Chapter 43
I laid out the blueprint I had drawn and began explaining.
First, the exterior of Fortress Prison can be divided into two directions: three cliff sides surrounded by the sea and one path extending toward the land.
On the land side, there is a massive outer wall encircling the buildings and the only exit—a movable gate. On the opposite side, there’s a lawn where prisoners can take walks and exercise.
As for the interior, the building has one basement floor and four above-ground floors. On the top floor are the warden’s office and reception room.
I heard that the third floor houses the kitchen and the living quarters for the guards, while the second floor contains cells for high-ranking noble prisoners and model inmates, as well as meeting rooms for lawyers.
The first floor contains cells for commoner prisoners and visiting areas, and the basement houses solitary cells, interrogation rooms, and torture chambers.
Looking at it like this, witches and traitors were at the very bottom of the prison hierarchy.
So, what we needed the most was…
“To escape the prison, we absolutely need the keys.”
One or two iron doors might be manageable, but trying to open all the doors with a simple hook, as we were considering, would take too much time and be extremely risky. If a door didn’t open, the escape attempt would end in failure.
“We’ll need to take the keys from the guards to move up each floor. The problem comes in the next step. Neither Richard nor I can open the main gates ourselves, so exiting through the doors is impossible for now.”
The movable gate on the outer wall is a heavy iron door operated by machinery. Guards not only watch over it, but even they cannot pass through without the warden’s or the head guard’s permission.
“Then we’ll have to find a way out of Fortress without going through the main gate.”
“How about breaking a window close to the outer wall? We can tie the bed sheets into a rope and throw it outside the window. Then we can climb down along the wall.”
Although I suggested a classic escape method, Richard’s reaction was not favorable. He said that all windows on the first and second floors were barred, so the rope would be too short.
Moreover, he shook his head, saying the distance between the wall and the window was farther than it appeared.
“Setting fire to the prison might be better. There’ll be chaos as everyone evacuates, and unless you intend to kill the prisoners, the guards will open the doors.”
“They probably won’t open the main gate, though. I think they’d just send us out to the lawn…”
Richard seemed to think the same, pressing his lips into a straight line.
So this method was discarded too. I brought up the last idea I had considered.
“We’ll have no choice but to dig a long tunnel. Crawling through the night to cross the outer wall would delay the guards from discovering us. The question is whether we can finish the tunnel with a spoon before the execution date…”
I let out a heavy sigh. Even with an escape partner, breaking out would be this difficult.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll find a way, no matter what.”
I nodded casually. Though I felt sorry for Richard, one person immediately came to mind.
‘Kyle Caseenis could probably get me out…’
“I heard there was a carriage accident, but you seem fine.”
I carefully studied the face of the head guard standing beyond the iron bars.
Until just before the trial, he had been negative toward my presence shaking Kyle. Given what he had said to me recently, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had been pleased with my death sentence.
He didn’t come to check on me, right? Or is he trying to blame me even for Kyle getting injured?
I answered the head guard warily.
“Well, fortunately, I’m not seriously hurt. Compared to the carriage overturning, I’m pretty okay. I want to live healthily until it’s time to die, after all.”
The thought of spending the rest of my days bedridden until execution was unbearable.
If I had returned with even one broken bone, escaping would have been impossible, and I’d be trapped in a cell, waiting only for death.
A shiver ran through me.
Unexpectedly, the head guard’s response was far from what I had anticipated.
“Be thankful to the warden for saving you. Whether intentional or not, no guard in Fortress will touch you from now on, me included.”
My eyes froze on him in surprise. Was he saying… even the head guard can no longer touch me freely?
It seemed I had firmly established myself as a force within the prison, even more than Kyle.
Given that the head guard was much older than Kyle, I expected resistance, yet he quietly complied, which left me feeling strangely dazed.
“Well… that’s good, I guess.”
I muttered in a hesitant voice, and he averted his gaze.
“What I said and did has nothing to do with you, so I hope you won’t hold me responsible for anything.”
I was momentarily speechless, tilting my head. His change in attitude was so startling that I couldn’t even muster the mood for confrontation.
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? You weren’t opposed to me and Kyle?”
The sabotage hasn’t even begun yet. Is he being scolded or reflecting? Or is he just trying to ingratiate himself now that he senses power…?
He didn’t rise to the position of head guard by accident; perhaps he’s unexpectedly good at flattery.
It felt as though I had just glimpsed the hidden world of the guards.
“There’s no need to oppose anything. I’ll follow your lead, Warden.”
Right. The head guard had cunningly switched his stance.
I tried not to look at him with cold eyes, but I couldn’t fully hide my expression. I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders.
“Honestly, I’m not happy about it, but I’ll forget your previous rudeness. Let’s get along from now on.”
The head guard looked puzzled at my hand extended for a handshake. Pretending not to see, he quickly turned his head.
Had I gone too far with the handshake? I awkwardly withdrew my hand.
Still, judging by his behavior, there was no need to doubt his sincerity. Life in the cell would likely be easier than before, and with this, could this even still be called a prison?
I couldn’t help a small smile.
“Well, that’s good. Anyway, I had something I wanted to ask, but there wasn’t anyone appropriate to ask.”
I had concluded that escaping Fortress with only Richard’s help would be difficult.
Even if I tried to ignore it, the easiest and fastest way to escape was through Kyle.
However, Kyle was someone more likely to be used than to use others. Approaching him without information could lead me into an even deeper quagmire.
My instincts, honed through experience, blinked a warning red. I knew too little about him. To avoid being manipulated by Kyle’s schemes, I needed to know more about him than he knew about me.
So, I planned to extract information about Kyle from the head guard, who was the only person here aware that Kyle, not I, was the real murderer of Prince Georg.
“I want to understand Kyle. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand why a man who likes me behaves this way.”
“……”
“You know, don’t you? Why he committed such absurd acts.”
He hesitated. For a moment, the surrounding noise quieted, and the head guard’s eyes met mine calmly.
“Your mother was also a prisoner at Fortress, just like you…”
His lips moved, forming incomprehensible words. His low voice resonated sporadically against my eardrums. The story he murmured wasn’t immediately understood.
Even a beat later, when the meaning of his words became clear, I was overwhelmed by what he revealed and couldn’t move.
