She looked down at the young Johan and whispered carefully.

“Johan. Wait a little. I’ll be right back.”

Somehow, leaving him alone like this made her feel complicated.

She broke free from the prison and ran to where the guards had been heading.

‘I don’t know when this dream will end.’

She felt there might be a time limit. If she dawdled, she might wake up having done nothing.

“Everyone saw what I did, right? Our guards must take their money separately like this. Watch closely because you might come from Libertan next time. We need to gather money, and just in case, we also need to record that we’ve received it. This way there’s no slip up.”

There was a particularly noisy room.

‘I’ve found it! The guard room!’

It was much larger and more decorated than the guards’ break room she just passed. In the center, a man sitting in a luxurious chair was surrounded by guards drinking and fawning over him.

“Indeed, the head of the guards is different. Despite being a noble, you take care of us guards, don’t you even give us precious advice? Without you, we wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Hmm. Even if I was born in the Peneura Baron family, am I not a royal official? I’m definitely different from other nobles.”

It smelled terribly of alcohol, as if they had been drinking for quite a long time.

‘Thanks for playing lazily during work hours.’

Of course, the guards couldn’t see her, but she could feel a strange unease, just like young Johan before.

While the guards were drinking their minds out, she examined the keys hanging from their waist belts. But there was something she hadn’t thought of.

‘Do I have to take all the keys?’

The keys all looked similar, so she couldn’t tell which key was the one that locked up Johan. That’s when she noticed a bunch of keys, slightly different from the others, at the guard’s side.

‘The guard mentioned Libertan just now, didn’t he?’

Johan, being the heir of a family that committed treason, was under strict control. Logically, not any guard would have that key.

She slipped through the noisy guards and stood beside the head guard. And she quietly snatched the bunch of keys at his side.

‘I made it!’

Fortunately, she seemed to have developed enough physical strength to grab the bunch of keys. She was about to carefully take the bunch of keys and escape outside.

“Eh, didn’t you hear something strange just now?”

The guard right next to her asked, hiccuping as if drunk.

“Did anyone hear a strange noise? I heard something……”

She tensed up. Even though she was very careful, she couldn’t stop making a noise.

Then the head guard waved his hand and laughed heartily.

“What could happen here? Stop worrying about nonsense and just drink!”

She was sincerely grateful to the head guard. Although he was contributing to the abuse of a child by taking bribes from Libertan.

‘Thank you very much, you rotten person.’

The guards began to drink even more loudly. Thanks to this, she could quietly leave with the bunch of keys from the head guard.

“Johan. I’m here.”

Young Johan had fallen asleep again while she was away.

‘I guess so. He must have been very tired.’

She inserted one of the keys from the bunch into the shackle on Johan’s leg, jingling the keys. Luckily, she found the right key on the first try!

“I’ll unbind you now.”

Clang! Johan’s arms, hanging in the air, were freed. The sound seemed louder as Johan was the only one in the special prison.

‘Uh oh. The guards can’t notice when they hear this sound.’

That’s when young Johan opened his eyes narrowly.

“……Is it a dream.”

Young Johan clenched and unclenched his relieved hand, and let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s not a funny dream at all. Have I finally gone mad.”

That’s understandable. Even for her, if something like this suddenly happened, she wouldn’t believe it. But soon, the villain realized it wasn’t a dream.

Young Johan frowned and looked around, saying ‘It’s not a dream?’. While Johan was figuring out the situation, she tried to unlock the iron bars that confined him too.

“Why won’t it open?”

Creak creak. The unopened iron door made a hollow sound.

She tried all the keys in the bunch, but the lock of the cell wouldn’t open.

‘Should I go back and get it?’

However, after examining the jailer’s keys before coming out, there was no way to selectively choose only Johan’s cell key to exit. My hand trembled in surprise.

“……As expected.”

Young Johan bit his teeth hard as he looked at the firmly locked iron door.

“What kind of joke is this. Now in Libertan, they torture hope.”

In his voice, there was also a moment of anger towards himself, who had vainly dreamt. Hearing his voice, it felt like tears would fall.

“No, I can open it. I’m going to open it.”

“What are you saying now…….”

Johan seemed to have heard my voice and looked around. However, I didn’t hear him because I was outside the cell picking up a rock to break the lock.

Bang! I swung the rock and struck the lock.