down at the wooden projectile embedded in the ground.
Though he took no action, something about his stillness felt profoundly unsettling.
Enoch slowly bent at the waist and picked up the wooden harpoon from the floor.
"Enoch!"
I called out urgently, but he seemed deaf to my voice.
"Wait, Enoch!"
Still, Enoch gave no answer. When Anaconda appeared, he controlled himself perfectly well! Was self-control just a matter of luck?
"Um, Your Majesty?"
"What's wrong with him?"
Diego and Kaiden spoke in succession, bewilderment evident in their voices.
Enoch unfastened the topmost button of his collar with his hand. Then, massaging the nape of his neck, he tilted his head to one side as if stiff.
"You're bleeding."
Enoch smiled, pointing to Diego's lips where blood had burst forth quite severely.
As Diego touched his own lips in alarm, Enoch's gaze slowly descended.
Diego seemed to notice Enoch's seizure-like state only then.
Few knew of Enoch's trauma. The Emperor of the Langrid Empire, Enoch's inner circle, and Diego—the Imperial Guard commander bound by duty to protect the imperial family.
Only these select few knew his secret, and the Empire had apparently managed him by administering sedatives appropriately.
Which meant Diego too was facing Enoch's rampage without sedatives for the first time.
"Compose yourself, Your Majesty."
Sensing something amiss in Diego's words, Kaiden glanced at him once, then turned back to Enoch.
"What? Why..."
It was as Kaiden began speaking with a puzzled expression.
Enoch's leisurely movements suddenly accelerated. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance to Diego, seized him by the collar, and raised the wooden harpoon high.
It happened in a heartbeat.
"Enoch, stop! Wait, look at me! Just look at my face and listen!"
Enoch's hand, about to drive the harpoon down, froze in midair. Fortunately, this time he seemed to respond to my voice.
It appeared my voice had become sufficiently imprinted in him that he reacted even in a state of lost reason.
But it was only temporary. The hand gripping the harpoon moved slowly again.
"If you don't stop right there, I'm leaving and abandoning you! Alone!"
I was taking a tremendous gamble. From what I'd seen last time, this seemed to work.
Sure enough, the threat proved sufficiently shocking—Enoch's body flinched, and this time his movements ceased entirely.
For some reason, Diego did not evade him but merely watched silently. He remained frozen in that same posture for a long while.
Yet I could see his hand gripping Diego's collar trembling violently. The force he exerted was so intense that the back of his hand had turned red, veins bulging prominently.
Enoch himself seemed to be struggling to suppress his own rampage.
"You're doing well. You can stop now."
Enoch finally released his grip on Diego's collar slowly.
Truly, now he could be controlled by voice alone. It was remarkable progress.
I exhaled a sigh of relief.
In the meantime, Enoch tilted his head slightly and wiped away the blood at the corner of Diego's mouth with his thumb.
"You're bleeding. I want to see more."
My heart lurches at those words. The fact that he can speak of wanting to see more blood in such a seductive manner is problematic in itself. And worse—he's a man.
"You're fortunate, Diego. Don't test my patience. If you keep this up and draw blood like today, I'll be tempted to kill you."
Enoch murmured this quietly toward Diego.
Soon both of Enoch's hands dropped completely. The harpoon he'd been holding clattered to the ground.
Enoch, who had been staring blankly at the harpoon rolling across the floor, turned to face me with deliberate slowness.
The murderous expression vanished entirely, replaced by a far gentler countenance.
"Since I've stopped as you wished, does that mean you won't abandon me now?"
Enoch asked this with such casual audacity, his expression perfectly serene.
I thought my heart would stop.
He's impossible to read!
I genuinely thought he was going to skewer Diego with that harpoon. It terrified me even more because I recalled a similar episode from the novel itself.
"It seems I'm not the only one who's become more docile thanks to you."
He then expressed his gratitude to me. At least Enoch has returned to his usual self—I'm infinitely relieved.
My legs suddenly felt weak, so I sank to the floor for a moment.
I gazed down at the ground and exhaled deeply, but the silence felt so heavy that I glanced up cautiously, only to find everyone staring at me and Enoch in bewilderment.
Kaiden turned to me with an expression of utter disbelief.
"What was that just now?"
At Kaiden's question, I snapped back to my senses. This is no time to be sitting around!
I immediately loaded a flare round, pulled back the hammer, and aimed it at Asdal and Diego.
"You two men—hands up again."
Asdal and Diego wore reluctant expressions. I waved the flare round once more to urge them along.
"Hands. Up."
Having witnessed the flare's destructive power, they hesitated for a moment before finally raising their hands.
"Enoch, Kaiden. Come here."
I kept the flare aimed at Asdal and Diego while gesturing to Enoch and Kaiden. They rushed toward me with bright, eager expressions, as if they'd been waiting for this.
Enoch, drawing close beside me, immediately seized my hand and pulled me far away from Yuanna and Rujeep. Rujeep cast a look of disappointment toward Enoch as he pushed past.
"Enoch goes berserk when he sees blood. Would you mind wiping it off? Unless you all want to die horribly."
Before I'd even finished speaking, Diego frantically wiped the blood from his face.
Asdal looked at Diego with bewilderment, then absently brushed at his own pristine clothing, which bore no stains whatsoever.
Yuanna, arms crossed throughout, merely observed the entire commotion with an expression of pure amusement.
"What? Last time you didn't even explain why, so that's what caused all that chaos back then too?"
Kaiden asked, looking between me and Enoch.
I glanced sideways at Enoch's profile and nodded quietly. Given the circumstances, it was unavoidable.
"Listen, Half-Emperor. When exactly did this start? You never had episodes like this back in the day."
Asdal stared at Enoch with an expression of disbelief, and there was a hint of betrayal in his gaze—as if asking why he hadn't mentioned this sooner.
"...Aftereffects of war."
Enoch answered simply and squeezed my hand tightly once more.
"Ah, you mean the Romalisan Battle? From the Divine Demon War?"
Asdal asked, as if he understood.
Enoch said nothing, merely nodding quietly in response.
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