As I slowly lifted my eyelid, habitually feeling nothing, I touched my left eye with my hand, and the unfamiliar ceiling that came into view hung heavily over my head.
‘Where am I?’
Even though I tried to recall, the last place I slept was in the duke’s room.
After spending a meaningless day like usual, I drank a cup of warm tea, listened to the butler’s report, and then lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.
When I tried to get up, I felt a strange resistance in my ankle, so I looked toward it.
The feeling of cold, hard metal.
The shackles wrapped around my thin ankles, and the iron chains connected to the shackles were firmly fixed to the wall.
Every time I moved, a faint metallic sound echoed.
Along with the illusion that my heart stopped for a moment, the word ‘kidnapping’ that came to my mind crushed reality.
I couldn’t even guess who had done this and for what purpose.
The title of duke that was awarded to me was given to me because all the dukes were dead.
I was a duke in name only, without any power to follow me, no vassals to support me, and no rights to the land.
That’s why the only thing I gained by kidnapping me was the risk of kidnapping a member of the royal family.
Although the royal family viewed me as a thorn in their side, they did not tolerate any damage to their prestige, so if they perceived it as a challenge to the royal authority, they would not let it go.
I looked around.
It was an unfamiliar space, but somehow familiar.
The dark wooden bookshelf, the delicate sculpture on the fireplace, and even the antique furniture.
It was surprisingly similar to the room I had lived in before, but somehow it was distorted.
Vine vines stretched out on the walls, and red roses bloomed here and there between them.
It was as if the boundary between nature and artificiality had become blurred.
Rose petals were scattered on the floor, but their beauty reminded me of death rather than life.
The heterogeneous elements were entangled together, creating a strange and uncomfortable atmosphere.
Everything around me was like a meticulously crafted stage set.
Each trace seemed unrealistic, as if it had been intentionally placed.
A cool breeze blew from somewhere and brushed against my collar.
A soft voice from behind me broke the silence.
“Are you awake, my lovely duchess?”
I slowly turned my head.
There stood a woman wearing a black dress decorated with red lace.
The woman’s purple eyes, smiling at me with her red hair tied back, were as deep and dark as an abyss.
The lace necklace and the red roses adorning the chest of the dress seemed to emphasize the incongruous madness rather than breathe life into the woman’s appearance, and her smile felt unnatural, like a danger hidden behind her beauty.
But for some reason, looking at the woman, I thought she was pretty.
I’ve never felt anything beautiful, but she was beautiful.
“Don’t move. You might get hurt if you overdo it. Your body is precious.”
The woman slowly approached me and slid her fingers down the shackles around her ankles.
There was a persistent conviction in her eyes.
As if all of this was natural to her, as if my resistance had been meaningless from the start.
Every time my fingertips moved along the chain, a sound rang out and a strange discomfort rose up my skin.
“These aren’t just simple chains. I want you to think of them as shackles of love.
Because they’ll bind you and me together forever.”
Her voice was clear as transparent waves, but the obsession contained within was sharp as ice.
A beautiful but empty face.
The cold scent of roses overlaid the woman’s words.
This space, her, even myself, everything seemed like an illusion.
‘You love me?’
The love the woman whispered was unbelievable.
No, it wasn’t even worth believing.
That kind of thing was nothing more than an illusion.
Even families that were connected by blood were ruined after suspecting, betraying, and using each other.
People only had themselves and others, and true love could not possibly exist in reality.
I knew deep down that there was no way someone like me could love someone like me.
I had long since abandoned such expectations during the days when I would lie down on the cold floor and fall asleep.
“So, from now on, we’ll stay here together. Do you understand?”
There was only silence after the woman finished speaking.
I didn’t answer. There was no need or meaning to.
In this strange situation, the only emotions I had left were extreme fatigue and the familiar emptiness beyond that.
The woman said, picking off a rose petal with her fingertips.
“Isn’t this place like a dream? A place more beautiful and perfect than reality… A world just for you and me.”
I felt the weight of the chains and looked at the strange harmony of the room.
This situation was tightening around me like a tangled rose vine.
But I thought that even that would eventually disappear, that it would be meaningless.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about? I just saw you today. And you kidnapped me and now you love me? What’s wrong with your head?”
My emotionless voice cut through the space.
A cold, unwavering voice.
The only emotions I felt were irritation and boredom.
“You’re good at joking, Peridot.”
The woman laughed.
Her voice was soft and beautiful, but I could sense a strange certainty and obsession in it.
She slowly approached me, climbed up the chain, and swept her fingertips down my leg.
The touch of the woman’s hand felt more unpleasant than the cold iron touching my skin.
“Do you think our relationship has only just begun today? Unfortunately, that’s your delusion.”
The woman lowered her body and met my eyes.
Her purple eyes pierced me from a distance close enough to see my eyelashes.
“Your sleeping form, your little habits, even the monologues you blurt out without thinking… I know everything.”
The woman’s gaze slowly scanned my face, the nape of my neck, and my shoulders.
It was like a snake searching for its prey.
“Everything about you is already engraved in me.”
The woman’s hand approached my cheek.
The moment her fingertips touched, an icy sensation ran through my skin.
I just stared. Empty.
I didn’t need to understand this woman’s madness, or even react.
There was even less reason to be afraid.
Freedom, life, even this life itself were all worthless.
“The word kidnapping is sad.”
The woman said with a sad expression.
“This is just bringing a lost bird to a warm nest. Because only I can truly understand you and monopolize your beauty.”
The woman didn’t seem to understand how contradictory her words were.
Even if love existed, this kind of pathological obsession could not be called love.
That’s why she simply spoke in a calm, emotionless voice, as if she were telling the truth.
“Are you saying that my opinion is not important?”
The woman was silent for a moment.
Her purple eyes seemed to waver slightly, but soon regained their composure.
“I’m doing this for you. Because you are so beautiful and precious… The outside world is dirty and dangerous. It’s full of people who want to harm you.”
The woman’s words were sincere, but even her sincerity was off.
I looked up at her purple eyes and thought.
This woman’s love was no different from the people I knew.
Exclusivity and obsession. In the end, it was not for me, but for herself.
I thought of the disgusting people of the royal capital and the bleak dukedom, and compared it to this place.
Nowhere was there for me.
That’s why I made a proposal, thinking that if I was rejected, the worst case scenario would be to just die.
“A cup of sweet tea whenever you want, a book worth reading, and don’t touch my body without permission. If you just keep these things in mind, I’ll stay here.”
The woman’s red eyes narrowed for a moment.
The corners of her mouth slowly rose, as if she had found an interesting toy.
The air in the room was still filled with the scent of roses, but a sharp tension began to flow.
The sunlight streaming in through the window sparkled and swayed on the scattered flower petals.
“You have a really interesting proposal, Peridot.”
The woman came over and hugged me.
A low, sweet voice came to my ear.
The voice was full of gentleness, but there was a hidden sharpness like a thorn in it.
“Fragrant tea and an interesting book… Okay. That’s not difficult. Whatever you want, I’ll give you.”
The woman’s fingers slowly moved up along my jawline.
The cold touch brushed my skin, leaving a chill.
The woman’s cold fingertips moved slowly and deliberately, as if testing me, and it was irritating.
“But the last condition is a little disappointing.”
The woman smiled, moving her hand toward my cheek.
That smile was sweet, like a ripe fruit, but at the same time, it held a dangerous aura that seemed like it might rot at any moment.
“You’re so beautiful that I can’t resist touching you. Of course, I won’t force you. If you don’t want me to, Peridot.”
The woman’s voice was soft, almost as if it was soothing and comforting.
I turned my gaze to look at the scenery outside the window.
The blue sky and floating clouds, the scenery where time seemed to have stopped, was still as gray as I had seen at the Duke’s residence.
The only difference was the body temperature of the woman touching me.
I thought it was fortunate that it wasn’t a cold and damp underground prison, but I thought that was useless and just stared blankly at the clouds floating in the distance.