2. Stuck on a Remote Island
"I think we should go up the mountain first. It would be better to check the topography from a high place. If it's inland, you can't see the horizon. If it's an island......"
If it was an island, you could see the horizon.
Enoch muttered his words as if he did not want to even think about the last possibility.
I walked along the beach with my wrist held by him and looked up at the sky. The sun was very low.
Climbing the mountain at this time is not a good idea. It's easy to get isolated when the sun goes down after climbing a mountain. Above all, monsters appear at night, which was also a problem.
Enoch, who had acted like he was going to kill me a while ago, lowered his guard. He started to realize that there wasn't much I could do here.
I said, "It would be better to climb the mountain tomorrow. You can't go up, and down when the sun goes down."
Fortunately, Enoch understood my words at once.
"I didn't know Young Lady could have such a rational thought."
I narrowed my brow at Enoch's words. Is that a compliment or an insult?
"As Young Lady said, we'll have to climb the mountain tomorrow. Then I'd like to look around a bit more first."
As a person familiar with the battlefield, he was very quick to grasp the situation. After all, even though Enoch was a prince born from a maid, a commoner, he was a man who became a prince solely by his abilities. He made numerous contributions on the battlefield, beating all his other brothers and claiming the throne.
He was a very strong human being.
But when he came to a remote island, he went crazy with obsession and madness toward the female lead.
......is it really okay for me to be alone with this man? It's still before he went crazy with the female lead like in the novel, so it'll be fine......?
Anyway, he finally let my wrist go. I breathed a sigh of relief as I touched my wrist.
And we walked on the beach again.
After walking on the beach for a while, I stopped. Enoch, who was going ahead, felt puzzled and looked back at me.
I looked out at the mangrove trees through the palm trees. Mangroves mainly grow in rivers leading to the sea or lakes.
'If there are mangrove trees, it means that water flows. Would it be better to go into the forest?'
Then Enoch held his chin and opened his mouth, "I think the beach ends here. Now we really have to make a decision."
A huge cliff was blocking the end of the sandy beach. The road cuts off here.
Perhaps Enoch also thought the same, and followed me without saying a word and looked into the dark forest.
"We should find a place to sleep before the sun goes down."
I nodded in agreement at Enoch's words.
So we decided to look for a place to take shelter for the night. Actually, when I first woke up, I decided to prepare a place to sleep on the beach.
In fact, in this case, it would have been faster to move separately, but Enoch did not let me go.
What if I can't find a place to sleep before the sun goes down? The thought made my lips dry. I have to hurry.
After some time, it was when I was searching through the forest near the beach.
owooooo!
A wolf howl came from somewhere. For a moment, I felt goosebumps from head to toe.
'Maybe, a monster......? Or not?'
My heart was beating fast. It's ridiculous. The novel said that monsters only appear at night.
It felt like my blood was drying out from the rising fear.
"Is that a wolf......"
It was the moment I turned to Enoch to ask if it was a wolf howl.
In the forest, where there is no sign of human life, the sound of something rushing over the bushes could be heard. The sound that had been heard in the distance got closer in an instant. My hands were sweating from the tension.
duk dududuk duk!
The sound of footsteps approaching was frighteningly fast. It was such a fleeting moment that I didn't even have time to understand the situation.
The moment I thought I saw a light lashing through the tall bushes,
duk!
Something huge jumped by drawing a large semicircle in the sky. And it fell exactly toward me and opened its mouth wide.
It was a wolf monster. The tongue, which came out long through the sharp and dense teeth, fluctuated flexibly like a snake's body.
Overwhelmed by the bizarre appearance, I could not even scream.
At that time, Enoch quickly pulled and hugged me.
He used the force that pulled me to recoil and spun around half a turn, gently avoiding the monster's attack.
That creature that landed lightly on the floor and growled towards us was definitely one of the monsters depicted in the novel.
I put my face on Enoch's chest and took a deep breath.
Enoch gave strength to the hand holding me and broke a thick branch nearby. At that moment, the wolf monster who didn't miss the gap rushed toward us.
Fortunately, Enoch's agility and strength were beyond imagination. He gripped the branch with one hand, pierced the monster's back with it, and thrust it down.
Blood dripped down Enoch's strong forearm, which was holding the branch.
The wolf monster made a terrible noise and fell to the floor. Black blood soaked the soil floor.
Enoch took a rough breath and raised his bowed upper body.
I gasped in surprise as I was still in his arms. Enoch's forearm, lined with blood.
He killed a monster with one hand, even with only a branch...... With normal physical strength, it would have been impossible.
Come to think of it, Enoch in the original had a trauma related to blood, is he okay now? I remember it was the aftermath of the war.
'What exactly were the symptoms?'
I looked back on my memory, but nothing came to mind, perhaps because I was surprised by the monster.
Eventually, I gave up thinking and looked up at the sky.
In the original, it was said that monsters appear only at night. However, this monster that attacked us appeared even though the sun had not yet gone down.
'Why?'
Through the thick bushes, the red sunset sky comes into my eyes. Looking around, only the place where we were was darkened because of huge trees.
'The keyword might be darkness, not night.'
Monsters can move as long as it's dark, and the longest time the darkness stays is at night, so they're probably most active during that time.
'Then, it explains why the monster appeared at this time.'
Then Enoch pushed me away as if he was cleaning out the filth. He glanced at my face after seeing the dead monster.
"I don't know what is that. Is Young Lady okay?"
"......yes?"
I was so surprised that I grasped his question a beat late. Then he approached me with a straight face.
Enoch who stood in front of me tilted his head and looked at my face calmly. Then his hand touched my cheek.
As warm body temperature touched my cheek, I took a deep breath.
This is a completely different reaction from a while ago when he pushed me away as if to remove a dirty thing.
He asked me with a serious expression on his face as if he were looking at a wounded comrade.
"I'm asking because you have a face that looks like you're about to die. Are you okay?"
Maybe he really thought of his comrade.
"Ah......yes, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."
My voice trembled because of the fear that didn't go away. My face burned with embarrassment.
He looked at me quietly and wrinkled his face as if annoyed. Then he reached out to me.
I did not understand his behavior and just looked at the hand. Then he waved his hand.
This time, he didn't forcefully pull my wrist, but offered his hand.
"You should know that you're still a suspect. When I return to the Empire, I will investigate the situation properly, so you must not die without my permission."
'Investigation? What did I do wrong?'
As I hesitated, Enoch looked at me quietly to see what else he did not like. Then he added, "Hurry up. It's dangerous."
It was a very nervous tone.
What is this? This tsundere-like treatment is reassuring even though it's annoying.