Chapter 131
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I possessed the body of a villainess locked away in a desolate tower.
Chapter 131
Drag, drag, drag....
What was that sound?
It was the sound of my feet scraping against the floor.
"Um... I can walk on my own, so could you please let go of me...?"
I appealed to the Knight beside me in the most pitiful voice I could muster, but received no response.
'This is driving me insane.'
Well, what did I expect? I eventually gave up all resistance and surrendered my body to them.
How long had it been since I was dragged along with Knights gripping both my arms? My sense of time had become numb.
To make matters worse, they had even blindfolded me and transported me by carriage, so I had no idea where I was.
The only thing I could be certain of was that we had stayed within the Imperial Capital, judging by the fact that we only traveled on paved roads.
After walking for quite some time, the Knights finally arrived at some mysterious door and removed the blindfold from my eyes.
"Behave yourself."
Thud.
Leaving behind only that curt command, the Knights shoved me through the door and carefully locked it behind me before departing.
Click, click.
I tried turning the doorknob just in case, but as expected, it wouldn't budge—caught on something.
Sigh, this feels... like déjà vu.
As I slowly backed away from the door, I couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.
So right now, I was...
Kidnapped again?
"To find myself in this wretched situation twice over."
The absurdity was so complete that I didn't even feel wronged. Rather, the situation itself felt deeply strange.
Above all, the nonsensical things Lemeia had been saying until just moments ago kept nagging at my mind.
Though I hadn't properly heard even half of it before the Knights came rushing in.
"I'm afraid we must ask you to accompany us for a time."
"Wh-where to?"
"It is by order of Crown Prince Lyden Cletan."
"...Pardon?"
"I'm sorry, April...."
Even as I turned around in bewilderment, there stood Lemeia with tears streaming down her face like raindrops.
The fact that Lemeia was shedding genuine tears rather than crocodile tears was shocking enough, but an apology? That was something else entirely.
It was such a stark contrast to the version of her who hadn't batted an eye even after a week of consecutive all-nighters without sleep that I found myself completely at a loss for words.
And through that apology, I came to realize one crucial fact.
Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
But there was an old saying: even if you're captured in a tiger's den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.
Fortunately, perhaps because I had some experience with this, I managed to remain relatively calm even when left alone in an unfamiliar place.
Though somewhat frightened, at least as long as nothing catastrophic happened, I was still within the Imperial Capital, and once Blaire Grand Duke realized I was missing, he would begin a search.
So rather than sitting idle with my hands folded, it would be wise to leave behind some clues or evidence for what might come next.
"Where am I?"
First, I surveyed my surroundings carefully.
The place I occupied was not a prison, but rather resembled a proper room.
There was even a window of sorts, though the problem was that it remained locked and wouldn't open.
However, judging by its rounded shape rather than the typical rectangular form, it didn't seem like an ordinary building. A tower, perhaps?
What caught my eye next were the ornate rugs covering the floor, the expensive tapestries hanging on the walls, and the large bed positioned at the center.
"Huh?"
The moment I registered this fact, a sense of déjà vu washed over me once more.
I had assumed this familiar feeling stemmed from repeatedly experiencing similar abductions, but...
Upon reflection, the very structure of this room felt strangely familiar.
And the reason became clear not long after.
「Bang, bang, bang!
It had already been three days since Lemeia was confined here.
Pounding against the locked door and crying out for release, Lemeia had exhausted herself and collapsed onto the floor.
The prison Lyden had prepared for her was nothing short of lavish, yet simultaneously terrifying in its desolation.
The rugs, the tapestries adorning the walls—everything was of the finest quality, yet none of it offered any comfort.
What on earth was Lyden's purpose?
At the same time, she made a conscious effort not to acknowledge the bed positioned at the center of the room.」
Creak, creak.
Forcing my stiff neck muscles to move due to tension, I surveyed the room once more and stood there with my mouth agape.
Wasn't this... similar to something?
The place where Lemeia had stayed in the original story—locked away in the Imperial Palace due to Lyden's abnormal obsession!
'And... even that bed in the center.'
Where my gaze fell, there stood a bed with an oddly designed canopy—veils hanging from the posts like curtains, subtly revealing the silhouette of anyone lying upon it.
Since the original story had described in detail what kind of history unfolded between Lyden and Lemeia on that bed, I could say with near certainty what this was.
"Wait."
I stopped my circuit around the room and stood still, my mind beginning to work.
Something was off.
No, the situation itself was strange, but the intuition that had just brushed past me stirred an unease suggesting something even more sinister lurked beneath.
Now that I thought about it, Lemeia had said something truly suspicious.
"...I remember now. When I first felt this way. It was the day I drank the tea sent by Crown Prince Lyden Cletan."
Lemeia was scatterbrained and a drama queen, prone to being swayed endlessly by Lyden's words, yet she wasn't so foolish as to lack self-awareness.
Even if she had only received lessons on being a bride, she had spent years as the flower of High Society.
Even Amber, the head maid attending to Lemeia, had mentioned it in passing.
"The Princess was never like this before... but ever since she fell in love, it seems all her attention has been focused there."
Of course, both Amber and I had been busy with our own affairs, and afterward, we rarely encountered each other, so we never had the chance to speak again.
Besides, I had only recently possessed this body, and I was too preoccupied with immediate survival to think about it in greater detail.
But according to what Lemeia said just now, something had changed after she consumed the tea Lyden sent?
"Oh no."
As fragmented memories surfaced one by one, my mind grew increasingly tangled.
"Moreover, I happened to discover someone emanating the aura of dark magic."
"Who is that?"
"Lemeia Salt from the Salt Kingdom, who arrived in the Imperial Capital not long ago."
At the time, there had been so little information that I couldn't even form any real conclusions and simply moved on.
But now, I couldn't help but suspect that dark magic was somehow connected to Lemeia's transformation.
And if it was indeed Lyden Kletan who sent the tea leaves to Lemeia?
'Doesn't that directly imply that Lyden is involved with dark magic?'
Even the Tower Master's visit to the Imperial Palace was because traces of dark magic had been discovered near the Imperial Capital.
Ah, now things were finally starting to fall into place.
'But why?'
What possible reason could Lyden have for using dark magic?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure that out, and my thoughts kept spiraling into a maze of confusion.
'Besides, I still don't even understand why I ended up locked in this creepy place instead of Lemeia.'
The feeling of being trapped in a confinement chamber from the original story was so bizarre that it defied description.
And then.
"Oh."
Thud.
As I took a few steps away from the door to observe the chamber more carefully, I accidentally kicked a rug with my foot.
As I bent down to adjust the rug back to its proper position, my eyes caught sight of something strange.
More precisely, when I touched it, a peculiar pattern that had been hidden beneath the rug was slightly exposed.
"What...?"
Seized by an ominous feeling in an instant, I shoved the thick, large rug aside with my foot.
And I discovered it.
"Damn."
A pattern that was far too familiar and deeply unsettling.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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