Chapter 7

After wiping the drops of sweat under his jaw with one hand, Rexid’s gaze fell slightly.

He seemed to be staring at the man holding my neck…

Even under his deadly glare, the man on my back couldn’t make sense of the situation as he was still out of his mind.

“Whoa!”

Rexid didn’t give a second warning.

He suddenly reached out, grabbed the man by his hair, and picked him up.

“Ack!”

The man being held up in the air by his hair was screaming in pain and struggling.

Even while getting up quickly, I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene.

‘His strength is sure is something, just like the rumors say…’

No matter how small the man on her back was, he was still an adult male. A normal person would never be able to pick up an adult male with one hand like he was just a stuffed animal.

“Ah! Ahh!”

It must feel like his scalp was being pulled off…

The man caught in Rexid’s furious hands looked like he was in excruciating pain.

So much so that I started to feel sorry for him despite the fact that he tried to pick a fight and harass me.

Rexid grabbed the man’s arm that was floundering helplessly in the air.

It was his right hand, the one that was on the back of my neck.

“Er, Your Highness…”

I knew what Rexid was going to do next and tried to stop him as quickly as I could, but it was too late.

Crack-

“Ahhhh!”

Rexid clenched the man’s hand with his giant fist, the sound of bones crushing was heard clearly. It must have hurt so badly that the man became unconscious from shock and flopped down.

After tossing the man’s body like he was throwing out the trash, Rexid then set his eyes on me.

Gulp-

In nervousness, I gulped.

“I told you…” Rexid reached out and pointed at the ring on my finger “…that I wouldn’t lose that again.”

Meaning that I, who had the ring, couldn’t run away from him. I laughed awkwardly and nodded my head slowly.

“I thought that was the case, but I wanted to be sure. It’s an incantation, right?”

“…Yes.”

Rexid hesitated, but answered obediently this time.

“Of course, you’re not going to lift it, right?”

“Why bother asking the obvious?”

“Okay, but thank you for coming as soon as you did. The situation would have been worse if you didn't.”

“Are you going to run away again?” Rexid asked as he dusted himself off.

“No, no. Truthfully, I knew my chances were slim as I was running away. Since I confirmed that there is an incantation, I won’t do anything rash. Don’t worry.”

I told Rexid as I smiled with the gentlest expression I could muster to ease his mind.

But Rexid cringed and stayed silent for a while as if he was still not satisfied.

“Haha, what are you looking at? Let’s go… Ah!”

Oh my…!

It seemed that Rexid didn’t believe it when I told him that I wasn’t going to run away.

This time, he picked me up and put me over his shoulder like I was some sort of cargo, and started walking on.

“Hey! I can walk on my own! I’m sorry for running away!”

“No, you won’t be touching the ground until we get to my castle. I hope you will behave until then.”

There was a slight tremble in Rexid’s voice as he pushed his his anger down, so I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

I didn’t have the nerve when I could still clearly see the two men laying on the ground like corpses.

Eventually, I gave in and was transported like precious cargo on Rexid’s shoulder.

This was the second kidnapping.

***

Rexid Van Hexen.

I realized that he really was the man whose actions speak louder than words, just like the rumors said.

My feet didn’t touch the ground until we arrived at the grand duke’s castle.

I was put in the carriage after walking around 15 minutes back to the clothing store, and spent 20 more minutes riding in the carriage until finally arriving at the grand duke’s castle.

In front of Rexid, who still was still carrying me on his shoulder as he knocked on the gate, stood a man who had an bemused look on his face.

“…What is this?”

The man who came all the way out to the castle gates to greet us was well dressed.

The neat, well-ironed white shirt and black vest were a typical uniform for a butler.

“Why were you so late, sir?”

“The way this one was running around, she’s almost like a pony. I had a hard time kidnapping her.”

“Can you put me down now? All the blood is rushing to my brain.”

Finally, Rexid set me down next to him.

I checked out the butler’s face with a passing glance while I was stretching my stiff neck.

Rexid’s butler, whose eyes were also pretty sharp, looked as if he was also observing me.

He smiled mysteriously and opened the gates to the grand duke’s castle.

“Welcome to the Hexen castle, Miss Viper, genius swindler.”

***

The butler, who introduced himself as Owen Shubach, immediately escorted me to another room.

Rexid and Owen sat down next to each other right in front of me.

Rexid sat with his legs crossed arrogantly and didn’t take his eyes off of me even for a second, as if he was worried that I’d run away again.

His gaze was so piercing, I couldn’t even turn my head toward him.

“Contract.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Owen reacted accordingly to Rexid’s short command.

A three-page contract was pushed in front of me.

“First, it is sincerely great to meet you. You can just call me Owen.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I am Grand Duke Hexen’s butler, but I am also in charge of most of the practical affairs of the castle.”

“Um, by any chance…”

He manages his sharp eyes and deep expression carefully.

I asked him a question I’d been curious about since realizing that Owen wasn’t your everyday butler.

“… Are you the one who thought of putting the incantation on me?”

“That’s right. I’m sorry about that. I am quite capable myself, but I’m not at the level where I can predict all your unexpected tricks and prevent them, Miss Viper.”

As Owen answered me with a smile, I nodded my head thinking, ‘just as I thought’.

The first basic rule for a perfect con - I must conceal my own expressions thoroughly while seeing through the expressions of others.

The eyes that hid his intentions and the vibe of this extraordinary butler told me everything I needed to know. That the brain that came up with the idea of putting an incantation on me wasn’t the grand duke, who was just a powerful brute, but the butler.

“You wouldn’t tell me the removal spell even if I asked, right?”

“Removal spell? Wouldn’t you have done whatever it took to find it if there was one?”

Owen tilted his head and added with a laugh.

“It’s a kind of ancient incantation that uses poison to make sure slaves can’t run away. There is no removal spell, and the link is broken only when one or the other dies.”

“Aha…”

“Oh! Then you can just kill Rexid Van Hexen!”

Owen slapped his knee.

“If that’s what you’re thinking, let me give you a word of advice, if I may. The incantation works as the master’s blood flows within the slave’s body. The moment the master dies, the blood inside the slave begins to harden. Then… I don’t have to explain what happens to the slave after that right?”

“…What did you say?”

“What?!”

I was shocked, yet Rexid looked even more surprised.

He blinked his eyes, stood up, and grabbed Owen by the collar.

“What did you just say?”

Seeing how worked up Rexid got, I was able to understand his personality a little better.

‘Aside from not being able to use his brains, he’s a big softy.’

But, there was still the fact that they had secretly cast an incantation on me…

Of course, it was a frustrating situation for me, but for Rexid and Owen, it was an understandable move.

On top of that, I was a death row prisoner at the Drax prison, so my fate was entirely up to Rexid who was the feudal lord.

I would have to comply with whatever decision he made, even if it was to put me in a pot and cook me alive.

Because when it comes to down it, I am a criminal.

Still, even though such consideration doesn’t suit him, Rexid looked like he wanted to respect the rights of the criminal.

In my head, I slowly corrected all the false parts of the rumors I’d heard about Rexid up until now.

A murderous demon on the battlefield who went mad every time he saw someone alive because he wanted to kill them? I don’t think so.

“Haha… please calm down.”

“Are you crazy, you little shit? Is that true? You didn’t tell me that that’s how the incantation worked.”

Owen, who didn’t bat an eye at the rather threatening approach, answered quickly.

“If I told you, you would have told me not to even think about using such an incantation, if we didn’t use it, we wouldn’t have been able to capture Miss Viper, and your grand plan would have been doomed before it even began.”

“Are you insane?”

“I am always trying to do my best for the prosperity of the land and your safety, my lord.”

Owen turned and looked at me with his squinted ashen eyes and a smile on his face.

“You are a criminal, Miss Viper.”

“Yes, well…”

He was right.

Even though I just found out that my life has been intertwined with the life of Rexid Van Hexen without a choice, I nodded my head passively because I had nothing else to say.

Owen cracked a smile and added.

“Did you know that Count Lechouguier wasted his entire fortune because you conned him and killed himself?”

“…”

“You know about how Baron Pellow and Baron Shuten invested because they believed you, lost everything, sold their titles to pay off their debts, then became commoners living as servants which was worse than being a slave. Then, they ended up getting beaten to death, right?”

“Oh, is that what happened?”

Rexid flinched as he heard Owen mention my past criminal record.

Owen tapped on Rexid’s hand that was still holding his collar and continued.

“Don’t be too surprised. Of course, their deaths were well deserved.”