Chapter 6

Madam Tesley was sat on the fitting room chair, not being able to move an inch.

She was tied to the chair using laces with her back attached to the backrest, her arms and legs pulled up close to her chest. The knot was so intricate that she couldn’t untie it with her fingers.

Her head was tilted at a 45-degree angle, and the knife in her hand was placed below her chin vertically so she couldn’t open her mouth to make a noise.

“What happened?”

“Uhh…”

Rexid, who tried to untie the knot, let out an angry sigh and pulled out a small knife.

When he cut the tight knot, Madam Tesley was able to move and the knife fell out from her hand.

“Your Highness!”

“Explain what happened.”

“T-that woman threatened me, tied me up like this, and ran away!”

“Ha…” Rexid closed his eyes, sighed, and told her. “Hey, don’t look down on me. I’m not an idiot, I know that much. Remember every single thing that happened here, from the moment that woman came here, to what she said to you.”

Madam Tesley slowly retraced her steps as she cried her eyes out.

As soon as they entered the fitting room, the woman's relaxed expression changed completely and she started murmuring.

-Come on, if I knew there would be a window in here like that I would have come in alone.

-Pardon?

As she wondered what on earth she was talking about, the woman slipped behind Madam Tesley in the blink of an eye and held a knife up to her neck.

She was surprised, but she didn’t dare to breathe because she didn’t know if the sharp edge would pierce her skin.

-Since you’re here, let me ask you something. Keep your voice down and answer me.

Madam Tesley nodded her head repeatedly, her eyes full of tears.

-I don’t know the layout of this city and I want to go to the outskirts where there aren’t that many people as fast as possible. How do I get there?

-I-if you head to the right side of the store, t-there’s a shopping street called Pahum. I-if you go that way, t-that’s the closest…

-Thank you. Now, take this and tilt your head back. If you make one wrong move, you might get a hole in your neck, so be careful.

After warning her, the woman gathered Madam Tesley’s hands as she made her hold the knife.

Then, she positioned the knife up toward the bottom of her chin and tied her down with laces.

She didn’t hesitate once as she restrained Madam Tesley and tied a knot in the middle. Her skills were extraordinary.

Madam Tesley couldn’t use her legs because she was on a chair, and she couldn’t open her mouth because there was a knife pointed at her neck.

She watched the woman that said she’s never worn such a complicated dress before change with ease and took her time escaping.

“Ha…”

Rexid sighed again as he looked at Madam Tesley who finished recalling what happened in tears, and the window of the fitting room opened wide.

‘Owen’s going to look at me like I’m pathetic if he finds out. Especially after all that nagging about not believing anything that she says…’

Rexid scratched his head and picked up the knife from the floor.

The fork wasn’t the only thing she had smuggled out of prison, was it…?

“Ha…”

“M-my Lord… who is that woman?”

“Did you say you told her it would be faster to go towards Pahum?”

Madam Tesley nodded her head when Rexid asked her.

Pahum, which was the connecting point that led to the outskirts of the city, was a very dangerous street.

It was called a shopping street, but there was always a commotion there even during daylight hours. Mostly because it was close to the outskirts, which was near the border and the only place where foreigners could enter.

‘The incantation…’

‘I should activate the incantation…‘

He was worried because the route was dangerous, but if he delayed it any longer, she would get even farther away.

Rexid had hoped that she would be cooperative enough that he wouldn’t have to activate the incantation again but wishing that of Viper, who only ever thought about ways to run away, was useless.

Rexid swiftly exited the clothing store and clenched his left fist. Once again, the incantation was activated.

***

‘Is he stupid?’

After acting a little helpless and telling a couple of lies, this was the situation I found myself in. Rexid’s face, which looked as if he felt some sort of compassion for me, was a sight to behold.

As expected, no matter how I think about it, he was not emperor material.

‘Well, it’s fine, I guess. I got out of there safely because he’s such an idiot.’

I spent all of 5 minutes at the clothing store. Then, walked diligently for around 15 minutes after escaping.

The Pahum shopping street that the store owner told me about was basically a lawless zone with illegal stores lined up everywhere.

Foreigners with unique hair and eye colors roamed the streets high on drugs since daybreak, and women dressed up in skimpy clothing were outside the store buildings waving at passing men and women regardless.

I could easily make a guess at what those stores are for, so I had no desire to see it…

If I collapse in the middle of this street, it could be dangerous…

“Oh, no.”

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I ran into two men who had just turned the corner of an alley.

The two skinny men didn’t look all that intimidating, but they were clearly very high on drugs.

I tried to move out of the way, but the two blocked me as they stared with dilated pupils.

“What’s noble lady doing in a place like this?”

“Ha… I don’t know…”

The men looked down at the dress I was wearing and tilted their heads in wonder.

As expected, the fancy dress was the issue even though I chose the one that looked most comfortable to move in out of all the long, extravagant dresses decorated with laces.

I didn’t have any weapons on me because I had already used the knife and fork that I smuggled out of the prison.

The fortunate thing was that the men weren’t in their right minds, and they were small enough that I could easily put up a fight.

As I was trying to come up with an escape plan, one of them reached out his hand to grab me.

“Ah!”

As soon as I twisted his hand, a panicked exclamation escaped the man’s mouth.

Sure enough, as he was high on drugs, it was clear that the man didn’t expect me to resist.

“Sorry. I’ll leave you able to act like a man at least.”

It was going to hurt, but that wasn’t my business.

In that moment, I lifted my knee to strike his vital spot.

“Ahh!”

Suddenly, it seemed like my body was becoming extremely heavy and in an instant, I knelt down in front of the man. It didn’t end there. My torso glued itself to the ground instantly, and I fell flat on my face.

‘Ah, damn it…’

It was exactly the same response as when my body had first moved on its own back at the forest.

But thankfully, I wasn’t in pain this time.

‘This poison is definitely not normal. It’s must be some kind of incantation.’

It seemed like the effects of the poison were all used up during the first activation, so all that was left was the incantation.

This time, all sensations in my body had disappeared as if I took an anesthetic injection.

‘This is driving me nuts, seriously…’

I could feel my body getting stiffer. All I could do was sigh, but even that didn’t happen the way I intended so I just swallowed it down.

Truthfully, I didn’t think it was going to be easy when I decided to run away.

Concern of the same thing happening again had already infiltrated my predictions.

But the grand duke seemed to have no intention of telling me exactly what he did to me, and I needed to be sure.

And even though now I was reassured… this was such a crucial failure.

“What’s… this? What’s wrong with her?”

“Hehehe… She must be high as a kite.”

“What’s a lady like you wearing a pretty little dress crawling on the floor in broad daylight, huh?”

The man stood at the back bent his knee, crouched down, and giggled as he locked eyes with me.

‘This is getting really dangerous…’

Even in this situation, my body was reacting accordingly to the incantation, and my hands and feet started moving.

“Hehe… Where do you think you’re going, huh?”

Suddenly, I felt a heavy weight on my back.

“Haha! Y-you’re insane! Hehe! What are you doing?!”

“Pretty lady! Giddy up!”

I couldn’t turn my head to look at the situation, but I could take a good guess as to what was happening.

It seemed like the man I was about to strike in the groin had jumped on my back.

The man in front of me was watching the scene and burst out into laughter.

‘Ah, damn it.’

The incantation was an extremely powerful one.

My body was holding the weight of the guy who jumped on my back but my hands and feet were still moving my body with almost superhuman strength.

It was obvious where the destination was going to be.

Probably right at the feet of that man, Rexid Van Hexen.

“Wow, whoa, she’s really running. This woman is incredible….”

The man on my back was so high on drugs that he couldn’t see reason.

My hand that was desperately trying to crawl clawed at the dirt ground and a couple of my nails broke.

“Hehehe… so soft…”

A chill spread down my spine because of the unfamiliar touch I felt on the back on my neck.

I don’t know if the soft skin his hand was touching became a stimulus, but he panted and giggled even as he was high on drugs.

“Hehe, hehe…”

“Lassie, what kind of drugs are you on? I’m sure noble ladies enjoy really high-quality drugs instead of the cheap ones that we do, right? Do you have more?”

The man sitting in front of me reached out and brushed my cheek.

And then…

Suddenly, urgent footsteps drew closer to me, and my stiff body finally became free.

At the same time, I lifted my head and saw… the face of the man that was crouching down laughing crazily as he flew right past me.

“Eek…!”

As someone kicked the man’s head, he flew and got stuck on the alley wall without making a sound.

With a thud, the man stuck on the wall was knocked unconscious right away and dropped down.

I blinked and watched the man, startled by the gruesome scene, and I finally turned my vision to the front of me.

“Huff, huff…”

Rexid Van Hexen.

The man who kicked someone’s head in for no reason frowned and tried to catch his breath. If someone with such a great physique like him is catching his breath, it was obvious…

It seemed like he ran here from the clothing store in an unimaginably short time.

Rexid calmed his heavy breathing, tilted his head, and looked down at the man that was still on my back with an intimidating expression.

“Do you have a death wish? Who do you think you’re on top of?”