Chapter 7

I want to die. I want to die. I want to die.

No. I want to live. I want to live. I want to live.

Mia’s mind was waging a fierce war between those two thoughts as she walked barefoot down the stairs leading underground, her hands bound with rope and her body surrounded by heavily built guards.

“You’re disgusting, jumping out of a tower while naked. Are you a pervert?”

What a bastard. As if I wanted to do that.

Just thinking about standing there in nothing but her underwear while surrounded by so many people made her want to bite her tongue and die on the spot.

But when she considered that she really could die in this situation…

She definitely wanted to live.

“We’ve brought the prisoner.”

The wooden door behind Mia closed with an ominous creak.

There were stains on the floor that looked suspiciously like blood.

Unable to bring herself to look up, Mia felt a small shiver run down her spine.

“Good work.”

When she raised her head, she saw Asad sitting with his legs crossed.

The underground interrogation room was bleak, devoid of even the slightest decoration.

The burly guards forcibly made Mia kneel on the floor.

An entire day had already passed, yet Mia was still wearing the shirt Asad had thrown to her.

The soft shirt still carried his scent.

It felt as though not only this room and the people inside it, but even every object here was completely under his control.

“Mia Lisicha.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Mia’s voice trembled as she answered.

What punishment would she receive for overhearing a plot of rebellion?

Surely they wouldn’t stop at merely making her unable to use her legs.

Would he silence her forever by killing her?

All sorts of terrible possibilities danced through Mia’s mind.

But Asad’s question was something she had never expected.

“How did you know in advance that there would be heavy rain?”

“That…”

Mia rolled her eyes nervously.

I can’t exactly say I read it in a novel!

“…I didn’t know. How could I possibly know something like that in advance?”

Had her lie worked?

There was no way to tell from Asad’s expressionless face.

When he raised one hand, one of the burly guards walked toward the corner and pulled aside a coarse curtain.

Mia took a sharp breath when she saw what was behind it.

A filthy man was frantically tearing into a large chunk of meat still attached to a bone.

Grease and meat juices dripped down his dirty beard.

He wiped his greasy mouth before giving Mia a creepy smile.

“You said it yourself. You said there would be heavy rain for three days. You said you would get out.”

“Mister…?”

At that moment, hot blood seemed to rush through Mia’s entire body.

That voice, thick and phlegmy as though he were constantly clearing his throat—

It was the prisoner in the neighboring cell whom Mia had encouraged while sharing her soup.

“How could you do this to me?”

“I told you not to go.”

The man’s legs, which were visible beneath his crouched body, looked perfectly fine.

Everything Mia had relied on day and night had been a lie except for his voice.

‘Why did he lie to me like that? And why did he tell the Grand Duke about me?’

Mia had never harmed him.

She had merely shared her food with him out of sympathy and comforted him through his suffering.

Yet he had gone beyond discouraging her escape and had practically cursed her for attempting it.

Hadn’t he been afraid that she would be harmed?

Even if Mia had stayed quietly in the tower, a terrifying interrogation had been waiting for her in the end.

There was only one possible reason.

When Mia realized what it was, her ears rang.

She felt as though something hot might rise up the back of her throat at any moment.

“Don’t tell me you discouraged me from escaping because you didn’t want the soup I shared with you to disappear? And now you sold me out for nothing more than a chunk of meat?”

The man licked his lips and grinned.

“Thanks to you, I got to eat something better than watery soup without any ingredients.”

“You piece of trash! You’re garbage!”

Tears of injustice welled up in Mia’s eyes as she screamed.

The prisoner ignored her completely and continued tearing into the meat.

Asad watched the scene with interest, lightly touching a finger to his lips.

The prisoner smashed the bone left after eating the meat against the stone floor, cracking it open before sucking out the marrow.

Only after licking each of his filthy fingers one by one did he finally finish his meal.

Then—

The beautiful and ruthless Grand Duke spoke.

“Execute him.”

Mia’s eyes widened.

The moment Asad gave the order, the burly guards dragged the resisting prisoner out.

He strained his legs desperately to keep them from being dragged, but they scraped helplessly across the stone floor.

Asad didn’t even look back at the prisoner.

His black eyes remained fixed solely on Mia.

His expression seemed almost curious about her reaction.

“A person who commits a crime must always pay the price. Especially when that crime is betrayal.”

The prisoner’s screams seeped through the walls.

Mia wanted to cover her ears.

This was undoubtedly a warning from Asad directed at her.

Her arms, braced against the floor, were trembling violently.

‘He really is much crazier than I thought. Could I somehow get out of this by lying?’

At that moment, a short scream came from somewhere in the distance.

Then everything fell silent.

Only Asad’s voice rang clearly in Mia’s ears.

“If there’s something I hate almost as much as a traitor, it’s a liar.”

It was as though he had read her mind.

Mia lay facedown on the floor, her face deathly pale.

Asad whispered casually,

“Then shall we talk again about how you knew there would be heavy rain?”

Suddenly, someone hurriedly opened the wooden door and entered.

It was Shuri.

“Your Grace! A messenger from the Imperial Palace has arrived. I think you should step outside for a moment.”

“…Tsk.”

Asad slowly stood up, clearly displeased.

As he left the room with Shuri, he gave the two guards stationed inside one final instruction.

“Keep a close watch on her so she doesn’t try anything foolish.”

“Yes, sir!”

The guards answered energetically, snapping their heels together with military discipline.

Mia remained facedown on the floor, unable to even consider moving.

Had enough time passed for a cup of tea?

One of the guards, who had begun to grow bored of waiting, finally spoke to Mia.

“Hey, prisoner. Did you know the guy who was executed?”

Mia didn’t answer.

The guard snorted.

“Hmph. Putting on airs, huh? You’d better not associate with scum like him. He was guilty of a very serious crime.”

At the guard’s words, Mia raised her head.

“He was guilty of a serious crime?”

“Yeah. What was it again? That…”

The guard poked his companion in the side.

The other guard answered with an annoyed expression.

“Parricide.”

“Right, parricide. That bastard had a woman, apparently. Seems he was pretty vain. At first, he started pawning household possessions one by one to buy her presents. Eventually, he even sold the cow his mother had raised and treasured.”

Mia listened to the guard with an expression of disbelief.

“He took the cow out in the middle of the night while the old folks were sleeping, but his mother must have noticed something strange and come outside. Apparently, she grabbed the reins and clung to them, asking if he intended to hand over everything the family owned to some woman. Then the son lost his mind and—bam!—”

The guard mimed striking downward with the spear he was holding.

Mia shuddered involuntarily.

“The commotion brought his father outside too. When he saw his wife lying on the ground, he lost his mind. But how could an old man stand against his grown son? Later, according to the villagers, the man’s head had been split open like a melon.”

“How could that be…? What he told me in the tower was completely different.”

The guard asked the bewildered Mia,

“Really? What did that good-for-nothing tell you?”

“He said that the Grand Duke… stole his fiancée and made her his plaything, and that he was the one who made him unable to use his legs.”

“What? That damned bastard!”

The guard exploded in anger at the already executed man.

“His Grace left him in the tower and watched him for so long to see if he showed any remorse. And he didn’t even appreciate His Grace’s mercy.”

“Yeah. He should have been executed long ago.”

Even the previously silent guard agreed with his companion.

Mia was confused.

In an instant, the good guy and the bad guy had completely switched places.

The jailer had been the same.

So had the guards.

What bothered her was that every single one of them seemed unwaveringly loyal to Grand Duke Asad Uliel.

‘If the Grand Duke really isn’t such a bad person, maybe if I sincerely beg for forgiveness, he’ll show me some mercy?’

For a brief moment, Mia let her imagination run wild with hope.

But her expression quickly darkened.

‘Haah. Fine, let’s say he might overlook the assault, theft, and even the escape attempt. But would he really let me off for overhearing a plot of rebellion?’

As her anxiety continued to grow, footsteps approached from outside the door.

Step. Step.

To Mia’s ears, the sound was like the footsteps of someone walking toward their execution.

“Your Grace has arrived!”