I’m Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 144
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 144
I nestled into her embrace, my expression bewildered. Asdal sprawled lazily across the floor, staring directly at us with an air of indolence.
“Does anyone here actually understand what’s happening?”
Of course, neither Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid nor Kaiden answered his question. They had heard the situation from me, but they needed to learn the finer details from Yuanna Lucy.
Asdal swept his gaze across the room, gauging the atmosphere before feigning sympathy.
“Once again, I’m the only one left in the dark. Saint, I didn’t expect you to be so stingy. You haven’t told me anything.”
Of course, no one bothered to respond to him.
“I understand you two have much to discuss after so long apart. But for now, get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
Kaiden, who had been silent until then, interjected and separated me from Yuanna Lucy. With the care of a father tending to his daughter, he gently examined my complexion before guiding me to the sleeping area.
“Margaret needs rest.”
I wasn’t sure how the others reacted, but Archbishop Luzef’s silence—when he should have said something—left my heart feeling heavy.
‘I actually became a cleric because I dislike people.’
‘To be precise, I didn’t want deep relationships. Becoming a cleric freed me from the burden of maintaining tiresome human connections. But the religious doctrine says otherwise—to love humanity and share that love.’
‘On this Island, at least, I don’t have to pretend.’
Yet here he was, denying his own words while sacrificing himself for everyone.
Though he refuses to acknowledge it, no one embodies the title of cleric more perfectly than he does.
‘I hope Archbishop Luzef and Diego Bastian Vilterheim wake up soon.’
I blinked as I listened to the others arranging the Night Watch schedule. My eyelids felt as though weighted down by heavy anchors.
I hadn’t thought it would be this exhausting. I still had so many questions for Yuanna Lucy….
Whether from depleting too much Mana or something else, I drifted into sleep before I realized it.
* * *
A savory aroma tickled my nose—a sweet fragrance that resembled Wild Strawberries….
“Your Highness, you’re quite terrible at Cooking. Perhaps you should simply sit quietly and stay out of the way.”
“Stay out of the… What? Listen here, Saint. That’s rather harsh, isn’t it? I’m at least trying to help. Couldn’t you acknowledge my sincerity?”
“Blast it all. Listen, everyone. Can’t you be quiet? You’ll wake Margaret.”
“I work better alone. I’d appreciate it if you all would step aside. You’re in my way.”
As my eyes fluttered open, I saw three men and one woman huddled together before the Fireplace in the Cabin, engaged in a heated dispute.
Watching them bicker, memories of my days on South Island surfaced, and a sense of peace settled over me. I was grateful they were all safe.
‘Wait, what about Diego Bastian Vilterheim and Archbishop Luzef?!’
The thought jolted me upright.
“Are you alright?”
A gentle voice came from beside me. Still half-asleep, I turned my head and saw Diego Bastian Vilterheim’s face.
I bolted upright from the sleeping area.
“Sir Diego?! Are you okay?!”
At my cry, everyone by the Fireplace turned to look at me.
“Margaret, did you sleep well?”
“Young Lady, good morning.”
I stared blankly at those gathered before the Fireplace offering their morning greetings, then turned back to Diego Bastian Vilterheim sitting beside me.
Sss—!
Eun-ji perched squarely on Diego Bastian Vilterheim’s lap and called out to me, her tail swishing back and forth like a delighted puppy’s.
What is she doing sitting there of all places?
I could see Diego contentedly stroking Eun-ji’s scales.
Eun-ji soon descended from Diego’s arms and circled around me, as if welcoming my awakening. I gently caressed her scales and asked Diego.
“Are you alright? Your wound….”
I lowered my gaze slightly to examine Diego’s abdomen. The front of his knight’s uniform was completely torn, exposing his firm abdominal muscles—the area where his wound had been.
Concerned, I checked whether any scar remained on his belly.
“I am fine. I heard that the Lord treated me with the Young Lady’s Healing Magic.”
Diego answered with a composed expression, and his complexion truly looked healthy. He bowed toward me to express his gratitude.
“Thank you, Young Lady. From the depths of my heart, with complete sincerity.”
Then I saw him bite his lower lip firmly, as if something was welling up inside him.
Without a doubt, he must have suffered considerably after being captured by the Magical Beast Mother Body. Judging from his appearance when I first met him in the Cave, it was clear.
“Everyone, please eat. We need to formulate an escape plan from now on.”
Yuanna spoke to us. I approached the others gathered in front of the Fireplace alongside Diego.
Kaiden and Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid seated me between them. Seeing this, Prince of Asdal let out a hollow laugh.
“Anyone looking at this would think you’re a mother bird and baby birds.”
“Even if you’re jealous, Margaret won’t let you have her.”
Kaiden handed me a Coconut Bowl filled with Wild Strawberry Stew as he spoke.
“Jealous? What are you talking about….”
Prince of Asdal, embarrassed, scratched his cheek and glanced at me.
I tilted the Coconut Bowl to my lips and sipped the Stew, then looked at him with a puzzled expression. When our eyes met, Prince of Asdal startled and turned his head away.
What’s wrong with him?
I shifted my gaze from Prince of Asdal and looked toward Yuanna.
“Um, I have something I’m curious about regarding the Saint.”
“You must have a lot to ask. I understand.”
There were many things I wanted to ask her.
Whether she truly underwent a Return. What happened between us before the Return, whether she knew everything even after the Return, what Jenas and Anata’s purpose was, whether the reason they kidnapped us was truly to kill us and steal our Magic Power, what the dimensional Gate meant.
In truth, the question I most wanted to ask was whether she truly could not leave This Island.
However, asking that question here might put her in an awkward position. So, setting aside all those numerous questions, what I asked her first was,
“Can we escape?”
That was it.
“We can. I will make it possible.”
Yuanna answered with such conviction, as if making a vow.
“I’m curious how you can make that happen.”
Kaiden, who had just finished a mouthful of Wild Strawberry Stew, asked Yuanna.
Yuanna set down the Coconut Bowl she was holding and rummaged through her pocket. Soon she pulled out a familiar Key.
It was a Key inscribed with the word “Return,” and above it was written in Langrid Imperial Language: [Exit Key].
“There are a pair of wizard siblings who designed This Island. There’s a Gate in the Basement of the Cabin where they live, you see? That’s the Exit that allows escape from the space-time of Alea Island. I can open that Gate with this Key.”
At her words, Prince of Asdal began bombarding her with questions about who these wizard siblings were and what Alea Island was.
I watched Yuanna answer him slowly while lost in thought.
There was indeed a reason why “Return” and “Exit Key” were written together. It was because the Key Jenas gave her was a Master Key.
But why did Jenas give Yuanna such a Master Key? She might open the Exit without authorization.
-Only Jenas can open the dimensional Gate. And it’s not something he can simply open either… It’s only possible after all the Experiments are complete, by gathering the Mana of the dead. It’s not a Gate that opens with just one or two people’s Mana.
-That said, there isn’t absolutely no other way to open the dimensional Gate. If you open the Return Gate with that Key, the dimensional Gate will open too. I’ll bring Margaret at that time. Jenas still doesn’t know we’ve conspired together, so we need to move quickly.
I recalled what Anata had told Yuanna before the Return. And I hurriedly pulled out Yuanna’s Diary from my Cross Bag. It was soaked in rain and torn, making the writing difficult to read, but since I roughly knew the contents, it wasn’t hard to understand.
[Jenas told me a way to find Rest. And I received a Key from him. He said it was a Master Key that could open all Doors.]
[Today I’m planning to leave and find the place Jenas told me about. I plan to find Rest there. I think I’ll be able to finish the book I’m writing for records there as well.]
The method to find Rest that Jenas had told Yuanna about. This must have been the way to open the dimensional Gate.
Anata had clearly said that only Jenas could open the dimensional Gate.
After all the Experiments were complete, it was a Gate opened with the Mana of the dead, so if Yuanna found Rest in the Bunker—that is, took her own life—the Experiment would be completed.
But why didn’t Jenas go directly and open the dimensional Gate himself, instead making Yuanna do it on her own?
If it was a rule that the Experimenter couldn’t interfere in the Test Subject’s death, there was a high possibility he couldn’t kill Yuanna directly and instead induced her death.
‘Then maybe he was planning to appear at that moment and open the dimensional Gate once Yuanna took her own life.’
Yuanna, who had been watching the Diary I held, opened her mouth calmly.
“Let me tell you a bit about what happened before the Return. After everyone died, I spent my days alone waiting for my own death, until I was taken in at Jenas’s Cabin. And while living there, I grew quite close to Anata.”
Yuanna glanced at Kaiden, who had quietly sat beside me.
“Anata seemed deeply shocked by her descendant’s death. So we found a way to turn the Return Gate.”
As I listened to her story, everyone including myself looked at Kaiden. He shrugged with an expression of indifference to the gazes directed at me.
Yuanna turned back to me and continued speaking.
“When I died as well, the final Experiment would be completed. Jenas’s goal was to make me take my own life and open the dimensional Gate. So I asked him how to find Rest. I acted depressed, appealing that I wanted to die.”
It was an interesting story. Before the Return, was the reason Jenas and his sister took Yuanna into their Cabin a final arrangement?
Just as Jenas had brought me to his Cabin.
“Jenas believed me and told me the location of the Bunker. He said it was suitable for finding Rest. At that time, Jenas still trusted Anata deeply, so I believed her when she said she would take me there herself. He never expected that we would conspire together and open the Return Gate.”
Enoch and Kaiden, who had already heard an explanation from me once before, nodded and fell into thought.
“So that’s how things turned out.”
At Enoch’s murmur, I tilted my head with a puzzled expression.
“What exactly is the meaning of the Master Key? He wouldn’t have simply given a universal Key that opens all Doors just to open the Bunker.”
“Could it be he was preparing a contingency in case his plan fell through?”
Kaiden furrowed the space between his eyebrows irritably and asked me.
Could he have actually predicted that Yuanna and Anata might open the Return Gate…?
“Then using that Key to open ‘something’ could be a trap as well.”
Or maybe he wanted to play some death game where you guess whether it’s a real Key or not—if you’re right, you escape; if you’re wrong, you die.
I tried to unravel Jenas’s intentions, but there was no way I could understand the mad thoughts of that crazy person.
Damn Jenas.
Anata said she betrayed Jenas, but hasn’t she killed countless people all this time? I couldn’t trust her easily.
But in the current situation, she’s the only person I can ask for help.
I watched Yuanna, who was explaining things step by step to the Prince of Asdal and Diego at their eye level, and asked.
“First, let’s go to Jenas’s Cabin and bring Anata. She might know another way to escape.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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