I'm Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 215

I stared at him and blinked in disbelief.

“Hibernating……. You have to do that?”

“Even though I’m out of the human realm, I can’t use too much power at once. My soul is in a very tattered state right now. If I don’t recover, I might die.”

Kayden smiled brightly as he replied, his face very unconcerned.

“……How long do you have to hibernate?”

“Well, I don’t know. I can’t promise you that, but I’ll try to recover quickly.”

Kayden patted my head, still affectionately.

But I couldn’t bring myself to smile with him. It means I won’t see Kayden for a while, and I don’t even know how long that will be.

A year? Or a decade? What if he wakes up after I die?

“I came to say goodbye to you for the last time.”

“Kayden.”

I grabbed his hand stroking my hair.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to die. I’ve touched God’s realm, and this is a good price to pay. I have more questions than that, Margaret.”

Kayden tilted his head at an angle and stared at my face. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. Why is he looking at me like that?

“Are you going to marry Enoch?”

“……Huh?”

“I know. You two like each other. I knew it, but don’t get too comfortable without me.”

That last one was so Kayden.

His face was more relaxed than I expected. I don’t know what his real feelings are, but both he and I know that we are important to each other, even without the emotions of rational love.

I was silent for a while, and then I said to him, “I’ll wait, however long it takes.”

No matter when that is, I’ll wait.

“And thank you. For saving me.”

Kayden smiled at me. He ruffled my hair and disappeared into the distance.

After saying he would go into hibernation tomorrow.

 

***

 

The Wizards’ Association has fallen, but Kayden’s Magic Tower is the only one on the continent to survive.

Of course, in a world without mana, the wizards have all left. Only Kayden’s tower remained standing, for he had become mana itself.

Kayden was on the top floor, preparing to hibernate.

Unexpectedly, he said his final goodbyes to the others as well. I don’t know what each of them said, but we all decided to wait for Kayden’s hibernation together.

I visited the tower to see his face one more time before he went into hibernation, as did Enoch, Arthdal, Yuanna, Ruzef, and Diego.

Kayden looked at us with a puzzled expression.

“What, why did you all bother coming?”

“Didn’t you tell us to come and see you? You surprisingly like attention.”

Arthdal chuckled, and Yuanna nudged him.

“We should see you at least, you made the biggest sacrifice.”

“Don’t say that, you’re the one who made the sacrifice. I’ve realized my dream.”

At Kayden’s words, I looked back at Yuanna.

“That’s right, Anna. What was the sacrifice you made when you used the power of purification?”

Yuanna smiled brightly at my question. “You’ll find out when Lord Kayden awakens from hibernation. My sacrifice is a matter of time.”

What does that mean? Everyone looked at her in bewilderment, except Kayden, but she didn’t seem inclined to answer.

“Lord, I’ll be waiting for you, don’t worry too much.”

And just then, I heard a familiar voice behind me. Even without turning around, I knew it was Enoch.

Kayden glanced from Enoch to me, then back again, and smiled.

“Of course you should wait. Are you going to be happy just the two of you?”

“Just two? Lord, aren’t you being too assumptive?”

It was Arthdal, not Enoch and I, who answered Kayden’s question. Arthdal slung an arm around Kayden’s shoulders. Ruzef, Yuanna, and Diego also came over to us.

“So much for being a dirty wizard. Please keep your hibernation short.”

Kayden raised an eyebrow at Ruzev’s comment.

“Hey, Ddakkari, you think you can call the shots?”

“You better stop calling me Ddakkari.”

“Yes, now that the Archbishop is the Pope, calling him Ddakkari is too much.”

Yuanna sided with Ruzef, but Kayden didn’t even pretend to listen.

“I’ll call you Big Ddakkari. I don’t care if you’re the Pope or whatever, you’re still a servant of God.”

Ruzef nodded, his face resigned, like a man who had finally given up trying to educate Kayden.

“Whatever.”

“Anyway, you guys…… without me.”

Kayden trailed off, his eyes scanning the room. He pointed a finger at each of us in turn.

“I say again. Don’t get along too well without me. It sucks.”

With a final, typically Kayden-like goodbye, he went into hibernation.

Time passed, Enoch was crowned Emperor, and I received a marriage proposal from him.

Arthdal was crowned King of Hestia, and Diego traveled the world with Yuanna. Diego seemed to know what sacrifice Yuanna had made.

Ruzef was rarely seen because of his duties as pope, but everyone found happiness in their respective places.

It was a happiness that came to us after a long time, yet we all felt a huge void at times in Kayden’s absence.

Perhaps the puzzle of the story will only be complete when Kayden returns to our lives. Only then will our happiness be complete.

So we wait and wait for him to wake up, not knowing when it will end.

 

***

 

It wasn’t until around the time of Kayden’s awakening that I realized the sacrifice that Yuanna had made, for her aging was rapidly progressing.

Nevertheless, she smiled broadly as she told me that she could live for another 20 years, and that she had so much life left.

When I heard that, I think I cried for almost a year, tormented by anguish and guilt. I suddenly realized why Diego had traveled the world with her.

But I didn’t want to spend time crying because I knew that there wasn’t much time. I had to make more memories now.

I made up my mind and started seeing her as often as possible.

I suddenly felt Kayden’s aura.

“I think it’s time for Kayden to wake up.”

I said to Enoch in the mirror as I was getting ready to go out. Enoch, who was wearing a cravat on his shirt, looked at me.

Our eyes locked in the mirror. I smiled and stood up.

“I told you to get a servant.”

I reached over and tied the cravat around his neck. Enoch snorted, smiled, and grabbed my hand. He pressed his lips to the knuckles of my fingers.

“You can do it for me, just like you are doing now.”

I curled my fingers at the feel of his soft lips. I pulled my hand from his grasp and glanced up at him.

“Are you saying you’re going to keep me like a servant? I have plenty of work to do.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I mean I don’t want to be separated from you for an instant.”

He reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist. His lips touched the nape of my neck. His hot breath settled against my collarbone. I closed my eyes tightly.

Enoch kissed the back of my neck, then unfastened the unfinished button.

“Are you going to the tower again today?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to cool the fever.

“Let’s go together today, I’ve already called everyone else.”

I’ve been going to the Magic Tower every day for the past ten years. Waiting for Kayden to wake up.

So I could vaguely sense his aura. Maybe it’s because I’m the only person in the world with mana besides him.

Enoch cupped my cheek and left a short kiss on my lips.

“How can you be so sure that Lord Kayden is really going to wake up?”

“I have a feeling, and regardless, it’s good to see everyone’s faces after so long.”

“You are the only person who can invite the Pope, Saintess, and King Hestia with such a casual attitude.”

“There’s one more, here. The Emperor of the Langridge Empire.”

“Not me, for I am your husband.”

Enoch leaned toward me. A shadow fell over my face. I closed my eyes slowly.

Just as our lips touched and we were about to kiss, Eunji, who had been rolling around on the carpet, came running to me.

“Wait, Eunji is here!”

He stretched his arms out toward us, begging for attention and affection.

Enoch and I looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing. Then Enoch scooped him up in his arms and I planted a kiss on Eunji’s forehead.

Eunji smiled happily and bashfully.

Seeing that face made me happy too.

 

***

 

How much time has passed?

Kayden was floating in the darkness.

His soul, torn and tattered from the side effects of using too much power, was just beginning to take shape.

During that long time, he replayed the past over and over again.

The days with Margaret, the days with Enoch and Arthdal, the days of trials and tribulations.

Only after going through all that pain could he achieve the perfection he has now, and he knows that those experiences are what keeps him going.

You can’t really call him human anymore, because he’s become the mana itself.

He opened his eyes in the silence of the sealed circle in the Magic Tower.

A breeze brushed the tip of his nose. A cool breeze that was neither cold nor hot. It smelled softly of flowers, and the sun was shining through the window.

Kayden sat up slowly.

How long had he been asleep?

A year?

No, that’s too short.

Five years?

That’s wishful thinking.

Ten years? Twenty years?

Maybe a hundred years, maybe more.

So what about Margaret? What if he’d woken up at a time when neither Margaret nor Enoch nor Ddakkari were no longer in this world?

Kayden rose from his seat in silence.

He slowly descended the tower. The tower was deserted. Before he went into hibernation, there had been a few wizards left.

‘Of course, there are no wizards left in the tower now that their mana is gone.’

You can’t even call them wizards anymore.

Kayden trudged down the stairs. He felt terribly lonely in this tower with no trace of people.

But that thought was short-lived. He felt warmth from somewhere.

As if someone had periodically maintained it and brought warmth to it.

Drawn by the warmth, he slowly descended the tower. Maybe there was someone there, maybe it hadn’t been that long.

He descended with these thoughts, but the tower was empty.

He stood there in the emptiness until he saw someone open the tower’s door and enter.

“Kayden?”

A woman opened the door and stopped in surprise at the sight of him. Behind her, a man followed, stopping in his tracks.

Her platinum-blonde hair, dazzling as if woven from gold threads, flooded his vision, and her blue eyes, the color of the sea, stared back at him.

The face and voice he’d dreamed of. The longing he’d seen over and over again for all these years was tangible, right before his eyes.

“Kayden! You’re awake!”

Margaret ran to him and hugged him. The familiar scent of her body wafted through the air. The human warmth enveloped him.

Dazed, Kayden pulled away from her to look at her. In his field of vision, he saw Enoch.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a decade or so. Thank you for coming back so early.”

Kayden’s lips parted at Enoch’s brusque greeting. He’d been told to wait, but he figured that if ten years passed, then twenty, then an indeterminate amount of time, maybe everyone would forget about him.

So he wasn’t expecting much, but maybe he was. That everyone would wait for him.

A tear rolled down Kayden’s cheek, and he couldn’t hold back the sob that escaped his lips.

Eventually, Kayden broke down and sobbed. He had never cried like that in his life.

The beginning of his life was miserable, painful, and difficult, and the journey was by no means easy, but in the end, his life was perfect. He was happy, with a love that could not be more full.

Even though he was no longer human, he could still feel the love of those who loved him.

He felt so precious and happy, he thought he could live for eternity on this happiness alone.

Pulling away from the tearful Kayden, Margaret said to him, “Let’s go out. You don’t know how much they’re waiting for you.”

She held out her hand to him.

As if all of their happiness was waiting just beyond that door.

Kayden took her hand without hesitation.

 

The End.

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The side story can be read here.