Chapter 24
The top floor corridor of Fortress Prison. The warden paused briefly in front of the office door before carefully knocking.
Kyle glanced up coldly at his subordinate as he entered, then returned to signing the documents on his desk. Even when the warden stopped properly in front of him, Kyle did not raise his eyes.
Before Kyle—who always wore a stern expression and never showed a shred of leniency to prisoners—even the guards did not dare act rashly. He might look calm at a glance, but those who knew his thoroughness and ruthless hand all the more kept their distance.
“Though lately, he seems a little odd because of that female prisoner…”
While thinking this, the warden waited until Kyle finally set down his pen and raised his head.
“Do you have something to report?”
“Ah, the Security Division sent an official notice. I thought you should check it.”
“If it were important, it would have been sent to me directly.”
Even as he spoke, Kyle accepted the document the warden handed over. His expression chilled as he read the stiffly written communiqué. In a voice deep as a cave, almost to himself, he muttered:
“They’re reopening the witch murder case?”
At the sharper chill in Kyle’s eyes, the warden began to sweat and added awkwardly,
“They say the investigation was poorly handled, so they’re starting over from the beginning. Since it was a case that drew the public’s attention, they rushed to close it quickly and… seem to have overlooked some things.”
“I thought it was already transferred to the Inquisition. Whose decision is this?”
“They only said the Chief Justice of Security took it back…”
Kyle stared at the communiqué as though trying to bore a hole through it. Though he had already read the entire document, his gaze alone radiated an icy aura that froze the warden into silence.
Finally, Kyle set the paper down on the side of his desk and ordered:
“You may leave. And find out in detail which prince this Chief Justice is aligned with.”
The warden answered respectfully and left. Kyle’s gaze returned to the name written in the document—Veronica.
His long, knotted fingers brushed over the name. Just mere printed letters, yet they tasted bittersweet as he rolled them in his mouth.
For Veronica’s sake, he thought, he would have to be cruel to her once more.
Contrary to my worries about Kyle, nothing happened immediately. That was only because the prison warden himself had left Fortress.
He had departed, leaving behind only a single message through a guard telling me to behave. That suggested something urgent, though I had no way of knowing what.
I could only guess that perhaps another noble had refused imprisonment here.
“Hm… I wonder when he’ll return.”
I tapped my chin with my fingers. It was nice not having to see that difficult man, but I couldn’t be sure whether his absence was good or bad.
If I was to prove my innocence through the reopened case, even the smallest clue Kyle might drop could be invaluable.
If he was going to be away, he might as well have gone earlier—why vanish only when I needed him? I was sulking inwardly at his selfish timing when—
Plop. A cold drop of water splashed on my leg, and Richard immediately apologized.
“My apologies. I’ll find something to wipe it with.”
He paused mid-mopping, holding the rag, but all he had at hand was the dirty mop itself.
“It’s fine. The water wasn’t dirty anyway. You were just cleaning on my behalf.”
I shrugged and pulled my legs up onto the wooden bed to make his job easier.
Richard was in my cell at this hour because it was cleaning time. During cleaning time, the iron doors of every cell were opened, and prisoners had to sweep and wipe their own rooms.
I watched Richard mop the damp floor and murmured awkwardly,
“You don’t have to clean my cell too… Once you’re done, I’ll wash the rag and return it.”
“Please remain seated. You’re still recovering.”
At his raised hand stopping me before I could rise, I obediently sat back down.
Though I had no lingering side effects from the poison, Richard still insisted on doing everything in my stead.
The guards patrolling didn’t say anything about someone cleaning another’s cell, but having a man who had once been the Crown Prince’s sword serving me like a valet—it didn’t feel right. Gratifying, yes, but uncomfortable.
“…”
While cleaning thoroughly even the shadowed corners beneath my bed, Richard suddenly stopped. That was where I used to hide small things from the guards.
Not that they were anything important—just pilfered supplies or little odds and ends I’d found. Nothing of real value.
“…What is this?”
Something must have caught his eye. Slowly, he picked up a crumpled scrap of paper. My eyes fixed on it.
“That’s…”
It was a note I had scribbled on absentmindedly while thinking through things. The words scrawled on it now seemed to blaze in my sight.
[True love? Secret contact with the warden. Guard. Show of favor, sympathy. Seduction? Kiss? ♥♥♥]
Heat surged up my neck in humiliation, as though my thoughts had been laid bare. The note looked like nothing but silly romance musings—with multiple black hearts doodled in the corner, no less.
I reached to snatch it away, but no matter how fast I moved, I couldn’t outmatch a knight’s reflexes.
Richard easily kept the paper out of reach, frowning as he read over it intently.
“‘True love, secret contact, seduction, kiss’… What is this supposed to mean?”
His voice had gone deadly serious. His face hardened even more. Embarrassed, I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Why are you reading someone else’s notes!”
“I merely picked up trash from the floor.”
“Stop reading and give it back!”
I held out my hand firmly, but the paper only crumpled in his grasp.
It had been litter on the floor anyway, but his grim expression as he crushed it made me uneasy.
Stepping closer, Richard leaned in and whispered,
“Is it a guard?”
“…What?”
“There’s no need to deny it. Even if I oppose it, you won’t change your mind. Just tell me honestly.”
His words made no sense to me, and my nerves prickled. I gave up on retrieving the note and tried to push him away, but he didn’t budge, as though rooted in place.
Instead, when I wobbled, he steadied me with a firm grip on my arm.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m asking—this man you’re trying to love, is it a prison guard?”
Richard’s gaze locked with mine, his eyes darkening. They seemed to burn, and all I could do was stammer,
“Huh?”
“Do you have feelings for them?”
Rather than let him persist in this absurd misunderstanding, it was better to explain the truth.
The note, jotted down in my musings, had ended up looking like some silly romantic scheme. But it wasn’t some secret plan I had to keep hidden.
In fact, what I had written were just ideas about how to coax information from the guards I met during prisoner transfers to the lord’s castle. For me, trapped in Fortress, that was almost the only way to get new information about my case.
But as I hesitated, Richard’s face only grew darker, lost in his own conclusions.
“That’s not it. The words on that paper mean nothing like what you think.”
Instead of answering, he furrowed his brows as if he didn’t believe me.
“It’s true! Do you think I’m insane enough to fall for the guards who torture me?”
“…Very well. I believe you. No need to raise your voice.”
“You don’t look like you believe me at all—that’s why I’m raising my voice!”
Fearing the guards would hear the commotion, Richard quieted me with those words. But he only half-listened to my grumbling, sulking as he touched his own face.
“…Is it that my face is less pleasing than that of a guard?”
