The room was in disarray with the remnants of restraints that Thanasis had hastily undone.
The muzzle that had been on his mouth looked like it was loosened enough for him to speak, and the restraint on his neck was completely undone.
And somehow, all the restraints on his limbs had also been removed.
As I examined the state of the loosened restraints, I realized.
“You have quick hands.”
There were no signs of forcibly opening the shackles. Perhaps he had pretended to be unconscious and secured the keys in advance during that brief time I was bringing him here.
Clink.
Seeing the bunch of keys scattered near the broken flowerpot, I let out a sigh.
“That was a close call.”
If Felix found out that I had almost lost the keys and let Prince Thanasis escape, I would surely be a dead man.
Just thinking about it sent chills down my spine.
“Ugh…”
As Thanasis seemed to be regaining consciousness with a groan, I quickly fastened the restraint around his neck.
With a clanking sound, the long chain connecting from the wall to his neck pulled taut.
“Ugh!”
I tried to move Thanasis by putting my arms under his armpits and stepping backwards. But he was so heavy that he wouldn’t budge.
“Why! Did you! Get heavier! Just now!”
Exerting all my strength, I managed to drag him to where the shackles fixed to the wall could reach.
Click.
I then fastened the restraints on Thanasis’ limbs again.
The problem was that originally they should have been fixed tightly to the wall, but now they had to be in their most extended state.
For one thing, Thanasis was too heavy.
If this was really his weight when unconscious, it was clear that he had been pretending to be unconscious and cooperating somewhat when I was dragging him here.
“Phew.”
I felt quite exhausted, probably from exerting so much force that my palms were damp.
My ribs still hurt. I suspected I might have bruised them from being pressed down earlier.
“You… release me… now.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. Please cooperate.”
I found myself saying that as Thanasis glared at me.
Blood was trickling down from his forehead.
I looked around the lit room. As expected of a secret room, it was spacious and grand.
The large chandelier seemed to symbolize brilliance and wealth unsuited for an underground space.
Compared to other underground prisons which were quite squalid, this place was incredibly lavish, as if it had been made for this purpose from the start.
A chandelier larger than a person, a bed so wide it could have been taken from a royal bedroom, and even a desk and shelves.
It was as if they had copied a royal chamber exactly.
No, in fact, it must have been made like this to capture Thanasis.
After all, they had been planning this since Thanasis’ mother, the Empress, killed Felix’s mother.
And although the exact facts were unknown, there were rumors that the Empress was also involved in the death of the previous Duke.
From the beginning, Felix had captured Thanasis, not his mother, for revenge.
I wondered why the target of revenge was the son and not the mother herself.
‘Why me! Why did you capture me? If you had a grudge against Mother, you should have captured her!’
‘Because you’re the one the Empress loves most. Only by killing you in the most painful way will your mother understand my pain.’
I had read such a conversation between them before, so I came to understand.
“I really came to treat you. You’ve been bleeding too much since earlier, it’s dangerous if this continues.”
Despite my words, Thanasis was still glaring at me with his bright yellow eyes, on guard.
“You think I’d believe you?”
“You probably won’t. But there’s no choice.”
I grabbed the bunch of keys and placed them far away near the door.
Then I realized how the chain on the right wall connected to his shackles.
“Ugh!”
Rattle rattle!
I turned the pulley near the right wall.
As expected, the chain connected to Thanasis was sucked into the wall, gradually shortening in length.
Eventually, when the pulley stopped turning on its own, he ended up standing as if stuck to the wall. With an uneasy expression, he hung there limply.
“Please cooperate…”
“Fine!”
His irritated shout snapped me back to attention.
Realizing there was no longer any threat from him, I started gathering up the first aid kit that had been scattered due to Thanasis.
I flipped over the spilled water bucket and placed the fortunately dry towels on the bed. Then I headed to the bathroom.
Even the bathroom was extremely luxurious.
But with no time to appreciate it, I simply filled the water bucket with warm water from the sink. Then I immediately returned to where Thanasis was bound.
“I’ll tell you in advance, I’m very timid.”
“So what.”
He was still wearing the muzzle.
I noticed that the strap between his lips had lost its function and the muzzle was open, looking precarious.
“The muzzle is broken, right?”
“Don’t know.”
As I was about to approach with a towel dampened in warm water from the bucket, I carefully observed the fixed part of the muzzle on his neck again.
“As I said before, I’m very timid. How broken is the muzzle?”
“Ha.”
What if the muzzle was completely broken and he bit me while I approached?
At that thought, I found myself trembling again without realizing it.
“How could a broken one stay on the mouth? Don’t you think?”
“But that muzzle was originally supposed to prevent speech, wasn’t it?”
“This one was like this from the start.”
“Really? You’re not deceiving me, are you?”
“Just disappear. You’re annoying.”
I approached Thanasis very slowly. I gently wiped the blood flowing from his forehead with the towel. He remained still, still sighing.
“Explain why I’m so sleepy.”
“It’s probably because you hit your head.”
“Not that. I’ve been… so drowsy since earlier.”
“Maybe it’s because you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
I pressed firmly on his forehead to stop the bleeding. Then the blood stopped flowing. I looked at the gauze I had stuffed in yesterday to stop the bleeding on his abdomen.
The blood on his abdomen seemed to have clotted as well, so there didn’t seem to be anything more to worry about.
“There’s a strange smell.”
“You must be intoxicated by the smell of blood.”
“It’s coming from you.”
For a moment, I panicked and inhaled, wondering what smell was coming from me. But all I could smell was the fragrant perfume.
Since Felix was extremely sensitive to smells, the servants allowed in the main mansion had to use designated perfumes.
I would smell like wildflowers too.
“Is it the smell of grass?”
“No. Peach blossom… smell.”
“Isn’t that a fragrance?”
“Shut up. You’re annoying.”
At Thanasis’ words, I closed my mouth and tried to force a smile. I dampened the towel in the water bucket again and wiped the blood that had flowed down his neck.
“Remove the muzzle.”
“But then Your Highness might bite me.”
“So you know who I am.”
Without answering that, I wrapped the towel around my finger and inserted it near the hole-riddled muzzle to wipe away the bloody water.
I turned my eyes back to his abdomen.
“There’s a bed and bathroom here. They didn’t make it like this just to keep you tied up.”
“That’s not up to me, Your Highness.”
Saying that, I gently lifted his shirt and grabbed the gauze I had stuffed into his abdomen to stop the bleeding.
“This will hurt.”
“You think it doesn’t hurt now? Just hurry and… Ugh!”
As he said, I quickly removed the gauze. He frowned with a pale face, as if in serious pain.
“This looks like it needs to be stitched up later. I’ll give you some medicine, you need to take it.”
“Hah, ugh…! How do you know what medicine it is?”
“It’s medicine to prevent infection at the wound site, painkillers. And some fever reducers and nutrients.”
“…Are you a doctor?”
“I got it from a doctor.”
Then I placed new gauze on his abdomen and secured it with a pressure bandage.
“Ah.”
When I told him to open his mouth, he glared at me.
“I won’t eat it.”
“Okay then. This is really hard for me too…!”
I grabbed the medicine to prevent infection and shoved it between his lips through the muzzle. Then I quickly pressed on the affected area of his abdomen.
“Ugh! Cough!”
Perhaps due to the pain, he swallowed the medicine as it was.
“You…!”
“Then rest well!”
With that, I fled from there, carrying the water bucket, blood-stained towel, and bunch of keys.
****
There were several things to do even at dawn.
‘Do you know why you shouldn’t wander around the third floor late at night? It’s because the master walks around. So you just need to make sure no one goes up to the third floor.’
‘Is that the job of the head maid?’
‘Yes.’
‘Sounds easy.’
But the night duty room I had to return to was on the fifth floor. If I went back to the annex now, the servants would be suspicious.
If I, who was supposed to stay in the night duty room, returned to the annex before morning, even the knight guarding the door would find it strange.
So I thought I’d have to check the situation on the third floor and stay on the second floor.
I peeked at the corridor of the third floor from the stairs between the second and third floors.
Nothing was visible in the corridor, so thinking this was my chance, I quickly took off my shoes and was about to go up when.
“Found you.”
But at that moment, Felix appeared from the pitch-black darkness, smiling with glowing red eyes.
“I’ve been looking for you for a while.”
“Ah, M-Master!”
As I was trying to explain in bewilderment.
Felix’s body crushed me as we fell to the floor with a thud.
“Found you.”
He said that and smiled at me with unfocused eyes.
‘If you’re on the third floor at dawn, you’ll definitely die. And in a very miserable way, either with your neck twisted or your head separated from your body.’
I didn’t know that was what Head Maid Mariben’s words meant. Felix approached me smiling, and as his large hand touched my neck, my body trembled.
I thought my neck would be twisted like this, but his hand moved towards my hand. As if trying to subdue my struggling.
“Master!”
Whether unconscious or not, he intertwined our fingers with strong force.
“Ah!”
The ring that had been a bit too big for my hand slipped off. His gaze fell on my suddenly lengthened hair.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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