Edited…

<Episode 9>

Elkais de Robein.

An adult Royal Alpha male.

He had a perfect body with well-defined muscles and an extremely low body fat percentage.

If there’s one misconception about the human body, it’s the common belief that a body with a lot of fat would be heavier. However, in reality, a muscular body is much heavier.

“Your Grace! Why are you so heavy?”

“…”

“Your Grace!”

The perceived weight of the Duke Elkais de Robein was like that of a dinosaur.

He seemed to be completely unconscious, collapsing as if he had fainted. I was sweating, wondering if he had a fever.

“Darn it!”

I tried to push away his warm face leaning on my shoulder, but he was too handsome to push harshly. Besides, if I pushed incorrectly, his shoulder wound might reopen, causing trouble.

Carefully pushing away the wet handsome man, sweating, felt like dealing with a child laid out in a wardrobe.

“Your Grace! Ugh…!”

Groaning, I pulled out his upper body first, and then his lower body.

“Phew…”

Perhaps because it was a hot day or because I moved him cautiously to avoid further injuries, I, too, felt invigorated with sweat.

As I looked down at him crouched on the floor, he seemed to be in pain. His wet hair clung to his forehead, and he made wheezing sounds while breathing.

I might have been overly cautious because he got hurt earlier, and I was afraid to leave him behind.

If I were the original lady Wilden, I might have left him like that. However, I am not the original character from the story.

“Stay still for a moment.”

I brushed away the hair sticking to his forehead. Then, I rolled up the dress I wore yesterday, making it like a pillow to support his head.

“Phew… Your Grace, your hair is quite heavy! Perhaps it’s because you have a lot on your mind!”

The sound of a groan escaped naturally.

Out of curiosity, I opened the first aid kit that suddenly appeared yesterday. Inside, there were emblems of the Cropper Empire everywhere. It didn’t seem to be the type of kit doctors would use, but it had bandages, ointment, and even antiseptic.

However, there was no sign of fever medication.

“Huh?”

Certainly, there wasn’t a note like this when I first opened the box.

[Fever medicine is in the cave by the beach.]

But when I blinked, a note that wasn’t there until yesterday appeared.

Could it be that I didn’t see it because I was there? But I couldn’t have missed such a bright red piece of paper.

Now that I think about it, this first aid kit also appeared suddenly.

What on earth is going on?

It wasn’t just one or two strange things.

The novel I’m embodying is set in an era when guns are just being developed. However, the gun I had was a Desert Eagle, and it even had perfect bullets.

No, first of all, it doesn’t make sense that I became the Lady Wilden, and now even stranger things are happening.

Let’s not think too much. There was nothing I could solve immediately, even if I thought about it complicatedly. The urgent matter was saving a person’s life.

If Elkais’s fever doesn’t subside, he’ll be in danger.

He got hurt because he said he was more scared of thunder than when a tiger jumped at me. Whenever thunder struck, Elkais looked at me.

It was natural to feel guilty. If someone gets hurt because of what I said, anyone would probably feel the same.

I am his sister, who torments Vilayden’s small Duke, the one he loves.

He would naturally dislike me. However, his caring might be due to such complex feelings.

“Let’s go for now.”

Saying that, I picked up the gun, checked the magazine to see if it was full, and confirmed that the leg that had been dislocated last time was now completely fine.

I pulled out the gun, loaded it, and held it in my hand. I left the knife next to Elkais just in case.

“I’ll be back, Your Grace.”

After saying that, I went outside.

* * *

Outside, it was a dense forest.

Like being dropped in the middle of Africa, it was hot and humid, yet refreshing creatures that made you feel cool in the shade occasionally appeared.

“I should have brought the sword.”

Except for the area where the smugglers were, the dense forest was overgrown with grass.

There were various plants that hit the cheeks and large trees.

Honestly, there was nothing not annoying here.

“Bleeh!”

I turned my body towards the direction where the sound came from with a gun in hand, and there was a strange bird.

“A Finch Bird?”

Its beak looked like a parrot, and it looked like a finch bird that ate fruits in stocks. Then, maybe the climate was similar to that of Cocos Island in Africa.

“Nice to meet you.”

I considered using it as a food source but decided against it. It looked cute, and it was too small to share with Elkais.

Moreover, what I urgently needed was a fever reducer.

There seemed to be no human presence here. Otherwise, birds wouldn’t fail to be afraid of me.

Come to think of it, a jaguar tried to attack too. Animals being hunted tended to avoid humans.

Walking alone made me think a lot.

“Ugh…”

While trying to avoid the red vines covering the ground like veins, my leg got caught in the vines. It created a long mark on my leg as if whipped, and blood started to flow.

I decided to ignore it since wiping it would probably delay my time.

I couldn’t help but think a lot as I walked down the path.

“Ugh…”

I avoided the red branches covering the ground like veins and brushed against the vines. The vine left a long mark on my leg, and blood started to flow.

I decided to ignore it and continued moving.

Following the path down, I saw the beach. In the distance, there was a cave, and it seemed like I should move there.

Maybe because my feet sank into the white sand, my thighs felt a bit strained.

I arrived at the entrance of the cave but didn’t enter. Instead, I inspected inside.

If it was a cave, it could be an animal’s dwelling even if there were no humans. So, I checked if the gun was loaded, held it with both hands, and entered the cave.

“What’s this?”

Inside, various tools were scattered as if someone had lived there. Among them was a cupboard, and inside, there were plenty of medicines.

Since I first became Lady Wilden, the first thing I did was learn to read. So, I slowly read the things written in the script of the Croppers Empire and collected fever reducers and painkillers.

While doing that, I heard a sound and aimed the gun in that direction.

“Come out.”

Although the sound of footsteps lightly echoed in the cave, the opponent didn’t come out.

“Come out.”

The sound disappeared like that.

With the momentum to shoot, I cautiously went outside again, vigilant of my surroundings. There was no one. Not even the birds.

The way back to the cabin was easier than going down.

I hurriedly moved because it seemed like the sun was about to set, and when I arrived at the cabin, Elkais, who seemed to have just regained consciousness, appeared.

“Your Grace.”

“…”

“Your Grace.”

He seemed not to hear me calling.

“Your Grace Elkais de Robein.”

“…Yes.”

“Take this.”

I handed him fever reducers and painkillers. However, he just stared without attempting to take the medicine.

Considering that his fever was too high earlier, I wondered if something might be wrong with his head because of it.

“Lady.”

“Yes?”

“Wash off the scent and come back. My head hurts badly.”

“Even when you’re in pain, you care about that?”

I felt a bit relieved that he was talking nonsense. It felt like the worries I had on the way back were becoming insignificant.

“Because I’m in pain, I care even more.”

Maybe because Elkais collapsed earlier, the situation felt strange.

He sweated a bit, but there didn’t seem to be any odor…

“You also have a scent, Your Grace.”

“I can’t control pheromones.”

As I smelled the refreshing scent coming from him, I unconsciously felt more at ease.

“It’s not that there’s a scent from Lady…”

“…”

“Because of the scent from Lady, I get strange thoughts… So, yeah. I thought I might forget to think about it again.”

His voice was still low, but his tone had changed affectionately.

“I’ll go wash up.”

“Thank you.”

“While Your Grace is taking medicine.”

“…Yes.”

Leaving him behind, I headed towards the lake behind the cabin.

The nearby waterfall created a stream flowing near the cabin.

Of course, although this lake was close to the waterfall, it wasn’t directly connected.

However, judging from the geography, it might have been one of the waterways leading to the sea in the past.

The lake where Abellard fell was closer to the cabin, so I intentionally chose a slightly more distant location.

Under the lake, many fish were visible.

I took a deep breath and removed the outerwear I had on. Although I was certain I had taken a suppressant yesterday, there was another one in the pocket of the outerwear.

After neatly folding the outerwear, I placed it on the rock along with the gun. It was then, as I reached behind to unfasten the Negligee, that…

“Eve.”

“…”

The gun was one step away.

“My Eve.”

“…”

“My Eve.”

As he approached, I hesitated, standing on guard.

“Brother.”

“I’ve been looking for a long time, Eve.”

Approaching with a sunny smile, he said,

“What about your clothes?”

“I took them off to wash.”

The man, wet from the water, approached with an innocent smile.

“Stop!”

“Why?”

“P-Put on at least pants!”

“I’m wearing drawers.”

“Oh…”

I momentarily lowered my hand and, fortunately, he was wearing drawers.

No, it wasn’t fortunate.

“Eve, stay with me.”

“…”

“Do the Imprint with me.”

“Again with that talk?”

“Now, there’s nothing to disturb us.”

Abellard was leading his large body threateningly, coming towards us.

The distance to the gun was just a step. I needed to seize it when he paused for a moment.

“Get out immediately.”

While my attention was on the gun, a man appeared, pointing a sword at Abellard’s neck.

“Elkais?”

Brother greeted Elkais as if he were glad to see him. Elkais seemed not to recognize the completely changed Abellard at all.