I Ended Up Saving the Duke Who Was Meant to Die - Chapter 5.6
I was dragged along by the knights’ hands and remained docile until one door closed, and then another.
“Aagh! Is this woman crazy?! They said she was a witch, but has she lost her mind?”
As soon as all the doors were closed, I grabbed and pulled out the hair of the guard who had grabbed my hair in the corridor. The pain from when he grabbed it still seemed to linger in my head.
I had thought about breaking his hand, but I held back since it might cause trouble for Severus. Pulling out some hair would only leave his head bare – what crime could they charge for that?
“Get this crazy woman off me! Aagh! You’re pulling all my hair out! What are you standing there for? Are you just going to watch?!”
At the guard’s outburst, another who had been watching with a dumbfounded expression hurriedly tried to pull me away. Only then did I let go and step back. I was displeased with the handful of hair that had been pulled out. As I dusted off my hands, the guard’s hair fell to the floor with a flutter.
“M-My hair…”
“I’ll kill you. If I’m a witch, it wouldn’t matter if I killed you, right? My precious hair that was already thinning…”
“You know we can’t do anything until His Majesty gives the order! Be patient, she surely won’t live long. Even if she’s not a witch, with that red hair, she’ll be full of misfortune. We don’t want to touch her and have that bad energy transfer to us!”
“Damn it!”
I quietly watched the raging guard. Then I soon pulled up the corners of my mouth and smiled provocatively. At my provocation, he growled as if about to charge at me again, but was stopped by another knight beside him.
The place they dragged me to was similar to where I had been briefly imprisoned in the temple. There were iron bars and a musty smell. There seemed to be a small window in the wall where sunlight might come in, but it was better not to expect too much.
“Wait here quietly. You’ll surely be revealed as a witch and have your head cut off.”
“It doesn’t look like the pulled-out hair will grow back. Why don’t you just shave it all off?”
“What? You witch!”
“If you come close again, I’ll pull out what little hair you have left.”
I widened my green eyes and grabbed the bars tightly while approaching the guard. Perhaps because of his earlier experience, the guard stepped back.
“Tch, what a crazy woman.”
He spat on the floor and moved far away from me.
“What if I curse you? You won’t be able to sleep at night from fear.”
I spoke to the guard while flashing my eyes. Then, as I muttered something to myself, he made a frightened face and stepped backward.
“Waah!”
When I pressed against the bars and shouted, the guard, with a pale face, ran frantically back the way he had come.
It seems my mere pretense worked. Left alone, I sat on the hard stone that looked like a bed and stared at the bars.
‘Michaelo will come, so it’s better not to cause trouble, right?’
I sent a letter saying I would go to the temple, so he must be bewildered that I’m at the palace. He might show up at the palace more quickly due to anxiety. Or he might think this is an opportunity and try to take me to the temple.
“Michaelo never thought I was a witch in the first place, so no matter what they ask him, what could he say?”
Unless there was some machine or method to detect witches, which couldn’t possibly exist.
The Princess might be thinking of using this incident to get rid of me somehow.
“A witch! We must drag her out and verify it immediately! How dreadful! What if the Duke loses his mind and turns against father? That would be terrible!”
The image of the Princess shouting as if she had been waiting for the Crown Prince to bring up the ‘witch’ topic was vivid in my mind. Regardless of helping Severus, the Princess clearly disliked me. Her hostility toward me had grown stronger than before.
I thought about bending the bars and escaping right now, but I judged it would be better in many ways to wait quietly for them to open the door.
***
Severus looked up at the Emperor while being held by the guards. He was worried about Irene who had been taken away so compliantly.
‘Her eyes looked like she was about to do something…’
He was also concerned about how she told him not to do anything, saying it was fine. Even if she was strong, Irene couldn’t harm people. They had probably taken her to a prison.
“Please release my wife. I don’t know what might happen. At least let me stay with her.”
“Are you admitting with your own mouth that she’s a witch? Saying you don’t know what might happen – are you trying to threaten me now!”
It wasn’t a threat but the truth. Irene was the strongest person he knew. Of course, she had said it was a symptom that appeared after healing due to body changes, but he knew her usual actions and thoughts were not ordinary.
“She is not a witch.”
“Then why does she have red hair? You must know that red hair has been known to be possessed by those who inherit witch’s blood since ancient times.”
The Emperor still stared at the clock with an unpleasant expression. There should have been more than enough time to receive and read the urgent message sent. However, Michaelo had not appeared.
“Was it properly delivered?”
“Yes, I checked again, but they said the letter was sent to the temple, and they saw with their own eyes that the priest who assists Michaelo received and delivered it.”
“Then why isn’t he coming!”
The Emperor’s patience gradually wore thin. His angry voice filled the audience chamber. Severus was equally anxious.
‘What if Michaelo goes to where Irene is and sneaks her away?’
It wouldn’t be strange even if he showed up afterward. If they said Irene, who was accused of being a witch, had used her powers to escape from prison on her own, the Emperor would believe it without question.
He couldn’t gauge whether it would be safer to keep Irene here or let the temple take her. Severus’s eyes met with the Princess, who was watching him with bright eyes.
“Father, how about taking away the Duke’s sword and releasing him? If we keep holding him, other nobles might think it strange. Even considering the eyes of the nobles residing here.”
“Hmm, the Duke can easily kill people even without a sword. He might rush at me. From taking a witch as his wife, it must have been done with impure thoughts from the start.”
“Surely not. If he could handle so many knights barehanded, wouldn’t it be fair to say the Duke himself is a witch? It’s impossible for a human. What do you think, brother?”
The Princess tried hard to make things comfortable for the restrained Severus. The Crown Prince nodded in agreement with the Princess’s words.
“Well, it’s just one person – how could we not handle the Duke? If necessary, I’ll behead him myself. If he tries anything dangerous, we can immediately apply the crime of attempting to murder royalty and execute summary judgment.”
The Emperor soon gestured to the guards with a displeased expression. Severus, who had been held by them, finally became free.
