Chapter 23
Unlike me, who was in a rush, Kyle remained perfectly composed.
“You know what I want.”
“That would be my body…”
“……”
His silence felt like a denial. Now that I thought about it, the eyes staring at me so intently held no heat. With our bodies pressed this close, I should have felt at least a flicker of passion. Even the heartbeat I felt against me was calm and steady.
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.
“Would I really have gone this far just to force myself on a single prisoner?”
“……”
No way. No way. Had he ever really crossed the line? He always spoke as though he were toying with me, but in the end, he never actually acted on it. As the warden, he could erase any line and step over it if he wanted to.
Then I remembered—Kyle had a strict rule about not touching female prisoners. If it wasn’t my body he wanted…
I hesitated, lips trembling, before finally blurting out the most absurd question.
“Then… don’t tell me what you want is my heart?”
Kyle pried off my hands, which had been clinging to his collar like hooks. My limp fingers fell uselessly through the air. As he straightened his disheveled front, he asked in a flat tone:
“Could you love me?”
“……”
I couldn’t say a word. Kyle, as if expecting my silence, indifferently walked past me to the mirror. He smoothed out his crumpled collar, and our eyes met through the reflection.
“You said you’d say anything. And yet you can’t answer this?”
I was dumbfounded. How could someone be this shameless, this utterly devoid of conscience? Had he sold his morals to the devil?
“You turned me into a witch and now you want me to love you? Do you honestly think that’s possible?”
If what he wanted was my heart, he should have courted me properly before throwing me in prison—sending flowers, writing letters, something like that.
But instead, Kyle killed an innocent person and framed me for the murder. And now he had the gall to shamelessly demand my love.
“Are you seriously insane?”
“……”
I looked at him with eyes stripped of anger or resentment, leaving only disbelief.
“Tell me something I can do. You must want something else.”
Having given up on trying to understand Kyle, I asked for something simple—something that could be settled cleanly like a transaction. But instead, he chose to complicate things even further.
“No. Try. Make an effort to like me—willingly, if possible.”
Kyle turned from the mirror, his eyes dark as they fixed on me.
“If you truly come to love me…”
“……”
“…then maybe I’ll clear your name and set you free.”
As if to end the conversation, Kyle opened the office door. I, too, unwilling to prolong this deranged dialogue, walked toward the exit. As I left, I cursed him coldly.
“Stop spouting nonsense. I’ll never love you—a man so wicked even demons would bow to you.”
“If you want to leave Fortress, you’ll have to love me.”
We locked gazes one last time, eyes as cold as ice, before I turned. The door clicked shut behind me.
I stepped onto the lawn and stared blankly out at the sea. The crashing waves and endless blue horizon calmed the storm of emotions inside me.
Amid the roar of the surf, Kyle’s low voice replayed in my head.
“If you truly come to love me… then maybe I’ll set you free.”
That somber, sunken look in his eyes was burned into my mind. He told me to try and love him, yet his gaze seemed to say it was utterly impossible.
That was why I couldn’t take his words at face value. Could that really be the face of a man who longed for love?
He didn’t seem to believe in love at all. So why set such a condition?
It was hard to grasp why someone as cold and calculating as Kyle would want love.
But if I assumed that he really had fallen for me the moment we met at the lord’s manor, then everything that followed made a kind of twisted sense.
As much as I didn’t want to believe it, Kyle truly liked me. And he wanted to be loved in return.
But pretending wouldn’t fool him. Half-hearted affection would never work.
Not that I had any intention of actually loving Kyle. I doubted I even could, no matter how hard I tried. Our relationship was closer to mutual loathing than anything resembling love.
The thought weighed heavily on me.
As the end of the walk drew near, I remained standing, lost in thought, until Richard cautiously approached.
“Did something happen? Ever since you met with the warden, you’ve seemed… listless.”
I turned and looked at him, standing a step away. Then, without warning, a simple and instinctive question slipped from my lips.
“Richard, do you love me?”
At my calm tone, his eyes flickered with shock.
“Why would you suddenly ask that…?”
While he stammered awkwardly, my expression stayed composed. Watching his eyes waver, I muttered as though speaking to myself.
“I was just wondering if I have some fatal charm I don’t know about. Am I really so beautiful that someone would kill just to possess me?”
“…It seems the belladonna poison still hasn’t fully left your system. You shouldn’t be out in the cold. Let’s head back inside.”
Richard’s voice had steadied as he tried to lead me back toward the prison. But I stopped, refusing his escort, and continued.
“I’ve always been pretty good at seducing people, you know. Be honest—Richard, did you fall for my looks too? You gave me potatoes, tended my wounds, and even said you wouldn’t help me escape.”
“……”
He didn’t deny it. Instead, his eyes reddened faintly.
Wait. That had only been half a joke. Could it actually be true? The thought left me a little flustered.
I stared openly at him. His black hair rippled in the sea breeze.
And suddenly, a thought crossed my mind: If only the one I had to love wasn’t Kyle, but Richard. Him—I could love easily. So easily.
I slowly reached out and smoothed back his wind-tossed hair. He flinched, eyelashes trembling, and then looked at me with gentle eyes.
For a moment, as our gazes held, the atmosphere turned warm, like being wrapped in spring air.
“Ugh! Are you two trying to rub it in our faces? Who makes out in prison?”
“Yeah, hogging the lawn like you own it! Pah! Just ask to share a cell already!”
Nearby inmates, out on their walk, grumbled loudly. Apparently, they couldn’t stomach the sight of a gallant knight like Richard compared to themselves, all hardened criminals.
I glanced disdainfully at the grass where one prisoner spat, then looked away.
Richard’s chilling glare was enough to scatter them. They remembered—too late—that even together, they couldn’t stand against him.
But the mood was broken. I shrugged once and teased lightly.
“Am I really not pretty in your eyes, Richard?”
“You’re… beautiful. To me, too.”
His shy yet honest reply was endearing. I let out a small laugh and tossed my wavy golden hair back over my shoulder. Well, if nothing else, at least I hadn’t lost my charm since coming here.
Buoyed with confidence, I confessed the dilemma that had been plaguing me.
“But I really don’t know how to act like I’m in love. I’ve never done it before. Have you, Richard? You said once you had a first love.”
I remembered him mentioning a girl he liked.
“That’s true… but it was more of a one-sided crush. Why do you ask?”
He looked at me in puzzlement. I gave a meaningful smile, turning my gaze toward the crashing sea.
“No reason. I just thought… maybe I should try falling in love with someone.”
“…!”
His eyes widened in shock.
