Chapter 140. Shackles

Her mind went blank.

She couldn’t think of anything.

As Ellen unconsciously stumbled backward, Felix quickly caught her. He too looked extremely surprised.

“Your Highness, Grand Duke of Bayern, why are you here…”

“Shut that insolent mouth.”

After coldly rebuking Felix, Enoch closed the distance with frightening speed and snatched Ellen. Felix, helplessly robbed of her, blinked in bewilderment, groping the empty air with his hands.

Felix also didn’t know why the Grand Duke of Bayern was here. He hadn’t received any word from the Raman family…

‘How?’

While he was in confusion, Enoch looked down at Ellen, who was trembling in his arms. Her face was pale. She looked like a corpse about to be buried. Enoch laughed coldly. He couldn’t believe she was really with Felix Werner.

“Give me at least two reasons why I shouldn’t shoot that bastard.”

Ellen, looking up blankly at the fiercely growling Enoch, was in a complete state of panic. She was trembling so pitifully that suddenly tears started streaming down her face. Then, unexpectedly, she collapsed on the spot. Enoch looked down at Ellen with an utterly bewildered expression.

“What have you done to cry about.”

“……”

“How dare you… run away with that bastard.”

“Y-Your Highness, that’s a misunderstanding.”

“I told you to shut up. Before I kill you.”

Felix quickly intervened to deny, but Enoch was in a state where he couldn’t see straight. His insides were boiling like lava. He couldn’t contain his anger at this woman who dared to abandon him and choose such a bastard.

The fact that they were in a contractual relationship and that the love magic had worn off didn’t matter. In any case, he was still her husband, and she was his wife. As long as he didn’t completely let her go, that fact wouldn’t change. Until death.

“After denying so strongly that you were just friends… Did you enjoy deceiving and playing with me?”

“……”

“Tell me. What did you do coming all the way here with that bastard? Did you perhaps share a hotel room too?”

Hearing those clearly insulting words, Ellen looked at him with wide eyes, as if she couldn’t believe it. Tears were flowing endlessly from her water-colored eyes. Like rain that wouldn’t stop.

“Did you think I’d just let you go after you ran away without my permission?”

He harshly pulled up the powerlessly sitting Ellen with a rough movement. Ellen, whose arm was gripped painfully tight, let out a pained groan and gasped for breath. Her reaction seemed as if she was having a panic attack.

“Your Highness, let me say it clearly once again, this is truly a misunderstanding. I met Her Highness by chance in Rublea. I did not accompany her to this city. I swear…”

“I told you to shut up.”

Enoch, finally exploding, pushed Ellen aside and turned towards Felix. What happened next was truly instantaneous.

Thwack!

Enoch’s fist strongly struck Felix’s face. Grabbing the collar of the fallen man and pulling him up, Enoch spoke with a violent intensity as if he would kill him.

“Felix Werner, you bastard who doesn’t know your place. You dare to lay hands on my woman? Do I need to thoroughly crush you and the Werner family for you to come to your senses?”

“It’s really a misunderstanding. Please calm down. Please… Ellen!”

Felix, who had been pleading, suddenly threw his gaze towards Ellen and shouted loudly. Enoch, who had carelessly thrown him aside, hurriedly turned around. Ellen was collapsed on the floor, painfully gasping for breath as if she was having difficulty breathing, clutching her solar plexus in agony.

“Ellen!”

Quickly rushing to Ellen’s side, Enoch carefully took her into his arms. As soon as their bodies touched, Ellen, as if having a seizure, struggled violently to get away from him. Enoch cursed and held her more tightly.

“Damn it, don’t move. Just stay still.”

Holding her chin with one hand and lifting it, he kissed her right there. He breathed into her parted lips several times. Perhaps thanks to the skillful artificial respiration, Ellen gradually began to calm down. Nevertheless, her eyes were still full of fear when looking at him.

Still trembling and crying, she moved her pale lips.

“…With Felix… nothing happened… misunderstanding…”

After mumbling these few words that didn’t form a complete sentence, Ellen finally fainted. Golden eyes filled with intense emotions of anger, resentment, betrayal, and bewilderment… That was the last thing she saw.

* * *

Ellen regained consciousness around 1 PM.

She suddenly woke up and tried to get up hastily, but stopped as she felt a severe dizziness that made her head spin.

As she frowned and kept her eyes tightly shut, the dizziness gradually subsided. Ellen slowly opened her eyes and let out a long breath.

What came into view was the scene of an unfamiliar room. …Where could this be?

After getting out of bed and looking out the window, she saw a familiar street scene. The street where the Raman family’s mansion was located. It seemed she was still in the Raman family’s mansion.

‘How long was I unconscious?’

She anxiously looked around the room and spotted her belongings placed on one side, quickly approaching them.

Checking inside her handbag, she found her emergency funds and the magical tool containing the sleep magic that she had brought just in case, still intact.

‘There must be someone guarding outside the door.’

Where could Enoch be? Is he talking with the Raman family members?

She never thought he would actually chase after her. Ellen trembled as she recalled Enoch’s anger-filled eyes which she had last seen before losing consciousness.

She had almost no clear memories of what happened right after encountering him in the reception room. She only vividly remembered two things: that Enoch had misunderstood her relationship with Felix, and that he was extremely angry with her.

‘…He won’t leave me alone.’

Indeed, the reason he had found her must be to punish her. Recalling how furious Enoch had been made her body tremble again. Ellen didn’t have the courage to face his anger. His hatred was not something she, weakened and close to death, could endure.

‘…I need to escape.’

Before Enoch comes to this room… I must hurry and get out of here.

In a state of extreme fear and half out of her mind, Ellen took the magical tool from her handbag and approached the door. When she slightly opened the door, she could see Enoch’s knight standing guard through the gap.

I’m sorry. Ellen muttered inwardly as she used the magical tool. The sleep magic soon enveloped the knight, putting him into a deep slumber.

After confirming that the knight had collapsed and fallen asleep, Ellen quickly came out into the hallway and started running.

The structure of these townhouses was generally similar, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find the entrance. Ellen dodged people’s eyes and fled here and there, finally finding the entrance. It was a small door used by the servants.

Hurriedly stepping outside, she looked around for a moment and then ran towards the direction of the train station. She needed to catch a carriage, but unfortunately, not a single one was in sight.

To make matters worse, it started to rain. The light drizzle soon turned into a downpour. The fierce rain and wind lashed at Ellen’s body. She shivered, soaked to the bone, taking weak steps forward.

She felt like she might collapse at any moment, her body refusing to muster any strength. This can’t be… I must escape. If I face that person again, if I have to bear the full brunt of his anger and hatred… Then I…

I might die before even living out my remaining lifespan.

It was too frightening.

The fear was unbearable.

As much as she loved him, she was terrified that he had come to hate her…

‘I should have…’

I should have never loved him.

Maybe I should have been that despicable woman who only used him without loving him at all.

Would that have at least made my heart easier?

Ellen smiled sadly at this meaningless hypothesis. No, she cried. Hot tears flowing down her cheeks mixed with the cold rain.

Staggering precariously, she finally collapsed onto the street. She needed to run away… but her legs no longer had any strength.

Her body was cold.

Her head hurt, she felt dizzy, her insides seemed to be twisting, and her heart felt like someone was squeezing it tightly.

Would she die like this?

Like this?

So lonely, in the rain… in such a miserable state.

‘This isn’t… the death I wanted…’

It was then.

She heard the sound of someone’s heavy footsteps approaching.

Ellen blankly shifted her gaze in that direction.

The figure that appeared through the rain.

…It was him.

He had found her again.

Once more.

“You’re insane.”

Ellen instinctively flinched and hunched her shoulders as his sharp voice reached her. He strode over and lifted her without warning. Too easily and hopelessly, she was captured by him again.

“Running out in this rain? Are you crazy?”

“……”

Ellen, trembling from fear and cold, suddenly sensed something odd and stared at him blankly.

…It was strange.

Is it my imagination that his voice sounds worried?

Have I finally gone mad?

Or… am I already dead and in heaven?

The echo of her thoughts resounded distantly. Ellen, slowly blinking her heavy eyelids, inevitably lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, she found herself in a place she had never seen before.

An antique room shrouded in darkness.

“Are you awake?”

A familiar baritone voice came from right beside her.

Ellen unconsciously moved her legs, then stopped abruptly when she felt something cold and hard clanking at her ankle.

Her gaze naturally turned downward.

Ellen soon gaped in shock.

‘What is this…’

A heavy silver metal, whether shackles or an anklet, was fastened to her ankle.