Chapter 31
“Nayla!!”
When I shouted at Nayla, everyone froze for a moment.
They must have been shocked.
A voice loud enough to echo burst out—it was the result of all the frustration I’d been holding in toward Nayla.
“Why do you keep acting so recklessly? Yesterday, you disappeared while gathering herbs, making us search for you, and today, you used up all the meat?”
“U-unnie…”
“And now you’ve even sliced up the bread and cheese to hand out… Do you realize that if we eat this, we’ll have to survive on nothing but greens all day tomorrow?”
As soon as my breath steadied from shouting, I fired off another round.
“You might’ve had a moment of fun wasting our stockpiled food, but because of that, the time we can spend exploring has been drastically cut short. Do you understand what that means? The chances of successfully completing our mission have dropped significantly!”
I stared straight at Nayla, curious how she’d defend herself.
As expected, she put on a pitiful expression.
“The knights looked so exhausted… I couldn’t help it. If we’re going to traverse such rough terrain, they need to eat properly…”
I was about to say there were other high-calorie foods—she didn’t need to use the meat.
But before I could, the knights intervened.
“Please calm down. Lady Nayla only acted out of concern for us—”
“Enough. Don’t interfere. We can’t just let this slide.”
It wasn’t as if I didn’t care about them.
Like Nayla, I felt sorry for them too.
But I knew we couldn’t recklessly waste our food, so I’d been saving it.
If we ran out of supplies, we’d have to rely on whatever we could forage in the mountains.
What if we accidentally ate poisonous berries or mushrooms?
Who would take responsibility then?
I wanted to scold her firmly and move on, but it backfired.
“Sob… I’m sorry, unnie…”
“……”
Nayla hung her head low, her shoulders trembling, and soon people began gathering around her.
If only Luke had taken her side yesterday, today it wasn’t just him—everyone shielded Nayla.
“Goodness, stop fighting!”
“Lady Nayla only used a little meat. This isn’t something to get so angry about.”
“That’s right. If you’re worried about running out of food, we just need to complete the mission before that happens.”
With everyone ganging up on me like this, what was I supposed to do?
“Sigh… Fine. Then we’d better hurry and prepare to leave. And Nayla—don’t ever do this again.”
“Okay…”
We started moving 30 minutes earlier than planned.
After a high-calorie meal, you’d expect some chatter, but everyone stayed silent.
The atmosphere was stiflingly tense.
Nayla was the one who caused this, but somehow, it felt like it was all my fault, leaving me uneasy.
Lost in these complicated thoughts, I kept walking until we finally reached the mountaintop.
The knights, grateful they hadn’t encountered a single monster along the way, sprawled out to rest.
Meanwhile, I stood at the highest point—the edge of the cliff—and looked down.
‘Coming here was the right choice. I can see the entire island.’
Thanks to that, I could easily pinpoint our location.
But there was one critical problem.
“Wait… this is the very center, isn’t it?”
From what I remembered, the spirit was supposed to be in a lake located in the deepest part of Sharco Island.
The deepest part… Naturally, I assumed that meant the very center, where I thought we’d naturally hear the sound of the Moon’s Ocarina.
But now that we were here, there was no ocarina—not even anything resembling one.
“What’s going on?”
Before I knew it, Luke had grabbed my shoulder and forced me to face him.
“You said there’d be something here once we reached the center, right? So what is this? Nothing but damn grass!”
He was furious.
I quickly shook off his hand and took a step back.
“It must be hidden! How can you expect to find it without even searching?”
“Hidden? Open your eyes and look around!”
I glanced around at his words.
The first thing I saw were the knights, sprawled out in exhaustion.
Surrounding them were nothing but weeds and rocks…
There was nothing else.
No place where something could be hidden.
Instead of yelling at me, Luke clutched his head and started blaming himself.
“Ugh, damn it… I should’ve known you were crazy the moment you started spouting nonsense about being from another world… To think I followed you all the way here believing your insane ramblings…”
After his self-reproach, he turned to the knights and shouted,
“Enough resting—get up! There’s nothing left to see on this island. We’re heading back!”
I quickly yelled at Luke.
“Who gave you the authority to give orders? I’m leading this expedition! Don’t command them recklessly!”
“Expedition? You’re still spouting that crap? Explain what exactly you expect to find here! Show me a single damn strand of that so-called spirit’s hair you talked about!”
Unable to contain his anger, he shoved my shoulder.
And then it happened.
“Uh… huh?”
I had been standing precariously close to the edge of the cliff to check our position.
Even while confronting Luke, the sheer drop was right behind me.
And in that moment, he pushed me.
Losing my balance and tilting backward happened in an instant.
“Ahhh!”
Luke desperately reached out to grab me, but it was too late.
A dizzying sensation washed over me as I plummeted off the cliff.
“Claudia!”
His final scream echoed as my consciousness faded into darkness.
Claudia tumbled down the cliff and disappeared into the rushing water below.
Luke and the rest of the group stared down in stunned silence.
“Th-this can’t be…”
Luke straightened up slowly, his face blank with shock.
Then, turning to the knights and Nayla, he muttered,
“…It was an accident.”
It was undeniably an accident.
He was frustrated after all the pointless hardship Claudia had put them through, but he never meant to kill her.
Still, the fact remained—he had pushed her, and she had fallen.
The knights drew their swords, glaring at Luke.
This wasn’t just some maid he’d shoved off a cliff—he’d killed the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
They had to arrest him and drag him before the Prince.
“Wait.”
Nayla stepped between Luke and the approaching knights.
“You all saw it, didn’t you? Oppa only meant to reprimand Claudia unnie… He just accidentally pushed her. Or did he? From my angle, it looked like unnie lost her footing in surprise.”
Claudia had been blocked by Luke’s body.
So no one had actually seen whether he pushed her or not.
They only assumed he had because Claudia fell right after he moved his arm.
Nayla, aware of this, argued for Luke’s innocence.
He still had value to her.
“Oppa, did you really push her?”
Luke, stiff with tension, hastily replied,
“N-no… She stumbled back and fell on her own! I tried to grab her…”
One of the knights holding a sword asked,
“But didn’t you say it was an accident earlier?”
“I meant I failed to catch her in time. Are you accusing me without any proof?”
Then Luke raised his voice at them.
“As the heir of the Rubelussis Ducal House, I command you—lower your swords! Pointing them at me without evidence will henceforth be considered an insult to the Ducal House!”
Invoking his family name, he intimidated them, and the knights hesitated.
This wasn’t just any minor family—the Rubelussis Ducal House was one of the Empire’s pillars.
Mishandling this could have dire consequences in the future.
“…Understood. However, we will report this incident to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Do as you please. I never said you couldn’t. Just don’t spread baseless lies about me pushing her.”
“And we expect your full cooperation in quietly searching for the missing lady.”
“I already said—do whatever you want.”
The knights finally sheathed their swords, and Luke exhaled softly, ensuring no one heard.
How long had I been unconscious?
The icy chill forced me awake, only to find myself in pitch-black darkness.
‘Ugh… so cold…’
First, I sniffed hard to clear the water from my nose.
Then, slowly, I looked around.
