“……?”
It was a question so meaningful that it almost seemed like he was trying to scare me unnecessarily.
“That’s an odd question. Other than Dorothea and skeletons, is there anything else we might encounter?”
Why, what. Don’t tell me he’s trying to say there are ghosts in here?
I wasn’t in the mood for such useless jokes.
My voice sharpened. Normally, I would have scoffed and moved on, but it seemed the surroundings had made me sensitive as well.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Lord Joseph firmly gripped my arm and turned back towards the oil lamp.
“But hearing your words, it seems you’re not afraid of skeletons.”
I tilted my head at that. Should I be afraid of skeletons?
Of course, they could be creepy. After all, they are corpses.
“…Well. This might be disrespectful to the deceased, but when you think about it, aren’t skeletons just somewhat ominous objects? Besides, everyone has bones inside their body, so there’s no need to fear something that’s the same as what’s in my own body.”
“Pfft!”
Suddenly, Lord Joseph let out a loud gust of air and burst into laughter. Huh?
“Hahaha!”
I watched with a dumbfounded expression as he shook his shoulders and doubled over with laughter.
His laughter echoed through the darkness.
Thanks to that, the immersive feeling of walking through a dungeon-like underground prison was completely shattered.
“…What’s so funny, Lord Joseph?”
“Haha, I apologize… pfft.”
“……”
Lord Joseph continued to laugh for quite some time after that.
When he finally calmed down, there were even tears in the corners of his eyes, amazingly.
“Really… My lady, your perspective is quite unique.”
“Unique? It’s just a rational and logical opinion.”
“No, of course, I was assuming living, moving skeletons. Imagine encountering moving skeletons that have been wandering for hundreds of years in this underground prison that has become one giant coffin.”
“Are you perhaps talking about the Undead?”
“Yes, exactly that.”
Ah. What was I thinking…
I replied with one corner of my mouth twitching.
“I’ve heard that undead don’t occur naturally; they’re magical creatures. In other words, they can’t possibly exist in this glorious era.”
In other words, undead are beings we wouldn’t encounter unless a mage like Lord Joseph raises corpses through necromancy.
“Come to think of it, I am curious. Human bones are connected by cartilage and muscle, right? But for moving skeletons, what holds them together… Lord Joseph. Stop laughing and listen seriously.”
“Ah, pfft. Yes, I’m list…ening. Kuh.”
What do you mean you’re listening? You’re just laughing and pointing the oil lamp in strange directions.
“We’d better stop this nonsense now. Prick up your ears. We need to listen for Dorothea’s footsteps to find out where she is.”
Unable to bear it any longer, I finally snatched the oil lamp from his hand.
Taking a step forward and illuminating the surroundings, I saw scenery I hadn’t noticed when I was just following behind Lord Joseph.
The first thing that caught my eye was the wall built with large stones stacked tightly.
Standing tall on both sides and supporting the ceiling in an arch shape, it looked remarkably sturdy.
Even if some of the bricks eroded over time, it seemed unlikely that the ceiling would collapse.
The next thing that caught my eye were the small windows, about the size of a palm, pierced at intervals in the wall.
All of them were blocked with iron bars, suggesting that the area beyond the wall was a prison for criminals.
The entrance seemed to be on the opposite side, but I couldn’t tell how to get there.
‘The structure is really inefficiently incomprehensible.’
Besides that, there were many brutal things around.
There were giant cage-like enclosures hanging from long chains from the ceiling, handcuffs and shackles attached all over the walls, and an iron maiden that was clearly a torture device.
There were also rags scattered here and there and wooden boards broken beyond recognition.
Thick cobwebs hung everywhere with fist-sized spiders waiting for prey, and swarms of black insects that scattered in all directions when light touched them.
Clank.
“Ah…?”
At that moment, something caught on my foot.
It clung to my foot as if trying to grab it, and when I instinctively kicked it away, it rolled far away with a clattering sound.
They say it’s dark under the lamp. What did I step on?
Shining the light downwards, I saw a rotten rag.
Something hard and white was tangled in it, and when I slightly lifted the cloth with my foot, a skull…
“Kyaaaaaah!”
“My lady?”
Clang, clatter.
At that moment, I couldn’t understand what I was doing.
I just screamed at the cheap horror setup and…
“My lady, calm down. It was just a somewhat ominous object.”
“……”
…When I came to my senses, I was clinging to a large, firm, yet warm embrace.
My feet weren’t touching the ground. Lord Joseph’s arm had come under my knees, supporting my body.
My arms were completely wrapped around Lord Joseph’s neck.
“I apologize. I should have gone ahead.”
His steady breathing and calm voice gently reassured me.
“……”
It was probably from that moment.
That shame overwhelming enough to make me want to faint took over my mind.
“My lady?”
“……”
“Are you alright?”
This is driving me crazy. I don’t know why my mental strength is still intact even at a moment like this.
Despite being in a freezing cold underground prison in the middle of winter, my whole body was heating up.
Especially because of the sensation of Lord Joseph’s breath subtly touching my nape when he called for me.
What’s particularly maddening is that at some point, my vision had gone completely dark.
I didn’t realize it until now because I had my eyes tightly shut, but seeing that my hands were only gripping Lord Joseph’s clothes, it seems I must have dropped the oil lamp in surprise.
Wh-what should I do?
As reason gradually returned, I began to frantically think. Right, let’s act as dignified as possible.
If I show embarrassment, it will truly become an embarrassing situation.
“I… I was just a bit surprised.”
No, but why is my voice trembling at this moment!
“I understand. Anyone would be surprised when something unexpected happens. I once got quite startled when I missed a step on the stairs.”
However, despite my clumsy excuse, Lord Joseph showed no sign of mockery.
Rather, he seemed to be adding legitimacy to my foolish behavior from earlier.
Although it was a situation of covering my eyes and pretending not to see, that tearful consideration wasn’t unwelcome.
He said he loved me, so it seems it wasn’t just empty words.
‘Hmm, that’s right. Accepting a gentleman’s kindness is also a virtue of a noble lady.’
So nothing happened just now. Lord Joseph and I had reached an unspoken agreement.
“I’m… glad you understand. Then please let me go now, Lord Joseph. I can’t see anything, so we need to find the oil lamp too.”
I spoke deliberately haughtily as I made my request to Lord Joseph. But when I said this, he, who should have let me go, let out a troubled sigh, “Hmm.”
“Lord Joseph?”
When I called him urgently, his hand pressed firmly between my shoulder blades.
“…It is you who are not letting go of me.”
“Pardon?”
What are you talking about, when did I…?
…As if to argue, my hands were entwined around Lord Joseph’s neck, almost touching the opposite shoulder.
[This is the timeline separator]In the end, we couldn’t salvage the oil lamp.
Well, we found it, but it was broken.
It seems I had thrown it with all my might. Impressive, my survival instinct-based aggression.
“My goodness. To think there was such a convenient method.”
But the lack of an oil lamp didn’t cause a big problem.
Lord Joseph could create a light source with magic.
Moreover, the magical light source didn’t flicker unsteadily like an oil lamp, and there was no need to hold it inconveniently in hand.
It was natural for me to feel both convenience and dissatisfaction as I watched the light source slowly following above our heads.
“Why were you using an oil lamp until now?”
At my complaint, Lord Joseph made a sheepish face and firmly grasped my hand.
“There wasn’t really an opportunity to use magic. And I couldn’t just discard the oil lamp we had brought along, could I?”
What nonsense. If it were me, I would have left the oil lamp somewhere else and used magic.
It was a flimsy excuse no matter how you looked at it, but I decided not to press further.
After all, I had received similar consideration from him earlier.
‘Besides, the way he’s subtly intertwining our fingers is quite cute.’
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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