I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 193

The Pope, standing behind him, turned to Kayden, his face mild.

“Do you remember what the experiment was about, Lord, over a decade ago?”

Kayden pondered the words.

Decades ago, an experiment.

Not even he could remember what it was, exactly. Shortly after the experiment, he had been forced into hibernation due to draining too much of his mana.

In truth, even that hibernation was not of his own volition. It was Marquis Rohade’s doing.

“To ensure that Jenas’ soul would be able to adapt to your body, we modified your body to match it entirely.”

The Pope laughed as he spoke.

There was nothing surprising about the Pope’s words. It was expected.

But Kayden glared at him, trying to figure out where the Pope was going with this. I don’t understand why he’d come out of nowhere and say this.

Is he trying to get confirmation that I have Jenas sealed inside me?

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. In the distance, I could see monsters swarming around outside the barrier.

As expected, the Peony Blossoms had begun their trickery. I must tell Margaret about this.

As Kayden turned to leave in search of Margaret, Pope Benatrice stood in his way.

“Listen to the end, Lord.”

The Pope stroked his beard, his face relaxed.

Kayden stood alert, ready to unleash his circle of magic at any moment, but it was too late.

A mysterious formula had suddenly been drawn at his feet. It wasn’t his, and it certainly wasn’t the Pope’s.

“The heck, what is this……?”

“It’s an ‘initiation spell’, in case Jenas is trapped in your body and in trouble.”

“What? An initiation spell?”

I should be getting out, but my body wouldn’t listen.

The Pope, still watching Kayden, opened his mouth.

Jenas Igran Rohade, awaken for Alea-

A foreign voice, as if layered with human voices, assaulted his entire body.

-kooong!

A violent shock hit his heart.

Like a heavy weight, his heart plummeted to the bottom of the earth. Deep and deeper.

-cough cough.

Kayden coughed up blood.

The dark shadow of ‘Rohade’ ate away at him. He’d tried so hard to escape, but all he’d done was spend the rest of his life in the shadow of Rohade.

After his heart, his earlobes seemed to burn unbearably hot. His right ear, to be precise, where he wore an earring.

‘Damn, the earring.’

He couldn’t reach up to remove the earring. He couldn’t move his whole body.

The training he’d learned on the island, thanks to Margaret, had given him complete control over his mana, but now he was like a child learning to use it for the first time.

Unable to endure the pain, he finally released his mana to control the force on his heart. The mana rippled through the air in a massive ripple, causing a gale of wind to swirl around him.

-ziying.

The released mana collided with the magic formula he had created, causing it to vibrate violently. The magic barrier protecting the Floné Castle was unable to withstand the violent force, and it finally cracked.

-crack!

‘Damn it, no!’

Kayden was slowly losing consciousness.

In his flickering vision, he could see monsters charging towards the castle.

‘No, no. I have to protect Margaret…….’

Margaret…….

I must protect her…….

And with that, he entered a state of suspended animation, and as if he had been waiting, Jenas appeared.

***

Where we chased the light, we found the Pope. Kayden was nowhere to be found.

“Oh, look, the Saintess is here, too. But you’re all too late.”

A smile tugged at the corners of the Pope’s mouth as he spotted us. I sensed from his words that he knew Kayden’s whereabouts.

“You son of a bxtch.”

Yuanna showed signs of using her divine power, but I stopped her.

The Pope, with his immense divine power, is not a man to be easily subdued. If Yuanna were to fight him, it would be a battle of divine power, and it would surely be a long one.

But with Kayden’s whereabouts unknown, I don’t have time to wait for the fight to end. I need to know Kayden’s whereabouts now.

“Where is Kayden?”

I pulled out my flare gun and aimed it at him. Enoch, stepping in front of me, drew his sword and pointed it at the Pope.

“Margaret asks, where is Lord?”

Along with Enoch’s raspy voice, the sword in his grip crackled with sparks of light, creating sword energy.

The sparking sword was quite intimidating, but the Pope didn’t bat an eyelid and smiled benevolently.

“You’d better open your mouth, if you want to keep your limbs intact.”

Enoch tilted his head and swung his sword lightly, and the blade sliced through the air and grazed the Pope’s side. The Pope’s eyes widened, and then he burst out laughing.

“Hmm. Young people have such short tempers these days, haha.”

“Hey, old man. Just tell me where Lord is and don’t give me any bullshit.”

Yuanna lashed out at the Pope, sounding just like Kayden.

The Pope shrugged and replied, “Everyone seems to like Lord. I suppose you didn’t realize he was a child you shouldn’t be so affectionate with.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our Lord was raised from childhood to serve Jenas, and the Holy See experimented with modificating his mana to blend with Jenas’s. The Marquis of Rohade noticed the change in Lord’s mana when he returned from the island.”

I stifled a gasp of disbelief. Kayden’s horrific past, bred for Rohade and Jenas alone.

After all the horrible things they had done to him, the names they called him were always the same.

Our Lord, our descendant.

Disgust washed over me.

“Marquis Rohade knew that the Lord had Jenas in his body, and so he headed to Alea Island to resume our plans. What a relief it was to hear that.”

This must be why the Marquis of Rohade had disappeared with the Blood Oath.

He may have known all along. That Jenas is alive.

“How long did you think you could hide Jenas from us……! Kuck!”

I don’t even know when he approached. Enoch grabbed the Pope by the throat and slammed him to the ground, subduing him. Enoch’s sharp blade touched the Pope’s throat.

“I asked you, where is Lord, or did I make it too difficult for you?”

Enoch had been calm the entire time. As if he were about to explode. That made it all the more frightening.

But the Pope was still relaxed, even as he grunted in pain. He acted as if he had the upper hand in this game.

“I see the Crown Prince doesn’t know how to honor the elderly.”

Just then, a familiar voice came from the bushes. I turned my head in the direction of the sound and called his name.

“Jenas!”

The face that emerged from the bushes was Kayden, but I could now tell at a glance whether he was Jenas or Kayden.

The Pope was still struggling on the ground in Enoch’s grasp, but Jenas didn’t seem to be in any mood to help him.

“Where’s Kayden?” I asked, aiming the flare gun at him.

Jenas’s unreadable gaze turned to me. He stood with his arms crossed, glaring down at me with arrogance.

He smirked. As if he didn’t like my impatient search for Kayden.

“Still looking for my descendant, much to my chagrin.”

He walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged and swatted his hand away.

Just then, the ring on my finger crackled and sparked with light. Jenas stared at the ring with a puzzled expression.

“If you pull any stunts with Margaret, I’ll have your head on a stick.”

“You mess with Margaret, I’ll mess with you.”

But then Enoch and Yuanna spoke up, and Jenas’s gaze shifted to them. Yuanna’s hands, in particular, glowed with a pure white light that seemed to be divine power.

Jenas held up both hands in surrender and said to me, “My descendant has fallen into suspended animation. It is only a matter of will that he won’t wake up.”

“A matter of will? So Kayden’s inability to wake up is a result of his own choice?”

Jenas nodded at my question. Then he glanced at the Pope, who had been overpowered by Enoch and was now face-down on the ground.

“Hmm, my descendant’s body was designed to respond to the initiation spell.”

“What do you mean, an initiation spell?”

Jenas stroked his chin in thought and stared at me. He seemed to be reassessing the situation.

“You see, I don’t have a lot of mana, so even if I recite the initiation spell, it’s impossible for me to completely take over my descendant’s body, unless I recover my mana.”

‘Recover his mana,’ he says, and it sounds very meaningful.

But he didn’t seem inclined to give me a specific explanation for the initiation spell. It seemed to have something to do with Kayden’s past experiment.

And the idea that Kayden’s inability to wake up was a matter of will. Does that mean he doesn’t want to wake up? It doesn’t sound like Kayden at all.

Why?

“If he continues to fail to wake up, my descendant may be forced into hibernation as he has been in the past, and I would be very grateful for that.”

Jenas spread his arms wide, as if to draw in air. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets and looked up at the sky as he leisurely surveyed the situation.

“I’ve wasted too much time. I’d better get going.”

“Where are you going?!”

“Margaret, I told you, I have to go to Alea Island.”

“Lord Jenas. If you’re finally going to put our plan into action, I’m going to……!”

The Pope, still held captive by Enoch, opened his mouth, and Jenas looked at him as if he were a bug.

“Silly thing, it’s not ‘our plan’, it’s ‘my plan’. Your role is limited to that. The only reason I’ve kept you alive all this time is because of the magic stone.”

The Pope made a face as if he didn’t understand Jenas’s words. He struggled, trying to pull himself out of Enoch’s grip, but of course it wasn’t easy.

And with that, I was certain that Jenas was using the magic stone to control the Peony Blossom faction.

And Alea Island.

Could it be that the magic stone that he said might remain on Alea Island was giving him new mana?

“You see, I don’t have a lot of mana, so even if I recite the initiation spell, it’s impossible for me to completely take over my descendant’s body, unless I recover my mana.”

That explains what he said earlier. If he can find the magic stone and recover his mana, he can take over Kayden’s body.

‘Damn, this is all because of that damn dimensional rift……!!’

The dimensional rift was the cause of all this, and the enemy we really needed to kill was still Jenas, not the Peony Blossom faction.

My bloodlust for Jenas was raging. It was unlikely that this anger and thirst would be quenched without turning the whole thing upside down.

If only I could find a way to close the dimensional rift, then neither Jenas nor the Peony Blossom would be able to do what they’re doing anymore……!

‘If only I could find a way to close the dimensional rift……!’

Suddenly, I remembered my earlier hypothesis.

What if I really am the key to close the dimensional rift?

What if my soul, tainted by interdimensional travel, must cross over to Korea in order to fully close the rift?

What if that’s the only way to save everyone, and Kayden?

If that’s really the case, if that’s why Jenas won’t let me go…….

I am willing to sacrifice myself and abandon this world.

‘I won’t leave it like this, not ever.’

Then Yuanna stepped forward, her hands reaching up to the sky, and a pure white light began to orbit and swirl in her hands. Her hair fluttered wildly, and her eyes sparkled and glowed.

She glared at Jenas with madness in her eyes.

“You and that old man are not going anywhere.”

No sooner had she spoken than a massive pillar of light struck Jenas where he stood. It was a powerful attack that dug deep into the ground.

But Jenas, as if mocking Yuanna, moved out of the way, dodged the blow, and in an instant was upon me.

“I’ll wait for you. On the island.”

The words that reached my ears soon dispersed into the air and disappeared. Jenas had vanished into thin air.