I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 177

I glanced at my father standing nearby, then whispered to Kayden, “I won’t ask what’s going on now, but isn’t it a little dangerous, taking over your body whenever you’re in suspended animation.”

“It’s more annoying than dangerous. If he takes over my body for more than a certain amount of time, something goes wrong with his soul. So why did he take such a risk and keep visiting you?”

“What?”

That madman couldn’t possibly have come to see me because he missed me.

I was genuinely curious. Kayden’s brow furrowed, as if he didn’t want to talk about it.

“It’s……”

Kayden was about to say something when my father interrupted. “Margaret, what are you two having so much fun whispering about, away from your father?”

He leaned in closer to me, curious about our conversation. I wouldn’t call it scolding, but I’m guessing he was excited to meet a new acquaintance.

Kayden kept his mouth shut, and just in time, the brass players in the orchestra area off to one side of the party rose from their seats in unison, followed by a thunderous fanfare, announcing the arrival of the imperial family.

We all stared in their direction.

The doors to the hall opened, and the Emperor, Empress, and Enoch appeared.

The nobles in the hall bowed in unison. I followed suit and bowed, then looked up at Enoch.

Enoch had been looking at me the whole time, and his golden eyes immediately locked with mine. As he continued to stare at me, I saw people at the party glance over at me.

It’s overwhelming.

Luckily, those stares disappeared the moment the Emperor opened his mouth.

***

In the past, Yuanna’s lifelong goal was, at best, to piss off the Pope.

Her modest goals have changed considerably since her time on Alea Island.

For Margaret to be happy.

Happiness. Yeah, that’s a big goal. At least for Yuanna.

“My goal is similar,” Ruzef said quietly as he followed Yuanna to the prayer room. She glanced up at Ruzef, who walked beside her.

“I want to help Lady Floné in whatever she does in the future.”

Looking at the side of Ruzef’s face as he replied, Yuanna nodded in understanding.

The two walked down the deserted corridors of the papal palace in silence.

After a silence, Ruzef spoke again, “Actually, I still can’t believe it, that she’d been to another dimension. How she went through that, how hard and painful what she experienced must have been, and how painful it must be now. It’s hard for me to fathom.”

His words resonated with Yuanna. It wasn’t the only thing that was unbelievable. No matter who they told, they wouldn’t be able to believe what they were going through.

Ruzef suddenly stopped walking. Yuanna followed suit, stopping and looking back at him.

“She deserves to be happy, and so do you.”

Of course, if it weren’t for Margaret, they wouldn’t have survived even a month on the island, let alone escaped.

But before Margaret’s heroics, there was Yuanna’s sacrifice. If she hadn’t willingly given of herself to turn back time, Margaret wouldn’t be who she is today.

Yuanna smiled, a playful expression spread across her face. “It’s nice of you to include me, but I know that you only have Margaret, Archbishop.”

Ruzef’s face turned bright red at Yuanna’s reply. “That’s not what I meant!”

“It’s okay, Margaret is the most important to me anyway. Oh, and I found out something.”

Yuanna fumbled in her pockets and looked around, before turning the corner of the hallway and pulling Ruzef into a corner seat.

She pulled a palm-sized tin case from her pocket and lifted the lid. Inside was a red powder.

“Do you know what this is?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s the Tentathionem flower, developed by the Rohade family.”

Ruzef pulled back in surprise and covered his nose. Seeing his reaction, Yuanna snapped the lid back on the tin case and put it in her pocket.

“It’s okay, it’s powdered after the stamens are removed, and the powder alone won’t give you the same reaction as it did on the island.”

“Where did you get this?”

“It’s in the basement in the old man’s room. I snuck in there at night, and the door happened to be open.”

The only old man Yuanna was referring to was the Pope. Ruzef stared at her, white-faced.

“For God’s sake, how the hell–”

“Shhh.”

Yuanna pressed her index finger to her lips and looked around nervously. “You know how on Alea Island we hallucinated and got aroused after smelling this flower? Apparently, when it’s powdered, it causes other effects.”

“Like what?”

“It was written in the Rohade family’s ‘experimental journal’ in the old man’s basement. It says that when they experimented on the mainland, anyone who drank the flower’s powder fainted.”

“Then……”

“I think they used this flower to kidnap us, too. It says the powder can be mixed into teas, medicines, and drinks to take effect.”

Ruzef squeezed his eyes shut and made a painful face.

It would be difficult to get anyone to consume the powder without their knowledge. It’s even harder to do so with someone of high rank and status.

That said, Anata was right, there was indeed betrayal by those close to them.

“We already knew who betrayed us, there’s no need to make that face.”

Patting the pocket containing the tin case, Yuanna added, “I’m going to use this against them.”

“Use it against them?”

“I’m going to kidnap them just the same. Now that I know what they’re for, I’m going to collect the Tentathionem flowers. You know what, Archbishop? I’m pretty good at stealing.”

Ruzef covered his face with one hand as Yuanna winked. Once again, she was completely unfit to be a priestess, but that was just her, so he had nothing to say.

“What are you going to do about the kidnapping?”

“Well. I suppose we’d better make them pay for what they’ve done to us. Shall we try to restore Alea Island?”

“Saintess!” Ruzef shouted as if it was ridiculous.

Yuanna giggled, saying it was a joke. The problem is, it didn’t sound like a joke to Ruzef at all.

Ruzef looked at the laughing Yuanna, and then a question popped into his head.

“By the way, did you not speak with Sir Diego privately in the barracks of the Langridge Empire before leaving?”

“Oh…… I did,” Yuanna replied, her smile fading.

“What did you talk about? I heard stories of you two arguing and shouting.”

“Shouting? You’re all exaggerating. I was just…… I got scolded by Sir Diego.”

“What? Scolded? Are you saying he got mad at you?”

“Oh. Yeah…… well……”

Yuanna scratched her cheek in discomfort and avoided Ruzef’s gaze.

“It’s not that I don’t understand why Sir Diego is angry, it’s just that it’s okay,” said Yuanna.

“I’m curious to know why.”

“I told him I’d sacrifice myself if necessary, so it’s okay to use me as bait. I was destined to die on the island anyway.”

“Oh, my God. Destined to die you say?” Ruzef asked back, raising his voice in disbelief and pressing his temples.

“Sir Diego had every right to be angry.”

“……”

“And now that we’ve escaped Alea Island, all we need to do is find the Blood Oath and the Magic Stones, and what could possibly go wrong?”

At Ruzef’s words, Yuanna smiled in a meaningful way.

“You really think so? That there’s no danger at all?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, there was a dimensional rift in this world, and the Peony Blossoms created his thing called ‘experimental island’, and we only destroyed it.”

“That’s……”

“We haven’t closed the rift yet, if you know what I mean. There’s something fundamental that hasn’t been fixed, and if we don’t fix it, there will be a second Peony Blossom Faction.”

“Is there a way?” Ruzef asked.

Yuanna shrugged. She stood a little away from him. “That’s something we’ll have to look into. Do you want to help me find it? There’s probably a lot of research on dimensional rifts, even at the Holy See, where they’ve been experimenting for a thousand years.”

“But we wouldn’t have access to it, and we don’t know where the information is. Most of the high-ranking clergy of the Holy See seem to be of the Peony Blossoms, and it would be dangerous if they found out we were looking for it.”

“So we have to make sure they don’t find out.”

“Do you have a plan in mind?”

Yuanna smiled cheerfully and shook her head. “That’s something we’ll have to figure out now. What we’re going to do is this: when it’s all over, we’re going to close the dimensional rift and make complete peace. That’s how we end this long story.”

That was quite a statement, and Ruzef swallowed nervously.

“We’d better hurry, because we have to bring Margaret some good news for her birthday party.”

Ruzef nodded at Yuanna’s words. He too wished he could.

***

The imperial palace.

Kayden was fine with Margaret not choosing him as her partner. She had apparently turned down Enoch’s request for a partner as well.

So he arrived early and waited for Margaret.

[My descendant, you don’t look too good right now, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not worried about you].

Jenas’ voice echoed in his head.

Staggering against the wall as dizziness overtook him, Kayden sighed deeply. I just need to rest, just for a little while, just for a little while.

Kayden hadn’t rested since returning to the Empire, as he’d been busy overthrowing the Magic Tower’s chaotic hierarchy in his absence.

He also visited Rohade Mansion, a place he hadn’t visited in years, in search of the Blood Oath.

However, neither his father nor his mother were there, and after searching the entire mansion, there was no sign of anything resembling the Blood Oath. The only thing left to do was to search the mansion’s underground laboratory, which required a more detailed plan and infiltration, so he retreated.

It was not without success, however. He found out how the Peony Blossoms had kidnapped them to Alea Island.

[I’ve clearly warned you. It’s not a good idea to touch the Tentathionem directly, even if it’s just to gather evidence. Even worse, you inhaled the powder. That’s just plain stupid…… tsk.]

“Noisy.”

Whoa. Kayden took a deep breath and clutched his chest for a moment. Then he saw a carriage bearing the sigil of House Floné pull up.

The carriage door opened, and as expected, Margaret appeared, accompanied by her father, the Duke of Floné.

Kayden’s breath caught for a moment when he saw Margaret’s beautiful and exquisite appearance, which he had never seen before.