I’m Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 124
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 124
“Excuse me.”
I called out to them, but there was no response—my voice didn’t seem to reach them.
As I illuminated the surroundings with the torch, I noticed one wall was completely covered with Red Tentationem Flowers. Had those been there before? The darkness earlier had prevented me from examining the walls properly.
-Are you alright?
The silver-haired woman asked Yuanna Lucy. Yuanna Lucy’s cheeks were flushed as she barely managed to nod. She appeared to be addicted to Tentationem.
The silver-haired woman showed no reaction whatsoever, which made me suspect she possessed immunity.
-I’m sorry, those flowers are Jenas’s work, so I can’t remove them. But where’s the Key?
At the silver-haired woman’s words, I gazed at the Red Flowers again. Jenas must have planted Tentationem here to prevent easy access to those two Doors.
Yuanna Lucy pulled a Key from her pocket and showed it. It was the same shape as the one we’d been shown at the Southern Island Cabin.
Yuanna Lucy asked the silver-haired woman.
-You really will save everyone, won’t you?
At Yuanna Lucy’s words, I felt puzzled. Save? Everyone? We hadn’t lost anyone yet, had we?
The silver-haired woman asked with a confused expression.
-Everyone? Weren’t you on bad terms with Lady Flone? She treated you like a maid. She even attempted to kill you. I saw it all.
She was likely Anata. That phrase “I saw it all” might mean she’d witnessed it through the Eyes of Magical Beasts, just like Jenas.
Moreover, maid treatment and an assassination attempt on Yuanna Lucy—this was straight from the novel “More Important Than Survival.”
Yuanna Lucy offered a bitter smile, her eyes downcast as if reminiscing about the past.
-It was Margaret Rose Flone who hated me. I actually liked Margaret Rose Flone quite a bit.
-Why would you like someone who hates you? Are you a pervert?
-I suppose so. It feels like love and hate mixed together.
Yet her eyes remained unwavering. As if there was no falsehood in the words she spoke. I could see her eyelashes trembling slightly.
-I thought all Nobility were two-faced and hypocritical. But Margaret Rose Flone is honest about her desires. She’s consistent—what you see is what you get. I liked that about her.
Then she quickly offered a smooth smile. With her cheeks flushed from Tentationem addiction, her expression appeared remarkably alluring.
Strangely, Yuanna Lucy’s evaluation of Margaret Rose Flone was excessively generous. The silver-haired woman, Anata, seemed to share my thoughts as she asked Yuanna Lucy.
-You’re quite the magnanimous person, aren’t you?
-Me?
-It’s surprising that you don’t resent someone who tried to kill you for such a reason.
-Well, I think Margaret Rose Flone is slightly better than those damn cowards who stab you in the back.
Yuanna Lucy added with a somewhat bitter expression.
-If I return to the past, I won’t let Margaret Rose Flone or anyone else die so meaninglessly.
The silver-haired woman, who had been listening quietly, nodded as if respecting her words.
-Yes. Do that. That’s why I’m helping you.
-….
-Speaking of which, let’s talk about Margaret Rose Flone’s soul, which disappeared beyond dimensions. Only Jenas can open the dimensional Gate. And it’s not something he can just open whenever—it’s only possible after all the Experiments are complete, by gathering the Magic Power of the dead. It’s not a Door that opens with just one or two people’s Magic Power.
Was the purpose of this Experiment to gather Magic Power and open the dimensional Gate? I couldn’t hide my shock at Anata’s startling revelation.
Wait, but what does it mean that Lady Flone’s soul disappeared beyond dimensions?
-I’m not sure how Lady Flone’s soul was ejected into a different dimension when the Experiment hadn’t even finished. It’s possible a flaw developed in the Island. This Island has accumulated many defects over the thousand years of continuous Experimentation.
Anata pointed to the Door marked “Return.” Then she also pointed to the left Door with the Magic Circle drawn on it.
-That said, there isn’t a complete lack of other methods to open the dimensional Gate. If you open the Return Gate with that Key, the dimensional Gate will open as well. I’ll retrieve Margaret Rose Flone at that moment. Jenas still doesn’t know we’re working together, so we need to move quickly.
Yuanna Lucy had opened the Return Gate.
My legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed to the ground.
-But the Lady Flone brought back might not be the Young Lady you know. There’s a very high possibility she’s a different person with only the same soul. And you won’t be able to remember this life anyway.
A different person with only the same soul—that description clearly referred to me, Lee Jin-ju.
‘Then who am I?’
Am I Margaret Rose Flone, or am I Lee Jin-ju?
So I am…
I am….
The relentless shocks had frozen my thoughts entirely. My trembling hands gripped the book tightly.
Was it because I was Margaret Rose Flone and yet not Margaret Rose Flone at the same time that I alone could wield Magic among everyone else?
Then Yuanna Lucy’s voice reached my ears.
-It’s alright. Everyone is dead now and only I’ve survived, but we can return to the past, can’t we? Then we can see everyone alive again. That’s what matters.
But the moment her words ended, Yuanna Lucy bit her lower lip firmly and closed her mouth, as if concealing the anguish rising up through her Adam’s Apple.
-You said that when the Return Gate opens, only I return to the past timeline. Then is the Anata I meet also the Anata from the past?
-No, I’ll be the me of now. The Cabin that Jenas created is like the true body of this Island, so it’s not affected by the flow of time. However, once you open the Return Gate, Jenas will find out. Then I might be Sealed.
-The reason you created something like a Return Gate….
-When all the Test Subjects suitable for the Experiments died, I created it as a last resort to restart the Experiments for the first time. To repeat infinitely until the desired results appeared. …I’m sorry.
Anata apologized with an anguished expression. Her face was heavy with guilt.
-I’ll go rescue them. Together with Margaret Rose Flone.
At Yuanna Lucy’s words, Anata let out a small laugh.
-I’m already a person with many sins accumulated alongside Jenas. I can’t receive salvation.
Anata gazed down at the Magic Circle drawn on the Floor. When she touched the Magic Circle with her hand, light emanated from it.
-You’re the same. You know how to open the Return Gate, don’t you? It’s not just about using the Key. You’re defying Causality, so you must pledge your soul as collateral.
Pledge my soul as collateral? I looked back and forth between Anata and Yuanna Lucy in shock.
Yuanna Lucy’s pupils were trembling violently. She moved her lips repeatedly as if to answer, but ultimately clenched her teeth. And so she remained silent for a long while.
Anata, who had been waiting for her answer, spoke firmly.
-Do you understand what it means to pledge your soul as collateral? It means you must sacrifice your life to open the Return Gate. Even if you return to the past and find a way to escape, even if everyone can escape this Island. You cannot leave. You will die alone on this Island. Because your soul is mortgaged to the Island.
-….
-And yet you’ll still turn back time for everyone?
At those words, the tip of Yuanna Lucy’s nose reddened.
She furrowed her brow in anguish, then slowly lifted her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
It was surely not an easy decision.
Soon she wiped away the tears roughly with the back of her hand, swallowed her sobs, and gazed intently at the 【More Important Than Survival】 that had fallen to the Floor.
-Anata. You said it yourself. What’s more important than survival is not forgetting that I am myself. That’s why I tried to keep a Record of everything I’ve experienced. In the end, I couldn’t complete it. Because of the poison of Tentationem, I simply couldn’t write anymore. But thanks to that, I realized something. I truly haven’t been of any help to everyone all this time. If I’m given one more chance, then I must save everyone without fail.
Yuanna Lucy now looked directly at Anata with complete resolve in her eyes.
-Even if I don’t return to the past, I’d have to die alone here anyway. So instead, I’ll save everyone and then die. I have a responsibility to protect everyone.
A responsibility to protect everyone.
It was a burden far too heavy for Yuanna Lucy to bear alone.
Anata nodded with a complicated expression.
-The key will be Lady Flone, brought back through the dimensional Gate. I pray she becomes everyone’s hope, and that in the past they return to, everyone can make different choices….
Anata murmured to herself as she picked up the book that had fallen to the floor—More Important Than Survival.
-I’ll finish this record myself. I’m planning to use it as a medium to bring Lady Flone here. I should add elements interesting enough to keep her reading until the end, so that would be better.
Unfortunately, with Anata’s words, the hallucination faded away. The torches that had appeared alongside the hallucination vanished entirely, and the light flowing from the Magic Circle was extinguished.
I stood alone in the dim basement.
I had suspected that More Important Than Survival might be Yuanna Lucy’s record notebook. The beginning was correct, but in conclusion, it was a novel seasoned by Anata to deceive me.
The fantasy I had just witnessed was not something from within the novel itself, but rather a record that Anata had left behind through the Magic Circle before her regression.
Now everything finally made sense.
Yes. I had always thought that Yuanna Lucy’s personality in the ‘novel’ differed from her actual character.
Unlike the ‘novel,’ the appearance of Magical Beasts and the Key that had fallen by Yuanna Lucy’s pillow must have been effects of the regression.
My mind went blank.
I could take no action beyond standing there bewildered.
Contemplating the existence called Anata and the information she had revealed was secondary.
I had become someone who was neither Margaret Rose Flone nor Lee Jin-ju—nor anyone else.
Yuanna Lucy, whose soul was mortgaged, had become a voluntary countdown to death.
The Yuanna Lucy I had seen until now did not appear to remember events before the regression. Yet remnants of the past must have lingered, reflected unconsciously. Her inappropriate remarks, her desire for initiative—all of it must have been influenced by that.
Before such a shocking truth, my thoughts tangled hopelessly.
Truth be told, I don’t fully understand. What meaning does her sacrifice hold? Can I dare claim to comprehend it?
Why is she a Saint who possesses such formidable Divine Power, appearing for the first time in a thousand years? Why did God grant her such sacred power?
Now I thought I understood.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————