Trapped in the basement, time passed slowly. Those malicious bastards didn’t provide any food for days. Only when my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth and my lips were dry did they offer a cup of water each time.

Still, they didn’t seem to want to kill me, right?

Every day as a prisoner of war is tough.

But what tormented me wasn’t the severe hunger. The real agony was not being able to see the outside, making it difficult to gauge how much time had passed, leaving me to worry constantly.

What happened to Edrish? What about Central?

Since I was captured, the lookout soldiers changed twelve times. So, it must have been around the fourth to sixth day.

I raised my head at a thud sound.

Creak.

The door was opening. It hadn’t opened once since I was trapped here. I stood up abruptly, but the glaring light made it impossible to open my eyes.

Someone grabbed me from both sides.

“Cecilia Erizo. Nice to see you again.”

I instinctively shivered at the voice coming directly at me. I immediately knew who it was.

“Fercope Serbyan.”

I forgot the blinding light and stared straight at the owner of the voice.

Fercope, backlit, stood with a smirk. Up close, Fercope was even smaller than I thought. However, it didn’t mean he wasn’t intimidating. Rather, his eyes up close were so sinister that it made me shudder, like facing a venomous snake.

“Are you also pleased to see me? You must be, especially in a place like this. Feels like we’ve returned to that day, doesn’t it?”

“Let me go.”

“Oh well, saying something like that is pointless.”

Fercope approached, grabbing my chin. The wrinkled face was illuminated by the orange light and shadows. Then he looked like a wicked demon straight from a ghost story.

“Yeah, maybe things went wrong from there. If it weren’t for the curse you put on me, if your sister hadn’t come back to life, things might not have gone so awry.”

Fercope said with venom in his eyes.

“In my heart, I want to strangle you right now, strip your skin, and hang you up as crow bait. It would be a spectacle. Minister.”

Fercope’s mouth stretched wide open. Between those gaps, two forks of his tongue moved agilely. I tried desperately not to avoid the gaze that matched his.

Although I’m like a hedgehog in front of a snake, I won’t yield.

“I know you won’t kill me.”

“I won’t kill you?”

“If you were going to kill me, you wouldn’t have brought me this far.”

Fercope released me and combed his hand through his hair.

“Fine, fine, you’re clever. Right. You’re quite useful. I can delay making crow bait out of you a bit longer. It would be easy if you cooperate. Now, come with me.”

The last words weren’t directed at me.

“Drop this!”

I was pulled weakly into the corridor. Soldiers tied my hands and feet with ropes and gagged me.
“Let’s go. Since your tiger came all this way to meet you, you should meet him, shouldn’t you?” Fercope’s eyes narrowed into crescents.

⭐⭐⭐

While being dragged up to the wall of the Serbyan territory, I couldn’t resist at all. There was nothing I could do other than breathe tightly, being tied up.

I wasn’t the only one dragged. Including Heron, all seven lords who were in Central that day were brought here.

They want to threaten us.

As we climbed the wall, a strong wind blew.

“Now, who should I choose?”

Fercope looked around us as if choosing ripe fruits. In the process, his emerald green gaze landed on me.

“Yeah, Edrish must want to see you.”

Fercope smirked evilly and grabbed me roughly.

“Ugh!”

Resistance was futile. He pushed me to the edge of the wall. My body hung dangerously, barely hanging on the wall’s edge. As the wind blew, my loose red hair fluttered and obscured my vision. The ground visible through the gaps looked impossibly far away.

If Fercope let go, I would fall immediately.

Fear rose to the tip of my throat, making it hard to breathe.

I just wanted to grow grapes, why do I keep ending up like this?

I commanded wars, and now I’m a prisoner of war.

Tears welled up. Tears fell down my face and dropped under the dark wall.

Oh.

Looking at the falling tears, they seem to disappear.

Yeah, it’s not the time to cry. Will crying solve anything? I need to somehow end everything quickly and go back to farming grapes!

I bravely faced the fear and looked down.

Edrish’s soldiers were right in front of Serbyan. A cavalry with riders, a large cannon ready to fire shells, and lined up musketeers were visible.

But despite having all the preparations for a fight, they were silent.

Because of the hostages?

Perhaps noticing me looking down, Fercope lifted my hair.

“Come on, Cecilia Erizo. Can you see your lover over there?”

“Ugh!”

Following Fercope’s fingertip, I saw Edrish on a white horse at the forefront.

His face wasn’t visible from such a distance. I could only tell that he was holding the reins, looking at me.

I’m glad I can’t see his face. I didn’t want to know how Edrish feels or what expression he has right now.

He must be blaming himself terribly…

But Edrish can’t do anything from this distance.