As with most castles, Daiern Castle also has a prison for incarcerating criminals in its underground.
And like almost all underground prisons, the underground prison of Daiern Castle is also in quite poor condition.
No, it would be a terrible and miserable place, too awful to simply call it poor.
A dark and damp place where not a single ray of light enters.
An abandoned grave where undiscovered corpses are still rotting somewhere underground, becoming meals for carrion beetles.
The description may be quite disturbing, but even this is an extremely mild expression.
After all, the underground of an ancient castle over a thousand years old is bound to be a place where cruel shadows that cannot be brought to light in history are buried.
Commonly known as the ‘Gargoyle’s Oubliette’.
Originally, oubliette comes from ‘oblivion’, meaning ‘forgetting’, and refers to a type of solitary confinement cell.
It means putting a prisoner in and forgetting about them.
But why call Daiern Castle’s underground prison by the name of a solitary cell? There’s a reason for that.
In fact, the underground prison of Daiern Castle is a labyrinth with a structure incomparably more complex than other underground prisons.
To the extent that sometimes even the guards forget which room they’ve confined a prisoner in.
Or there were often guards who would get lost wandering underground without a map and disappear forever, unable to find the exit.
Naturally, at some point, not only prisoners but even guards began to avoid the underground prison.
According to records, fearful guards, afraid of getting lost, deliberately neglected to manage prisoners held in the deeper parts.
As a result, eventually, instead of managing prisoners in individual cells, it became a practice to just throw them underground and close the entrance.
As if pushing criminals into the mouth of a gargoyle and forgetting about them.
‘…or so I’ve been told.’
The problem is this. Even if we open the entrance to the underground prison, we don’t know if we can find Dorothea.
It would be fortunate if she’s wandering near the entrance…
“We tied a red string to the prisoner’s ankle. You should be able to find her even if she’s gone far.”
Viscount Johannes, the castle steward, eased my worries.
He was personally guiding Lord Joseph and me while holding an oil lamp. A few knights were also accompanying us behind.
Hearing his words, I nodded.
Fortunately, it seemed we wouldn’t need to worry too much about that issue.
“By the way, it’s impressive that someone came up with the idea of tying a string. Was it Kardiel’s idea?”
He’s truly a genius. He’s my son, but he’s smart.
With such proud thoughts, Viscount Johannes, who was walking in front of me, chuckled softly.
“No, this is a method that you, my lady, instructed us about previously.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you remember? When the master was alive, he ordered us to lock up a servant in the underground prison and release dogs.”
Ah!
Now I remember. Loretta had come running to me one day with a pale face.
I remember getting up abruptly and going to find that husband of mine for such an unreasonable act.
But the thoroughly drunk man only mumbled nonsense and wouldn’t cancel the order.
Apparently, such incidents had happened before as well.
Since it wasn’t servants but ruffians caught from taverns, I hadn’t known about it.
Needless to say, none of them ever returned to the entrance.
The gargoyle’s underground prison had swallowed people once again.
I thought it might be okay if they had a map in hand.
But the cruel husband had thrown all the maps into the fireplace for everyone to see.
In the end, I came up with a trick. I told them to put a ball of thread in Loretta’s elder brother’s pocket.
“Thanks to the mistress’s ingenuity back then, didn’t the unjustly imprisoned servant return? Probably the first survivor.”
Loretta did thank me profusely while crying. Though her elder brother was no longer able to serve that husband of mine.
“But the master seemed to find it amusing, so he often ordered disliked servants to be sent to the underground prison after that. We recalled the mistress’s wisdom each time.”
“…I see.”
It was an embarrassing story. It wasn’t anything that great.
Anyway, after that, the Gargoyle’s Oubliette couldn’t swallow a single person.
And when the expected results didn’t come, that husband of mine said it wasn’t fun anymore and stopped doing it.
“Do you know why it’s a red string?”
Viscount Johannes suddenly asked.
I tilted my head at the unexpected question. Well, does the color have meaning too?
“We prepared black at first, but it wasn’t visible inside the prison. So we made purple next. Unfortunately, over time, the blue dye faded from the purple, leaving it red.”
“I see. Then is there a reason for purple?”
I asked without much thought. It seemed Viscount Johannes was the one who first assigned meaning to the color.
This time, laughter erupted from Lord Joseph beside me.
“Perhaps because black and purple are the lady’s colors?”
“…”
Why is my story coming up here?
I glanced at Lord Joseph with a look that said to stop such strange jokes, then turned my gaze forward again to hear the truth.
But Viscount Johannes didn’t give the correct answer.
“We’ve arrived, my lady. And count.”
He inserted the oil lamp he was carrying into a sconce next to the huge stone door.
Then he unhooked the large bundle of keys hanging at his waist.
I finally looked around. Though I had lived in Daiern Castle for 10 years, it was my first time coming down here.
I had imagined the underground prison as a narrow passageway coiled like a snake, but the stairs zigzagging down along the stone walls were truly like a gargoyle’s wings.
Moreover, the stairs are quite wide. Wide enough for Lord Joseph to escort me.
Well, it might be convenient to have guards on both sides when transporting criminals.
“I will open the door.”
The huge stone door, about twice my height, seemed to have a complex locking mechanism with various devices installed.
But looking closely, there was only one keyhole.
‘But is it okay to open like this? A prisoner could be waiting inside to ambush us.’
My worry, however, was unfounded.
When the stone door opened completely, another door was visible inside.
It was an iron grate door woven with dense iron bars that allowed you to see the space on the other side but not pass through.
There were over ten locking devices attached to that door.
Now I could see that this space in the center of the stone door and the iron grate door was probably used as the guard room in the past.
“Prisoner Dorothea, can you hear me? If you can, follow the string back to the entrance.”
Viscount Johannes shouted towards the inside of the iron grate door.
Ah, so this is how they make prisoners find their way back here.
There shouldn’t be anyone inside to make noise anyway. Besides…
‘That red string is connected all the way inside.’
It was as Viscount Johannes said.
Right next to it was a large wheel with the red string, stained with blue spots, wound up like a ball of thread.
“…Hmm, no response.”
After a moment, Viscount Johannes clicked his tongue once.
I, who had been looking around, turned my gaze to the inside of the iron grate door at that sound.
‘Wow, it’s scary.’
I got goosebumps for a moment. A pitch-black dungeon like an abyss spread out beyond the iron grate door.
No, actually, I’m not sure what’s spread out there.
The distance I could gauge was only as far as the light from the oil lamp illuminated.
However, I could clearly feel that the putrid air of death was condensed to the point of suffocation in the shadows that hadn’t lifted for a thousand years.
It felt overwhelming by the darkness.
“I’ll pull the string to signal the inside.”
Viscount Johannes said that and slowly began to pull the string.
I quietly waited for the string to become taut.
However, what reached us after a while was not Dorothea, but clothing that clearly belonged to the dead.
“Oh dear, it seems the prisoner did something foolish. I clearly warned her there was nowhere to escape inside the prison.”
It was estimated that she had tied the decaying bundle of clothes to the string and fled.
The end of the string was quite roughly cut.
“I’m sorry, my lady, but it’s better to think she’s dead. Although it seems she took food and water with her, she won’t last more than a week at most.”
As he said, there were only traces of food and water having been distributed.
Seeing it completely emptied, it didn’t seem like the escape attempt was too long ago.
“Hah.”
Still, a frustrated sigh escaped involuntarily. The timing was bad. If we had come just one day earlier, we could have met her.
Regrettable, but as he said, we had to give up.
There’s no way now to rescue her after she discarded her own safety device and entered the gargoyle’s maw.
It can’t be helped. I was curious about the truth of the black market incident, but honestly, that was just an excuse too.
‘The price for threatening my children… it seems she’s paying it herself now.’
I can guarantee it’s impossible to escape. She’ll probably wander in the darkness and rot alongside the skeletons within days.
“Let’s go back.”
I shook my head and turned around. Lord Joseph also…
“Well.”
Lord Joseph, whom I thought would follow, stood still in place, staring beyond the darkness with a fixed gaze.
Did he discover something? I also turned my head again to stare into the deep darkness where I couldn’t even focus my eyes.
“I’ll go look.”
Male lead is a clingy little husband
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.
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