Nose to nose. The words weren’t enough. Amelia stepped back from her eyes, which were so close they could have touched her own if not for the hand gripping her head tightly. It was only now that she understood what ‘eyes filled with madness’ meant. This was the exact situation to use that description.

Every time she saw May’s normally dull grey eyes, she felt uncomfortable. At the time, she couldn’t pinpoint why, thinking maybe it was just because she didn’t like May. But it was actually because she had subconsciously noticed the hidden truth within May.

“…….”

“Those purple eyes.”

It was foolish, but a thought crossed her mind that May might actually take her eyes. She stared into Amelia’s eyes without blinking. The eeriness of it prevented Amelia from even closing her own eyes. And it wasn’t just that. She couldn’t even breathe.

“I always wanted to gouge those eyes out.”

The calm manner in which May spoke convinced Amelia of her sincerity more than anything else. From May’s perspective, Amelia’s eyes and hair might have been hateful. After all, Amelia had won Raphael over solely with her appearance.

“You have no idea how angry I was that I couldn’t.”

“…….”

“So I decided to change my plan.”

The more she listened, the clearer it became. May’s voice wasn’t just hoarse. Her vocal cords were damaged. The slight furrowing of her eyebrows as she spoke was proof of that. What on earth had happened to her to end up like this?

“If I can’t take them…”

Her limp hair seemed to have been torn out by someone, uneven in length. Her body was in no better state, with not a single part unharmed. It was unbelievable that she had infiltrated the Siegfried stronghold in such a condition. Amelia’s body trembled at the sheer madness and obsession May had for Raphael.

It was true that she had lost her will to fight. Alarm bells were sounding in her head. This was not an opponent she could deal with.

“I’ll just get rid of it.”

Should she beg for her life? No, May would never spare her. There was only one way for Amelia to survive: to outwit May and escape. That was nearly impossible. If May didn’t know magic…, she would throw herself at her with all her might, but she knew magic.

“Ah, I’ve silenced you, so you can’t speak.”

“Ugh… Ah!”

Amelia’s face contorted as May’s fingers roughly rummaged through her mouth to remove the cloth. She thought about biting the hand but stopped. For now, it seemed best to observe May’s movements.

“Ah!”

“Be quiet before you get bitten again.”

An aggressive pull on her hair almost made her cry out. It felt as if all her hair would be torn out.

“With this insignificant hair and eyes, you stole my man.”

She should say something right away. When had Raphael ever been May’s man? That man had his first love, and it certainly wasn’t Amelia or May.

“You filthy b*tch, coveting what belongs to another.”

Ptui. She couldn’t stand the damp liquid that hit her face. It infuriated her why she had to be treated like this in such a place.

“Speak correctly. He was never your man to begin with.”

“What?”

“Aaah!”

She should have stayed quiet. May shook her head so violently it felt like her skull would rattle loose. They say if you stay calm, you’ll survive half the ordeal… But she couldn’t stay quiet when she was saying such stupid things. She had never coveted what belonged to someone else.

Besides, she wasn’t the real Amelia. And even if she were the real Amelia, she didn’t understand what she had done wrong. It was Raphael who proposed a marriage. Amelia, with nowhere else to go, simply accepted it. That they ended up having a child during their marriage was beyond her control.

“If only you weren’t here…!”

“Ugh…!”

“Before you appeared, we promised each other a future.”

At the mention of a promised future, she snorted despite being in pain. May was deeply lost in her delusions. It was unlikely that Raphael, of all people, would have said such embarrassing things. Despite liking him so much, May seemed not to know him well at all.

It couldn’t be helped. The version of Raphael that May liked was merely a fragment. After all, he wasn’t the type to casually give his attention to a maid.

“Really… Did Raphael say that with his own mouth?”

“…… What do you know, spouting off like that!”

In the end, it was all just a figment of her own imagination. To kidnap and try to kill someone over such fantasies…. she wasn’t just ordinarily insane.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re going to die here today anyway.”

After a while of yanking at her hair, she let out a heavy breath in satisfaction. She wanted to grab May’s hair in return, but she couldn’t. It was cowardly of her to fight someone who had their hands and feet tied.

“Where is this…….”

“Curious about where you are?”

Only now did her surroundings begin to come into focus. She had been too disoriented to recognize where she was. It didn’t seem like she had left the castle……

Where is this? Is there a place like this in the Grand Duke’s castle? The source of the unpleasant smell wasn’t something like mold.

“Yes, I wanted to see that expression.”

“…….”

“In your lifetime, you would never understand how great he is.”

This place, which seemed like a dungeon, was filled with mold and moss. But that couldn’t be the source of the foul odor. The cause of the stench was blood and bones. Specifically, dried bloodstains and scattered bone fragments. There were no bodies, but one could guess what this place was.

Unidentifiable masses that looked like decaying things. The smell of death emanated from every corner of this space.

“You seem quite shocked.”

Contrary to May’s comment, Amelia wasn’t particularly surprised. She knew this place. It was the underground prison in the Grand Ducal castle. Everyone called it the torture chamber, though.

“Do you know how many people died here?”

“…….”

May was exaggerating to scare her on purpose. Of course, it was true that not a few people died here. The original story revolved around Leonel. It was only after Leonel grew up that he learned about the true nature of this prison.

Leonel didn’t use this place. He only knew that Raphael had actively used it. The only time Leonel used it was when he kidnapped the female protagonist, Sierra.

“So what does that have to do with me.”

“It means you’re going to die soon, too.”

Amelia thought she understood why May had brought her here. May’s appearance alone was a giveaway. From the beginning, May hadn’t breached the castle’s security to infiltrate it. She had been imprisoned here in this underground dungeon and escaped to find her.

“Even if you die here, no one will notice.”

“…….”

“Nobody will come for you.”

Unless there was someone kept here, nobody would come. The story that May had stopped working because she was sick was a blatant lie.

“It’s time for everything to go back to how it was.”

What happened in this place for May to become so broken? It seemed her sense of calmness had disappeared completely. Her voice was also creaking.

“I’ll take good care of our child.”

“Leonel is my son.”

Now she was delusionally claiming that Leonel was her son. She should have just kept quiet to avoid upsetting May, but she couldn’t.

“…….”

A sense of unease rose at the sight of May’s unresponsive demeanor. No matter how much she moved, trying to untie the ropes that bound her hands and feet, they wouldn’t budge.

“……It’s useless.”

If only there was something sharp… She could try to cut the ropes. The sight of her fidgeting was met with a cold grey gaze that sent shivers down her spine.

“The ropes are tied with magic; you can’t untie them.”

She never heard that such a thing was possible. Amelia tried her best to untie the ropes. Was she going to die a dog’s death here?

“Our dear Grand Duchess always refused to listen.”

As the footsteps came closer, she struggled even more. The only thing visible in those empty eyes was a desire to kill. If she stayed like this, she would die.

“That irritated me so much……”

“Let go…!”

She thought about screaming, but at this hour, no one would come down to the dungeon. Only a few knew of this place’s existence to begin with.

“With nothing but your silver hair and purple eyes.”

From May’s perspective, it might feel that way. She secured the position of the Grand Duchess solely because she looked the part. Something came out from behind May.

Several swords were aimed precisely at her.