I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 174
In the midst of my father’s and Innis’ fussing, I had no choice but to blow off all my useless thoughts.
“It’s not like that, calm down.”
But Innis obviously wasn’t convinced by my words. “I heard about the kidnapping and the existence of an island called Alea where an experiment took place. I still can’t believe it all. How is this even possible?”
“I’ve heard stories of a giant divine beast tearing open the sky on the battlefield, and I saw dozens of bolts of lightning strike from the sky,” my father chimed in.
Perhaps the strange phenomenon on the island was happening here, too. Most likely, the lightning he saw was the lightning struck by the mother of monsters.
Despite the space-time distortion, Alea Island is a real island off the southern coast of the Langridge Empire, so the collapse of the island’s systems must have affected here as well.
“It’s all true. I don’t know who’s behind it yet, but I’m going to find out.”
It’s hard to put into words what we’ve been through, something only those of us who have been there can relate to and understand.
Maybe that’s why I already miss Enoch and Kayden, even though we’ve only just been together. And Arthdal, Yuanna, Ruzef, and Diego too.
Innis and my father exchanged a glance at each other’s faces for a moment at my answer, and then Innis spoke first. “Actually, the Duke of Bilterheim visited our mansion a month before you came.”
My father nodded. “He told me about the faction known as ‘Peony Blossoms’. Duke Bilterheim didn’t seem to know about the members in other countries, but he certainly knew who the ones in the Langridge Empire were.”
“Prince Rodvan and the Empress?”
The two looked surprised at my words.
“How do you know?” Innis asked.
“I saw a tattoo of a peony flower caught in a spider’s web on the prince’s body. It looks like the members of the Peony Blossoms have such tattoos on their bodies. One person from the Hestia Kingdom also has that tattoo. This was told to me by the Crown Prince of Hestia.”
My father and Innis looked at me in surprise, then slowly nodded.
“Margaret, you’re right. Prince Rodvan and the Empress, and Prince Rodvan’s maternal grandfather, the Earl of Patterson. Not to mention House Rohade.”
“How dare they mess with House Flone, I’ll have them cut to the bone.” Innis gritted her teeth. She muttered, then looked at me with a look that said she’d suddenly noticed something odd.
“Ah, by the way, Margaret…… are you sure you’re okay?”
“Huh? I’m fine.”
“I’m just asking because you seem like a completely different person. You can stop being so nice and just be yourself. I don’t blame you. You look like you’re sick.”
Innis’ words startled me, and I looked away for a moment.
How do I explain that I had lived in another dimension for a while and had a mixed soul……?!
I thought it would be worse to bring it up and watch my family’s relationship with me become awkward.
I shook my head. “I’m just tired.”
“My dear filly, you’ve been through so much.”
At my response, my father sobbed again and gently stroked my head. His touch was so warm, and I swallowed hard at the tears that threatened to fall.
I felt as if my father had poked a needle into a balloon that had been inflating endlessly without bursting.
‘I even like the strange nickname, filly.’
I’m Margaret, and I’m envious of my old self, who was loved so warmly. I am a fool who envied my long-ago self.
The carriage quickly stopped. My father and Innis got out of the carriage first, and then my father took my hand and helped me out of the carriage.
The Floné mansion, located in the center of the capital city of Burneton, was very ornate. Even though the Floné estate was not far from the capital, they had long ago purchased a lavish mansion in the capital.
Many nobles came to the capital for the social season, as they always did, but the young ladies of House Floné also frequently came and went to the imperial palace.
The Duke of Floné bought the mansion for Margaret, who often went to the imperial palace to visit Enoch, Rosemary, who often attended social parties, and Innis, who worked in the palace’s treasury.
“Welcome home.”
Innis and my father each took my hand from either side and smiled.
At the same time, the gates of the mansion opened, and I followed them through a good-sized garden to the entrance of the mansion.
As we stood at the entrance, the gatekeeper greeted us as if he’d been waiting for us and opened the door.
The huge gates opened and we were greeted by a line of maids and servants, my mother, and my youngest sister, Rosemary.
It was a very strange feeling to meet my family.
I felt like I was floating in the sky all day. I was overwhelmed by the fancy dinner and the warm hospitality.
After dinner, everyone sent me to my bedroom fairly early out of respect for me. I took a moment to look around Margaret’s ornate room on the third floor.
It was exactly as I had seen it in Margaret’s memory. It was as if great care had been taken to preserve it exactly as she had left it.
Vanessa, the maid who had been in charge of my sister Rosemary while I was gone, came back to me. She arranged my bedding to make it comfortable for me to lie down and helped me get ready for bed.
After a delightful bath with scented oils, I put on my freshly laundered chemise and lay down on the warm, fluffy bed.
“Thank you for coming back alive, miss.”
Vanessa greeted me with warm words, smiled, pulled the blanket up to my neck, and blew out the flame of the candle on the bedside table.
In an instant, darkness descended. I lay dazed in bed, staring up at the bedposts and canopied ceiling. A tear formed at the corner of my eye and quickly rolled down my cheek.
‘Am I dreaming?’
It feels too much like a dream. This whole situation, this comfort, this happiness. I am grateful and thankful for all these things that would have been so familiar in the past.
I’m afraid to fall asleep. I’m afraid that if I close my eyes and open them, I’ll be on Alea Island again.
I stayed like that for a while, shaking with fear, and then I fell asleep.
***
I spent days sleeping in my room. It was hard to leave the comfort of my bed. As the tension melted away and the accumulated fatigue eased, I felt like I could have slept on and on.
My body needed a lot of time to recover from my life-and-death experience on Alea Island.
My family was very considerate of me, and I was so grateful that I decided to get out of bed on the third day.
It turned out that quite a few letters had been sent to me. I went to Innis’ office, where she said she kept all my letters.
My mother and Rosemary were also in her office.
“My dear filly, are you all right?”
My mother, who was sitting on the couch, got up from her seat and walked over to me, examining my complexion.
Innis, Rosemary, and I all have the same platinum blonde hair as our father. My mother is the only one in the family with grayish hair, and her purple eyes were inherited by Innis instead.
“I’m okay, I’m sorry for causing you worry.”
There was a long silence in the house as I answered. My mother gaped, unable to speak, then looked at the maid, Vanessa.
“Are you sure Margaret is all right, and has she seen a doctor?”
Vanessa also looked at me with a surprised look on her face.
Rosemary, who had been sitting on the couch watching us, exclaimed in disbelief. “I can’t believe the arrogant, immature Margaret would give such a polite answer.”
I suddenly remembered how immature Margaret had been at home in the past. How embarrassing.
The Margaret of the past was me, and the Margaret of the present is also me. So I had a small hope and desire that my family would adjust to the new me.
I looked away, embarrassed, and then looked at Innis and asked, “I hear there are a lot of letters for me.”
She opened her desk drawer and stacked envelopes on her desk, and as I’d heard, there were a lot of them.
“They’re all invitations to stupid parties, and two of them are partner proposals,” my mother explained to me as she watched, then sat Rosemary and me down on the couch and sent Vanessa to make tea.
I moved the stack of envelopes that Innis had stacked on her desk to the table in front of me.
“What’s a partner proposal?” I looked at the envelopes on the table.
My mother, sitting across from me, smiled. “A proposal to be your partner at the upcoming welcome home party. Have you gotten a partner yet?”
I had completely forgotten about the welcome home party.
I looked at the two envelopes. One was stamped with the imperial seal and the other was stamped with the seal of the Magic Tower.
“I mean, why did only two people send out partner proposals?”
Shouldn’t there be plenty for the Duke of Floné’s daughter?
“Oh, that’s because……”
When my mother trailed off in embarrassment, Rosemary chimed in, “Is there anyone in the Empire who doesn’t know you have a crush on Prince Enoch? What kind of an idiot would send you a partner proposal?”
“Rose.”
My mother’s stern voice shut her up.
I opened both envelopes with the letter opener Innis handed me. As expected, the one from the Imperial Palace was Enoch’s, and the one from the Magic Tower was Kayden’s.
“Apparently, there are two idiots. I don’t know if these are really partner proposals. Who are they, Margaret?”
Innis pointed skeptically at the letters in my hand, which, despite being stamped with the imperial seal and the seal of the Magic Tower, she didn’t seem to think were from Enoch and Kayden.
“One is from Enoch…… no, His Highness the Crown Prince. One is from the Lord of Magic Tower.”
“I must have misheard something.”
Rosemary looked back at my mother and Innis in disbelief, their faces equally in disbelief.
Frustrated, Rosemary held out her hand to me. She wanted to see the letters for herself.
I handed them to her. My mother and Innis crowded around Rosemary as if they’d been waiting for it.
“Oh my God, is this real?”
“No way!”
“Girls, is there something wrong with my eyes?”
Innis, Rosemary, and my mother exclaimed in disbelief simultaneously.
If that’s how my family reacted, I can’t imagine how anyone else would. I’m already getting a headache.