Ch.33033. Surviving on a Deserted Island

Crackle, crackle.

The sound of the bonfire echoed through the silent cave. After receiving and eating the Kelni meat from Gilbert, Lily, once her hunger was somewhat satisfied, could finally reflect on her current humiliating situation.

Before the comprehensive evaluation began, she had been firmly determined to bring Gilbert down. She had a strong desire to return the humiliation she had received to him, as his mere presence in the same space made her skin crawl.

Even when stepping onto the large teleportation magic circle, Lily had glared at Gilbert, burning with determination. When she first arrived here, she was still motivated. Though she desperately wanted to seek out Gilbert immediately, rushing to find him without a plan would have been a foolish decision.

Lily thought that if she followed what her proud sister had taught her, there would be no problems, and so she stepped onto the magic circle.

However, after teleporting to the deserted island and beginning her exploration, Lily soon realized that she had been too optimistic about the comprehensive evaluation.

Unable to secure water or food while exploring the forest with limited visibility all day, Lily quickly became exhausted. Though she still had physical stamina left, the constant tension of not knowing what might jump out from where was mentally draining.

As that time stretched to one hour, then two hours, and continued until sunset, it became a physical burden as well.

The hunger and thirst from not eating or drinking anything gradually pushed Lily, who had grown up as the youngest daughter of a count’s family, to her limits.

After walking without rest, Lily found herself fumbling through the darkened forest when she was drawn to a faint light in the distance and the smell of roasting meat.

The problem was that the person there turned out to be Gilbert, the one she hated most in this world. She had approached without caution and found herself facing Gilbert with his sword pointed at her, ending up in a humiliating position before him.

To make matters worse, Gilbert took pity on her and shared his food and drink.

Honestly, Lily had countless thoughts of tearing off her bracelet and forfeiting. She felt it would be better to give up the evaluation than to receive pity from Gilbert, but wanting to be like her respected sister, she suppressed all those feelings.

Though she despised Gilbert terribly, her desire to follow in the footsteps of her sister, who excelled in every aspect, was equally strong.

Meanwhile, Gilbert organized his thoughts as he watched Lily eating meat with her head lowered quietly. Having secured both water and food, his next plan was simple.

To meet up with Angelina and Hans as planned before the evaluation.

His next goal was to head to the southern coast for that purpose.

He had intended to eat Kelni leg roast tonight and take a brief rest, but Lily’s sudden appearance had disrupted his plans.

What should I do with this troublemaker?

Gilbert had been pondering endlessly about how to deal with Lily.

At first, he had wanted to apologize outright, but gave up due to her immense hostility. A hasty apology would only worsen the situation with someone whose emotional wounds had already deepened so much.

But he wasn’t sure if pretending not to know, as he was doing now, was the right approach either. He had given up on making her an ally, but it wasn’t good to be on bad terms with Lily, who would become an excellent knight.

Her family was a famous count’s house in the empire, and her sister was already an elite among elites, performing brilliantly on the front lines.

If her sister still had that protective personality that would stop at nothing for her sibling, Gilbert would be making an enemy of more than just Lily. Perhaps her sister already knew the details of the incident, and he was already on her bad side.

It would be fortunate if she didn’t draw her sword the moment they met.

Gilbert’s head became unnecessarily complicated.

After disposing of the Kelni bones he had finished eating, Gilbert realized, seeing Lily begin to glare at him, that he couldn’t postpone this issue any longer. If they didn’t reach some kind of resolution, there was a high possibility of complications as the main story progressed.

With no proper way to return to his original world, the only viable option for Gilbert was to progress through the main story, so he needed to keep things as smooth as possible.

Of course, even if he completed the main story, it was uncertain whether he could return to his original world, but he had no other choice.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“I have nothing to say to someone like you.”

Lily bristled at Gilbert like an injured cat. Her attitude made it clear she didn’t want to exchange even a single word with him, which made Gilbert sigh involuntarily, though he didn’t show it.

“It’s natural for you to harbor hostility toward me.”

Lily’s eyes grew even fiercer. It was unlike her usual kind and gentle self, but Gilbert was the exception.

“I don’t intend to apologize now. Even if I did, you wouldn’t accept it anyway.”

Gilbert had half given up on improving his relationship with Lily. Though he thought it wasn’t good to be on bad terms with her, he saw no way around it. Perhaps it would be better to have an openly hostile relationship rather than a superficially cordial one. Of course, he had no intention of actually doing that.

“…How dare you speak so shamelessly. Natural, you say? You have no idea how I’ve been living.”

Lily couldn’t tolerate Gilbert’s words crossing the line. She had been willing to accept defeat rather than be indebted to him, but now realized how naive that thought had been.

Gilbert was even worse trash than she had thought. Bringing up the past showed he was still the same scoundrel as before.

Lily recalled when she first met Gilbert in the reception room.

Red eyes like crimson jewels and golden hair that sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the windows.

The young Lily had greeted him with a bright smile, her heart beating differently than usual.

At that time, she didn’t know what that different heartbeat meant, but as an adult now, she knew all too well what that feeling had been. As disgusting and revolting as it was to admit, the young Lily had fallen in love at first sight with Gilbert as he entered the reception room bathed in sunlight.

But Gilbert, approaching with a twisted smile, had mercilessly trampled on her feelings. He had shamelessly groped and evaluated Lily’s chest, which had developed well since childhood.

Caught off guard by the sudden situation, she had pushed him away only after belatedly coming to her senses.

Until then, the kind-hearted Lily had thought of him as just a mischievous person.

But Gilbert continued to seek her out and harass her throughout her stay in the Lithuania domain. Cunningly avoiding the eyes of the servants, he would find her, and the naive Lily could only endure it all.

Whenever Gilbert came to find Lily, he would repeat that he was helping her breasts grow larger by touching them, or tell her not to return to the count’s family and become his instead.

Just as Lily was growing weary of Gilbert’s obsessive behavior, the incident happened.

Gilbert, perhaps annoyed by Lily’s restraint, tried to forcibly drag her into his room.

Feeling afraid of his aggressive behavior, Lily forcefully pushed him away, which angered Gilbert and made him shout at her.

Those words about her being like a prostitute who flaunted her chest indecently.

The gently raised young lady of the count’s family had her tender heart slashed by such insulting words, which she had never heard before in her life.

Lily had never forgotten what he said that day, not for a single moment. It was especially painful coming from someone she had fallen for at first sight. Lily, who had dismissed all his actions as mere mischief, woke from her dream with that sharp word and immediately ran to her father.

She couldn’t remember what she had said. Only the memory of crying bitterly remained.

Gilbert knew these circumstances. That was why he thought there was no way to resolve this. The actions of the original Gilbert had left a lifelong scar on Lily.

“You’re right. I don’t know.”

“Really. You say things that make me want to kill you so casually.”

“I simply had to have whatever I wanted back then. You were just the only one I failed to get.”

If that was the case, the only option was to become someone on whom Lily could pour out her hatred completely. He could handle it as long as her family or sister didn’t get involved. In exchange, recruiting her as an ally would be forever impossible, but he had already given up on that.

“I’m not an object. You disgusting bastard.”

Lily suppressed her desire to lunge at him with superhuman patience.

“I’ll leave for today. Though I’d like nothing more than to beat you down right now, consider it payment for tonight’s dinner. But there won’t be a next time.”

“I see. Understood.”

Gilbert didn’t stop Lily as she left the cave with a fierce glare. He had expected her to attack immediately, but Lily was a better person than he had anticipated. Even he hadn’t expected her to refer to it as “payment for dinner.”

‘Perhaps she just doesn’t want to be indebted to me.’

Gilbert sighed deeply, leaned against the cave wall, and closed his eyes. Though he couldn’t sleep deeply, he needed to rest at least a little.

***

First Comprehensive Evaluation.

Day One: Complete.