Chapter 46
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Chapter 46
"I understand why you'd be suspicious, but if I'd orchestrated this, you wouldn't be here. Unless it was just me and Enoch alone. And why would I go through near-death experiences and suffer alongside all of you?"
Enoch seemed pleased by my words, while Kaiden kept muttering how fortunate it was that such a thing hadn't occurred.
"You really did brush with death, didn't you? You're not exaggerating? We genuinely walked the line between life and death. I'm curious how difficult it must have been for you."
If I were the culprit who'd kidnapped everyone, this was a leading question born from the assumption that our side would have suffered less.
Regardless, if he wanted to compare suffering, our ordeal had been far from trivial.
"Exaggerating? I nearly died several times."
Kaiden's voice came from beside me, eerily low and menacing.
I'd only seen him smiling until now, but his eyes held a glimmer of madness I hadn't witnessed in ages.
Having walked the line between life and death alongside me, he too seemed considerably heated by Asdal's remark.
Asdal laughed smoothly, attempting to calm Kaiden.
"Don't be so touchy, Lord. Isn't it a reasonable question given our circumstances? I'm not just suspicious of Flone Young Lady. I suspect everyone here."
"I don't care about that. If you interrogate anyone in front of me—whether it's me or Margaret—I won't be able to hold back."
Kaiden rose abruptly from his seat to warn Asdal. I was left frantically restraining him with my entire body.
Of course, that ended quickly thanks to Enoch grabbing Kaiden by the scruff of his neck and pulling him aside.
Kaiden sat on the dirt ground, roughly brushing his hair back while glaring at Asdal as if he wanted to kill him.
I suddenly understood why Kaiden had remained isolated and kept his distance in the original story.
Asdal irritably straightened his collar where Kaiden had grabbed him and muttered.
"The Lord seems to have lost his mind. Do you not know who I am?"
"Status means nothing when survival is at stake."
Right now, invoking rank, authority, or etiquette to Kaiden would be pointless. I understood him.
When one's survival is threatened, social norms often must be broken out of necessity.
Experiencing such situations repeatedly renders discussions of social status and hierarchy meaningless.
Rujeep, who had been quietly observing, mediated appropriately and took our side.
"I too brushed with death alongside you all. Your Highness should have witnessed it. Those Anacondas were truly...."
Rujeep recalled with a deathly pale face and shuddered once more.
"One thing is certain—if not for Margaret, we would all have perished. Since we've all faced similar ordeals, suspecting one another is meaningless. I'm not asking for opinions, so refrain from contradicting me."
Enoch stated his opinion consistently and calmly. The commanding tone with which he forbade objections was so forceful that ultimately no one dared to protest.
"Yes. Well, that's true. We nearly died too. We were attacked by monsters that resembled spiders."
This time, Yuanna, who had been sitting quietly beside Diego and observing the situation, spoke up.
"In any case, we're all merely speculating based on circumstances without narrowing down the culprit. We don't even know if there actually is a culprit or if we've all been caught up in some incident. As the Crown Prince said, suspecting one another seems pointless."
At Yuanna's words, Asdal hesitated before quietly closing his mouth.
It was always remarkable to see Asdal silenced so decisively.
"So perhaps instead of questioning how each of us survived, we should discuss whether there's a way to escape this Island."
Excellent. She spoke with remarkable logic and persuasiveness. She was more rational than I'd initially thought.
Most importantly, she showed no interest in the male leads whatsoever and focused solely on 'survival'—something I quite appreciated.
Then Kaiden spoke.
"This is also speculation, but I suspect there may be an escape gate on this Island. Warping consumes a certain amount of mana. If this Island exists in a different space-time and we all expended considerable mana because of it, that would explain why we can't use mana now."
"Suddenly waking up in a place like this is suspicious too.... It feels like we warped, but if not, there might be something like an escape gate. So I'm planning to search the entire Island."
When I first met Kaiden, he'd said something similar. Now he seemed to have formed more concrete speculations and hypotheses.
Kaiden stroked his chin thoughtfully, his expression contemplative as he continued.
"Given that monsters exist here, this Island shouldn't be devoid of magical energy. Yet none of us can use magic—isn't that strange? Based on the circumstances, I can only conclude we've been warped here. It seems someone deliberately blocked our magical output after warping us in... though I can't fathom why."
"Warped through a Gate... That's the most plausible theory I've heard so far."
Diego, who had been quietly listening until now, lent weight to Kaiden's hypothesis, but Enoch immediately countered.
"But if we were warped through a Gate, how do you explain the key the Saint found?"
At those words, everyone's attention shifted to Yuanna.
"While the Saint did find a key inscribed with 'Exit Key,' can we truly be certain it opens a door that leads off this Island?"
Yuanna nodded at my question.
"That's why we need to explore the entire Island. We'll have to figure out what this key actually opens as we go."
A headache crept in. I pressed my temples firmly and pressed Yuanna further.
"Is there any possibility this could be a trap? If someone kidnapped us with deliberate intent and purpose, couldn't that key itself be a trap?"
"A trap for what purpose?"
"I can't say. But we should always keep that possibility in mind and proceed cautiously."
"Hmm. You're right. The more I see of you, Young Lady, the more I want you. Are you really not interested in becoming my subordinate?"
Yuanna laughed as she spoke. The way she emphasized 'subordinate' at the end made it clear this wasn't entirely a joke.
"I have no interest in becoming anyone's subordinate, so keep quiet. Unless you want to be tied up in rope again."
At my response, Yuanna burst into delighted laughter. Why did she find it so amusing when I told her to shut up unless she wanted to be bound in rope again?
I take back what I said about finding something likable about her. No matter how I look at it, she's just the female version of Kaiden.
If this were the Yuanna from the Empire, she would never have dared speak of me as a 'subordinate' or 'attendant.'
It was becoming increasingly clear that everyone—myself included—was gradually abandoning the social norms and order we'd once upheld, descending into madness.
"Escaping doesn't necessarily mean finding a Gate or a door that matches the key."
That's when Enoch spoke.
"We could call for rescue, or we could build a boat ourselves and leave."
"Build a boat? Us? Without magic?"
Kaiden countered as if the idea were absurd. Enoch raised an eyebrow and shrugged indifferently.
"Everyone seems fixated on options one and two, so I merely offered an example. Given enough time, there's nothing we couldn't accomplish on this Island with nothing else to do."
"That's true. The options are so broad that it's hard to narrow them down."
I responded to Enoch's words while resting my chin in my hand, pondering deeply.
When I thought about it, the key wasn't the only thing we needed to discuss. We also had to understand why modern artifacts were here in the first place.
"Speaking of which, those magical artifacts the Young Lady found—they're such peculiar items, nothing like what we've seen in the Empire. Why on earth are they on this Island?"
Just then, as if reading my thoughts, Yuanna brought up the modern objects I'd discovered.
I pulled a flare from my pocket and showed it.
"I don't know the purpose of these items either. There's an inscription here that reads 'Alea.' My suspicion is that this Alea person might be the culprit."
"Alea? Does anyone know who Alea is?"
After hearing my theory, Yuanna scanned the group and asked. But everyone fell silent, exchanging confused glances.
As if on cue, Asdal chimed in.
"Perhaps this person is whoever built this Cabin. There are far too many mysteries here."
The more we discussed it, the murkier everything became. We were sinking deeper into a quagmire, lost and floundering.
Then Asdal turned to Enoch with a question.
"Tell me, Vice-Commander. Could this be connected to the Romalisan Battle if it wasn't done out of personal vendetta?"
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