I’m Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 174

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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 174
I had no choice but to cast aside all my needless thoughts in the face of Father’s and Innis’s clamor.
“That’s not it. Please, calm down.”
However, Innis showed no sign of being satisfied by that single statement.
“I heard about the kidnapping. That there was an island called Alea used for experiments. Honestly, I still can’t believe any of it. Does this even make sense?”
“Didn’t you hear that a massive divine beast appeared on the battlefield, tearing open the sky? I myself witnessed dozens of lightning bolts striking down in a bizarre pattern from the heavens.”
Father added his own words to Innis’s account. It seemed the strange phenomena that had occurred on the island had manifested here as well. The lightning Father had witnessed was likely the lightning that the Magical Beast Mother Body had unleashed.
Though we had twisted space-time, Alea Island fundamentally existed as a real island off the Southern Coast of the Langrid Empire. So when the island’s system collapsed, it must have affected this side as well.
“It’s all true. I don’t know who’s behind it yet, but we’ll have to uncover it.”
How could I possibly explain everything we’d experienced in words? Only we could truly empathize and understand what had happened.
Perhaps because of that, even though we’d been together just moments ago, I already missed Enoch and Kaiden. And the Prince of Asdal, Yuanna, Archbishop Luzef, and Diego too.
At my answer, Innis and Father exchanged glances for a moment, gauging each other’s reactions, before Innis spoke first.
“Actually, a month before you arrived, Duke Vilterheim visited our manor.”
Father nodded at Innis’s words.
“From him, we learned about a force bearing the ‘Peony’ emblem. Duke Vilterheim didn’t seem to know about the participating factions in other countries, but he clearly knew who they were within the Langrid Empire.”
“Prince Rodban—or rather, the Deposed Crown Prince and the Empress?”
Both of them looked startled at my words.
“How did you know?”
Innis asked me.
“I saw the Peony emblem caught in a spider web on the Deposed Crown Prince’s body. It seems the Peony Faction members have such tattoos inscribed on their bodies. I heard that one person from the Hestia Kingdom also has that tattoo. That’s something His Highness the Crown Prince of Hestia told me.”
At my words, Father and Innis looked at me with astonished expressions before slowly nodding.
“Margaret, you’re right. The Deposed Crown Prince Rodban and the Empress, along with Count Pederson’s family—the Deposed Crown Prince’s maternal grandfather. And the Rohade Family goes without saying.”
“How dare they touch the Flone Family. I’ll make sure they can’t even be identified.”
Innis ground her teeth. As she was muttering, she suddenly looked at me as if she’d noticed something odd.
“But Margaret… are you really okay?”
“Huh? I’m fine.”
“No, you seem like a completely different person. You don’t have to pretend to be good. Be yourself like usual. I won’t scold you. The way you’re acting makes it seem like something’s wrong.”
At Innis’s words, I felt a pang of guilt and hesitated for a moment.
How could I explain that memories from a different life had mixed in from living briefly in another dimension…!
Bringing up such a thing would only make things awkward and strained with my family, which seemed far more painful to witness. In the end, I shook my head.
“I’m just tired.”
“Our little filly, you’ve been through so much.”
At my answer, Father’s eyes grew misty again as he gently stroked my hair. His touch was so warm that I struggled to swallow the tears welling up inside me.
It felt like Father had pricked a balloon that had been endlessly swelling without bursting, with the tip of a needle.
‘I even like that strange nickname, little filly.’
Since I was Margaret anyway, I envied my past self. To have received such warm love. I was a fool envying myself from long ago.
The carriage soon came to a halt. Father and Innis descended first, and Father took my hand to help me down from the carriage.
The Flone Estate, located in the heart of the capital Beneton, was extraordinarily magnificent. Though the Flone Territory wasn’t far from the capital, they had deliberately acquired this splendid manor in the capital.
Many nobles did likewise for the social season, but it was also because the daughters of the Flone Family frequented the Imperial Palace as casually as one might visit for a meal.
Duke Flone had prepared this manor for Margaret, who practically commuted to the Imperial Palace to see Enoch, Rosemary, who enjoyed attending social parties, and Innis, who worked in the Imperial Palace’s treasury department.
“Welcome home.”
Innis and Father each held my hand from either side, speaking with warm smiles.
At the same moment, the manor’s grand gate opened, and as we passed through a modest garden beyond it, the entrance to the estate came into view.
The moment we stood at the entrance, the gatekeeper attendant greeted us as if he had been waiting, and opened the door.
As the massive gate swung wide, I was met by servants lined up in a row to welcome us, along with Mother and my youngest sister Rosemary.
The feeling of reuniting with family was extraordinarily strange.
It felt as though I had been floating in the sky all day long. The lavish banquet and warm reception all felt surreal.
After the feast, everyone, showing consideration for me, sent me to my bedroom at a rather early hour. I spent a moment surveying Margaret Rose Flone’s magnificent room on the third floor.
It was exactly as it appeared in Margaret Rose Flone’s memories—as if someone had painstakingly preserved it in its original state.
During my absence, Vanessa, the maid who had been caring for my sister Rosemary, returned to me. She arranged the bedding to make it comfortable for sleep and helped me prepare for rest.
After a pleasant bath with fragrant oils, I lay upon a warm and plush bed, dressed in a freshly laundered chemise.
“Thank you for being alive, Young Lady.”
Vanessa bid me farewell with warm words and a smile, drawing the blanket up to my neck before extinguishing the candles on the bedside table.
Darkness descended in an instant. I lay motionless on the bed, gazing up at the bedposts and canopy ceiling. Tears gathered at the corners of my eyes and soon trickled down my cheeks.
‘Is this a dream?’
Everything felt so much like a dream. This entire situation. This comfort. This happiness. All of these things that had once been so familiar now filled me with gratitude upon gratitude.
I was afraid to fall asleep. What if I closed my eyes and opened them to find myself back on Alea Island? I trembled with that fear for a long while before finally drifting off.
* * *
For several days, I did nothing but sleep in my room. The newfound comfort made it difficult to leave the bed. As the tension melted away and accumulated fatigue dissolved, I found myself needing even more sleep.
My weary and worn body, having walked the line between life and death on Alea Island, required considerable time to recover.
My family showed me nothing but consideration. Grateful for their kindness, I decided to leave the bed on the third day.
It happened that quite a number of letters had arrived for me. I sought out Innis’s office, as she had said she was keeping all my correspondence.
In Innis’s office were Mother and Rosemary as well.
“How is my little filly feeling? Is your body all right?”
Mother, who had been sitting on the sofa, rose and approached me, examining my complexion.
Innis, Rosemary, and I all inherited our father’s platinum blonde hair. In this household, only Mother had gray-tinted hair, though her violet eyes had been passed down to Innis instead.
“I’m fine. I apologize for causing you worry.”
My response was followed by a long silence in the office. Mother opened and closed her mouth without speaking, then glanced at the maid Vanessa.
“Margaret Rose Flone is truly all right, isn’t she? Has the physician already visited?”
Vanessa also examined me with a startled expression. Rosemary, who had been quietly observing us from the sofa, let out an incredulous sigh.
“The arrogant and thoughtless Margaret Rose Flone actually gave such a polite response.”
Only then did I recall how carelessly the past Margaret Rose Flone had behaved at home. How embarrassing.
The past Margaret Rose Flone was me, but the current me is also me. So I harbored a small hope and desire that my family would adapt to the changed me.
I glanced around awkwardly before looking at Innis and asking.
“I heard quite a few letters arrived for me.”
Innis finally opened the desk drawer and stacked the letter envelopes on the desktop. Just as I had heard, there were truly a great many.
“They’re all pointless party invitations. Two of them are partnership requests.”
Mother, observing this, explained to me. Then she had Rosemary and me sit on the sofa before instructing Vanessa to bring tea.
Innis transferred the stack of letter envelopes from the desk to the table in front of me.
“What are partnership requests?”
I examined the envelopes laid out on the table. Mother, seated across from me, smiled.
“Have you decided on a partner to attend the homecoming party with?”
A homecoming party—I’d completely forgotten about it.
I looked over the two partner invitation cards that Innis had mentioned. One bore the Imperial seal, and the other bore the Magic Tower’s seal.
“But why did only two people send partner requests?”
Shouldn’t the Young Lady of House Flone be inundated with partner invitations?
“Well, you see….”
Mother trailed off awkwardly, and Rosemary interjected with a knowing smirk.
“Is there anyone in the Empire who doesn’t know you’re infatuated with Crown Prince Enoch? What fool would send you an invitation?”
“Rosemary.”
At Mother’s stern voice, she finally fell silent.
I took the letter opener Innis handed me and opened both invitations. As expected, the one from the Imperial Palace was from Enoch, and the one from the Magic Tower was from Kaiden.
“Well, there are two such fools. I’m not even sure these are real party invitations. So, Margaret, who are they from?”
Innis pointed at the invitations in my hand with a skeptical expression.
Despite the Imperial and Magic Tower seals printed on them, she apparently hadn’t considered for a moment that they came from Enoch and Kaiden.
“One is from Enoch—or rather, His Highness the Crown Prince. The other is from the Magic Tower Master.”
“…I think I just misheard something.”
Rosemary turned to Mother and Innis with an expression of disbelief. They wore similarly incredulous faces.
Unable to contain herself, Rosemary extended her hand to me, wanting to see the invitations directly.
I handed them over. Mother and Innis immediately leaned in beside Rosemary, examining the contents of the invitations.
“Good heavens, is this real?”
“This can’t be right!”
“Girls, my eyes aren’t deceiving me, are they?”
Innis, Rosemary, and Mother all turned to me simultaneously with their questions.
Given my family’s reaction, I could only imagine what others would think. My head was already beginning to ache.

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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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