Chapter 9

***

Of course, I couldn’t sleep well.

The stone floor was so cold that I had to chill all night.

It was raining, and there was a chill in the cave, so it was so cold……

I have shivered with cold even in my dreams.

‘It’s really cold.’

Perhaps because of the fatigue accumulated so far, even my mind became hazy. It’s such a vivid dream.

As I was shivering for a long time in a dream, someone approached me. Enoch’s jacket glimmered in the dim vision.

Desperately, I reached out and grabbed Enoch’s jacket. The warm touch in my hand made my heart hurt for some reason.

“What’s wrong?”

Someone in my dream asked me. I frowned with a troubled face while looking at the jacket.

“It’s because you’re being mean.”

“……hey?”

Pulling Enoch’s jacket again, I answered, “This guy, Jackie. He was the guy who covered my shoulders when I was cold.”

I burst into tears from the sudden rush of sadness.

“You idiot Jackie. How can you lie on top of such a useless body? I’m so cold right now.”

“……”

“I thought your love for me has grown. You bastard. Has your love changed?”

With tears in my eyes, I let go of the jacket I was holding. The jacket was wrinkled out of shape because I was clutching it too tight.

Even that shabby appearance touched my heart. I fell asleep again, turning away from the crumpled jacket with a heartache.

I must have heard someone laughing……

When I woke up, it was already morning.

I lay idly with my eyes open. I thought I fell asleep shivering from the cold, but my body was more refreshed than I thought.

‘It’s not like reality and my memory is hazy……is this still a dream?’

As I was thinking about it, I felt a warm feeling and lowered my head.

As expected, a luxurious jacket wrapped around my shoulders. It was Enoch’s.

I looked around and looked at the entrance to the cave, and saw the morning sun shining through the stone walls that were piled up to the waist. It looks like the rain has completely stopped.

There was Enoch at the entrance of the cave. He rolled up his shirt sleeves and was eagerly moving large stones.

Perhaps because of the years he spent on the battlefield, Enoch was more likely to be interested in this kind of thing than showing dignity as a crown prince.

I approached Enoch, wearing his jacket.

He glanced at me. I thought he was going to say something, but he turned his head without saying anything and began to remove the stones again.

I’m sure I saw Enoch’s jacket in my dream and said, ‘How can you lie on top of such a useless body?’

Maybe it wasn’t a dream but a reality? If that’s the case……

‘Am I drunk? I didn’t even drink. Why did I do that? Why did I say such nonsense?’

My brain went white. I’m a bit embarrassed, aside from the fact that I’m worried about the blasphemy of the imperial family.

But fortunately, Enoch looked the same as usual.

‘……it must have been a dream since you didn’t say much, right?’

Only then did I get a little relieved and cheer up to help him clean up the stones.

However,

“Love doesn’t seem to have changed.”

“……yes?”

Enoch removed all the stones and looked back at me. With one hand on his waist, he smiled pointing to the jacket I wore.

“Doesn’t the jacket still love you because it is not lying on my useless body now?”

‘Damn it, it wasn’t a dream!’

I rolled my eyes in embarrassment and avoided his gaze. And at that moment,

“You bastard. Has your love changed?”

I even remembered the last line I uttered.

“That……what do you mean?”

“Are you going to pretend you don’t know?”

Enoch asked a funny question. I muttered in embarrassment and finally answered with a small voice, “That…… I was just talking nonsense in my sleep—”

“If you gave him a cute name like Jackie and just forgot about it, Jackie the bastard would be sad.”

Damn it, did you hear me swearing?

I tried to change the topic somehow, so I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth carefully, “You look very awkward at swearing.”

“It’s because it’s the first time I’ve ever put such a swear word in my mouth. But the Young Lady swore very naturally.”

I had nothing else to say.

“Oh, that’s not me. I think Your Highness must have been dreaming. I can’t say swear words. I’m an aristocrat.”

Enoch grinned, stroking his chin languidly, and laughed.

“……if you’re shy, I’ll pretend I don’t know.”

He spoke as if he were being kind.

Enoch approached me with a leisurely pace and tapped the gold collar of the jacket I was wearing with his finger.

His gaze slowly rose from my shoulder to my neck. Then his eyes met with mine.

A crooked smile appeared on the corner of his lips. He said as if this situation was very interesting, “Well, Young Lady was such a weirdo. So it wasn’t weird at all.”

‘Just say it’s weird. Yo bastard.’

I still have a long way to go to improve my image. Somehow I became sad, so I wiped away tears that didn’t even flow.

“Young Lady’s love for Jackie, I support both of you.”

“It’s not like that!”

When I finally shouted angrily, he burst into laughter with a face of joy.

It’s the first time I’ve seen him laugh so brightly. I forgot my anger and looked at him in disbelief.

Of course, the laughter didn’t last long. Returning with a calm face, he looked at me with his firm expression.

“Wear that jacket, because I’m afraid I’ll be cursed for having a useless body.”

He made fun of me till the end, damn it.

No, was Enoch originally such a human being? Even in the original story, the prince in Margaret’s memory was definitely not that kind of person!

4. Kayden Blake Rohde

The jacket incident finally ended with the result that I loved Jackie.

‘What kind of conclusion is that?’

As I always say, life is made up of damn timing, so what should I do now?

Early in the morning, we rehydrated by drinking water from a coconut bowl and then filled our hunger with acai berries.

Although the coconut bowl was filled with rainwater, it was so small that it was not enough for two people to drink.

‘I want to drink as much water as I want……’

Maybe in the afternoon, I will make a filter to make drinkable water or find a way to distill the water.

Having designated the cave as a temporary base camp, we decided to go on reconnaissance as scheduled.

I had to spend a few days here to recover my stamina, but to do that, I had to properly understand what was around the base camp.

As I was exploring the nearby forest with Enoch, I was nervous that I might run into other male protagonists.

But fortunately, that didn’t happen. At least not yet.

I followed Enoch through the bushes and stopped walking when the hem of my dress caught on a branch.

“This damn dress……!”

Damn it, I’ll have to find the hut soon. I think there were quite a few modern clothes in the hut.

‘I want to wear pants too!’

It was when I was struggling for a long time to get off the dress on the branch.

A large hand reached out from behind my back.

It was Enoch. He ripped the hem of my dress off a tree branch very easily.

I looked up at him blankly. A solid facial line without a single emotion catches my eye. He reached out to me.

“Hold my hand.”

“Yes? Why?”

It was a reflex question. Then he frowned as if he didn’t like my response.

Oh my gosh, even the frown looks creepy and handsome.

“Are you going to keep falling behind? Don’t get hurt and grab my hand.”

He acted like he was annoyed, but he always stepped up first and took care of me. His words and actions were different.

I had no reason to refuse Enoch’s help, so I grab his hand.

His hands were very large. I was tall too, but his hands were bigger, his feet were bigger, and everything was bigger than mine that I really wanted to lean on him.

A stout body woven of muscles and a strong strength that endures without shaking even when I leaned against it. He was really strong and reliable.

That may be why the female lead relied on him the most. I can see why Enoch was the main male protagonist in the novel.

Now, holding his hand was not unfamiliar or awkward anymore. But strangely, one side of my chest tickled.

Enoch looked at my complexion and asked, “Is it uncomfortable?”

The grip strength was gently loosened.

“It’s the first time I’ve held hands with someone, so I have a hard time controlling my strength. I hope you understand. If you feel uncomfortable, please tell me.”

It was a blunt but very friendly tone.

Is this your first time holding hands with someone?

“Why?”

“Ah, no. It is surprising that it is the first time that Your Highness holds hands with someone.”

“There was no one I could ask to hold hands with.”

Come to think of it, Enoch was a person who was thoroughly alone. Although it was not dealt with in detail in the original work, I can see it through Margaret’s past memories.

Perhaps he was lonely all the time, unable to form deep relationships with other people.

He was always lonely because of his unfortunate birth, I also remember that he suffered from deep aftereffects after the war and stayed away from people.

I was going to walk with that thought in mind, but this time, I felt a bit of pain on the soles of my feet.

“Aw.”

I think I have blisters on my feet. That’s understandable. Flat shoes, which look pretty only, were not suitable shoes for wandering through this forest.

Enoch heard my groan and looked back at me.

He said, “Sit down,” pointing to a fallen tree nearby.

I sighed as I struggled to walk towards the fallen tree. Immediately, a large and warm hand reached my waist.

Enoch lifted me lightly and sat me on the fallen tree.