Ciello, who couldn’t have imagined Estribal’s command, pulled the blanket over her head and fell asleep. There was a noisy sound of something knocking in the middle, but Ciello ignored it all.
“Ugh…It’s disgusting…”
Overcome by a hangover and headache, Ciello fell asleep as if she had fainted, and only after a while did she finally open her eyes. The salty pillow was sticking to her cheek.
Ciello, who got up from the bed, quickly washed her face and body in the attached bathroom and opened the door. No, she couldn’t open it.
“…Huh?”
The doorknob didn’t turn all the way, it seemed to get stuck in the middle.
‘No way.’
Ciello ran to the small reception room attached to the room. That was also locked.
Confused, Ciello pulled back the window curtain. But she couldn’t see the sky. The window was firmly nailed shut with wood from the outside.
“Why…why is this happening?”
Ciello shook the window hard, but the lock didn’t budge as if it was broken. Then a low voice came from behind her.
“You’ll get hurt. Stop it.”
Ciello turned her head sharply. Estribal was standing behind her.
The black shirt that came up to his chin, the indifferent eyes were the same as usual, thus he didn’t feel the shaking just now.
“Duke?”
Instead of answering, a smile hung on his lips. But his eyes didn’t move at all. Therefore, that smile gave the viewer a sense of strangeness, not joy.
“What…what is it? What do you want to do?”
Ciello asked quickly with a bewildered face, but Estribal’s voice was calmer than ever.
“You said it. You want to be with me now.”
He paused for a moment and sighed lightly.
“This is my answer.”
Ciello’s lips trembled.
“So you’re going to lock me up here? I drank and was just a little late…”
“Especially, contact with the client is prohibited.”
Estribal dropped a gossip in front of Ciello as if throwing it. On top of it was a montage of Noah’s face clipped together. Ciello flinched.
“Duke, this is really a misunderstanding…”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The Duke cut off Ciello’s words.
“Whether you tried to get information from them, or really tried to betray me.”
“No!”
Ciello interjected desperately. Although she had started the incident wanting to shake his mood, she had no intention of escalating it to this extent.
“Yes. Or if you and that little thing even made eye contact…”
Estribal’s calm expression momentarily distorted. Speculation boiled in his golden eyes. It was clearly a different face when talking about information, betrayal, etc., but he quickly erased this expression before Ciello could notice and finished speaking calmly.
“It doesn’t matter now.”
Estribal smiled rather kindly.
“Perfect control. That’s my way.”
Ciello laughed hollowly and glared at him, then snapped her fingers without hesitation. Her figure disappeared as her vision wavered.
But nothing changed in just a few tens of minutes. Because Ciello was shaking the window frame at that time. Of course, all exits were already blocked.
“Crazy…”
Ciello grabbed the window and grumbled. A faint voice came.
“You seem to have checked. But nothing changes.”
Her spine felt cold. Estribal was standing behind her just like before. Estribal, who confirmed Ciello’s pale face, spoke as if he knew it would be like this.
“No matter how many times you try, it’s useless. I calculated all the time you can move and proceeded with the work.”
Ciello slumped down. Estribal spoke calmly.
“You didn’t eat and only slept, so you must be hungry. Let’s eat something first.”
At his words, the servants came in pushing a trolley. They passed Ciello sitting on the floor and set up a meal on the small reception room table. It was exactly the same menu as the dinner she had with him for the first and last time.
Estribal sat in front of the table and spoke.
“I was sorry then too. Now there’s no need to be rushed, so take your time.”
The servants carefully tried to lift Ciello from the floor and sit her in a chair. But Ciello shook off their arms and propped up the table with both hands.
“So you can succeed in that great plan? If you lock me up here, my existence will only fall.”
Despite Ciello’s defiant words, Estribal remained calm.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to let you out to increase your presence.”
Estribal smiled and finished speaking.
“If a beautiful maid is imprisoned by a mad duke, it would be worth talking about among the nobles. Maybe there could even be a play about you.”
Ciello slumped down on the chair with a desolate face.
“I expected you to be surprised. But I would like you to follow my words until the plan is over. Don’t harm yourself.”
“So…when the plan is over, will you really set me free?”
At Ciello’s question, Estribal chuckled.
“You said you wanted to be with me.”
He looked at Ciello quietly and spoke.
“Look at this. You’re already thinking of leaving me.”
Estribal put down the cutlery and got up from his seat.
He left the room. A moment later, there was a sharp scream and the sound of dishes crashing in front of the door. The servant looked at the door with a serious face. But Estribal didn’t look back and moved on.
“…Duke.”
“She’ll get tired soon. Clean the room when it’s quiet. If necessary, give her tea to calm her mind. But just in case…”
Estribal’s expression cooled. He chose his words carefully with a stern face. After a while, he opened his mouth carefully.
“…The cutlery is sharp, it needs to be taken care of to not get injured.”
“I understand.”
The servant bowed their head quietly.
****
How much time had passed? Ciello opened her eyes blankly.
She was on the bed, and the messy room was neatly arranged before she knew it. It looked similar to when she first came to this house.
She didn’t know how much time had passed since then. The window was blocked, and all the clocks were put away, so she didn’t know whether it was day or night.
Ciello stirred and got up. Then, as if waiting, the servant’s voice came from outside the door.
“Miss Ciello. I will come in for a moment.”
The servant carefully placed water and soup on the side table. Ciello looked down at them and muttered.
“…Do you think this is right?”
“We closed our eyes so as not to think. To be used as the Duke’s hands and feet.”
Ciello was silent. The servant spoke carefully.
“We are…for different reasons, but we are all people who have lost something precious. These are very precious things that cannot be compensated for by anything.”
The servant put a spoon in Ciello’s hand. Ciello couldn’t shake off their touch.
“Even the Duke must have endured a similar life to ours…So the only one we can follow is the Duke.”
The corner of the servant’s covered eyes moved faintly. It was a strange expression, neither laughing nor crying.
“I’ve talked too much. Then, please eat comfortably.”
The servant retreated. A while after they disappeared, Ciello took a sip of the lukewarm soup.
****
After that, meals came in on time. Ciello no longer threw cutlery and didn’t make a big fuss.
Then, as if to soothe boredom, knitting materials, a shuttle, a thin novel, and playing cards were included. Ciello wasn’t very good at sewing, and the novel had many difficult words, so she only flipped through a few pictures and put it down. She played solitaire with the cards a few times, but got bored and gave up.
How many days have passed? By the time she lost his sense of time, she thought this life wasn’t so bad. Her head gradually became numb.
“…I’m dizzy.”
After finishing her meal, Ciello sat blankly on the bed and looked at the closed window. Once she started sleeping, she kept falling asleep, and when she woke up, she suffered insomnia.
Knock, knock.
Ciello didn’t answer. The door opened as if it was natural, but it was not the servant who came in, but Estribal.
“…Duke?”
He had a small box in his hand.
“You said you haven’t opened many gifts.”
Estribal placed the box on Ciello’s lap. Ciello looked suspiciously at the box and him alternately. His gaze was softer than the last time she saw him, but Ciello’s guard was still up.
“Go ahead. There’s no harm.”
Ciello watched his mood and carefully pulled the ribbon. Inside was a pair of indoor shoes with a design similar to the blue shoes Ciello had shown to Estribal.
“What is this…”
“You don’t have to go out now, so I tried to adjust a bit.”
Ciello bit her lips hard enough to bleed. It felt like the fog was lifting from her head.
From the moment she was kidnapped by the Liberation Group until now, he hadn’t listened to a single word of her own. He had no intention of communicating with her.
Then she was the same.
“I don’t like it.”
“Ciello.”
He pushed the box closer as if he was squeezing it. Numerous sentences, emotions that couldn’t be expressed in words, hit Ciello’s throat.
Whether it’s 3,000, 300 million, or 600 million. What Ciello wanted was not money itself. It was to be free from the world that binds her with money.
Unless he’s really a fool, Estribal must have known what Ciello really wanted.
But Ciello could feel it instinctively. No matter what the plan was, he wouldn’t let her go. He’s ignoring what Ciello wants like this.
“I…don’t like it.”
Ciello pushed the box on her knee. The box rolled to the floor. Estribal quietly watched Ciello like that, then slowly bent down and picked up the fallen slippers.
“Don’t waste your strength unnecessarily.”
Estribal knelt on one knee in front of Ciello. Ciello grimaced and stiffened her body. The bed sheet she was clutching crumpled.
“Stop, please…”
Cielo shook his head, but Estribal ignored him and grabbed Cielo’s ankle. But when their skin touched, more heat than imagined surged through his palm.
“Ugh.”
In an instant, his forehead wrinkled and a strong force came to his hand. The pain spread from his palm to Ciello’s ankle.
“Ouch!”
Ciello screamed and instinctively kicked his chest. Estribal let out a low groan. A moment later, Ciello gasped as she realized what he had done.
“Duke. I, I…”
Estribal didn’t move at all, but Ciello was even more surprised and shrank back.
“I, I didn’t mean to…”
Ciello stuttered with trembling lips. Estribal slowly straightened his knee and stood up. His golden eyes gazed at Ciello like that of a wild beast, making her feel overwhelmed just by his gaze. He quietly held his own hand that had grabbed Ciello and opened his mouth.
“…It’s been a while. Feeling pain too.”
Estribal put his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a gun.
