I Pretended To Be Dead And Ran Away (22 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 15
“What is it?”
Reniel feared Ianathas, who seemed kind to her yet sometimes struck with hidden claws like a sharp predator.
Moreover, he was the one who had seen her true form the last time.
And she knew well—
that the casino run by Ianathas was, in truth, a training ground for assassins and a front for money laundering.
In the Apentina Empire, the casino managed by Ianathas generated the greatest wealth.
And the man who operated such a place was surely far more ruthless than his languid exterior suggested.
Reniel clearly understood this fact.
Yet, seeing Tanasis battered and broken, her body moved before she even realized it.
“…You’re trembling.”
Ianathas felt strange watching Reniel clutch his forearm and shake.
He ought to have shaken her off immediately and interrogated her—why was she interfering? Was she perhaps a spy?
Besides, his lord already suspected Reniel, giving him the perfect excuse.
But despite her fear, the way she pleaded with him not to proceed made her look pitifully like a timid herbivore, and somehow his response came out gentler than intended.
He even wondered if such a clumsy spy could possibly exist.
“Are you crying?”
For some reason, he wanted to see Reniel cry.
“Huh? Me? Why would I?”
Reniel seemed determined not to cry, even while terrified.
At her question, Ianathas gave a quiet chuckle and slowly lowered his hand. As he let go of the whip, Reniel’s expression gradually brightened.
Wondering if she was truly a spy, he watched her closely—yet there she stood, unable even to hide her smile.
She was so transparently careless that he doubted she could possibly be a spy, yet part of him still wondered if this wasn’t some highly sophisticated deception.
It made sense now why his capable and perfect lord felt so uncertain about her.
And perhaps—
though the odds were incredibly slim—
she might actually be someone trustworthy.
Ianathas understood why his lord never dismissed anyone without clear evidence.
After spending so long working in the shadows, one came to truly appreciate the value of someone trustworthy.
It was only natural, then, to develop the habit of testing people to see if they could be trusted, just in case.
So perhaps this strangely clumsy yet cheerful steward wasn’t a spy at all—maybe she was simply bright-natured and carefree.
If that were the case, she might be someone worth keeping nearby.
For ten years, she’d never shown interest in anything that wasn’t hers, never caused any major trouble, and had proven herself a capable steward.
Though it was still early morning and he hadn’t investigated everything about Reniel yet, he’d already extracted quite a bit from the chief steward upstairs and knew at least that her performance reviews were exceptionally good.
Still, that didn’t mean she was necessarily valuable.
She might turn at any moment into a deadly threat who’d harm his lord.
“Then when am I supposed to do my job? My lord ordered me to punish this piece of trash.”
“My orders were to keep him alive. And since I come down at dawn, don’t do it at this hour.”
Reniel spoke firmly, yet she was still trembling.
Ianathas couldn’t help but smile, as if watching a sparrow flap its wings at him in warning.
“And if I refuse?”
“Huh? Um… Well, in that case, I can’t do it… I’ll ask my master first.”
He laughed without realizing it at Reniel’s words. Her reaction was, in fact, perfectly normal.
For some inexplicable reason, he recalled the long hair he’d seen last time swaying gently over her shoulders.
He even wondered if the person before him might truly be the Princess of Nuremberg, said to purify corrupted magic.
He kept doubting whether Reniel was really a man—her physique and Adam’s apple clearly belonged to a male.
Yet every time he let his guard down, she struck him as unmistakably feminine. Ianathas trusted his instincts quite a bit.
“Then Deputy Chief Steward, please attend to his treatment. I’ll come back later.”
“You have to go see our master together later!”
“Why?”
“Weren’t you supposed to be with me when I put our master to bed?”
Reniel didn’t mind putting Felix to sleep, but she had no intention of letting him take her ring and climb onto her chest again like last time.
More than anything, though he’d seemed sleepwalking, she couldn’t shake the anxiety that he might suddenly turn on her and try to kill her.
“Oh, right.”
Ianathas didn’t care a whit about Reniel’s safety, and since his lord, even in a sleepwalking state, surely wouldn’t be overpowered by someone so weak, he responded with evident indifference.
“Then I’ll see you on the third floor in thirty minutes.”
“Yes.”
After reaching that agreement, she gave him a gentle smile.
Ianathas mocked Tanasis once more, then handed the whip to Reniel.
“If he doesn’t listen, punish him with this.”
“I don’t know how to handle a whip. Honestly, I’ll be lucky if it doesn’t end up whipping my own cheek.”
When Reniel said this with genuine sincerity, Ianathas let out an involuntary chuckle and turned away.
As soon as Ianathas left, Tanasis glared at Reniel.
He’d completely forgotten he was supposed to act kindly toward her to lower her guard—and was now just glaring.
“…Do you pity me?”
“No.”
“Then why did you stop me?”
“Well… because it’s my time now.”
Reniel said this and carefully coiled the whip, placing it in the corner.
Then, as if truly having come to do her job, she set down the first-aid kit she’d brought, fetched a bucket and a towel, and headed toward the washroom.
When Reniel returned, Tanasis looked at her with a bewildered expression.
“Just who are you?”
He could feel the pain from the magic power, which had plagued him until moments ago, already easing simply from her presence.
“Oh, I was promoted to deputy chief steward this time.”
Reniel smiled brightly as she reached for Tanasis’s gag.
Though the gag was broken, it still had a muzzle to prevent biting, so they’d left it on.
After a brief hesitation, Reniel slowly removed the gag.
Tanasis stared blankly as she undid it.
When she gently wiped his face with a warm, damp towel, he felt an unfamiliar sensation.
Even her breath alone seemed to alleviate his pain.
His body had long been abnormal from constantly absorbing fire-based magic power. His natural magic had grown so tainted it now tormented his entire body.
That was why he’d often involuntarily conjured flames and exploded.
Yet now, merely sharing the same space with Reniel made him feel he could control his energy.
His magic felt incredibly light, and though his veins still felt tightly clogged, the pain wasn’t nearly as sharp as before.
It even seemed his pain lessened further each time her pinky brushed against his skin as she wiped his face.
“Wipe more thoroughly.”
“Yes.”
Seeing that Tanasis oddly appeared exhausted, Reniel gently wiped his smooth forehead and eyelids.
Then she carefully cleaned his cheeks and ears as well.
“Is that all?”
“Now I need to attend to other areas. I brought fresh clothes too.”
Reniel thought it would be better if Tanasis moved on his own rather than having her do everything.
After all, the room was spacious enough, and though his restraints allowed him to reach the washroom, he couldn’t get to the pulley that controlled the chain anchored to the right wall.
“I’ll untie your ropes—would you like to wash up?”
“How about you wash me instead?”
“Are you hurt that badly?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking?”
At Tanasis’s words, Reniel glanced briefly at his body—and realized he truly was covered in injuries.
“But what if you attack me while I’m helping you?”
“Think I can attack anyone in this state?”
Reniel knew full well he was a time bomb that could explode at any moment.
But reminding herself that if he lost control and burned down House Le Pelique, it wouldn’t happen just yet, she nodded.
“Even if you kill me here, Lord Ianathas is right outside.”
“I know.”
“If I die here, you’ll probably face something far worse…”
“I know. I won’t attack you.”
When Tanasis replied like that, Reniel looked at him suspiciously.
Yet recalling that he hadn’t attacked her even after she removed his gag, she decided to summon great courage.
After all, without taking risks, there was nothing to gain. Reassuring herself that Ianathas was just outside, she resolved to act more boldly.
Click.
“…What are you doing?”
“I’ll leave only the one around your neck.”
Tanasis was startled to see Reniel unfasten all his restraints except the one on his neck.
“What if I run away?”
“Well… then I guess I’ll die.”
Reniel couldn’t bring herself to be harsh after seeing Tanasis’s body riddled with wounds.
No matter how she thought about it, she needed to bathe him, disinfect his wounds, treat them, and feed him the food she’d brought. In her eyes, his condition was extremely serious.
In this state, he’d probably lose even to an ordinary knight if he stepped outside.
“…I’m going to run away from here.”
Tanasis said this, yet made no move to escape—he only wanted to touch Reniel.
Every time they made contact, his pain clearly halved.
Without realizing it, he’d already leaned his head against her shoulder.
“Go wash up.”
“You have to help me wash.”
As he said this, Tanasis grasped Reniel’s hand.
Since she’d already loosened most of his shackles, she looked slightly frightened—
“D-do I really have to?”
—but couldn’t firmly refuse as she stared at him with a flustered expression.
Intoxicated by Reniel’s sweet, fragrant scent, Tanasis replied,
“I need you. I don’t know how to bathe by myself.”
It was a perfect lie—but all he truly wanted was for Reniel’s touch to linger on him a little longer.
Only then could he find relief from this unbearable agony.
Though he hated this situation, he could endure it.
And he even thought that Reniel resembled the Princess of Nuremberg, who’d once been engaged to him before vanishing.
Especially her bright sky-blue hair—that shade existed on only one woman in the entire empire.
Not to mention her bright violet eyes, like hydrangea blossoms.
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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Wait, what? For real? How come the Nuremberg Princess is hiding her gender and work at the mansion of the Duke who technically her archenemy? And Renal is Tanasis’ fiancee? Wow, never expected it to be revealed this early.
Very good story and i do prefer it if any person will give it a try worthy of your time
So apparently Renal is regarded as a threat for imperial family for her purifying ability and decided to make her Tanasias’ fiancee for close monitoring and helped him control his artificial ability. But Renal must’ve sensed or found out something that can put her life in danger. Thus she went into the hiding in the enemy’s nest and disguised as a man with the ring’s help. I wonder what kind of finding Reniel got to the point it threatened her life.