‘But the opponent he picked happened to be the boss of a criminal organization notorious for quick hands and brutality.’
In the end, it seemed that in exchange for striking the back of that inmate’s head once, Gerald had been hit in the solar plexus and was now being humiliated by that man’s subordinates in the same cell.
Having roughly grasped the situation, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘It was already a dangerous situation even if he’d kept his head down. He really should have read the room. He’s always been hopelessly stupid about things like this.’
In any case, if an inmate killed or seriously injured another inmate inside the cell, it wouldn’t be good for their own sentences either, so Gerald wouldn’t end up seriously hurt today.
‘Still, the hierarchy in this cell will definitely be set now.’
As I watched with a silent, wry smile, another inmate stepped in and sneered.
He had small, mean-looking eyes, and a knife scar on his face, giving him the unmistakable impression of a violent criminal at a glance.
“Hey, Baron Cucumber.”
At his words, the surrounding inmates burst out laughing openly.
“Hahaha! Right, isn’t this one not even a man?”
“Last time he was bragging to me about how he’d played around with plenty of women, and now what? He was a cucumber? Hahahahaha!”
Gerald bristled and lifted his head as if about to argue back, but after seeing the terrifying look on that inmate’s face, he immediately dropped his gaze to the floor.
‘Seriously, he still only knows how to control his anger selectively depending on who he’s dealing with.’
The inmate with the vicious-looking face bent down and, while Gerald was still sprawled on all fours on the floor, tapped his cheek in a humiliating manner, tap, tap.
“Baron Cucumber. I hear you didn’t discriminate when it came to beating women, just did it whenever you felt like it?”
At that, the inmates let out sounds of disbelief, like air leaking out of them.
‘Looks like even among prisoners, those who committed crimes against women or children are treated even worse than trash.’
Another inmate chimed in.
“No, more precisely, I heard he only beat women. Supposedly he behaved himself in front of men?”
“Huh, would you look at that?”
The inmate with the knife scar put more strength into the hand that had been lightly striking Gerald’s cheek.
As force went into his thick hand, the sound of the slaps immediately changed from “tap, tap” to “smack, smack.”
Gerald’s face, already prone to exaggerated reactions, immediately crumpled into a tearful mess.
‘Oh dear, he’s about to cry.’
As I watched, I recalled something I had happened to overhear Raven reporting to Rastan yesterday.
“I instructed the detention guards to pretend to chat among themselves and leak information about his background and behavior to certain inmates.”
“Right. You must have selected the ones who would be moved into the same shared cell with him tomorrow.”
“Of course.”
Since Rastan knew I would be coming here today, he had clearly taken care to stage the situation. A faint smile rose at the thoughtful consideration.
‘I should treat him well when we get back to the ducal estate later.’
Deciding that I had seen enough, I turned to the guard standing behind me.
He was holding the large basket of snacks I had brought.
“Let’s go up to the cell.”
At my command, he bowed his head once and stepped forward.
As the two of us appeared, turning the corner of the corridor, the inmates froze and all turned their heads toward us at once, like meerkats.
Seeing a noblewoman in a prison, something they would never normally see, everyone looked intrigued, but Gerald’s eyes in particular widened as if they might pop out.
‘He already looked filthy, and now with tears and snot all over his face, he looks even uglier.’
When I gestured to the guard, he lifted the basket in front of him and stepped right up to the cell.
I put on a deliberately gentle, benevolent smile and swept my gaze over the inmates.
“May God’s forgiveness and mercy come upon you.”
At that, some of the inmates nodded as if they understood.
From time to time, noblewomen would visit slums or prisons in accordance with divine teachings and distribute food and the like.
“Now then, you first. You’ve worked hard.”
I personally took out a generously filled sandwich from the basket and handed it to the guard as I instructed him,
“Give one to each of those inside as well.”
Then, one by one, as the inmates received their sandwiches from the guard, I addressed each of them with words like, “You’ve worked hard,” and “Stay strong.”
Even the inmates who had been rough with Gerald were obediently bowing their heads to me now, perhaps because my status seemed high, or perhaps because I was giving them good food.
While everyone else received their sandwiches, Gerald still remained in one corner of the cell, only staring this way with eyes full of distrust and resentment, not coming any closer.
But after watching the others eat, perhaps he felt his hunger anew, because he rubbed his stomach.
He seemed to hesitate for a long while, but eventually straightened up and walked over to stand behind the last inmate in line.
‘So he finally came closer.’
At this point, today’s purpose in coming here had already been achieved.
When I glanced his way, Gerald reflexively dropped his gaze to the ground, then approached with a somewhat resolute expression.
‘What is he planning to say, looking that determined?’
When he reached right in front of me, he looked vaguely off to the side and spoke in a small voice.
Perhaps because one side of his face was still numb, his pronunciation was a bit slurred.
“Um, th- th, ah… my Lady. I, I also…”
“Ah, I see.”
After what he suffered last time, he clearly couldn’t speak to me carelessly like before, but trying to use honorifics toward someone he used to look down on made his mouth refuse to move.
Even so, seeing him still brazenly holding out one hand made a dry laugh escape me.
‘He went to all that trouble to speak, so what do I do now? I didn’t bring anything for you in the first place.”
When I gestured to the guard, he turned the basket toward Gerald and showed him the empty inside.
“I’m sorry, but we’re all out.”
Gerald’s face immediately twisted.
‘He’s probably regretting lowering his pride and using polite speech on me when he wasn’t going to get anything anyway.’
Then as now, he was the kind of person whose thoughts were painfully easy to read.
Seeing his upper lip twitch and quiver, it was obvious he wanted to spit out a curse.
But to his great fortune, it seemed he still had at least a shred of reason left.
He glanced at the guard standing beside me, then swallowed his words with a strained sound.
‘He beats me and Dona however he likes, but he hates it when he’s the one getting hit.’
Just then, other guards opened the door on the opposite side of the cell, the side leading deeper into the building.
“All you Kraken Gang bastards, get over here and line up! You’re going to the interrogation room one by one.”
As all the inmates inside the cell moved that way, Gerald hurriedly grabbed the bars and thrust his face out toward me as far as he could.
“Evel— no, my Lady. For the sake of old times, just give me one chance… please.”
He was hoping that if I, a noble, paid his bail, assigned him a lawyer, or pulled some strings elsewhere, he might get out a little more easily.
‘He certainly has lofty dreams.’
When I continued to look at him without answering, Gerald drooped his eyebrows and kept talking.
Seeing even some acting thrown in, it seemed life in here had been quite hard on him.
“We were engaged. Don’t you feel even a little sorry for me…? Didn’t we live together as family under one roof, even if only briefly…?”
‘Ha.’
I listened to see what he was going to say, and it was utterly ridiculous.
These were exactly the words my past-life self had wanted to say to him.
As he mercilessly beat someone weaker than himself, hadn’t he felt even a shred of pity? Hadn’t there been even the slightest affection, living under the same roof?
I was obviously going to refuse, but I had no intention of cutting him off cleanly with a single word of rejection.
‘I wonder if you’ve ever heard about the concept of torturing someone with hope.’
I deliberately responded in a tone that sounded sympathetic.
“It looks like life in here is very hard.”
As if clinging to a thread-thin hope, Gerald’s face immediately brightened.
“Th-that’s… of course it is! …Yes! Just look at this pigsty. Isn’t this something nobles simply can’t endure? Maybe lowly people could, but…”
“Right. It’s a place nobles can’t stand.”
‘But you’re a commoner now.’
When I subtly pointed out his slip of the tongue, Gerald’s expression stiffened in realization.
“That’s right! Someone like me, a commoner…”
He hurriedly exclaimed it, but couldn’t bring himself to finish by saying it was bearable, so I finished it for him.
“Ah, right. You said that before about the servants of House Lansval, didn’t you? That commoners are so lowly they don’t even need beds. That they sleep just fine on stone floors.”
