Chapter 3

‘I’m going to die of embarrassment…’

Along with the pile of worthless junk inside, Mia’s pride came crashing down onto the floor.

A glove Asad had lost at some point. A napkin he had used to wipe his mouth. Even the crumpled pamphlet he had left behind after watching a play.

All kinds of miscellaneous objects associated with Asad were overflowing from the box. There appeared to be more than ten pen nibs engraved with the Uliel family crest alone.

“What is this?”

Asad frowned and picked something up from among the clutter with his fingertips.

It was a shiny fork.

The sharp-eyed Adjutant Shuri answered immediately.

“It appears to be tableware from the café Your Grace occasionally visits.”

“Ah.”

As though he had touched something filthy, Asad dropped the fork back among the junk with a clang.

It looked as though he suspected Mia had sucked on the fork that had touched his lips before putting it away.

“What’s your name?”

“I am Mia Lisicha, the eldest daughter of the Lisicha family.”

Mia answered in a voice that sounded as though she had given up on everything.

Asad glanced at the cheap locket in his hand before looking over her shabby clothes.

Then he briefly glanced at the extravagant dress Valentina was wearing.

“Mia Lisicha… I can hardly believe you’re a noblewoman, dressed as you are. Your behavior is no better.”

Mia bit her lip.

It was infuriating, but she couldn’t refute him.

Adjutant Shuri, who had been standing there with a fierce expression the entire time, spoke up.

“Grand Duke, shall we escort the culprit who sent the threats to prison?”

The culprit who sent the threats?

Mia’s heart sank.

Something was definitely going wrong.

Had the original Mia done something else?

“The culprit who sent threats? If she were a thief or someone who injured a member of the Imperial Family, perhaps I could understand…”

The person who questioned it on Mia’s behalf was her father, Lisicha.

He had remained silent until now, but he finally spoke with a bewildered expression.

‘Even though Father is cold, I guess I do have someone on my side after all.’

For some reason, Mia felt a wave of relief and gratitude.

Asad took the threatening letter from inside his coat and held it directly in front of Lisicha’s face.

“I needed to confirm this anyway. Have you seen this handwriting before?”

The moment Lisicha recognized the writing on the paper, his lips pressed into a thin line.

He stood there trembling before abruptly turning toward Mia.

The eyes of the father Mia was seeing for the first time were filled with fury.

“You foolish girl! You really had to ruin your sister’s future!”

“F-Father…”

Mia’s face went pale.

Asad looked at Lisicha with contempt.

Mia’s constant lies were one thing, but Lisicha, who blindly berated his eldest daughter, was another type of person Asad particularly despised.

Suddenly, Asad felt exhausted.

He wanted to finish everything quickly and leave this place.

“Shuri, this woman…”

“Grand Duke, please have mercy!”

As a last resort, Mia begged.

At this point, it seemed there wasn’t a single person here who was on her side.

Asad’s black eyes were filled with unmistakable contempt.

His gaze was so cold that Mia couldn’t even make a sound.

She merely moved her lips and begged again.

“Please…”

“Take her away.”

His voice was quick and decisive, as though she wasn’t even worth reconsidering.

The moment those words left his mouth, Mia’s vision went black.

She screamed and thrashed around, but the opening of the burlap sack pulled over her head was mercilessly tightened.

Both her arms were seized by rough hands, and soon thick ropes were binding her entire body.

Mia was forcibly pulled to her feet by someone and shoved toward an unknown destination.

She couldn’t even resist.

Loaded into a carriage like a piece of luggage, Mia eventually lost consciousness amid the constant rocking.

A foul, musty smell invaded the tip of her nose.

Mia opened her eyes with one cheek pressed against the damp stone floor.

‘Is it night?’

Everything before her was pitch-black, without a single ray of sunlight or even the faintest lamp.

She could vaguely hear the scratching sounds of insect-like creatures crawling across the floor, along with what sounded like distant, faint screams.

‘Where am I?’

Overcome by fear, Mia pushed herself upright.

How long had she been curled up like that?

Every joint in her body ached.

She was still wearing the same rough dress she had worn at the estate.

The burlap sack that had covered her head and the thick ropes that had bound her body were gone.

Even so, it felt as though the blood wasn’t circulating properly, so Mia vigorously rubbed her wrists.

The surroundings consisted of solid stone walls, with an entrance covered by iron bars on one side.

“Ugh!”

As Mia groped around with her hands, she nearly gagged.

Something sticky and foul-smelling had gotten onto her fingertips.

Whether it was left behind by a previous prisoner or not, one side of the wall was smeared with all kinds of filth.

Then Mia heard a strange groan.

The sound somehow scraped against her nerves.

“A beast…?”

With trembling legs, Mia approached the iron bars.

She gripped the cold metal and listened carefully.

The sound became clearer.

Now that she was closer, it was unmistakably the groan of a person in pain.

“Ugh…”

“Is someone there?”

“You’re… the prisoner who came in today.”

A voice like a candle on the verge of going out answered her.

Mia felt relieved that she wasn’t alone in this horrible place.

“You sound like a noblewoman… What crime did they lock you up for?”

“…Injuring a member of the Imperial Family… threats… I don’t really know either.”

The moment she said the charges aloud, tears suddenly burst from her eyes.

For some reason, the man seemed to smile faintly upon hearing her answer.

“So you’re the bold young lady who injured Grand Duke Uliel. The guards were making quite a fuss about you.”

Instead of answering, Mia sniffled.

“If you’re an enemy of the Grand Duke, then you’re an ally of mine. He is… a monster.”

“A monster?”

Mia stopped crying and raised her head.

The prisoner in the neighboring cell continued in his feeble voice.

“The Grand Duke took my fiancée away from me and made it impossible for me to use my legs.”

It was a story that had never appeared in the original novel.

Mia’s face grew noticeably pale, like a freshly plastered wall.

Perhaps Grand Duke Asad Uliel was a far more terrifying mastermind than Mia had imagined.

She wanted to hear the details.

“Grand Duke Uliel… did that to you?”

“Yes. My fiancée was quite beautiful, and everyone in the village knew of her. One day, when our wedding was just around the corner, he came with his knights. He said that if we couldn’t pay the marriage tax, he would exercise his right of first night.”

“His right of first night…?”

Mia searched through her memories at the unfamiliar term.

She was sure she had heard it at least once during a history lesson.

Yes.

She remembered.

Mia instinctively covered her shocked mouth with one hand.

The right of first night.

It was the supposed right of a lord to sleep with a bride before her groom on the night of her wedding.

“What a piece of trash…”

“I had neither the money to pay the marriage tax nor any intention of letting my fiancée be taken from me, so naturally, I resisted. But I was no match for them. That night, my legs were broken in the interrogation room…”

Mia looked down at her own small feet.

A sudden wave of fear washed over her.

‘What if he makes it so I can’t use my legs either…?’

A chill ran through Mia.

She pulled both feet beneath the hem of her shabby dress and hid them.

The prisoner continued.

“My fiancée spent the night in the Grand Duke’s bedroom while listening to my screams.”

There were far too many frightening stories in this world she had entered firsthand that had never appeared in the original novel.

A cruel Grand Duke who descended upon peaceful lives like a demon, treating women as playthings and crippling men.

That was the very mastermind Mia had once adored.

Asad Uliel.

“So you’d better prepare yourself. You’ll be summoned soon, too. Either to the interrogation room…”

The prisoner’s gloomy voice echoed through the tower like a prophecy.

Mia folded both hands over her chest.

Her heart was beating rapidly.

“…or to the Grand Duke’s bedroom.”

The blood in Mia’s veins turned cold.

“I’ll be on bath duty today.”

“You did it three days ago! It’s my turn today.”

The area in front of the Uliel estate’s bathhouse was noisy with the usual commotion.

The young maids were making a fuss because they wanted even one more chance to see their master while he bathed.

Shuri sighed as he walked past the arguing maids.

Among them was Sophia, the woman he secretly had feelings for.

‘Honestly, even the gods can be so unfair. His status, his wealth, his face, his body, his swordsmanship, even his popularity… Why give one person everything?’

Shuri entered the bathhouse with a thoroughly dissatisfied expression.

Whether he knew about the commotion outside or not, Asad was reclining halfway inside the steaming bathtub with an indifferent expression.

The bathroom of the Uliel estate was extraordinary.

The floor and walls were made of white marble imported from foreign lands, with golden trim adorning various places.

The bathtub itself, carved with images of the family’s heroes around its edges, was large enough for five or six people to enjoy at once.

Every evening, the maids filled it with hot water and scattered flower petals that changed according to the season.

Countless candles and fragrant liquor helped those bathing relax.

‘No matter how luxurious the bathtub is, it still can’t compare to the person inside it.’

Shuri drew a sharp breath when he saw Asad.

Even as a man himself, he couldn’t help but admire the sight every time.

Today’s flower petals were jasmine.

Amid the swirling fragrance of jasmine, Asad was immersed halfway in the bath.

‘It’s strange. The Grand Duke is normally so proper and stiff, yet inside a bathtub, he looks so languid and relaxed.’

Then—

Knock, knock.

Following a light knock, someone entered the bathroom.

Through the faint steam, the silhouette was unmistakably that of a young woman.