Translator: Nox

Chapter 89

“I’m hungry.”

Asdal kept repeating this as he loitered around the kitchen.

“I’m not rushing you.”

Asdal, who was watching me with his hands behind his back, denied it when our eyes met. Who would believe he wasn’t rushing me? I swallowed the harsh words that rose to my throat and smiled.

“Then please wait quietly. You’re distracting me, so please get out of my sight.”

“Di, distracting…?”

“Yes. Please move. Now.”

Asdal was flustered and just gaped, but when I picked up a well-honed Stone Knife, he quietly moved out of my sight.

He sat in front of the fireplace and waited patiently for the meal preparation to finish.

“Please, do not upset Lady Flone. What if she leaves because of it?”

Luzef, who was next to him, constantly chided him.

“We cannot survive on this island without Lady Flone.”

He’s become a Margaret worshiper… I was just as horrified as Asdal, and I stopped preparing the rabbit to glare at the side of Luzef’s head.

“I’m not omnipotent, Bishop. You seem to think I can do anything…”

“Aren’t you?”

Luzef looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked back.

“Isn’t it true that you can do anything?”

“No, I can’t! That’s a misunderstanding. You’re greatly mistaken, you know.”

I cut the carotid arteries of the rabbit and Long-tailed bird to drain their blood and hung them upside down on a wooden rack.

“Just a moment, let me do this first and then we’ll talk again.”

I picked up the wooden rack, went outside the cabin, set it up, and placed a wooden basket underneath to catch the blood. I had to check it frequently because I needed to drain the blood and skin them right away.

I rubbed my shoulders with a tired face and went back into the cabin.

“Look, the person who said she hasn’t handled game much is trying because there’s no one else who can. Her sense of responsibility is also amazing.”

At Luzef’s words, Asdal sat cross-legged, propped his chin on his hand, and stared at me intently.

“Well, that’s true. Unlike what I thought, she seems to be the hardworking type.”

Asdal affirmed, as if he had been brainwashed by Luzef.

‘Well, it’s not like this is the first time this has happened, so it’s nothing new.’

Enoch, Kaiden, and Luzef all initially suspected and were wary of me. It couldn’t be helped since I was possessed by Margaret, not Yuanna.

“Praise her with a bit more sincerity. Doesn’t Lady Flone look uncomfortable?”

Luzef scolded Asdal while watching my reaction. No, Bishop. I don’t need Asdal’s praise either. Of course, Luzef’s words had the opposite effect.

Asdal immediately looked displeased and looked back and forth between him and me.

“Wait a minute, I also recognize the need for Lady Flone. But what the Bishop is saying now, is that I have to cater to her whims?”

“If necessary, shouldn’t you do even that? Lady Flone is our hope.”

“Wait a minute, that sounds strange. Why am I your hope? Keep those words to yourself. Don’t attach such strange words to me.”

I sat in front of Enoch, examined his condition, and answered. But Luzef was more resolute than I thought.

“That’s not true, I believe in you, Lady.”

Seriously, what’s wrong with him? In the end, I gave up trying to persuade Luzef.

I sighed and looked around, then approached the fireplace to check on Enoch’s condition.

Enoch had a peaceful expression on his face with his eyes closed. I quietly placed my hand on his forehead. His fever seemed to have gone down.

“Bishop. What has Enoch’s condition been like?”

“His fever has completely subsided now. His breathing is even, so it seems he has regained stability. He briefly regained consciousness when you two went hunting earlier.”

“Really?”

I was surprised and turned to look at Enoch, who was sleeping soundly with even breaths.

“Actually, hasn’t His Highness never properly rested until now? He seems to have been quite fatigued.”

Luzef said, checking Enoch’s breathing. I was a little surprised to hear his words and tilted my head.

“Never properly rested…”

Perhaps no one has ever taken a comfortable rest. However, what Luzef said now didn’t seem to mean that.

Luzef glanced at me and asked with a puzzled expression.

“Didn’t you know? He was the one who woke up frequently to guard the surroundings even when we were all asleep. Even before coming to the cabin.”

Luzef shook his head, looking at Enoch as if he were seeing something uncontrollable.

“I think he probably did that every day. I’m also sensitive to sleep, so I often wake up, but His Highness was always awake every time.”

I knew that Enoch did that sometimes.

He was a sensitive person. He was a military commander who had experienced war, and now he was the Crown Prince. So, he was swayed by the sense of responsibility that he had to lead people in any situation.

But to be so on edge and guard the surroundings not ‘sometimes’ but ‘every day’…

‘No wonder his body broke down.’

I looked at Enoch’s sleeping face with a heavy heart.

“He will probably recover if he rests for another day or two.”

Luzef said to me as if telling me not to worry. Asdal, who had been sitting quietly watching us, asked me.

“When we return to the Empire, does Lady have any thoughts of getting married?”

I looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean?”

“Just as I said. Lady is at the age for marriage now. Aren’t all the men who are with Lady now perfect candidates for a husband? Once we escape, you might want to marry someone other than Banhwang.”

Asdal, who had been propping his chin on his hand, narrowed his eyes and smiled when he met my gaze.

Is he including himself in my list of husband candidates right now? Does he have any conscience?

Anyway, I was speechless for a moment because his question was so unexpected. I don’t even know what his intention is.

But I didn’t think about it for long.

“I’ll think about that when we get out. It’s a luxury to worry about that now.”

I couldn’t figure out what Asdal, who was staring at my face with his chin propped up, was thinking.

“That’s right. That’s a luxury here.”

Then, after a long time, he nodded. Luzef looked back at Asdal with a somewhat strange gaze.

I looked at them and thought of the game I had left outside the cabin.

I thought the blood would be drained by now, so I got up and went outside the cabin.

As expected, the game had been well-drained of blood. I carried the game as it was into the kitchen and began to skin it and start the full preparation.

“Lady, I hope you weren’t upset by what the Crown Prince said.”

Luzef quietly approached and said to me.

“Ah, thank you for your concern. I’m listening to what His Highness says with one ear and letting it out with the other, so you don’t have to worry.”

I smiled and answered him, then continued preparing the game.

But then Luzef lowered his gaze to the game I was preparing, and for a moment, his eyes widened with a surprised expression. Soon, he covered his mouth as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“I, I’m sorry. I have a weak stomach.”

Then he disappeared outside the cabin.

‘What… He’s doing everything himself and leaving.’

I shook my head as I watched Luzef’s back as he hurriedly ran out and started preparing the meal again.

I skewered the rabbit and grilled it, and steamed the bird in bamboo. I also prepared a thin stew for Enoch to eat.

“Lady, you would have been a good hunter.”

“Don’t tell me you’re calling that a compliment.”

“It is a compliment.”

Asdal sat in front of the kitchen table with his chin propped up and replied nonchalantly. I didn’t hide my displeasure and scrunched up my face. Then, seeing my face, Asdal teased me.

“Lady, you look ugly when you make that face.”

“I know I’m pretty.”

Then Asdal closes his mouth as if he has nothing to say. He probably couldn’t refute the fact that Margaret was pretty.

“Even so, I can’t handle that kind of treatment. I grew up well. Everyone who knows anything knows that the Pope himself gave me infant baptism on the day I was born.”

It was an extremely rare case for the Pope to give infant baptism directly. In fact, the Flone couple had a tendency to be overbearing.

Margaret was the second of three daughters, and the Flone couple poured equal love on their daughters, so there was no such thing as affection deficiency.

Rather, the problem was that she was raised too preciously. Margaret was a heaven-defying, self-centered type, and if I had to make a comparison, she had about the same arrogance as Asdal.

Kaiden and Yuanna seemed to be similar types, but could it be that this island only gathers people who live with the taste of their own excellence?

“Ah, I know about that too. Wasn’t the Duke of Flone a devoted husband and an unusually doting father?”

“You know it well, right? When I get out of the island, I’m going to tell my father right away. That Crown Prince Hestia told me to be a hunter.”

“No, wait, wait. What are you saying now? Why are you distorting my words so much?”

I was just teasing him as he had teased me. I burst into laughter as I watched the flustered Asdal.

Only then did Asdal realize it was a joke, sighed, and apologized to me.

“I apologize for the hunter comment. It was unlike me to be rude to a lady.”

Asdal rubbed his forehead and answered. But he seemed to have always been rude to Margaret.

“If you’re sorry, would you like to help me grill the meat?”

“I’m sorry again, but that would be difficult. Aren’t you better at it than me? I’ll be cheering you on enthusiastically. I think the meat over there is burning, so watch it carefully.”

Asdal said without changing his expression.

That XX, that guy. Asdal is really a XX who knows how to use people properly.

If it were Enoch, he would have said he would do this and pushed me back, right?

‘Sniff, sniff, I want to see the awakened Enoch.’

I wiped my eyes, which were getting teary, and grilled the meat diligently.