Madame Tessley was seated on a chair in the private room, her movements completely restricted. A lace tied her two hands, closely attached in front of her chest, with her back enclosed to the chair. So no matter how much he tried to loosen the elaborated knot, he couldn’t.

Her head was raised about 45 degrees, and the knife in her hand was pointed vertically under her lifted chin, so she couldn’t open her mouth.

“What happened?”

“Hoo…”

Rexid, trying to untie her knot, huffed and pulled out a dagger from his arms. When the tight lace got severed, the knife fell from Madame Tessley’s hands, allowing her to move again.

“Your Grace!”

“Explain what happened.”

“She threatened me and made me do this. Then, she ran away!”

“Hoo…”

Rexid, letting out another huff with his eyes covered for a moment, spoke.

“Hey, don’t disrespect me. I would be an idiot to not even know that. Tell me in detail. Remember every single thing—her actions and words—after she came inside!”

Madame Tessley sobbed and slowly recalled her memory. As soon as they entered the private room, the woman wiped off her demure expression and mumbled.

「Eyy~ If I knew the window would be open, I would have just come in alone.」 

「What?」 

While still confused by her words, the woman quickly came right behind Madame Tessley, placing the knife near her throat. Surprised, she held her breath, because she didn’t know when her blade would cut her neck.

[Since we came in together, let me ask you something. Lower your voice and answer quietly」

Madame Tessley quickly nodded with tears in her eyes.

[I don’t know the geography of the downtown. I want to go out as fast as possible to the outskirts, where people are scarce. Where should I go?」

「If y…you go straight to the right side of this bou…boutique, a sho…shopping street called Pa…Pahum will appear. If you go through there, it’s the clo…closest…」

「Thank you. Now, hold this knife in your hand and tilt your head. If you move incorrectly, your jaw will be pierced, so be careful.」

The woman instructed Madame Tessley, and personally brought her two hands together, making her hold the knife. She then made the knife aim at the bottom of her chin with her hand and tied her body using the lace.

Without hesitation, the woman tied Madame Tessley, forming a knot at the end. Her hand skills were extraordinary. Madame Tessley, seated in the chair, became unable to use her feet and open her mouth due to the knife under her chin.

She watched the woman easily changing the complicated dress that she had never worn, before escaping through the window.

“Haa…”

Madame Tesley finished her reminiscing while crying, and Rexid, glancing back at the window of the private room that had been swept open, let out a sigh.

‘If Owen finds out, he’ll find me pathetic again.’

He told him not to believe in Viper.

Rexid, scratching his head, picked up the knife thrown on the floor. She didn’t just steal forks from the camp…

“Haa…”

“Y…Your Grace, who on earth is that woman…”

“Did you tell her that going to Pahum is faster?”

When Rexid asked, Madame Tessley nodded her head.

Pahum, the connection between the downtown and the outskirts, was a poorly secured street. It was a shopping street only in name since it was near the outskirts of the border, and the only place that allowed foreigners and strangers to enter, so a lot of turmoil would occur even in daylight.

Spell…

He would have to activate the spell…

He became worried that the route she was trying to escape was that route, and if he kept on delaying it, their distance would get further. He wanted her to stay quiet so that he would never trigger the spell again, but it appeared to be a groundless word to Viper who only thought of running away in her head.

Rexid quickly left the dressing room and clenched his left fist. Once again, the spell was activated.

* * *

‘Aren’t you a fool?’

I pretended to be a little pitiful and told him some fabricated lies, and that somehow changed the atmosphere…

Rexid’s expression looked so impressive that I could see that he felt sorry for me.

As expected… No matter how much I thought about it, he was not a figure fit to be an emperor. Well, I’m glad I got out safely because he was a fool.

It takes 5 minutes to escape from the dressing room. I escaped and diligently walked for about 15 minutes or so.

The streets of Pahum, which the owner of the dressing room told me about, were close to a lawless zone lined with illegal shops.

Strangers with unique hair and eye colors wandered around with drugs from broad daylight, and women in embarrassing clothes appeared in front of the shopping street building. Moreover, both men and women were doing a dumb show. I didn’t even want to guess what they were doing.

It would be quite dangerous to fall in the middle of a place like this…

“Oh no!”

…As soon as I thought about it, I encountered two men returning from the corner of the alley. The two skinny men didn’t look so threatening, but they were drunk with drugs.

As I was trying to get out of their way, the two of them glanced at me with their startled eyes.

“In a place such as this… A lady from an aristocratic family?”

“I know right…”

The two men glanced at the dress I wore and grinned, seemingly puzzled.

After all, this gorgeous outfit was a problem. I chose the one, where I can move comfortably the most, among the clothes with long and loose laces…

I used up all the forks and knives I had stolen from the Drax prison camp, so I had nothing that can be used as a weapon with me.

Fortunately, the guys weren’t in their normal state and I could try to do something that I am able to.

While building a plan to escape, a man reached out to grab me.

“Ugh!”

As he was about to grab my right hand, a bewildered shout sprang from the man’s mouth. Perhaps due to his drunken state, the man didn’t seem to have even thought of any defiance from me.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll make sure that you’re incapable of fulfilling your duty as a man.”

It must hurt a lot, but it was none of my business.

It was at that moment when I tried to raise my knees and hit his vital spot.

“Ahh!”

Suddenly, my body became too heavy, and in no time, I knelt in front of the man.

That wasn’t the end. My upper body became immediately attached to the floor, and I fell flat on my face.

‘Ah, damn it…’

It was the same reaction as when my body moved on its own will for the first time in the kernel forest. Fortunately, there was no pain.

‘As expected, it wasn’t normal poison. It’s a type of sorcery.’

Perhaps the effect of the poison would be consumed upon the first activation, and the only thing remained was the action of the sorcery.

As a result, I lost sensation in my whole body, as if someone had given me an anesthetic injection.

‘I am really going crazy…’

I could feel my body getting stiffer. I wanted to sigh, but even that was not at my disposal. Thus, I ended up swallowing it back instead.

In fact, even If I had been determined to run away, I already had a thought that it wouldn’t be easy.

The concern that the same situation might happen again was already within my expectations. However, I needed conviction since the Grand Duke seemed unwilling to tell me what he had done.

And when I become sure… There would be no such thing as failure.

“What’s…this? What’s wrong with you?”

“Hehehe… You…look like…you’re…heavy with drugs?”

“Oh, even a girl who wore pretty clothes, huh? What is so hard that made you crawl like this on the floor in broad daylight?”

The guy behind him sat down with his knees bent and laughed, making eye contact with me.

This was really dangerous… In the meantime, my body, which had been struck by magic, reacted steadily. My limbs began to move constantly.

“Hehe… Where are you going, huh?”

Suddenly, I felt a heavy weight behind my back.

“Hahaha! Crazy Bastard! Hehe! What are you doing!”

“A pretty girl…! Running!”

I couldn’t look at the situation because I couldn’t turn my head, but I guessed it roughly.

It looked like the man, who had almost been hit on his vital spot, was behind my back. Moreover, the guy in front of me watched it and giggled, finding it fun.

‘Ah, I’m going crazy.’

Sorcery was an overly powerful kind.

Even though my body was not free due to the weight of the guy on my back, my hands and feet were moving with superhuman strength. It was obvious where the end would be even without seeing.

Probably in that man’s—Rexid van Hessen’s feet.

“Wh…whoa, you’re really running. This lady is amazing…”

The man on my back had already been intoxicated with drugs and appeared to be in a state where his sanity had already long vanished.

My hand, desperately trying to crawl, scratched the dirt floor and broke some of my nails.

“Hehehe… It’s soft…”

Goosebumps arose due to an unfamiliar touch felt on the back of my neck.

Even though he was in a confused state because of drugs, perhaps the soft skin wrapped around in his hands stimulated him. The man gasped for breath and giggled.

“Hehe…”

“Lady, did you take some kind of drugs? Normally, wouldn’t aristocratic ladies do something good and not the cheap thing we do? Are there other things too?”

The man sitting in front suddenly reached out and touched my cheek.

And then.

Suddenly, the urgent sound of footsteps approached, and my body, which had been stiff and restricted in movement, became free at that moment.

At the same time, I glanced up and saw the face of the man, who had been squatting and laughing insidiously, flew to the side.

“Hey…!”

The man, who had been kicked in the head by someone’s leg, could not make a single sound and flew into the alley wall.

Like the sound of a ripe watermelon popping, the man in the wall immediately fainted and collapsed.

Surprised by the cruel scene, I stared at the man with my eyes blinking and belatedly turned my eyes to the front.

“Oh my goodness…”

Rexid Van Hessen.

The man, who abruptly appeared and kicked the person’s head, was frowning and panting. It was obvious why this man, who had good physical strength, was panting like that.

From the dressing room to this place, he seemed to have been running within a short time that one couldn’t even imagine.

Rexid, who quickly captured his panting breath, tilted his head with a grim look, staring at the man who was still on my back.

“Do you want to die? What are you sitting on?”