I’m Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 190
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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 190
Innis gestured with a tilt of her head toward one direction. In that direction stood a woman with orange hair, blending like a shadow among the crowd.
It was Emily, a journalist from the Benneton Newspaper. I remembered her because her portrait had been featured in her in-depth analysis column.
Innis smiled and whispered near my ear.
“I invited her. Discreetly.”
With those words, the puzzle seemed to click into place. The infiltration details published in the newspaper had seemed oddly thorough.
“You and I seem quite interested in these incidents, so this works out well.”
I answered and faced Innis with a subtle smile. Emily was the perfect person to meticulously record today’s events and spread the word.
“Then let’s do our best today.”
Innis patted my shoulder. After finishing her business, she left without hesitation to attend to her own matters.
Eun-ji attempted to poke her head out from the Dress Pocket, but since I was the center of attention at today’s party, there were far too many eyes on me.
Eventually, she retreated back into the Dress Pocket as if annoyed.
Eun-ji didn’t speak, but it felt as though she were grumbling and hiding.
I’d been saying she was like a moody daughter lately, but was she really going through adolescence?
Shortly after, word arrived that the Empress and the Pope had simultaneously entered the Banquet Hall.
Gray hair and a long beard, pure white vestments with a red shoulder Cloak, and a golden pallium. A man who looked unmistakably like Pope Benatrie approached me first.
I greeted him with proper courtesy.
“Your Holiness the Pope, I am honored to receive you.”
“I recognized you at a glance from afar. You are indeed as beautiful as the rumors say. Happy birthday, Young Lady.”
The Pope smiled with a benevolent face and returned my greeting. By his expression alone, he appeared to be a truly compassionate cleric.
That was precisely what made it eerie and terrifying. The thought that the blood of countless people flowed at the end of that smile.
Kaiden, who had been arguing with Archbishop Luzef, stiffened the moment he saw the Pope. His face then contorted wretchedly. His gaze toward the Pope was filled with intense hatred.
I recalled what he had once told me—that he had undergone Experiments at the Papal Court in his childhood, and the Pope had been responsible for those Experiments. I subtly shifted my steps to block Kaiden’s line of sight.
The Pope observed my action and smiled meaningfully. His gaze briefly touched Kaiden behind me, then withdrew.
I watched as the Pope’s attention shifted to Yuanna, then turned back to look at Kaiden. Kaiden, realizing my intention to obstruct his view, stared at me with a complicated expression.
“You really….”
His lips trembled as if he had much to say, but ultimately he closed his mouth without uttering a word. The corners of his lips quivered.
Watching him suffer from the phantom pain of his past, I couldn’t simply stand by—he was far too precious to me.
I wanted to offer him words of comfort, but the situation didn’t allow for it. The Empress had appeared.
The Empress approached me next, but upon discovering Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid standing beside me, she hesitated briefly.
“Happy birthday, Young Lady.”
The Empress greeted me with reluctance while gauging Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid’s reaction, and was soon pulled away by my mother.
When my mother’s eyes met mine, she winked. I felt reassured—my mother would likely keep the Empress under close watch and monitor her Magic Stone.
The Pope seemed to be occupied with Yuanna. She approached him with a smile of conviction, as if she had been anticipating this day for a long time.
“How surprising that someone so sedentary has come all this way. Surely, at your age, such a long journey risks sending you to your grave. You should be careful.”
Then she smiled shamelessly and made a show of brushing away dust from the Pope’s shoulder. Her words were laden with malice. Contempt filled Yuanna’s eyes as she regarded the Pope.
Yet the Pope did not rebuke her. He seemed to regard Yuanna’s words and actions as nothing more than the playful antics of a granddaughter.
“How dare you speak so disrespectfully to His Holiness the Pope. The Saint appears to require further education.”
However, it was someone else who rebuked Yuanna’s behavior. I looked at a man dressed in priestly vestments of a similar design to Archbishop Luzef’s.
“Linnehaon.”
Archbishop Luzef ground out the name as if chewing it. He appeared to be an Archbishop indeed.
“My, you don’t even recognize my devotion to His Holiness. Archbishop Linnehaon speaks as though His Holiness the Pope’s health has never crossed your mind.”
Yuanna Lucy rested her face on one palm and produced tears pitifully.
Her manner of speech had been somewhat grating on the Island, but now that she was on my side, every word from her lips felt refreshingly satisfying.
It seemed the Pope and this Archbishop would need to be left to Yuanna Lucy and Archbishop Luzef.
The conversation about Yuanna Lucy and the dimensional rift could wait until after all problems were resolved. My talk with Kaiden as well—I’d revisit it then.
I glanced back at Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid and Kaiden. They nodded when our eyes met.
Now I needed to prepare in earnest to recover the Magic Stones.
* * *
Linnehaon furrowed the space between his eyebrows while facing Archbishop Luzef, then swept his gaze across the surroundings.
Vanessa, Margaret Rose Flone’s dedicated Maid, bustled through the interior of the party, providing wine, various beverages, and desserts to the guests.
“You’ve made the preparations thoroughly, haven’t you.”
The Pope whispered quietly to him. Linnehaon hastily bowed his head.
“Of course. I’ve bought off one of the Flone Family’s Maids and handed over the ‘item’—when you signal, they’ll begin.”
The plan was to summon Magical Beasts to this place, then use the chaos to eliminate the survivors.
The reason for buying off the Flone Family’s Maid was to use Tentationem Flower Pollen to render the survivors comatose as before, making it easy to dispose of them.
In that process, ‘that matter’ would also be handled all at once.
Pope Benatrie laughed softly with a benevolent expression. Linnehaon always found his composure remarkable.
‘Perhaps one must reach that level to be Pope.’
Having such an irreverent thought, he hastily shook his head.
“What are you two whispering about so secretively? Do you have duties to assign that exclude me, the Saint?”
Yuanna Lucy interjected between them with a bright smile. Linnehaon’s expression darkened sharply.
“Of course there are many. Surely the Saint’s role and my role are not the same.”
“Your role seems similar to mine, so I suppose I should know as well.”
Archbishop Luzef immediately countered Linnehaon’s words. The Pope stepped back with a benevolent smile and whispered to Linnehaon.
“I’ll leave this to you. I must go attend to ‘that matter’ now.”
It meant Linnehaon should handle Yuanna Lucy and Archbishop Luzef on his own.
“Leave it to me.”
Having answered thus, Linnehaon irritably ground his teeth and glared at Archbishop Luzef.
These infuriating nuisances…!
* * *
Kaiden quietly slipped out of the Banquet Hall. He needed to verify the Barrier was functioning properly.
Even if the Peony Flower bastards extracted the Magic Stones and used their Mana, it wouldn’t affect Duke Flone’s Castle within the Barrier.
However, the moment they activated the Magic Stones, they would glow like Rodban’s—and in that instant, he could apprehend them. The Banquet Hall was the perfect place to corner and capture such vermin.
While patrolling near the Banquet Hall and checking the Barrier, someone approached him.
“So you were here, Lord.”
Kaiden turned with a guarded stance, then narrowed the space between his eyebrows at the unexpected arrival.
It was Pope Benatrie.
“…Is there something you need.”
“Hmm. It’s unreasonable to expect courtesy from a Lord, but it’s disappointing. We’re not exactly strangers, are we.”
“I doubt you sought me out now to spout such nonsense. We’re hardly on terms for idle pleasantries, are we? Either state your business or leave. I’m restraining myself from violence for Margaret’s sake.”
At Kaiden’s curse, the Pope burst into laughter—revoltingly.
In the fragmented childhood memories of those horrific Experiments, the Pope’s face was always there. Those eyes, devoid of soul, gazing at me with such indifference—even now, the mere recollection sent shivers down my spine.
“You’ve grown quite well.”
The Pope stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping over Kaiden as though appraising livestock, before speaking again.
“How is Jenas faring?”
“What the—?”
Kaiden studied Pope Benatrie before him carefully.
‘Is Jenas well?’ What does he know to ask such a thing?
He scrutinized the Pope’s expression cautiously, but whether the man harbored a hundred vipers within, his true intentions remained maddeningly opaque.
[That one seems poorly developed. Has Benatrie already aged so much? When I saw him not long ago, he seemed barely a child. Humans age so quickly.]
Jenas muttered from within Kaiden’s consciousness. Just how long ago was “not long ago”? And here Jenas was, speaking of how quickly humans aged, despite being human himself—though truthfully, Jenas was no human but a Monster.
Kaiden posed a silent question to Jenas.
‘Do you know what he means by that?’
[What do you mean? It seems he knows I’m sealed within our descendant’s body.]
Jenas answered with casual indifference, as though discussing someone else entirely. Kaiden cursed inwardly. This creature was utterly useless when needed.
“What exactly are you implying?”
He asked irritably, but Pope Benatrie merely stroked his beard, offering only an enigmatic smile.
Then he said,
“I received word from Marquis Rohade. You are harboring Jenas, are you not?”
was.
Jenas had been right.
Pope Benatrie knew that Kaiden was sealing Jenas within his body.
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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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