CH 49

Mikael pointed to the place with his chin. Marina widened her eyes in surprise, and then she gritted her teeth in resentment.

“Fine. I had been there from before. And I heard and saw it all. What are you going to do with me now?”

Yul was going crazy. He couldn’t see the outside sight, but he had been exposed to quite a few people, but they were all friends with Mikael.

Besides, at the time, he hadn’t known that his existence could be so dangerous. Because of this, he didn’t take getting caught by others too seriously.

But now it was different.

First of all, just looking at the flow of conversation, that woman and Mikael were hostile, not friendly at all. And now he knew all too well how suspicious he was.

His heart felt like it would burst at the thought that his mistake could lead to serious consequences.

Of course, the reason he spoke in the first place was to warn Mikael, fearing that the monster would attack him, but now his mind was so clear that he couldn’t even think of such an excuse.

“I already told you what I would do with you.”

Mikael drew his sword without hesitation. Startled, Yul widened his eyes.

No matter how much he was a man with no morals or conscience as a maniac in “Red Prison”, he was greatly shocked that he was trying to kill people without hesitation.

Along with that, the nape of his neck felt chilly as he remembered his past self, which had been acting willful with Mikael so far. It was because the fact that Mikael had been putting up with so much all this time dawned on him.

“W- wait a minute!”

Marina let out a sound close to a scream and stepped back from him. Her already white face was even paler.

“Wh- what have I done that you have to do this?”

“It’s too late to be saying that, so I’ll take care of it before then.”

Mikael’s logic was great. Marina shuddered as if she were tired of his words.

In fact, Yul’s also had great logic, so if he wasn’t on the same side, he would have cursed at him, saying, ‘Crazy bastard, insane guy’.

“W- wait a minute. Wait. I have no intention of harming the Archduke. So let’s settle it in conversation, in our own words. Let’s do it like this. I didn’t see anything, and I didn’t hear anything either. How about it?”

Marina’s gaze turned to Yul for an instant, but she soon turned her gaze to Mikael.

Yul felt sorry for her attempt at persuasion, which was costing her her life, and wanted to take her side, but it seemed that there was nothing good for him to open his mouth now.

Yul tried hard to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he tried to think of the character of Marina in his mind.

She was also a character in “Red Prison”. If so, just remembering what kind of character she was in the novel would have helped them in this situation.

Marina, Marina… It seems that there was definitely a female character that appeared in the novel.

It was not easy to recall the contents of a novel he read many years ago. To be precise, it was more difficult because his mind just kept coming back to shocking scenes.

For example, carrots, carrots. And stuff like carrots. That’s the only thing that kept coming to mind.

While Yul was suffering from being trapped in the carrot incident, tension flowed between Mikael and Marina. To be precise, since one side was so dominant, most of the tension was Marina’s.

“Please spare me. I don’t even know why the Archduke is so angry.”

Now Marina began to beg.

With her in front of him, Mikael too was immersed in his own thoughts. It wasn’t difficult to kill her now. In fact, framing her death as the work of a monster was also a simple task.

However, killing her unconditionally was not the best option. Now Mikael was busy weighing the security he would take by killing her and the gains he would gain by keeping her alive.

First of all, if he killed her now, it would be safe because he would completely nip her in the bud about the danger that would arise. Because if he let Marina live, it’d be a big deal if she went around rambling about Yuri speaking.

Conversely, if Marina was kept alive, what benefits would he gain?

She was the daughter of a Count. In fact, from the perspective of Archduke Mikael, there were not many direct benefits that could be gained through the daughter of a Count’s family. However, he felt that if he used her well, he might be able to get her help, even if something unpleasant happened in the future about Yuri’s identity.

It’s just a supposition anyway, though.

“M- My father is looking for the Archduke’s child!”

Mikael’s eyes narrowed at Marina’s sudden desperate words. It was something he hadn’t expected at all.

Moreover, his own child? Mikael wondered what the hell this meant.

“Perhaps my father is thinking of killing him. I will stop my father at all costs.”

Mikael quietly reflected on her words.

Upon reflection, he seemed to realize what the ‘child’ she meant. At the previous banquet of the Duke Esirene’s, he had said something nuanced to Count Wilson about having a child.

By that child he of course meant Yuri, and knowing that Count Wilson was attempting to entangle himself with his daughter, he talked about it in order to avoid any troublesome misunderstanding.

But when he heard that, he was quite surprised that he was thinking of harming his child.

As far as he knew, Count Wilson was a man of little character. To think that such a person was daring to lay a hand on his child made him want to laugh and feel dumbfounded. Even though he didn’t really have a child.

“I will protect the Archduke’s child. I won’t let my father harm the child. I promise you.”

Looking at her, it seemed that she, too, had no doubt that he had a child of her own. She must have not even thought that Yuri was the child.

A person who knows everything was dangerous, but a person who only knows half the truth was easy to use and had value.

“… Fine. I will spare you.”

At Mikael’s words, Marina let out a sigh of relief.

Of course, Yul was relieved as well. If he had really tried to kill her, he would have tried to stop him in his own way. It wasn’t that he had any particular feelings for her or anything like that, but he hated the idea of Mikael killing people.

Besides, he was just about to come up with the character Marina in his head. He couldn’t remember exactly what he was doing, but he remembered later in the story that she had been a help to Mikael.

In fact, in “Red Prison”, since Mikael appeared as a madman, even Esirene, who played the villain, could not keep up with Mikael’s madness. Rather, the absolute evil in the novel seemed to be Mikael.

Because of this situation, there were not many people on his side in the original work. It was, at best, Caleb.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember why Marina came to help Mikael and the exact flow of the story, but remembering that hse was one of Mikael’s few helpers was a significant achievement.

Because of her, he must not let Mikael, his future helper, kill her. He was glad that things worked out in his own way before he stepped in.

Yul looked over at Marina, who let out a sigh of relief. Her face, which had been as pale as a white sheet, was barely starting to turn warmer.

“Thank you. I will definitely be of help to the Archduke.”

“Keep in mind. Even if it’s not now, it’s as easy as killing you.”

“… Yes, I understand.”

The threats Mikael made to her were not words he said simply to intimidate her. If the Count’s daughter died, it would make a lot of noise, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t do. Marina knew this too, so she bit her parched lips.

“I’ll leave you now. Thank you.”

Marina hurriedly said goodbye and left as if running away, in case Mikael changed his mind.