Thank you WhiteKirby, for the Kofi ♥
[Chapter 28]
Opening the door wide and rushing out, I immediately bumped into something hard.
“Lemony?”
It was Ian.
I calmly changed my expression from urgency to leisurely one and slowly raised my head. I had anticipated it, but seeing this man before me made my stomach churn and my insides tremble.
Why didn’t he leave? I purposely waited for five or even ten minutes before coming out, just to see if he would leave. Why on earth? Memories of the past, when I had run away from Ian, naturally resurfaced in my mind, and I clenched my teeth without showing any signs of it.
“I was worried that something might have happened since you didn’t come. So, I went out to look for you.”
“Really?”
A shiver ran down my spine as the amused gaze shifted beneath my face.
It seemed like he was trying to confirm the number on my prisoner’s uniform. With his arms folded, the man leaned against the open doorway, clearly skeptical about my words. The corners of his mouth, which had always been upturned, were now straightened as if lost in thought. My hands trembled as the man who used to laugh easily now remained silent.
At that moment,
He lowered his head slightly, and with a smirk, he mumbled something under his breath.
“But isn’t the second verse too cliché?”
My whole body froze at the lowered pitch of his voice.
I thought a week would be enough. I ate when told to eat, sat when told to sit, and didn’t even mention the idea of escape. I looked up at him like a helpless baby bird in its cozy nest.
However, this man was much more thorough and suspicious than I had anticipated. Could it be that he waited for me at the door every time he went out to fetch food? The dreadful thought spread through me, causing my carefully maintained smile to twist.
As I stared directly into his golden eyes, our gazes met.
“Why? Am I so frightening that you think I would do something bad?”
As I locked eyes with his piercing gaze, my limbs felt paralyzed, and my mouth refused to move. From this moment on, my life was completely in that man’s hands.
“….yes.”
As I managed to squeeze out a response from my constricted throat, Ian finally burst into laughter.
“Isn’t it safer here than going outside?”
“You think so?”
“I personally think escaping would be better, so I was curious why you choose to stay here.”
“Well, then I’ll have to give you a few reasons for you to feel at ease, I suppose.”
Ian’s expression relaxed at my honest reaction. However, as he ran his fingers lightly over my jawline, brushing against my ear, there was still a possessive desire directed toward me.
“…three reasons?”
My gaze, which had been staring at the floor, lifted up. Honestly, I didn’t really need any reasons. I just wanted to get out.
But the man recited the reasons without hesitation.
“Because it’s gotten really dirty.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s the hair.”
As he gently brushed down the back of my head, his hand suddenly moved through my hair, and I felt an unsettling pressure on the top of my head. His gaze, which had been looking down at me, folded softly as if he was satisfied with how I responded.
“I don’t like seeing myself being controlled by someone, it feels unpleasant, you know.”
Crazy son of a bitch.
“And secondly, Lemony, it’s not just your blood that I like.”
His golden gaze grows darker.
“I also find your body appealing.”
Along with it, his laughter also gradually became deeper.
“But perhaps it’s better to get to know each other a little more, don’t you think?”
Although my pupils looking at Ian grew bigger, Ian didn’t stop speaking and continued on.
“And the final reason I want you to stay here and not leave,”
At that moment, a slight commotion arose from the other side of the open door. I turned my gaze away from him, feeling an eerie sense of fear, as he forcefully closed the door with his large palm, revealing prominent blue veins.
“If you leave this place, I’ll kill you.”
◆
Dreis Prison was nothing short of a tomb.
Monsters roamed aimlessly, sniffing the faint scent of blood lingering in the air. Amidst the eerie silence, something broke the stillness with a clear sound, like the burst of a pure note. It appeared to be a piece of jewelry.
At the sound resembling shattering glass, the scattered monsters in all directions swiftly converged toward the spot where the jewelry had fallen. Among them, twisted arms and contorted faces emerged. Unaware of what they were chasing, driven solely by instinct, they resembled moving corpses.
Run.
A watcher who was alert to the shape of his fast-moving mouth followed him.
The vigilant watcher, who had noticed his swift movement, followed him closely. As they barely made it into Building B, a strange sense of relief washed over him, as if he had returned home. The blocked sunlight, the dampness, and the sporadic torches created their shadows.
Fortunately, all the monsters on the first floor had disappeared. It seemed safe to proceed to the torture chamber.
“……If I manage to escape from here, I will disclose all of this to the Southern Empire. The berserker potion that transforms people into monsters in Dreys Prison is a highly controlled substance among the officers….. I can’t comprehend why the process of transformation into monsters has accelerated so rapidly.”
The watcher, who rushed in belatedly, panting heavily, unfolded a map and spoke with a trembling voice.
“The bell I just threw is called the Lucky Bell, which I bought when I traveled to the Emerald Continent. It brings good luck. By the way, there’s no doubt that the incident is the doing of the officer who was in charge of managing the berserk potion, right?”
As if realizing that there were no monsters around, the watcher who confirmed the absence of monsters began to move incessantly. Although he had grown accustomed to silence over the years, he found the man’s chatter a little annoying. However, since it was related to the prison, he silently responded.
“If it’s the wrongdoing of the prison officers, then they themselves wouldn’t have been transformed into monsters.”
“Then, could it be the prisoners’ doing?”
As the man was about to ask further, he suddenly let out a scream and grabbed onto Deon’s sleeve tightly.
“O, o-over there, there’s a mon, monster…..”
“I don’t have a hobby of sticking around with men.”
As Deon’s expression turned grim, the watcher abruptly released his grip and looked around before crouching behind Deon’s back like a frightened mouse. It didn’t make sense. As a watcher, he would at least have received basic swordsmanship training, especially if he had been assigned to such a position.
The man tilted his head slightly and muttered.
“I-I-I’ve noticed that the demons particularly dislike me.”
Deon nodded reluctantly.
“Even the shinsu hate you.”
“But, but shi- shinsu still possess reason. That’s why even if you dislike me, you try to protect me…”
That’s when it happened. As a foreboding and familiar sensation struck near his heart, Deon paused abruptly.
“Lo-Lord Shinsu?”
Startled by the sudden halt, the bewildered watcher called out to him, but the voice began to blur like it was shrouded in mist. There were no premonitory signs, and he hadn’t even glanced at that woman. With the accelerating heartbeat, he clenched his fist tightly, his lower lip firmly pressed against his teeth.
“Run.”
“What?”
As his breath grew rougher, he whispered quietly.
“Run towards the torture chamber.”
With the final warning, Deon’s rationality vanished. As he broke through the wall, the monsters from upstairs started descending.
That woman. He needed Lemony.
◆
Deon. Deon. Please come here.
“But if you really want to get out, shall we make a bet?”
I darted away, cursing under my breath, scanning for an alternative escape route, away from the long table with shackles attached to it.
“Twenty seconds left.”
Bang. Annoyed by the singsong tone, I opened the cabinet and inspected it. An electric shock chair? No. How about behind the human roulette? Definitely not. Perhaps it was the nature of the torture room, but everything seemed bizarre and out of place.
“Lemony is talking about three things. Three reasons why I shouldn’t kill you. Instead, if you hide well for 30 seconds, I’ll let you go.”
Out of nowhere, Ian, who suggested this strange game, began counting down while holding the whistle around my neck. The hidden meaning behind this absurd game was clear: if I couldn’t provide him with three convincing reasons, he would kill me. He was a man who even turned bullshit into something nice.
“Ten seconds.”
The torture chamber, which I had thought to be quite spacious, felt cramped today. I searched frantically, drenched in cold sweat, for a place to hide. And then, it happened. My dilated pupils spotted it. There it was. A large display showcasing various torture devices, including a club, scissors, and a spike. I swallowed hard, feeling a lump in my throat.
If you press both the scissors and spike simultaneously, a secret compartment unknown to regular prisoners is revealed. In the original work, it was described as a hidden space where imprisoned individuals could secretly exchange information, allowing them to eavesdrop on conversations in the interrogation room.
And it would be a good place to hide as well.
As I pressed the scissors and spike simultaneously, the panel with the displayed torture devices spun around, revealing a space I had never seen before. It was a small room, about three square meters in size. There was a modest coffee table with a sofa and some drinks, but I forced myself to huddle in a corner, hiding any traces of my presence.
No one will ever find this place. So if I stay quiet for the remaining time…
“Lemony?”
But I realized.
“Wow, what is this place? I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”
With a spine-chilling creaking sound, the panel turned, revealing Ian’s face popping out suddenly. Startled, I couldn’t utter a word as a faint smile curled upon his lips.
“Well, let’s hear the first reason.”
I realized once again.
This man was a demigod, possessing heightened senses beyond an ordinary human’s. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense exactly where I was hiding.
From the beginning, this bet was stacked against me.
◆
Thank you for reading!
