The third day after the new year.

“Ridiculous… Impossible… How could all the choices be wrong?”

A room was specifically made to confine aristocrats in a tower within the royal castle. The room that hadn’t been used for a long time received a prisoner as early as the new year’s beginning.

Although not magnificent, Marika de Dyural was wearing a fine quality dress and moving back and forth in the room furnished with the same item as the royal castle, grumbling.

“How do I return to the route from here? How could I be guilty of treason!?”

In truth, Marika should have already realized it.

However, as if to escape from reality, she desperately tried to follow the game’s route and thought about how to deal with it.

A visitor was there to see her.

“Lau, you finally came!”

Marika hugged Laurenz, who had just entered the room, overcome in emotions.

But Laurenz was looking down at the petite young girl who clung to his chest with unsmiling eyes.

“I’m here as a chaperone. To let you know that your punishment has been decided.”

Laurenz glanced back at Count Dyural, who had aged these few days awfully. The elderly person should have been younger and more vigorous than his age normally, but he now looked disheartened and emaciated. Even his complexion looked horrible, and his back was a bit hunched.

“Marika… His Highness has passed down the verdict. With his deep compassion, you have been forgiven with lifetime confinement.”

“Confinement?”

“And if you are obedient and don’t make a clamor, it’s also possible for you to marry. Lord Ghini also said he will wait until then…”

“That’s not funny! Why must I marry that disgusting man.”

When Marika was told about the marriage, even though she couldn’t comprehend the meaning of confinement, she shouted in a high-pitched voice.

Laurenz’s brows furrowed, and he chided with a far colder tone, unlike his usual cheery voice.

“You didn’t know anything at all. For a crime where even giving capital punishment isn’t strange, the Count offered to relinquish his court rank and pleaded to reduce your penalty.”

“Lord Laurenz, it’s fine.”

“No, she hasn’t understood it yet. It would be all for naught for the life of this ungrateful girl for whom the Count Dyural, a true and exalted nobleman, has traded the several years of loyalty and the service accumulated over hundreds of years.”

Laurenz spat out harsh words without an ounce of a smile on his sweet, lady killer good-looking face.

He was also an aristocratic family’s heir and a man who ought to protect the pride of his house. He apparently couldn’t remain quiet after seeing the Count’s suicidal move. 

Seeing the look of disgust and scorn floating in the ashen purplish eyes, Marika finally realized that the man wasn’t her ally.

“Lau… Why?”

“If you still don’t understand, there’s no point in talking with you… Count, let’s go back.”

“I’m not a count anymore… Well, I can’t do anything now.”

Pushing Marika aside, Laurenz left the room concerned for the former Count, who sighed as if he was tired of everything.

Left alone again, Marika was dazed at the unbelievable reality before her.

Whatever the situation was, she would normally be able to enjoy it because this was the game, but she couldn’t think so now.

Now that she was suddenly confronted with reality so vivid that she didn’t know how to escape from it, she stood in shock, her body quickly getting heavier and everything feeling out of reach.

Just how much shock did she receive?

Marika was plunged in so much chaos that she hadn’t even noticed the original small windowed room without light rapidly welcoming the descent of darkness as the day subsided.

She heard a knock on the door to draw her attention and a very low whisper.

“Lady Marika.”

“Bart? Region!?”

“Quiet, Lady Marika. I will open the door now, so take a bit distance from it.”

Marika was surprised at Region’s usual voice and took a distance just how she was told. Right after noting the complete change in Laurenz, she was relieved to see the unchanged Region.

Finally, the door opened and two people wearing dark hoods and cloaks who easily blended in with the darkness appeared.

“Both of you, come on…”

“Let’s have our emotional reunion later. Let’s get out of here first. Marika, wear this.”

Bart, who once tried to kill Marika in excessive jealousy, appeared to be calm and offered her the cloak. His violent status crossed her mind for a moment. Still, she hastily obeyed, wanting to escape from the confinement and marriage with the disgusting character who was waiting for her.

It was a wonder how they infiltrated the place, and there wasn’t even a guard outside the tower.

“If you want to run away from the royal capital, get in here.”

“Ugh… It looks cramped.”

“It’s all right. I have made air holes. Come on, hurry up!”

She was pushed inside the large box like a garment box in the wagon prepared for her. Enduring the darkness and the cramped space, she slipped out of the royal palace in the blink of an eye.

Marika didn’t doubt the too smooth and quick escape. 

In her eyes, it was natural for the world to create conveniences for her.

“Is this the love elopement route? Although I missed the Queen’s route… well, there is Bart and Region…”

As Marika lifted her mood without getting discouraged, drowsiness assailed her, and she succumbed to sleep without much vigilance. In the last few days, she hadn’t slept well due to the unrest and uneasiness from the reality that was different from the game.

She was awakened by the impact of the carriage stopping. She heard the rattling sound of packages being unloaded and the lid being opened.

Marika, who had been in the darkness ever since her room in the tower, closed her eyes when the light suddenly came in.

“We’ve reached a place where we can rest, Lady Marika.”

“Is it safe?” 

“I’m sorry, I will not let you face scary eyes anymore.”

Marika got up in a completely good mood at Bart and Region, who kindly cared for her.

“Thank you, I’m fine. It was just a bit dazzling…”

At this moment, Marika’s eyes, which were blinking rapidly, were opened to the limit.

“Nooo!”

A young girl’s scream echoed in the night’s quietness.

※※※

Five days since the New Year.

Luca and I were invited to the royal palace by the Crown Prince.

“Be delighted by the radiant morning that has comes to shine upon you, Philia.”

“Thank you. May your morning be radiant too, Michela.”

The one who greeted us was Michela, and as we exchanged New Year greetings, she rolled her light blue eyes.

“What an awful voice. Did you catch a cold?”

“No, it was Luca… No, nothing.”

After the Pesach Night, Luca didn’t attack me or something as I feared when the abstinence was over. We just had skinship in the night, and it kept me from waking up in the morning. 

Apparently, the incident in the Pesach Night where I almost died (not really) was a shock to him, and Luca restrained himself to the point where I felt sorry for him and devoted himself to me.

Though, I really hoped he’d stop teasing me while saying that he wanted to be gentle. 

He kept giving me loving caress stubbornly while avoiding my sensitive parts, making me suffer to the point of dying every night and forcing me to do the shameful play where I had to seek it myself. Although I agreed that it was awful to repeat the pleasurable sensations forcefully as before, and it was painful, there wasn’t that.

I must give him a sermon about the meaning of kindness at least once, but it was hard to talk in the daytime because of what went on, so I haven’t gotten the chance to talk about it yet.

In contrast to my hoarse throat and exhausted mentality, Luca, whose face looked completely normal and with a thin expression, was staring daggers at Michela.

Michela, who looked at Luca and me alternatively, nodded with a lukewarm face as if to say she understood.

“Well, when the year changes, all feelings seem fresh, right?”

“Let’s leave it at this.”

“Anyway, His Highness is already waiting. Let me guide you without delay.”

And so, we were led to the garden in the deepest part, where only royalties could enter. 

The preparation for the tea was happening in the open arbor there, and it gave me the impression that this place was hard to be eavesdropped on. We would have a conversation which we normally hesitate to talk about. Most likely, it would be about Marika and the incident in which I was accidentally involved.

However, after the new year’s greeting, the Crown Prince gave me a sharp look.

“Philia, stroll around with Michela for a while. I need to talk to Luca.”

“Certainly.”

I knew Luca was unhappy with this arrangement, and I was also dissatisfied, but since the Crown Prince had clearly said so, I couldn’t disobey him.

“Please give me your hand, Lady Philia.”

I smiled bitterly at Michela, who said in a jesting tone, and entrusted my hand to her.

※ ※ ※

The refreshing scent of the tea disappeared in the chilly wind.

With Alphonso, Luca, and Laurenz in addition, the men’s only not-at-all peaceful tea gathering began.

“The captured Bart and the assassin Region escaped from the prison, rescued Marika Dyural, and fled.”

“Oh, so they escaped?”

“Don’t play stupid… You helped them, didn’t you?”

At the Crown Prince’s sharp questioning, Luca leisurely sipped the tea.

“The defense of the royal capital is under the jurisdiction of the first chivalric order, isn’t it? Don’t you think it’s quite hard to believe that I, who barely counts as an aristocrat, slipped through the defense of chivalric order’s top elite and helped in their escape?”

“I’m reluctant to say, but it’s not impossible if it’s you.”

Laurenz tiredly shrugged his shoulders, exuding how busy he was day after day.

“Conversely, it’s impossible for anyone but your subordinates to infiltrate the royal palace’s defense. Whether it’s the remarkable abilities of the assassin Region or the power of Count Dyural, neither of them should have enough abilities or might to let three criminals escape from the royal palace.”

“I don’t have any evidence, so I can’t accuse you of any crime. However, I can’t understand why you did that?”

The Crown Prince and Laurenz had already accepted it was Luca’s deed and furthered their conversation.

“Were you disappointed that Marika was relieved from the capital punishment?”

“Just saying, if I really had the power to do only that…”

With a clinking sound, Luca put down the cup and spoke quietly, keeping down his eyes.

“I will not let off the person who became the cause of my beloved’s injury with confinement only. Don’t you think it’s too naive to think that you will be promised a pampered aristocratic lifestyle, you will be able to marry a wealthy man one day and live a life without any physical shortcomings so easily?”

“But it’s a life without any freedom.”

“Freedom… I wonder what kind of meaning it has for that crazy woman. As a preparator of high treason, as a fugitive, she should be just sent to live a life full of struggle in misery and poverty… The rest is that woman’s distorted viewpoints.”

“What distorted viewpoints?”

“I saw she is strangely obsessed with handsome men. Your highness, Cesari, Bart, and the captured assassin. She showed abnormal interest in men who are called handsome from the public’s point of view, and she has a strange prejudice that it’s natural for them to become her playthings.”

“Ahh…”

Laurenz’s brows furrowed in disgust when he recalled what she said she had to awaken him to true love.

“Will she remain with them if the beautiful face she was so obsessed with is gone?”

“You… what have you done?”

“I told you I haven’t done anything. However… If there were a convenient medicine, something that could disfigure or change their faces, I would have definitely make them take it and send them in front of her.”

“Disfiguring faces? Can something like that even be done by medicine?”

“Who knows, maybe it could stain the skin or change the skin color.”

It was all hypothetical, but Luca was speaking as if it didn’t have anything to do with him.

“I wonder what that woman will do if the men, whom she thought has come to rescue her, are only left with an ugly face and mere shadow of their former self. I’m sure it will develop into something amusing, don’t you think?”

“What’s so amusing? I can’t understand what usually goes in your mind.”

Alphonso slumped back on the chair in exasperation as if it was just foolish talk, while Laurenz tilted his neck as he extended his hand for the tea.

“It’s quite an interesting story, but I wonder if it’s really null for you.”

“Well, I can’t be bothered to waste my time on that woman alone.”

“Hmm? Are you still trying to trap someone?”

Luca raised his face to Laurenz, who mumbled out, “If the way of his doing is really that dirty…”

“I forgot to tell, but I was the one who presented these tea leaves…”

Laurenz spurted the tea like a water fountain, and Alphonso became mad at him.

“Moron, that’s filthy!”

“N-not that much… My bad, I drank too much.”

“Lau, why are you becoming pigeon-toed?”

“Probably the emotional scars haven’t healed it…”

Ignoring the disturbance the master and servant duo was causing, Luca tilted his neck comfortably.

“That was a joke. There’s no way I could add strange things to things presented to royalties.”

“No, you can. If it’s you, that’s not impossible.”

Laurenz stared at Luca with gloomy, distrustful eyes.

“I also have drank this. I really haven’t added anything to it. This time…”

Blood drained from Laurenz’s face witnessing the vivid radiance in Luca’s emerald green eyes.

“I still have yet to give the return gift for those, royal palace side, who hurt Phi. I wonder if you want to lose your dignity as a man once again, or maybe you don’t want your prided looks anymore… You want to enjoy the days of horrifying thrill for a while, don’t you?”

“Spare me.”

“Definitely unforgivable.”

“What are you guys even talking about…”

Looking at his close aid, whose shoulders cower in depression and the merciless smile of devil Luca alternatively, Alphonso, the only one who didn’t know what was going on, tilted his head in puzzlement, unaware of the approaching crisis.

※ ※ ※

“I see… so Lady Marika is…”

“Yeah, she escaped together with the other two prisoners. I may be wrong to say this, but it’s much more pleasing that an eighteen-year-old girl will escape and be happy somewhere else than imprisoned for life by my side.”

“You’re right. The time Lady Marika has lived in the town is quite long, even if it’s difficult for her to live in this country. I hope she can live peacefully somewhere in a foreign country’s town.”

Although she failed to become the crown princess, she must’ve been satisfied with two handsome men like Bart and Region.

As I secretly felt relieved and a burden dropped from my heart, Michela suddenly hurled her gaze at the arbor.

“It’s unexpected. Is Luca on good terms with His Highness and Laurenz?”

“I wonder if you can call that getting along well…”

While Looking at the three men causing a ruckus and having the tea, Michela and I walked through the withered garden without any flowers.

“Well, it’s fine as long as Luca is having fun.”

A smile came out, probably enticed by Luca’s smiling face, and I looked up at the clear pale blue wintery sky.

I prayed to the sky for her little happiness, unaware that Marika was thrown into the ugly reverse harem hell.

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