The Crazy Prologue Never Ends

40. Between Protection and Confinement

Suren spread the ointment on her palm until it became sticky. The ointment jar was already halfway empty.

The amount of ointment in the jar was supposed to last for at least a week. At first, Suren thought she didn’t know the right way to apply it, but that wasn’t the case.

She realized that Suren was determined not to let go of my hand as she reapplied it and rubbed it in, absorbing it into the skin.

“You can stop now.”

I tried to pull my hand away, but she held it firmly.

Suren silently continued to apply the ointment from within the jar. Her determination not to let go of my hand if I released it was eerily similar to someone else’s.

“You can stop now.”

“I need to do more.”

“You can let go. I’m not going anywhere now.”

“I can’t trust that.”

“Suren.”

I called her name, but she didn’t lift her head. She kept her gaze fixed on my injured hand.

“I mean it.”

“You’ve always said that.”

Suren replied and pulled my hand toward her more forcefully. Her grip tightened. She was far from the robust figures of the kitchen’s veteran maids, but she managed to pull me along, perhaps because Leonie was such a fragile creature.

“You gave up making a scarecrow, and I thought you had given up on crossing the border. Were you trying to make me lower my guard?”

I couldn’t have planned it that way. This escape was almost spontaneous.

Even as I ran, I wasn’t sure. I thought I might actually die this time.

“I’ve really decided not to go. I’ll stop trying to escape.”

“I don’t believe you.”

The shoulder applying the ointment twitched. I tilted my head and looked at her. Suren was sniffling.

Even with my firm words, Suren wordlessly reapplied the fresh ointment.

I stopped the repetitive denials and apologies.

Suren brought a comb and began to comb my hair. I surrendered myself without resistance.

As the comb swept through my red locks, hair strands cascaded down comfortably until it suddenly stopped. The hair that touched the comb split into several strands.

“I’ll have to cut it. They say all the noblewomen in the capital have long hair… What a shame.”

Suren still couldn’t let go of her dream of entering the capital. It would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“I’m sorry, Suren. Your efforts to comb my hair beautifully have all gone to waste. It’s become stiff and tangled.”

“Is that a problem right now?”

Suren soon fetched warm water and poured it over my frozen feet. My toenails were tinged with black. Thankfully, it hadn’t progressed to frostbite due to melting inside the manor. All my senses were coming back.

I put on damp fur boots, wondering if having intact feet was a blessing. Even though I now knew I could never escape with the fence around and the knowledge that I would never get out.

I noticed a pair of wet shoes. They were crumpled and tucked away in a corner.

Willie Tatum had desperately wanted to escape but had never succeeded.

And the same was true for me.

* * *

After finishing the foot massage, I knocked twice on his bedroom door. There was no response, but the door opened. Deon was changing into new clothes.

“Please explain.”

Deon, who was fastening his cuffs, turned to look at me. He hung his coat over a chair.

As he removed the coat, his outfit underneath was revealed.

It was a hastily chosen attire. The undergarment beneath was only fastened at the center button, crookedly.

Unlike the past when he never compromised his noble appearance even when wearing indoor outerwear, the clothing underneath was now in a state where even the buttons were not properly fastened.

It seemed like he was in quite a hurry, probably knowing that we wouldn’t even make it to the middle of the mountain range and were bound to be caught.

“What is it?”

I reached out my hand to him. The back of my hand was still slightly moist from the medicinal ointment that Suren had applied.

Now, only minor scars remained, and it looked neat, but there had undoubtedly been a fluorescent glow when crossing that mountain range. Magic was sealed beneath the thin skin.

“Do you want me to catch it?”

He was subtly deflecting the conversation.

“The pattern, when was it engraved?”

He said, wearing a tie with a blue jewel embedded in it.

“It might be better to take a break and have a conversation later. You must be tired from battling the snowstorm. Both of us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. If you had left me there, you wouldn’t have been tired.”

Deon stared at me intently. His gaze was cold.

“It was a mistake for the Duke to spare me. He should have left me behind in the snow. He shouldn’t have lifted me up. He should have pretended not to see, even when he saw the signal that I had gone beyond the limits on the back of my hand.”

He wiped his face, as if suppressing his anger.

“And… I’m regretting every moment I encountered you. Talking about agreeing to Viter’s proposal to wage war again, running into you when I escaped from the room, sitting across from you and making a contract, and… bringing you here. All of it.”

He exhaled heavily, his face marked with deep exhaustion.

He said he regretted every moment he encountered me. I couldn’t say anything. I thought he was the one benefiting the most from me being bound here.

“…Then please, stop beating around the bush and tell me.”

With a soft sigh, he reluctantly answered.

“The first day you came here.”

“Who did that?”

“You probably know better. You were awake when the sentence was engraved.”

“I was too overwhelmed; I don’t remember anything.”

“…”

He tied his tie slower than usual.

“The maids assigned to you and the chief maid.”

“Surely not the Blood Allocation Division?”

I had thought that all the shackles had disappeared when the Blood Allocation Division was disbanded, but it wasn’t true. It was my mistake.

They had kept everything that was advantageous to them until the end.

“It’s a protective spell. Don’t worry about it.”

“Protection? Are you kidding?”

I couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

My hands were covered in fresh scars. But how could this be a protective spell?

I bit my lip and glared at him. It wasn’t an appropriate action given the circumstances, but he didn’t respond at all. He just furrowed his brow slightly.

“How is causing wounds once you cross a certain point considered protection?”

“It’s not considered a life-threatening situation.”

“…Life-threatening?”

I didn’t even consider the pain that would come before my life was threatened, the pain that would lead to unconsciousness.

And the pain they created anew to cross the boundary…

Did they really think I would cut my own hand?

“It was implanted because there was a possibility you might be kidnapped and taken away by someone else, like back then. It doesn’t have any other meaning.”

“…Who said that? The magician who tattooed me? The Blood Allocation Division? Do you believe them, Duke?”

Deon, do you believe their words? They must have sweet-talked you to make it convenient for them to manage you, and you probably accepted it without any suspicion. Or maybe… it didn’t matter to you at all. It wasn’t much different from clean torture.

“Is there anything else besides this? Traces of them.”

New wrinkles appeared on his clean forehead.

Now that I frequently faced an angry him, I think I know. I can tell where the wrinkles of frustration that appear when you’re in a difficult and angry situation are. Until now, there probably wasn’t anyone who spoke provocatively to him or situations where he had to suppress his anger.

The scars I created on him. Perhaps the only mark I left for him after my death is those wrinkles.

Would he think of me when he sees the faint remnants of those marks on his forehead in the mirror?

“Well, I guess it’s useless now. You were already kidnapped by the prince. Why didn’t it manifest back then?”

“Because I didn’t walk across it. It didn’t activate because I moved through magic. If I had traveled by carriage, I would have noticed the signal.”

“Was it a coincidence?”

“He must have known. A duke’s residence would have had that level of defense designed.”

A faint grinding of teeth sound came from his mouth.

“…If I asked you to remove it, you wouldn’t, would you?”

I could run away again, so… Even thinking about it, it was absurd. It was a condition I would never agree to.

I shook my head.

“I was actually planning to call the magician.”

It was unexpected. I raised my head in surprise.

“Why?”

“I decided to go to the capital.”

“The capital?”

“I plan to move our territory. I’ve already requested permission. There might be resistance, and I might not be able to enter the capital immediately, but for now, I intend to move to a place closer to the capital, away from the northern region.”

I pondered his words in a daze.

Moving the territory to the capital?

Clearly, the female protagonist and Deon meet here.

In the first scene of Episode 1, after hearing about her niece’s dedication to the northern region due to exhaustion, the female protagonist goes to the northern region… and I was destined to die alone in the northern region even before the drama began.

It was gradually diverging from the original work.

Normally, one should be happy when it deviates from the original work, but it felt uncomfortable because it seemed to bring me one step closer to death.

“I thought you would like it the most… Your expression is quite subtle.”

Deon, who was observing me with a puzzled look, said.

“Why… did you suddenly change the plan like that?”

“Is that displeasing to you?”

“It’s not displeasing! There were reasons for staying in the northern region all this time.”

He must have had reasons for establishing himself in the harsh northern region.

After being chased away to the north as a fallen prince, Deon hid his identity and concealed his forces here. It was possible because no one expected him to build strength in the northern region.

There were plenty of reasons to leave this place, but not as many to stay.

“We can’t just keep being on the receiving end. It would be best if we took Lady to the Count’s residence before the Count and his party arrive. And…”

The better the environment, the better, he muttered to himself quietly.

“When… do you plan to come back? Will I be left here alone?”

“Haven’t you heard? I said I would erase the sentence.”

Deon frowned.

“You’re coming with me too, Leonie.”