"Do you think Margaret is missing, Archbishop?"
"I do not know. If not......"
If not, she might die. Ruzef looked at the giant tarantula, unable to continue his words.
Ruzef couldn't hide his confusion either. He didn't even want to think about the latter assumption.
Margaret is dead. That is impossible.
"Aren't those footprints?"
Ruzef noticed something at the edge of the cliff and got closer.
It was dark, so he couldn't tell them well, but at first glance, they looked like human footprints.
"Looking at the size, I think it's Young Lady Floné's."
There are small footprints and larger footprints. Maybe the other one belongs to Kayden.
He stared at the footsteps. Ruzef did not understand this terrible situation– no, to be precise, he did not want to. He had a bad feeling.
"......it seems they have been fighting monsters."
There are footprints in the direction of the dead tarantula and there are signs of very violent movement.
As he followed the movement of the footsteps, Ruzef saw the last footsteps ending at the edge of the cliff.
It did not appear to have moved voluntarily. It just ended there, without a trace of going forward or sideways, as if it had been hit by something and thrown down.
"Look at this, Your Highness. This is......"
Ruzef hurriedly crouched down on the edge of the cliff and looked down.
It was quite high. If he had been hit by something and thrown down, he would have died instantly. Enoch stood next to Ruzef, folded his arms, and looked quietly at the bottom of the cliff.
rustling.
There was the sound of something moving from the bushes. Not sure if it was the sound of the wind or a monster.
Ruzef looked at Enoch with goosebumps for a moment.
"Your Highness, we better go back. It's dangerous to stay here."
But Enoch did not move. Ruzef wondered if he had ever listened to him.
Enoch was still standing on the edge of the cliff. Ruzef approached him, but he didn't have the slightest bit of anxiety on his face.
Ruzef had no intention of staying in this place with the corpse of monsters for one more moment, but he did not have the confidence to go back alone.
Eventually, he stood quietly next to Enoch.
***
Margaret disappeared.
Whether she left on her own accord or had an accident, both were enough to drive him crazy.
His stomach boils.
Unbeknownst to him, hot emotions flowed down like lava in his heart, uncontrollably.
His hand trembled slightly as he grabbed Margaret's bag strap.
The helplessness that engulfed him made it difficult for him to breathe.
Beside him, Ruzef spoke to him, but he couldn't hear what he was saying.
Behind the lush bushes over the mighty river, a large ridgeline could be seen. The night sky, seen from above the mountaintop, was full of stars.
Also, there was a large moon that lit up the dark night.
It looks like Margaret.
'I must be crazy about Margaret.'
Now, while looking at the moon, I am thinking of Margaret.
"Honestly, I don't know why Your Highness is so insistent on not marrying me or getting engaged. I have what you do not have, Your Highness. I am of pure noble blood."
What Margaret had said to him in the past echoed in his ears.
"Now that you have become the Crown Prince, marriage is more important, because you need to establish your position. You are lucky that I–the daughter of the Duke of Floné–am fond of you."
Even though she was born with the noble status he had always longed for, Margaret of the past was a girl who could only speak in that way.
She said she likes him, but her attitude toward him had no respect for him at all.
Well, have there ever been people who respect him? Absolutely not. So he had to be perfect.
But if it's Margaret now......
When he woke up on this island and met her again, she didn't think his status or even her own was important. Now she followed the essence of a person, not the appearance.
He thought maybe she could be the noble and strong person he had been looking for.
Enoch narrowed his eyebrows, thinking of Margaret's face, and soon closed his eyes with a painful groan.
"I must be crazy."
He tightened his grip on the bag.
"Are they both alive?"
Ruzef quietly expressed his doubts.
"Of course."
Enoch muttered as if brainwashing himself.
Then he looked around and said indifferently, "Margaret will be back or I will search the whole island to find her."
They turned around to go back the way they had come.
At some point, spiders the size of a human were gathered around the cliff.
"Ahh!"
Ruzef screamed in surprise.
srang.
Enoch, who drew his sword, looked at the endless crowd of monsters with a tense expression on his face.
"It would be better to clean up the monsters at this point."
What do you mean by clean up? Ruzef raised his head and looked at Enoch in bewilderment.
"It's only the two of us, so it's dangerous, isn't it?"
I don't know when they gathered like this, but the number of monsters that were approaching was overwhelming, and they continued to gather among the bushes.
Enoch looked around carefully and judged the situation.
"I don't know how they found out where we were and gathered here, but if we leave them alone, they'll probably head for the hut."
Enoch glanced at Ruzef, tilting his head.
Enoch continued, "Fighting on a cliff is dangerous. We need bait that catches their eye."
"Wait, don't tell me.....?"
At Ruzef's bewildered remark, Enoch smiled and cut his forearm with his sword. There was no time for Ruzef to stop him.
"Your Highness! What are you doing now!"
Despite his shout, Enoch answered calmly without agitation, "If my seizure doesn't stop even after the monster sweep is over, stab me with the sword and make me faint."
Leaving those words behind, Enoch moved.
'If I stab you wrongly, you can die, not faint!'
Ruzef let out an inner shout at Enoch's nonsense. This is because Enoch had already disappeared among the monsters.
Enoch's sharp blade swung in the air. In the moonlight, along the trajectory of the splendid sword, the green blood of the monsters scatters like a fountain.
Like a man without brakes, Enoch could not stop. He is out of his mind now.
Ruzef had goosebumps from head to toe and couldn't move at the thought that Enoch had finally gone crazy. Maybe only when Margaret came back would he come to his senses.
Ruzef, overwhelmed by Enoch's madness, was unable to move even a single step from his spot and just watched as he slaughtered the monsters.
And they spent two days like that until Margaret showed up with Kayden.
***
Eunji, who was wrapped around my forearm, jumped down and slithered on the grown. Obviously, this kid is faster than me.
'Oh my God. He is slithering faster. He is indeed a monster.'
Kayden also ran, staring at Eunji's back.
"Will he grow bigger?"
At Kayden's question, I shrugged as I ran after Eunji.
"Will he?"
"If he really is the baby of the anaconda back then, doesn't that mean he will grow that big?"
At his words, I got goosebumps and stopped. Eunji and Kayden stopped at the same time and looked at me.
"Don't say that. Eunji won't be that big."
At my words, Eunji tilted his head as if he did not understand what I was saying.
"Isn't it better if he can grow up that big? If you train him well, he may be able to fight other monsters."
kwaak!! kwaak!
A roar as if something was collapsing echoed through the forest. I raised my head in surprise while fiddling with Eunji's belly.
"I don't think this is the right time to do this. We have to move quickly."
At Kayden's words, I nodded and stood up again.
'I have a bad feeling.'
I ran, trying to calm the anxiety that was flowing like a wave.
After running for a while, we stopped in front of an empty lot. To be precise, it was an artificially created vacant lot in the middle of the forest where all the trees had fallen.
There were spider corpses all over the vacant lot.
Thick green blood was puddled on the ground, and it was messy. I quickly picked up Eunji when he was about to go through the thick green blood.
Without a word, he looked up at me with his tongue flicking out. He looked at me with his bright eyes and tilted his head as if to ask why I didn't let him go.
"What the hell is this.....?"
Kayden looked around. As the wind blew, the stench reached my nose.
"Who did this?"
"Who could have done this?"
Kayden and I were thinking of the same person; Enoch.
Enoch was the only person who could slay monsters to this extent.
kwaak!
Then a roar was heard from not far away.
"......Your Highness! Stop it! It's dangerous!"
The desperate shout sounded like Diego's.