“So, what are you?”
“Huh?”
It was an unexpected question. Yellian, flustered, widened their eyes and tilted their head. Then, Leonard asked again with a stern expression.
“What are you, that you know this world is a novel?”
“Ah…….”
Yellian understood what Leonard was getting at. But they couldn’t bring themselves to speak the truth.
Who would believe them if they said they were a reader of the novel and somehow ended up possessing a character inside it?
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”
“I will.”
“Liar…….”
“I’m not lying. I’ll believe you, so tell me.”
It was a strange thing. Leonard was the mad duke, cruel and brutal, yet oddly, when he spoke seriously, Yellian felt a sense of trust. It was hard to explain, but they wanted to believe him.
Yellian looked at Leonard with an anxious expression before cautiously starting to speak.
“I’m not originally a feline humanoid. And I’m not someone who lived in this place either.”
Leonard’s eyes narrowed in surprise at Yellian’s words, as if confirming whether they were telling the truth. Though Yellian was wary of his reaction, they continued speaking since they had already started.
“I’m…… from a place called South Korea, a person from a world different from this one. In other words, from outside the novel. I was a reader who read the novel containing this world.”
“…….”
“Back there, my name wasn’t Yellian but Juan……. And I was feeding Gamja…… I mean, Steamed Gamja, when I came to my senses and found myself here. I don’t know how Gamja ended up here either.”
In the end, Yellian told everything honestly.
Would Leonard really believe their words? Yellian was curious. Even though he had said to speak because he would believe them, Yellian themselves found the story hard to believe.
“……I see.”
That’s it?
Yellian looked at him with surprised eyes at the brief response.
Are you saying you believe this? How can you? Are you deceiving me? Yellian could think of dozens of possible responses, but Leonard didn’t press further and instead replied plainly. The lack of realism in this reaction left Yellian blinking in astonishment.
“In that world…… I mean, in that novel, it seems Abigail and I are lovers, right?”
“Ah, yes…… yes.”
Should the two of them in
Yellian had their doubts, but they couldn’t exactly spill every detail to Leonard about how much of a madman he was in the novel, so they just agreed vaguely and moved on.
“Then, when you tried to escape during the last hunting competition, was it to return to your original world?”
“Yes……. That’s right.”
As Yellian answered cautiously, watching his reaction, Leonard gave a slight nod, then wiped the bloodstains off his sword blade with a handkerchief and sheathed it in the scabbard.
Only after seeing this did Yellian let out a sigh of relief. They took the handkerchief Leonard offered, grumbling as they wiped the blood from their ankle.
“It’s not like you’re giving me medicine after making me sick, cutting me and then handing me a handkerchief…….”
As expected, pressing the handkerchief against the wound and wiping it a couple of times stopped the bleeding quickly. Yellian couldn’t help but resentfully think that if this madman was going to cut so gently anyway, why not just avoid cutting in the first place? Why scare someone with threats?
“You talk too much nonsense.”
“I’ve always been like that.”
Yellian was so upset that they even retorted sulkily to Leonard’s words.
Leonard extended a hand to Yellian. It was clear he meant for them to take it and stand up. But Yellian, already thoroughly annoyed, didn’t want to take his hand. So, pretending not to see it, they stood up on their own.
“Are you sulking?”
“Sulking? How could I dare sulk at someone as lofty as my lord?”
“You might not realize it, but the one who’s displeased isn’t you, Yellian, it’s me. Do you have any idea how it feels to learn that the world I’ve lived in is nothing but a fabricated place created by someone else? And on top of that, Yellian, you knew all of this and hid the truth from me for months.”
“…….”
“I think I’ve done my part just by maintaining my composure right now. Am I wrong?”
“When you put it that way, I have nothing to say…….”
This time, it wasn’t sarcasm but genuine sentiment.
As Leonard said, his calm demeanor right now was truly remarkable. How many people could remain unfazed upon learning that the world they lived in was a fictional setting in a novel? And if someone living under the same roof knew this and kept it hidden, the shock would be doubled.
Despite all this, Leonard seemed unaffected. It was indeed impressive.
Yellian couldn’t help but be amazed at Leonard’s composure, nodding in acknowledgment. Of course, this feeling didn’t last long.
* * *
Clank.
“……What’s this?”
Yellian, who had been groggy from a hangover and had fallen into a nap as if fainting, woke up to a strange sound. They couldn’t identify the source of the noise, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound, sending chills down their spine. Yellian tilted their head, searching for the origin of the sound.
“Leonard, what’s that noise?”
Yellian, still rubbing their sleepy eyes, asked Leonard, who was standing at their feet.
“It was probably the sound of shackles being fastened.”
“Shackles……?”
The word felt so unreal that Yellian absentmindedly repeated it, tilting their head before glancing at their ankle peeking out from under the blanket.
“Shackles, damn it……!”
Expressing their feelings with a perfect rhyme, Yellian was dumbfounded.
A heavy silver shackle was fastened around their ankle. Shocked, Yellian reached out to undo it, but far from loosening, it didn’t budge at all. Yellian looked at Leonard in disbelief at this absurd reality.
“Wh-what’s going on……?”
“You said you were trying to escape to your world. Now you won’t be able to.”
“Ah……! No, I’m not going anymore, I’m not escaping!”
“How can I trust those words?”
“Ah, Steamed Gamja is here, and Geumdong is here too-how could I leave?”
Yellian hurriedly explained why they couldn’t escape. They had Steamed Gamja, whom they’d reunited with after so much difficulty, and Geumdong, who saw them as a parent-they couldn’t just abandon them and leave.
However, this answer didn’t seem to be the one Leonard wanted.
“So, if those two were gone, you’d leave, is that it?”
“No, why would you interpret it that way! Anyway, take this off, I’m telling you to take it off!”
Naturally, Leonard, being the mad duke, didn’t even blink.
Only then did it truly sink in for Yellian that he was the mad duke. At this rate, they might end up whipped, beaten, starved, or even forced to live off nothing but bodily fluids-a hardcore life of torment. The mere thought was so terrifying and dreadful that their body trembled involuntarily.
“If I try to escape, you can tie me up then! I haven’t done anything yet! Ah, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I’ll do anything. Anyway! I’m staying here quietly and behaving, so why are you doing this, why!”
Out of frustration, Yellian shouted loudly. They struggled to undo the shackles, but with thick hide tightly wrapped around their ankle and a heavy metal chain attached, there was no way it would open so easily.
“Argh, take it off! I’m telling you to take it off!”
“If you keep making noise, I’ll gag you next.”
“…….”
At his threat, Yellian quickly shut their mouth. Thinking about it, in
That meant if they didn’t want to suffer worse, they had to quietly obey Leonard.
‘Fine……. Shackles, whatever…… I’ll just think of it as wearing a damn accessory.’
Yellian decided to claim a mental victory. If they provoked him further and ended up gagged as well, it would be even more miserable.
Leonard quietly stared at Yellian, who had suddenly gone silent. For some reason, Yellian lay back down on the bed and started to fall asleep again. With shackles on their feet, no less.
At this point, even Leonard couldn’t help but tilt his head in curiosity.
‘……What kind of person are they, really?’
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