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Chapter 13
“If you can bring down even a whole pigeon nest, I will roast it for you. We will make the fire.”
The Marquis family knights looked up at the very tall tree until their necks hurt, then swallowed hard.
In truth, even though this was a jungle, it was not like their expectations. There were no trees full of easy fruits or prey walking around in front of them.
Coconut fruits were hanging so high that only highly trained natives could climb them. And sometimes strange mutated animals appeared, so they had to stay alert.
Sometimes there were birds as big as crocodiles sitting calmly on branches, which always shocked everyone.
They looked up at the top of the banyan tree that Logan had pointed at, then silently went back to their places.
Kettler returned and was seen calming Lady Delphien, making sure she ate what was given.
What was most painful for them was seeing tears slowly run down Delphien’s cheeks every time they rested.
She was beautiful, but also extremely difficult and gloomy—so much that it canceled out her beauty.
She still believed a rescue team might come, so at every rest, she looked at herself with pity.
“We should have just stayed on the coast.”
That had become her recent habit of speaking.
Even the young lord Theodore barely spoke, so the whole marching mood became very heavy.
Logan wondered for a moment if he should comfort and take care of the future lady of the house.
But he quickly gave up.
“Even Sir Theodore doesn’t do it!”
Why should he represent the Parhan family?
Now it looked like the young lord was quietly handing all “comforting duties” and polite attention to him.
He always disappeared under excuses like finding the way or hunting.
“Is he doing this on purpose?”
For a moment, Logan became suspicious, but he could not be sure.
“Please get on my back, my lady. You cannot walk on this muddy road.”
Kettler, who had been very active before, now seemed tired. He ordered Ribeyong, a junior knight, to carry her.
As time passed, Kettler stopped doing things himself and only gave instructions.
Delphien looked at Ribeyong’s bent back for a moment, then turned toward Theodore.
“Come to think of it… why doesn’t Count help me walk or carry me?”
She gathered courage and spoke.
“Count, I really cannot cross here.”
She expected him to come and replace Ribeyong immediately.
But Theodore looked at both of them, then showed a confused expression.
It was as if he was wondering why they were not already moving.
Delphien stood awkwardly, and Theodore gave a short order:
“Carry her across.”
But Ribeyong was already weak from lack of food and lack of sleep while guarding Delphien at night.
He stumbled while carrying her and fell into the mud.
“Kyahhh!”
SPLASH!
Delphien broke into tears. Everything felt unfair to her—her appearance, her situation, everything.
She had never had to suffer hunger before.
Even when they finally got food, it was things like wild bamboo rats or snake meat, which made her want to blame everyone.
Insects constantly attacked them, they walked through mud all the time, and they slept in forests with wild snakes nearby.
She could not decide what was worse.
No—what was truly worst was that she could not show a beautiful side of herself to Sir Theodore.
She had once thought this journey might bring them closer.
Now she realized how naive she had been.
As time passed, she was no longer sure she would survive in this place called Artis.
She could not endure it.
Later, Theodore came down from a tree without his shirt on, holding several fruits.
Coconut fruits were the easiest food, but even those were not everywhere.
So today, they would have to eat only this for dinner.
There were no easy animals walking around waiting to be hunted.
No swords, no bows, no guns. Only sharpened bamboo spears, used to hunt bamboo rats or rabbits.
He remembered Alice, the girl who used to dig out seeds, roots, and edible plants.
She even found starch-filled tree parts, ground them into powder, and made something like flour.
“It tasted like pancakes when cooked over fire.”
He thought it would have been good to learn that.
Then he frowned slightly.
Was he regretting it now?
He pushed the thought away and continued his work.
Delphien, who had been eating only coconut pieces for days, finally spoke weakly.
“Um… is this all we have? I think we can hunt bigger animals now.”
Kettler and Ribeyong quickly looked at Theodore.
“Soon we might be able to hunt wild boar or deer, right, Your Excellency?”
Kettler’s careless words made Theodore slowly turn toward him.
His cold gaze made Kettler lower his eyes quickly.
Kettler thought bitterly.
‘She just wants better food, why look at us like that?’
But Theodore was not just an engaged noble. He was also a great aristocrat and commander of the empire.
Normally, knights like them would never even sit in front of him.
Still, Kettler felt frustrated.
‘He should care about the lady first!’
Logan, watching this, quietly shook his head.
After taking even Alice’s jackknife, they had almost nothing they could do in this jungle except calm Delphien.
They could only cut branches, gather leaves, and do simple servant-like work.
Yesterday, during a boar hunt, they ruined the plan by rushing out at the wrong time and ignoring Theodore’s signal.
So they failed the hunt completely.
Animals seemed to sense humans and hide more carefully than humans expected.
When Theodore once killed a marmot, Delphien refused to eat it after Kettler made a careless comment about it being a rodent.
Delphien could survive on fruits, but if she did not eat meat, she became very unstable the next day.
Logan sighed.
“When we get out of here, should we send those guys to the front line? They need real experience.”
Theodore replied calmly while sharpening his spear.
“Would they last even two days?”
It was the first honest evaluation he had ever spoken about them.
Logan quietly reconsidered his young lord’s patience.
He already knew Theodore was strict by nature, but seeing him endure even Delphien and Kettler’s behavior silently made him think—
Maybe his young lord, even at twenty-three, could already be called a true adult.
