Chapter 3
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I quietly slipped my hand out of the small hand holding it.
Right now, I was facing a demon who would inflict pain on me worse than death itself.
Strangely enough, the moment our eyes met, my agitation subsided, and reason returned.
The desperate wish that I could not die made me calm.
Then I fell into deep thought about how to escape the final boss standing before me.
There was a cozy hotel right over there, and I wanted to tell him to get lost and go there instead, but if I did that, I would end up throwing the protagonist’s party into a pit of fire.
I don’t want that.
Then should I keep holding on to him…? But if I did, I would die.
As I was agonizing over what to do, my body was suddenly lifted into the air.
The one who scooped me up was Cleta.
“Eek!”
When I struggled in surprise, Cleta held me tightly and tried to calm me down.
“Evelyn, calm down! If you keep getting soaked in the rain here, you’ll die! Just look at the state you’re in right now!”
“Do you think I can see that?!”
“Your body is trembling right now!”
“I’m shaking on purpose to keep my body temperature up!”
“You call that something worth saying…!”
Just as I was yanking at Cleta’s hair, telling him to let me go—
Whack!
A sharp pain struck the back of my neck, and my consciousness drifted far away.
Even then, Werner’s voice came through clearly.
“It would be better to knock her out.”
With Werner’s ill-fated remark as the last thing I heard, the world went dark.
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Evelyn lay limply in Cleta’s arms, unconscious and compliant.
Werner frowned as he looked at Evelyn, who had her eyes closed peacefully like an angel.
She had even vomited blood between her bluish lips, yet she had made a huge fuss about not wanting to enter the hotel and tried to run away.
As if that were not enough, it looked like she had rolled around in the mud, with her dress and hair a complete mess.
Even in this state, the way she had struggled and insisted she did not want to go was absurd.
Since arriving on this island, Evelyn had failed to properly grasp the situation.
No, she had not even tried to.
The once composed Evelyn seemed terrified after being stranded and did nothing but cry, and Werner was gradually growing tired of that sight.
He tried to understand, thinking about how scared she must be, and comforted her with fond feelings, but only for a while.
Watching Evelyn complain nonstop and cry every moment she was awake, Werner felt his heart grow colder and colder.
So much so that the feelings he once had for her plunged straight into the ground.
“What should we do now? When she wakes up, she’ll make an even bigger scene.”
“We have to take her inside. Even if she causes trouble, now that we’re already here, what else can we do?”
It would be easier to take care of her inside than outside.
She probably did not want to go in because of the gloomy atmosphere, but once inside, at least she could avoid the rain, so her whining would lessen somewhat.
Cleta clicked his tongue in annoyance, then looked at Evelyn.
Clearly, the Evelyn before she lost consciousness was noticeably different from the one who had been whining ever since falling onto this island.
Watching Evelyn snap irritably and spout absurd nonsense that made no sense, Cleta was suddenly reminded of their childhood.
As he reminisced about those days, Cleta’s heart softened a little.
He had liked Evelyn quite a bit back then.
Looking at Evelyn cradled quietly in his arms, Cleta murmured softly.
“It’s like she’s gone back to being a child.”
“…What?”
Werner asked back at the cryptic remark, but Cleta did not answer.
To be honest, unlike her reputation for being quiet and well-behaved, Evelyn was actually a tomboy.
She was mischievous, playful, bright, and charming, and at one point, Cleta had even harbored romantic feelings for her.
But in noble society, that kind of personality was not an advantage.
Evelyn hid her true self and behaved demurely.
By now, that act had hardened into something that felt real.
However, that had little to do with Cleta.
They had been close as children, which was why he liked her back then, but not anymore.
This time, his affection had actually diminished.
He hesitated countless times over whether to leave behind Evelyn, who did nothing but cry endlessly and refused to act, but in the end, he could not bring himself to do it.
When he thought about Evelyn’s family after they eventually escaped, it was not easy to abandon her.
He knew well how dearly the Rodriz family cherished and pampered Evelyn.
That was why he helped without even frowning, but unexpectedly, the way things were unfolding was becoming interesting.
Asking what “fed-up” meant while falling over, snapping irritably at everything.
Especially the sight of Evelyn spouting nonsense just moments ago was exactly the same as the girl he had known in childhood.
Given the situation, did that old personality come out?
That seemed to be the case.
Seeing that Cleta showed no sign of concern even though Evelyn had coughed up blood, Werner deliberately changed the subject.
“By the way, what should we do about this child?”
Werner asked as he pointed at Halloway.
Pale and small, Halloway was unmistakably noticeable.
Seeing Halloway standing pitifully in the rain, they looked at him with concern rather than suspicion.
After all, he was a child.
They did not even consider the possibility that he might do something.
When Werner pointed at him, Halloway flinched as if he had been waiting for it, pretending to be startled.
Then he tightly gripped the finger of the unconscious Evelyn and shook his head vigorously.
His large eyes quickly filled with tears.
With big, heavy tears dripping down his face, enough to stir sympathy, Halloway pleaded in a trembling voice.
“P-Please don’t abandon me… Sniff. Water, water filled the ship, and when I opened my eyes, I was here…”
Watching Halloway ramble incoherently, Cleta asked, “You mean you were shipwrecked? Can you tell us what kind of ship it was?”
As if he had been waiting for that, Halloway nodded frantically up and down.
In truth, he did not know what ship they had been on.
He had merely inferred that they were nobles based on the drifting wreckage and their attire.
If such people had come onto the island together, it must have been for a party.
Having reasoned that far, Halloway deliberately gave a vague, roundabout explanation while stumbling over his words.
“It was a really big ship, and there were lots of people wearing really fancy clothes. I think they said it was some kind of party on board.”
Hearing Halloway’s words, Cleta fell into thought.
If it were a large ship with people in extravagant attire holding a party, there was a strong chance it was the ship they had been on.
He did not recall there being any other ship that had hosted an onboard party at the time.
After falling onto the island and failing to meet anyone outside their group, he had thought they were the only ones there, but it seemed that was not the case.
“Then there might be more people here. Should we look for them?”
However, leaving Evelyn, who had a fever, in the pouring rain and fierce wind could lead to serious trouble.
Werner took off his outer garment and draped it over Evelyn’s body, which was growing paler by the moment.
He did not know whether it would help, but he could not just stand by and watch.
Cleta glanced briefly at Werner’s actions, then sank into thought.
Should we split up and search?
Everyone was exhausted.
But there could be other children besides this one…
Naturally, he did not remember seeing any children on the ship.
It had been a party where only adults were invited.
There was no way he would forget a child with such looks.
“Little one, what about your family? Were you on the ship with your family?”
As Cleta asked gently, Halloway shook his head.
If he said there were others, it looked like they would go out to search.
Halloway’s goal was not to make them look for someone, but to get them inside the hotel as quickly as possible.
“I-I just… came because they said they’d pay me if I ran some errands.”
In short, he had boarded the ship alone and had been working without any other companions.
Werner’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at that answer.
There was no reason for a child to be helping out at a party attended by nobles.
And since it was a party hosted by nobles, there was no way they would have been short on manpower.
Werner asked back in surprise.
“…Errands? A child like you?”
“Yes. Luckily, an older sister I know introduced me, so I was able to get in.”
Watching Halloway smile innocently, completely unaware of anything, the two of them simply fell silent.
Cleta examined Halloway and then asked, “Any other children your age?”
“No. I was told that even the older sister barely managed to get me on board.”
It seemed like there were circumstances behind it, so Werner and Cleta did not press further.
If the only child was Halloway, there was no need to look for anyone else.
They would likely be adults, and they would act on their own. If they were around, they would probably discover this hotel just like them.
There was no obligation to find and protect everyone.
They also did not have the stamina to go searching for others right now.
Everyone was exhausted and needed rest. It would not be too late to look after resting properly at the hotel.
“Yo—no, Sir Cleta, what should we do?”
Werner deliberately addressed him politely by name instead of his title.
Halloway quietly watched the exchange.
“If they wander around like we did, they’ll find the hotel eventually. This isn’t a situation where we can worry about others right now. We need to protect Evelyn first. The fact that she coughed up blood means her condition is already bad.”
“Then the child…”
“We take him with us.”
“Th-thank you!”
Halloway smiled brightly even in the rain.
Werner and Cleta were not cruel enough to abandon a child in a downpour like this.
As Halloway watched the two of them not rejecting him, his gaze settled on Evelyn.
Since the moment they entered this island, Halloway had been watching them closely.
Closely enough to roughly grasp their relationships.
Among them, the most interesting was Evelyn.
The woman who had done nothing but cry suddenly changed the moment she saw the hotel, her eyes shifting as if she had become someone else.
She even began poking at empty air, doing something utterly foolish.
Her outburst about not wanting to enter the hotel was strange, too.
Given her personality, she should have collapsed and cried instead.
Is she so scared that she can’t properly grasp the situation?
But that did not quite fit, considering how violently she rejected going into the hotel.
As if there was something there.
A peculiar glint passed through Halloway’s red eyes.
Was she sent by the Empress?
But that did not align at all with the methods the Empress had used so far.
She would not have sent someone in such an uncertain way to begin with.
If I dig into it, I’ll find out. No.
Halloway’s eyes shifted to the hotel drawing nearer.
She’s going to die anyway, so there’s no need to know.
As Cleta and Werner approached, the female protagonist, Moran, observed them carefully.
Then she saw the unconscious Evelyn and covered her mouth.
“Is she hurt anywhere? Wh-why is Evelyn like this?”
“I knocked her out.”
Werner answered calmly, and Cynthia said he had done well before signaling Friedel, who was standing next to her.
Since Cynthia was of a higher status than him, Friedel placed his hand on the thick, massive door of the sealed hotel without complaint.
Perhaps because it was rusted, it did not open easily, and Friedel had to put in quite a bit of strength.
Creeeak…
The eerie sound mixed with the sound of rain.
The heavy door opened, and they entered the hotel.
The air enveloping the inside was colder than outside.
At that chilling temperature, they reflexively rubbed their bodies once.
Once everyone was inside, Halloway lifted his head.
Then, gazing up at the top window hidden by misty clouds, he whispered, “Don’t get excited. There’s plenty of time, so enjoy it slowly.”
As if answering him, the trees in the forest swayed with a chilling rustle.
Halloway walked leisurely into the hotel.
Evelyn’s limp body grew smaller and smaller through the gap between the doors, and then…
Bang!
The door closed.
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