Chapter 77

“I am hungry.”

Arthdal repeated his words and kept wandering into the kitchen.

“I’m not urging you.”

Arthdal, who was looking at me with his hands behind his back, preemptively denied my complaint. Anyone who saw him could tell that he was urging me. I swallowed the words that had reached the end of my throat.

“Then please wait patiently. It’s annoying and I can’t concentrate, so please get out of my sight.”

“Am I, am I bothering you?”

“You are. Please get out of the way. Right now.”

Arthdal just mumbled in bewilderment and quietly moved out of sight as I picked up a well-sharpened stone knife.

He sat in front of the fireplace and quietly waited for the meal to be ready.

“Please, please do not offend Lady Margaret. What if she leaves?”

Ruzef, who was next to him, repeatedly criticized him.

“We cannot survive on this island without Lady Margaret.”

Is he a Margaret devotee or what…… As annoying as Arthdal was, I glared at Ruzef’s profile instead of skinning the rabbit.

“I am not omnipotent, Archbishop. I think you’re mistaken that I know how to do everything……”

“Don’t you?” Ruzef looked at me with a puzzled face and asked back. “You know how to do everything, don’t you?”

“That’s not true! That’s a misunderstanding, don’t say something so misleading. This guy! I’m cutting the carotid artery to drain the rabbit and long-tailed bird’s blood right now.”

I prepared the two animals and hung them upside down on a wooden pole.

“Wait a minute, let me do this first and talk later.”

I got out of the cabin with a wooden pole, stood it up, and placed a wooden basket for the blood under it. I had to check it from time to time because I had to skin it immediately after the blood drained.

I entered the cabin, rubbing my shoulder with a tired face.

“Look, she’s working so hard to skin the prey because no one else knows how to do it. She has a great sense of responsibility.”

Hearing Ruzef’s words, Arthdal then sat cross-legged, rested his chin, and stared at me.

“Well, that’s true. She seems to be a hard worker, unlike what I thought.”

Arthdal agreed as if he had been brainwashed by Ruzef.

‘Yeah, it’s not something that happens once or twice.’

Enoch, Kayden, and Ruzef, too, were all suspicious and wary of me at first. It can’t be helped though.

“Please try to compliment her with more sincerity.”

Ruzef looked at me and scolded Arthdal. No, Archbishop, I don’t need any compliments from Arthdal. Of course, Ruzef’s words backfired.

It was because Arthdal looked at him and me alternately with a face full of displeasure.

“No wait, I am aware of the need for Lady’s help. But now the Archbishop is saying that I have to please Lady Margaret?”

“Shouldn’t we at least do that? Lady Margaret is our hope.”

“Wait a minute, that’s weird. Why am I your hope? Put those words aside. Don’t use such strange words for me.”

I answered, sitting in front of Enoch, examining his condition. But Ruzef was more determined than expected.

“No, I believe in you, Lady.”

No, what’s wrong with him? I finally gave up trying to refute Ruzef.

Ruzef looked around before walking over to the fireplace to see Enoch’s condition.

Enoch closed his eyes with a relaxed expression on his face. Ruzef then put his hand on his forehead. The fever seems to have gone down.

“Archbishop, how’s Enoch?”

“Now the fever has completely gone. His breathing has calmed down too, and he seems to have regained stability. When you two went hunting, he regained his senses for a moment.”

“Really?”

I looked back at Enoch, who was asleep, with a gasp of amazement.

“Actually, His Highness has never had a proper rest until now. I think he was very tired.”

Ruzef said, checking Enoch’s breathing. I tilted my head a little in surprise at what he said.

“He has never had a proper rest……”

Ruzef glanced at me and asked with a puzzled face, “Did you not know? Even when we were all asleep, he woke up frequently and was wary of the surroundings. Even before coming to the cabin.”

Ruzef shook his head and looked at Enoch as if he was looking at someone out of control.

“I think he did it every day. I’m also sensitive to new beds, so I often wake up, but His Highness was always awake at that time.”

I knew Enoch often did night watches.

He is a sensitive man. He was a military commander who led various wars and is now the crown prince. So he was swayed by the responsibility that he should lead people in any situation.

But Ruzef said he had been doing it ‘every day’, not ‘often’, to be so vigilant and wary of the surroundings……

‘So it’s bound to ruin his body.’

I looked at Enoch’s sleeping face with a complex face.

“Maybe he’ll recover if he takes a day or two more rest.”

Ruzef said to me as if to tell me not to worry. Arthdal, who sat still and watched us, asked me, “When you return to the Empire, do you want to get married, Lady?”

I looked at him with a puzzled face.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re of marriageable age. Aren’t all the men you’re with right now perfect grooms? If you manage to get off the island, wouldn’t you want to get married?”

When Arthdal, who was propping his chin, made eye contact with me, he wrinkled his nose and smiled.

Just now, did you include yourself in my groom-to-be nominations? Do you have a conscience?

Anyway, I was speechless for a moment because his question was so unexpected. I don’t even know what the purpose of it was.

But I didn’t think about it for long.

“I will think about it when I get off the island. It is a luxury to worry about that now.”

Arthdal looked at me, still resting his chin. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking right now.

“Right. That’s a luxury.”

After a while, he nodded. Ruzef looked at Arthdal ​​with a rather strange gaze.

I looked at them and remembered the prey I had left outside the cabin.

By now, the blood was probably drained, so I got up and walked out of the cabin.

As expected, the prey’s blood was drained well. I returned to the kitchen with the prey, skinned them, and started cutting them in earnest.

“Lady, I hope you are not offended by the words of the Crown Prince Arthdal.”

Ruzef quietly approached me and said so.

“Oh, thanks for your concern. You don’t have to worry about that because I heard it with one ear and let it out through the other.”

I answered him with a smile and finished cutting the prey.

But then Ruzef lowered his gaze to the prey I had cut, and opened his eyes wide with a look of surprise for a moment.

Then he covered his mouth as if he saw something he shouldn’t have seen.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Because I have a weak stomach.”

Then he left the cabin.

‘What……’

I shook my head as I looked at Ruzef’s back as he hurriedly ran away and started preparing the meal again.

The rabbit was grilled on a skewer, and the bird was steamed in bamboo. I also prepared a stew for Enoch.

“I think you will do well if you become a hunter, Lady.”

“You’re not calling that a compliment, are you?”

“It’s a compliment.”

Arthdal sat in front of the kitchen table with his arms crossed and smirked. I furrowed my brow without hiding my displeasure. Then, looking at my face, Arthdal ​​made fun of me.

“Lady, you look ugly when you make that face.”

“I know I’m pretty.”

Then Arthdal shut his mouth, having nothing more to say. It was true that Margaret was pretty, so he couldn’t argue against it.

“Anyway, I grew up with love. Everyone knows that the Holy Father baptized me on the day I was born.”

It was extremely rare for the pope to baptize an infant. In fact, the characters of the Duke and Duchess of Floné tended to be energetic.

Margaret is the second of three sisters, and she has no lack of affection as the Duke and Duchess of Floné equally poured out their love to their daughters.

Rather, it was a problem because she grew up being too pampered. And if I had to compare her, she was just as arrogant as Arthdal.

“Oh, I know that story. The Duke of Floné is an idiot when it comes to his odd daughter and beloved wife.”

“You know that, too? Well, if I get off the island, I will go straight to my father and tell him that Crown Prince Hestia told me to become a hunter.”

“No, wait, wait, what are you talking about now, Lady? Why are you twisting my words?”

Just like he teased me, I also teased him. I burst into laughter as I looked at the bewildered Arthdal.

After realizing that it was a joke, he sighed and apologized to me.

“I apologize for the hunter remarks. I was rude.”

Arthdal apologized, rubbing his forehead. Haven’t you always been rude to Margaret?

“If you’re sorry, can you help me grill the meat?”

“I’m sorry again, but that must be difficult. Aren’t you doing better than me? I will cheer for you. I think the meat is burning there, look!”

Arthdal said so without changing the expression on his face.

That bxstard. Arthdal is a real bxstard who knows how to use people properly.

If it was Enoch, he would have pushed me back, saying he would do this himself.

‘Hic hic, I miss the conscious Enoch.’

I felt moisture build up in my eyes, so I gently wiped the corners of my eyes while grilling the meat.