A Fake Marriage? Sure! …Wait, Is It Actually Fake? Something’s Not Right Here! - Chapter 30

“Um… let me summarize. So it’s like this, right? Princess Melissa wants to marry Lord Alex because he’s close to Crown Prince George. But he already has a wife. So, she pressured me to divorce him, but I refused. So now she’s going to kill me, and while she’s at it, kill Lord Evan too and hide our bodies somewhere to make it look like we ran away together?”

“That’s right.”

Princess Melissa puffed out her chest.

My headache was gradually worsening. There’s no way this plan would work. More importantly, should she really be telling all this to these low-life thugs?

“What a terrible story.”

The men laughed as if they were in some rundown bar.

“Miss Sena! Wake up! You can’t trust men like these!”

Evan clung to the iron bars.

Lidoria agreed.

“That’s right. If anything, we should get Lord Evan out of those bars quickly so he can protect us… Even though he’s weak.”

“Don’t worry.”

“We’ll keep protecting you from now on.”

The men laughed raucously while looking at Sena and Melissa with lecherous eyes.

Suddenly, Sena screamed.

“Wh-who?! Someone just touched me, didn’t they!”

Sena’s face turned bright red with anger.

Apparently, one of the immoral bastards had groped Sena’s bottom. As the men burst into vulgar laughter, the flames of the torches they held flickered.

“Miss Sena. Did you hire these men? Where? Hey, didn’t you think you might be blackmailed or threatened by them later?”

Lidoria asked Sena with a feeling of despair.

There’s no way a princess like Melissa could have met such lowlifes.

But she couldn’t order the royal guards to “kill the crown prince’s maid and his royal guard while making it look like they eloped.”

(Even so, this is just too much…)

Lidoria let out a deep sigh.

“I-I won’t let that happen! That’s why I paid them an appropriate amount!”

Sena spoke with forced bravado at best, and the men laughed cheerfully.

“Of course. Naturally.”

“This is a one-time deal, sister!”

It definitely wouldn’t be a one-time deal. They would undoubtedly milk this situation for all it was worth.

“It’s not too late even now. Release me and Lord Evan, and hand these men over to the military police in the castle. That would be for your own good.”

Lidoria slowly stood up while leaning against the wall.

Since her ankles were also tied with rope, if she lost her balance, she would likely fall face-first. More importantly, if she put weight on her swollen leg, the pain would probably make her crumple.

“Miss Sena. You really shouldn’t trust these men.”

“You’re pretty confident, aren’t you, sister?”

Bang.

One of the men punched the iron bars. Sena screamed, and Melissa also shuddered and jumped back.

“You. Don’t think you’ll die easily. You’ll be crying that death would be better, and we won’t care.”

They seemed to hold a grudge for how thoroughly she had beaten their comrades.

“Hey. Go call the others. Their wounds should be treated by now. Let’s put them in the cell together.”

One of the men commanded with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Even Evan seemed to shudder and moved away from the bars.

“Gotta give them a chance for revenge.”

Several men with torches headed toward the entrance. They were probably going to fetch their comrades.

(…This is troublesome.)

Lidoria thought.

Everyone had probably noticed her disappearance and started moving by now.

The problem was when they would arrive.

“O-oh, Princess. We should leave here soon.”

Sena urged Melissa with a pale face. Melissa also looked frightened, grabbed Sena’s arm, and nodded several times.

“Miss Sena! Think about what will happen to your family if you do this!”

Evan clung to the bars again and pleaded.

Come on, you can do it, Lidoria thought while moving her hands and rubbing her feet together, trying to see if she could somehow get the ropes off.

“Shut up!”

A spear was thrust through the bars, and Evan easily fell over.

“Lord Evan!”

Sena screamed, but couldn’t even buy us time? Lidoria clicked her tongue in frustration.

“Hey, you guys. This evil deed will be exposed. You should absolutely run away now.”

At Lidoria’s words, the men all started laughing simultaneously.

“It’s too late to beg for your life now!”

“Hey. When we rape that woman, let’s take turns. We’ll kill her after that.”

As they started saying dangerous things, Sena hurriedly tried to leave with Melissa.

But then.

A tremendous scream echoed through the dungeon.

Everyone’s eyes widened, and they turned their faces toward the sound.

The entrance to the dungeon.

Where the men had just gone to call their comrades.

From there.

Various screams continued to rise.

“Wh-what’s going on!”

The men threw their torches to the ground and readied their respective weapons.

Sena trembled, hugging Melissa as she sat down on the ground.

One armed man rushed out.

Scream.

Another went.

Shriek.

In front of the bars, only what appeared to be the leader remained.

The man bared his teeth and readied his spear.

“Who’s there!”

Following his words came the very quiet sound of footsteps—tap, tap.

“I waited and waited, but my wife didn’t come, so I came looking.”

Appearing in front of the bars was Alex.

He carried an unsheathed sword and wore his usual bored expression.

When their eyes met through the bars, he sighed—phew.

“Weren’t you supposed to be the one coming?”

“That was the plan, but Lord Evan was taken hostage along the way. I couldn’t abandon him.”

Alex shrugged as if to say “what can you do.”

Suddenly.

“Raaaaaagh!”

The man roared and thrust his horizontally-held spear.

Alex twisted his right hand. With casual ease, he used the back of his single-handedly held sword to smack the spear’s tip.

A hard sound echoed.

Small sparks scattered as the spear embedded itself in the dungeon floor. Alex immediately stepped on it.

Then, his second step landed on the spear’s shaft.

The spear bent.

The man desperately pulled and pushed, but it was already futile.

Rather.

He should have let go of the spear and run.

Instead, his face turned red as he stubbornly clung to it.

Against that man’s neck.

Alex casually slammed the back of his sword.

The man easily rolled his eyes back and collapsed unconscious.

“So? What did you want to consult me about?”

Alex asked while sheathing his sword.

“My arm still isn’t feeling well today, so I’d like you to buy me that shop’s hearty soup.”

“Understood.”

“And.”

“What?”

“Could you please get me out of these bars?”

“That too, I suppose.”

Alex blinked as if he hadn’t noticed until now.