Thank you WhiteKirby, for the Kofi ♥
[Chapter 29]
A minute passed by like a second. I couldn’t come up with any response as the golden gaze, bright with a smile, landed on me until then.
“Is the bet already over?”
“Y-you like my blood.”
As he was approaching me in earnest, I tightly closed my eyes and blurted out without thinking. I couldn’t let the distance between that man and me get any closer.
“If I die, it’ll become cold and tasteless. Are you still going to kill me?”
Please, please. With a feeling of praying to a deity I don’t even believe in, I squinted my eyes to gauge the man’s reaction.
“Lemony. Are you saying that people die because they can’t eat delicious food?”
Ian, with a mocking laughter, brushed his silver hair aside. Within his dazzling golden eyes, sharp pupils narrowed like a snake. He was not human. This man lacked any trace of compassion or sympathy that a person could possess.
“Lemony, I’ll give you another 30 seconds.”
I trembled as I heard the sound of the secret door closing, which rotated 360 degrees. It felt like my mind had been thrown into disarray. For a long time, I stared into empty space, lost in thought, but I didn’t have time for that. As the words “20 seconds” reached me belatedly, I quickly got up.
“Deon, please come to the torture chamber. It’s an order.”
At this moment, Deon was my savior. Overwhelmed by physiological fear, tears welled up in my eyes as I nervously surveyed the torture chamber. I had to admit it. I couldn’t hide from Ian for a full 30 seconds. So, if I wanted to live, I had to come up with a reason for him not to kill me, no matter what.
The second place I chose was the prisoner’s closet, where I couldn’t even move while standing. Fortunately, the size of the prisoner seemed to be larger than average, so the inside of the wardrobe was spacious. However, it wasn’t the time to worry about that now.
So, why did Ian try to kill me?
In an anxious state, I bit my nails. From the first time I met Ian, he called Deon a bastard. Also, there was a time when he tried to approach me but got hit in the back of the head by Deon, so his pride might have been hurt. In the original story, he often fought with the protagonist, so it could be a matter of power struggle among prisoners.
“Wow, you’ve hidden in a really easy-to-find place.”
As the darkness receded, the orange torchlight fell upon the frightened eyes. The backlighting illuminated his face as he slowly opened the wardrobe door, creating an eerie atmosphere.
“Tell me the second reason.”
Is he getting bored? His fingers, gripping the end of the wardrobe, slowly tapped against the wall.
“Is it because of Deon?”
This man’s interest was my lifeline. Gathering my composure, I replied, and Ian furrowed his brow playfully, as if he didn’t understand what I meant.
“You wanted to do as you please, but you couldn’t touch me because of Deon.”
Mmm, Ian tilted his head.
“If you’re determined to kill me because of your pride, it would be better not to kill me. We have no emotional attachment to each other. I have no feelings for Deon, and I’m sure Deon would either kill me or leave if the situation improves. If it’s a power struggle among prisoners, it would be better for you to kill Deon instead.”
Because Deon won’t die.
After my rambling words, there was a moment of silence. Ian stared at me with an unreadable expression, and then, as if understanding my words belatedly, he burst into laughter. It wasn’t a gentle or kind laughter. It was a low laugh entirely for himself, devoid of warmth.
“Lemony.”
“What?”
“I have no interest in disposable toys.”
A mocking smile flickers across his tilted head, as if expressing a sense of pity.
“That applies to you as well.”
The flickering orange light gradually diminished and disappeared. Now, it’s the final moments. I could hear his dry voice beyond the closed wardrobe door.
What exactly did I expect?
“…..Crazy bastard.”
I burst into a bitter laugh, unconsciously murmuring to myself.
“You’re crazy, you bastard!”
Anger surges instead of fear as I shout at the closed closet door, but the echo of my voice, trapped within the wardrobe, rebounds and reaches my ears.
Ah.
However, time continued to pass relentlessly. In the midst of my anger, time remained impartial even to Ian, who silently listened. And within that time, something fleeting brushed past my trapped mind.
“Seeing a filthy place like this reminds me of my father.”
This was Ian’s line described in the original work.
“A place like that suits you.”
That’s right. Ian harbored hatred towards the Ernest family. It is said that after eliminating a woman he showed interest in due to pressure from the family, he began to develop a strange rebellious spirit against the family. The peak of that hatred was reached when he was imprisoned as a first-class prisoner.
“Did you give up?”
A tall man emerged through the reopened door. He seemed to have noticed the pensive expression on my face, as he lightly chuckled while touching the wall of the closet.
“It’s a bit disappointing to see you give up like this.”
I tried to speak, but suddenly a strong grip tightened around my neck, preventing me from doing so.
“Is dying really better than what to be with me?”
Despite his apparent regret, he showed no hesitation as he tightly gripped my neck, contradicting the expression on his face.
“…..I was going to tell you, the third reason.”
“Go ahead and tell me.”
However, Ian seemed rather uninterested. In his golden eyes, which were already set on killing me, there was no trace of curiosity. With a dry mouth, I swallowed hard, feeling his fingers tracing along my throat.
“….Aren’t you annoyed, Ian?”
“Not a bad start, I must say.”
As I managed to squeeze out a hoarse voice, he chuckled and praised me.
“Because of Duke Ermest, you have to kill a woman again.”
However, as the next words came out, Ian’s previously charming smile faded into a heavy frown.
He looked down at his hand that was choking my neck. It was the expression of someone who had been hit on the back of their head. Clearly, the atmosphere had changed.
The reason I mentioned was not the real reason. It was a provocation. In the original story, there was never an order from the Duke of Ermenst to kill Lemony, and it was still unknown to me. However, if I were to find a reason why Ian needed to kill me, I would have to look into his past. An order from the Duke of Ermenst. Without that, there was no real reason for him to kill me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ian’s expression showed a subtle change, as his lips curled again. However, his gaze remained fixed on me, devoid of any laughter.
It worked.
“I know that you’re trying to kill me under the orders of the Duke.”
“…If you know that, then you give me one more reason to kill you.”
“Then go ahead and kill me.”
I want to live.
“And instead of an obedient bastard like Deon, it should be you who listens well.”
However, sentences meant to provoke him continued to slip out of my mouth. A brief silence ensued. Ian, as if finding it hard to believe the situation, stared at his own hands, mulling over my words. His face, revealed through the cracks in his mask, remained remarkably calm.
“You’re making me speechless.”
A low, cracked chuckle escaped his lips.
“You even know how to curse.”
The hand gripping my throat loosens its grip. And with a dazed expression, the fingers that were about to strangle me hesitantly brushed against my lower lip.
“You know how to kill people with words.”
The door suddenly closed. Startled by the darkness surrounding me, I took a step back, but a hand faster than mine firmly grabbed my waist and pulled me toward him.
“Can you kill my family with that mouth of yours?”
The soft plea that regained control whispered in my ear. Though unseen, I could sense it. I had won the bet against Ian.
As I pushed away the solid chest that felt like a rock, he, rather whiningly, held me tightly in his embrace and pressed his forehead against mine.
“That’s good. They’re not even human.”
“Ian.”
“Lemony. I can’t kill you.”
As he playfully rubbed his face against mine, his hair brushed teasingly against my ear.
“Should I also escape from prison and run away?”
His choice of words became childish as well.
Is this what Ian’s true nature is like? I suddenly realized that he resembled the character Day, who wore a prison guard uniform and acted in a play. Nevertheless, I found one topic that I could empathize with.
“If your thoughts have changed, let’s escape together—.”
However, my proposal was abruptly blocked by my own sealed lips, preventing me from uttering a word. As the sound of a cracking rupture echoed from beyond the closed closet, causing me to tremble, Ian, with his body slightly bent as if to reassure me, pressed his index finger against my lips.
Could it be Deon? If it’s Deon, then at this very moment, following my command…
“I report that there is currently no presence of Lord Ian Ermest and Lady Lemony in the torture chamber.”
It’s not Deon.
“Yes, understood. As soon as we encounter them, we will proceed with the assassination of Lady Lemony and the apprehension of Lord Ian.”
The individuals who ominously foretold my death in a business-like tone briefly scanned the torture chamber, making footsteps here and there, before disappearing as the door closed shut.
“…..Lemony.”
They were indeed people from Ernest Duchy.
“Lemony.”
I was concentrating on the sound outside, but a cold palm wrapped my cheek. Only then did I realize that I was shaking.
“…..What, what…”
“Calm down, Lemony. Didn’t you already know everything?”
As the torture chamber quieted down, the man immediately returned to his usual self and let out a wry smile.
How many of these monsters actually want to kill me? Is it the bitter price I pay for deviating from the original work? With trembling lips that had finally exhaled a held breath, I made an effort to speak.
“….I didn’t expect them to be so actively intent on killing me. Wha-what is all this about?”
“I will explain everything to you.”
His soothing tone was quite gentle, but despite his demeanor, I found it increasingly difficult to breathe. The suffocating sense of fear made me feel as if my claustrophobia, which I had never experienced before, was about to surface.
“Then let’s go outside and talk first.”
“Alright.”
Just as I managed to open my mouth, Ian, who was supporting my waist firmly, suddenly pushed me back into the closet and closed the door.
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Thank you for reading!
