As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but an endless azure ocean, bordered by a white sandy beach and a few tall coconut trees. Hua Mu was no stranger to such a sight; she often vacationed on beautiful islands and even owned several small ones herself.

But this was no vacation. She understood her current predicament perfectly. To put it simply, she was stranded.

The raging storm seemed to have happened only a short while ago, but now, the sun blazed high in a calm sky. It all felt like a dream.

Did this count as having weathered a great storm? Would her father regret not caring for her enough on a daily basis once he found her? If she were to boast about this experience to the other young ladies, it would surely make for excellent gossip, wouldn’t it?

Hua Mu possessed zero survival skills. The biggest reason she could still sit comfortably in the shade and contemplate life was that she wasn’t the only one stranded on this deserted island.

“Miss.” The tall young woman had glossy, ear-length black hair, a sharp gaze, and a dull, rigid expression. She had just jumped down from a coconut tree with several coconuts hanging from her body, looking utterly ridiculous.

This Sentinel, named Bai Zhen, was her personal guard. A personal guard, yes, but they had never been particularly close. After her initial curiosity had faded, Hua Mu had grown to despise the woman’s rigidness and taciturn nature. But she had to admit, in a situation like this, an elite Sentinel truly gave her a great sense of security.

Hua Mu was dying of thirst. “Hurry up and open one,” she said impatiently. “My throat is parched.”

Bai Zhen hesitated for a moment before walking over to a reef, pulling a military knife from the pouch on her waist, and opening a coconut for her Young Lady.

In truth, Hua Mu felt miserable all over. Her dress, soaked with seawater, was now half-dry and stuck to her skin, stinging painfully. She had also been bumped and bruised when the ship sank and when she washed ashore, and now she felt as if her whole body was about to fall apart.

But her most pressing need at the moment was that she desperately wanted to drink some water… or coconut water.

Bai Zhen was truly an elite Sentinel. Though the sharp dagger in her hand was a bit small, she opened a coconut in just a few swift moves.

“Miss.”

This wild coconut was a little different from the ones Hua Mu usually drank; for one, it was much uglier. But she couldn’t be bothered with such things now. She took it from Bai Zhen, ready to drink.

“Where’s the straw?”

“There isn’t one…”

There was a finger-sized hole in the coconut. No straw meant she would have to put her mouth to the hole to drink… That would be far too damaging to her ladylike image.

In her current situation, Hua Mu wasn’t actually that demanding. It was Bai Zhen’s attitude that truly annoyed her, which was why she wanted to give her a hard time.

Miss, Miss, Miss. That was all she ever said on a normal day. It was as if speaking a single extra word to her would be a waste. She was stranded, for crying out loud! Would it kill her to offer a word of comfort?

“I don’t want to drink it like this. I want a straw.” She refused to believe that Bai Zhen could tolerate such an unreasonable demand in a situation like this.

Bai Zhen looked at her, thought for a second or two, then turned and walked away.

Could Bai Zhen really conjure a straw for her out of thin air?

Even she felt the request was outrageous. Was this Bai Zhen an idiot?

Bai Zhen returned quickly. In her hand was a half-withered plant stalk, the middle of which showed signs of having been cleared out.

“Please make do with this.”

So she was using this as a substitute.

Hua Mu felt a little more at ease. She glanced at Bai Zhen but ultimately decided not to make a fuss about it, happily finishing the coconut in her hands.

The beach wasn’t very large, only a few hundred meters from one end to the other before being cut off by various reefs and cliffs. A few lone coconut trees grew on the sand. By the time Hua Mu had finished one coconut, Bai Zhen had already picked all the remaining ones from the trees.

As Hua Mu drank, she counted and found she still had more than a dozen left to drink. It seemed being stranded wasn’t such a big deal after all.

“I want another one.” With a hoard of fifteen coconuts, Hua Mu didn’t think it was too much to ask for one more. Besides, the coconut water was pitifully scarce; one was not nearly enough.

Bai Zhen said nothing, quickly opening a second one for her. While Hua Mu drank, Bai Zhen gathered a pile of dark stones and arranged them on the beach into a giant SOS sign. Hua Mu had always known Bai Zhen’s physical fitness was excellent, but her clean and efficient movements still amazed her.

After finishing the second coconut, Hua Mu waved her over to prepare the third.

“Miss, drinking too much will give you diarrhea.” This time, Bai Zhen didn’t comply. “I’ll open the coconut so you can eat some of the meat.”

These were clearly all young green coconuts, so the meat should be quite delicious. Hua Mu thought for a moment and agreed. As she watched Bai Zhen use her small knife and a rock to crack open the coconut shell, she asked, “When on earth will the rescue team get here?”

The dagger in Bai Zhen’s hand was incredibly sharp. Placing it over the previously opened hole and tapping the hilt with a rock, she steadily cracked open the hard coconut.

“It’s impossible to say for certain right now, but we must prepare for the worst.”

“What’s the worst-case scenario? A day? Two days? A week?” Hua Mu felt her absolute limit was one week. It had only been half a day, and she was already at her wit’s end.

Bai Zhen scraped out the meat, handed the coconut shell over, and glanced at her. “Let’s use one month as a baseline.”

Hua Mu’s hand trembled, and she nearly dropped the coconut. Thankfully, Bai Zhen reacted quickly and caught it.

“A month? Are you kidding me? You’re the one who said this is a deserted island! There’s nothing here! Live here for a month?”

What Bai Zhen didn’t say was that one month was the most conservative estimate.

The Young Lady had argued with the Grand Duke and run off to a small island in the Nils Archipelago for a vacation with only a few personal guards. It was basically running away from home. On top of that, this trip out to sea had been on a whim, and she had headed north toward the rarely traveled ‘Shipwreck Anomaly Zone,’ an area known for lost contact. It was questionable whether anyone had even noticed they were missing yet.

“I will ensure your safety.” Before Hua Mu had woken up, she had used her spirit animal to roughly survey the island. It wasn’t too small and should be able to sustain the two of them.

“That’s not the problem!” Hua Mu felt like she was going to lose her mind. “Even if you can solve the food problem, what will I wear? Where will I sleep? There’s no air conditioning or internet here!”

The things the Young Lady mentioned were indeed beyond her ability to solve. Bai Zhen said, feeling rather guilty, “As for air conditioning, my spirit animal might be able to help you with that, but the internet…”

Bai Zhen’s spirit animal was an ice wolf, which could provide some cooling effect.

Hua Mu desperately wanted to fly into a rage. Her good upbringing was completely useless against this guard who was so rigid she was practically wooden.

Getting angry was pointless; it would only upset her. As soon as they got back, no matter what her father or the Queen said, she would fire this person immediately.

“…I remember you carry a satellite locator, right? Can’t you notify the Tower?” As the only daughter of the Grand Duke and second in line to the throne, Hua Mu was not lacking in common sense.

The Sentinel specifically assigned by the Tower to protect her would definitely carry such a device, no matter how much she disliked it.

“We’ve entered the Shipwreck Anomaly Zone. Satellite signals can’t get through here.”

Hua Mu felt like dying.

Bai Zhen’s overly calm face had given her the wrong impression, making her think that someone would come to rescue them after a short rest. Only now did she realize that she was truly, well and truly, stranded.