Who Regressed the Timekeeper? (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
“Enough.”
It was Lady Esmain who stopped Baron Dorian from trampling Amy. Narrowing her eyes, she spoke to her younger brother.
“Why waste your strength on someone who’s going to die anyway?”
“But, sister…”
“If she doesn’t want to talk, just leave her be.”
Lady Esmain spoke dismissively, causing Baron Dorian’s voice to rise almost to a shout.
“What? No, sister—you must not realize how crucial this is…”
“That’s exactly why I’m telling you to leave her alone.”
Cutting off her brother, Lady Esmain snapped her fan shut and beamed brightly at Amy.
Amy bit her lip, filled with a dreadful premonition. Lady Esmain tilted her head and said gently,
“When you feel like talking, just tell the guard. I’ll wait.”
“Sister!”
“Let’s go, Baron Dorian.”
Dragging her brother away, the young lady left the prison and gave the guard a special order.
“Don’t give her anything—not even water—until she confesses.”
“!”
“Only when she’s truly on the brink of death, give her just enough to keep her alive.”
Lady Esmain turned back to Amy and flashed another radiant smile.
“I have more than enough time—I can wait as long as it takes.”
Lady Esmain was ruthless—and the guard, obeying her orders, was no different.
Amy went without food for over ten days. Her broken ankle, left untreated, along with the gnawing hunger and thirst, caused excruciating pain. Yet she refused to reveal anything about the Second Prince or the gemstone. If even the Crown Prince, who supposedly cherished her so deeply, could so easily betray her, she had no desire to cling to life in such a way herself.
Just as she thought, “At this rate, I really will die,” a thin, gruel-like substance was brought in. Eating it would only prolong her agony.
Though her mind knew this and she desperately wished to just die already, Amy found herself burying her face in the bowl and devouring it like a madwoman.
She clung to life like this for about three years—a horrifyingly slow three years.
During that time, the guard was remarkably talkative. He endlessly rattled off news about the outside world to Amy. Though it annoyed her, she listened just to distract herself from the pain.
It wasn’t too difficult—many of his stories were actually interesting. Moreover, since his acquaintance’s child lived in the North, he often shared tales from that region as well.
But even that grew tiresome after a day or two… Eventually, it felt as if he was forcing his stories into her ears.
Lady Esmain, who used to visit often to mock Amy, seemed to forget about her entirely after a while. In the end, Amy wasted away, slowly starving to death.
Her mind grew hazy, and she lay on the floor, barely breathing—when Baron Dorian, still relentless, appeared once more, thrusting the gemstone before her eyes and threatening her.
“Tell me the truth, and I’ll spare your life. Where did you get this?”
“…Where did you learn to talk? Even a wild boar speaks better than you.”
“Gah!”
Near the end, she couldn’t even twitch a finger. Her body felt like a figure molded from sand—one touch, and it would crumble into dust….
Then, one day, her tongue was forcibly cut out, rendering her forever mute. The next day, Lady Esmain appeared alongside the Crown Prince, reminding her that she had been utterly abandoned.
Even in agony worse than death itself, Baron Dorian never failed to show up and press Amy.
“Where did you get it? Speak up!”
Amy’s bony fingers slowly began tracing letters onto the filthy stone floor.
“…Shh.”
“!”
Thinking she was finally about to confess, color returned to Baron Dorian’s face. He released his grip on Amy’s collar and stared desperately at her fingertips.
Her skeletal fingers at last completed the sentence.
“Shut up already, you wild boar.”
“…Aaargh!”
Just as Baron Dorian roared in fury and raised his fist to strike Amy—
Boom! Rumble!
Suddenly, the prison shook violently. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the floor trembled—as if from an earthquake or an explosion. The terrified guard and the baron scrambled out in panic….
Thud. Clatter-clatter-clatter.
The gemstone slipped from the baron’s hand and rolled right beside Amy. Baron Dorian hesitated, then turned to pick it up—but the ground shook again.
Rumble!
A thunderous roar echoed, and this time the stone floor split open with a loud crack. Deciding it wasn’t worth dying for the gem, Baron Dorian fled without even looking back.
“Ha… I guess I’ll end up dying alongside that gem after all…”
Lying on the trembling ground, Amy weakly blinked her eyes. By then, the gem had rolled right to her fingertips. It shimmered unusually brightly, and just as Amy strained to reach it with her fingers—
Crack!
A fist-sized stone plummeted from the ceiling, shattering the gemstone. Staring blankly at the pulverized remains, Amy felt her vision spin.
“Oh.”
She understood. This was her end….
Her outstretched fingers barely touched the gem’s dust—then, in the next moment, Amy breathed her last.
“Ah…”
She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. It was the inn where she’d checked in late the previous night.
She sat up unsteadily, and as expected, her forehead was drenched in cold sweat. Sighing, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
“It was nice not having that dream for a while.”
Right after her return, she’d constantly dreamed of her death scene. Each time left her physically drained. But as she began planning for the future and moving toward the Second Prince, those dreams gradually lessened—recently, she’d hardly had any at all…
“Did I let my guard down?”
She rose slowly, walked to the ceramic basin on the table, and poured water from the pitcher. Then she washed her face thoroughly. The cold water instantly cleared her mind.
Drying her face with a towel, she pondered quietly.
“Could it be because I heard about the First Prince that my past life suddenly felt so real?”
She sighed involuntarily, wondering if these dreams would continue to haunt her. As she tried recalling the dream, her stomach suddenly twisted with a heavy, dull ache.
“I’m hungry…”
Amy snatched the robe hanging on the screen and hurriedly slipped into it. She neatly combed and pinned up her disheveled hair, then rushed out of the room and down the stairs.
Perhaps because breakfast time had passed, the ground-floor hall wasn’t crowded. Noah, seated where he could see the staircase, spotted Amy and waved enthusiastically.
“Amy! Over here!”
“Am I late? I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Amy quickly approached and murmured an apology, but Noah’s eyes widened, and he hastily shook his head.
“No, not at all! I told you to rest well. Joseph only just came down himself.”
At the sudden mention of his name, Joseph flinched. A brief look of injustice flickered across his face, but seeing his new, far less lenient master glaring at him—unlike the former head maid—he obediently lowered his eyes.
“Yes. You’re not late at all—please go ahead and eat.”
“See?”
Noah, delighted, pulled Amy to a chair himself, then gestured toward the kitchen. Immediately, the inn’s attendants began bringing out dish after dish, piling the table high.
“Your Highness, haven’t you eaten yet?”
Seeing enough food for at least two people, Amy whispered her question, but Noah shook his head.
“I already ate. This is all for you.”
“But…”
Overwhelmed at the thought of finishing it all, she scanned the table despairingly—when Noah spoke from beside her.
“And, Noah. Not ‘Your Highness.’”
“…Ah, yes. I’ll be careful.”
“Good. Eat up quickly.”
Noah grinned, but Joseph cautiously interjected from the side.
“I noticed Lord Noah hasn’t been eating properly… I assumed you two would be sharing the meal.”
“You really shouldn’t skip meals like that.”
Startled, Amy quickly placed a spoon in Noah’s hand. Noah pressed his lips together and glared sharply at Joseph. Meeting that piercing gaze, Joseph flinched and bowed his head deeply, then began mentally reviewing what he might have done wrong.
Noah turned to Amy.
“Then let’s eat together.”
“Yes.”
Amy scooped a spoonful of stew filled with meat and tomatoes. The hot meal soothed her stomach, and the unpleasant feeling left over from the dream began to fade. Seeing her eat faster, Noah smiled contentedly.
The Crown Prince frowned as he stared down at the figures kneeling before him—maids he’d planted as spies in the Second Prince’s palace. Strictly speaking, they’d been sent not to watch the Second Prince, but Amy, the head maid.
“I specifically ordered them to follow her all the way to the North, no matter what.”
He rubbed his forehead. His head ached. Until just a few months ago, Amy had known nothing but him—but then, out of nowhere, she started looking at him with disdain worse than a stranger’s and ran off to the Second Prince. And now, she’d even left for the distant North!
The Crown Prince glared menacingly at the maids and demanded,
“Why were you driven out?”
“…”
The maids exchanged uneasy glances, recalling the incident right before they’d been expelled from the Second Prince’s palace.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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