I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 64

Eleanor flinched and turned around as she put the tray on the floor.

Blaine, who was standing with her, asked, “Why? Is something there?”

“No. I just had a strange feeling for a moment.”

It was an ominous feeling, as if something bad had happened.

Goosebumps appeared for no reason, but Eleanor shook her head and brushed the feeling away.

Then, she put the tray down, crouched on the floor, and asked worriedly, “Are you feeling a bit better?”

At her question, Adrian, who was lying down, weakly opened his eyes.

Eleanor nodded, rolled up his sleeve, and began to unwrap the bandage.

Soon, the severed part of his wrist was revealed.

“I apologize for being a nuisance.”

Adrian apologized to Eleanor as she applied ointment to his terrible wound.

“Don’t say that. Is the pain manageable?”

“Yes. I can barely feel it now.”

The ointment made by Beatrice was very effective.

Although it couldn’t reattach his severed hand, the pain quickly subsided and the wound began to heal, even though it had been left to fester.

Eleanor felt sorry for Adrian, who was a boy barely past his youth, had suffered a serious injury, and was now trapped in the basement for an indefinite amount of time.

“You should get out of here and get proper treatment soon.”

At Eleanor ‘s worried words, Blaine sighed.

“I thought the Imperial Knights would be looking for me if I was here, but I wonder if they can even find a place like this.”

“Why did you follow me, Viscount? You’re just suffering with me for no reason.”

“I don’t think it would be any easier to be outside, pacing and not knowing whether you’re alive or dead.”

“Didn’t you want me to disappear from the Count’s side?”

She asked, recalling what he had said on the terrace when they first met, and Blaine made an awkward expression.

“Well, at first, I just couldn’t understand Lian…”

He trailed off, then glanced at Eleanor.

Then, he said in a small, mumbling voice, “Now I’m just feeling a sense of self-loathing that I have worse taste in women than he does.”

“You don’t need to feel self-loathing. You’re already lacking in many other ways anyway.”

“…Is that supposed to be a consolation?”

“I’m just an objective person.”

She had been unilaterally interrogated for no reason, so she figured this much was a fair payback.

She chuckled, then her eyes met Blaine’s.

A slightly bashful expression appeared in his brown eyes.

Seeing this, Eleanor frowned.

“Why are you making that face?”

“Isn’t that a question I should be asking?”

At Blaine’s protest, Eleanor said primly, “Why are you getting shy? Don’t fall for me. I’m already too popular lately, and it’s a bother.”

“Are you saying that with your own mouth right now?”

“Didn’t I say I’m an objective person?”

It was an undeniable fact that her popularity was such a bother that she was even trapped in an underground prison.

The bickering between the two ended with Adrian’s coughing.

“No, I just started coughing from laughing at you two.”

When Elinor quickly poured him some water, Adrian waved his hand.

“Being in this place, I felt like my senses were disappearing… It’s nice to laugh.”

Adrian said, as if to himself, and then stared blankly at the wall.

His somewhat distant look prompted Elinor to ask, “Is there someone you miss?”

“There are many. My family, my friends, and…”

Adrian stopped his last words with an embarrassed expression.

At his bashful look, Eleanor and Blaine’s eyes narrowed subtly.

“You have a lover.”

“No, it’s nothing like that at all yet.”

Adrian, who was startled and waved his good arm in denial, soon looked bitter.

“Well, nothing will happen now anyway. Not with a body like this…”

She wanted to say that wasn’t true, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Is the person the Vice-Marquis’s daughter?

Considering that there was no other reason for the Princess to kidnap him and seeing Biancasta’s reaction, the two were probably in love or something similar.

Eleanor couldn’t give him false hope when she didn’t know much about Biancasta.

As the atmosphere grew heavy, Eleanor inadvertently lowered her gaze, then quickly lifted it.

Adrian must have felt like she was looking at his severed arm.

Unfortunately, Adrian’s face was turned toward Eleanor.

“I’m a little tired. Is it okay if I get some sleep?”

“Yes, of course.”

At Adrian’s request, Eleanor and Blaine got up a bit awkwardly.

“If you’re in pain or uncomfortable, I’ll be right outside, so please let me know.”

After saying that, the two came out of the cell.

Turning down the corridor and entering a large hall, Blaine said in a low voice, “It feels like I can finally breathe out here.”

After the situation had stabilized, they looked around the underground prison. Although it was gloomy, it was more comfortable than they had expected.

Lanterns were hung on each wall for light, and if you went further in, there were also rooms and a bathroom.

Of course, it wasn’t clean or had a soft bed, but there was a sleeping platform, so it was an environment where one could live a somewhat decent life.

However, Adrian couldn’t come out of the cell.

He couldn’t stand it because of the trauma he had from Beatrice.

“Do you think we can talk to Beatrice and get some more amenities for inside the cell?”

Blaine asked Eleanor.

In fact, the slight benefits they were enjoying now were all thanks to Eleanor’s negotiations with Beatrice.

Beatrice allowed them free use of the area except for her own room and didn’t interfere with anything else besides the scheduled conversations with Eleanor.

So, for the soldiers and for Eleanor, who had endured a poor life before coming to the capital, life in the underground was not that difficult.

“I’ll try, but we can’t just leave him like this. We need to seriously find a way to escape.”

They both agreed, but the problem was that there was no way out.

“Can’t we dig a wall and get out of here?”

“That would be impossible.”

It wasn’t Eleanor who answered Blaine’s mumbling.

Eli, who seemed to have been listening to their conversation, walked out of the shadows and said, “I’ve investigated the thickness of the walls, and it’s very far to the surface. It would be impossible for the people here to dig it out with their bare hands, even if it took years.”

They had descended the stairs for a long time when they first came in, so digging with their hands was out of the question.

Blaine spoke again.

“Couldn’t we dig next to the door and get into the corridor?”

Eli didn’t deny that.

The door was thick, but there were a lot of metal objects here, so it wouldn’t be impossible if a few strong knights worked together to dig.

However, that plan was also not carried out.

“Even if you dig, you can’t get out of here.”

Blaine tilted his head at Elinor’s words.

“Why not?”

“There’s something guarding the outside that won’t let us out.”

“Do you mean a guard? I, and the Behind Knights, can somehow…”

“No. That would be impossible.”

Eli frowned as Elinor cut him off with a tone of certainty.

Elinor quickly added before he could express his dissatisfaction, “What’s guarding the outside is a magical beast. You won’t even be able to lay a finger on it without special preparations.”

“There’s a magical beast?”

The two’s eyes widened.

They had expected them to ask about the magical beast, but a completely different question came out.

“How in the world do you know something like that?”

Blaine looked more surprised by Elinor than by the magical beast.

It was natural for her to seem suspicious since she knew so many things that no one should know.

But it was a problem she couldn’t explain.

As she was contemplating what to do, Eleanor was able to unintentionally avoid the difficult question.

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, Eleanor felt nauseous and covered her mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

“My stomach… ugh!”

Eleanor stopped speaking and ran straight to the bathroom.

When she came out after throwing up, Blaine was standing there with a worried face.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, yes. I think I ate something bad.”

“You haven’t eaten much at all today, have you?”

The food provided was not bad, as the Princess seemed to be concerned about Beatrice, but Eleanor could barely touch it.

She felt nauseous because of the air and kept wanting to throw up.

Her stomach also felt like it was strangely pricking her.

“I’m really worried. Something bad will happen if you keep staying here, too.”

Blaine seemed to have forgotten about his earlier questioning and was only filled with concern.

She was about to say she was okay, but a sharp voice interrupted her.

“As expected, a high-born noblewoman can’t last long.”

It was Beatrice’s sneering voice.

Eleanor looked up at the clock on the wall, then got up.

“It’s time to talk. I’ll be back.”

She had to have a conversation with Beatrice at a set time.

Blaine wore a worried expression, but he didn’t stop her because there was no point in upsetting Beatrice.

Eleanor passed through the winding hall and headed toward Beatrice’s room.

When she went in beyond the curtain, Beatrice spoke abruptly.

“You know all sorts of things.”

Even when she was far away, Beatrice’s voice could be heard as if she was right next to them anywhere in the underground prison.

And likewise, she seemed to know every conversation they had as if she had been there.

“How did you know about the magical beast?”

“In the same way I found out everything else I’ve told you.”

Beatrice’s wrinkled forehead furrowed even more.

“Are you going to keep playing word games without giving me a single proper answer?”

“I’m not doing it without reason. Even if you knew everything, you still couldn’t go outside because of the magical beast.”

At Eleanor ‘s words, Beatrice pursed her lips and grumbled.

She couldn’t refute it, so it seemed like she had also seen the magical beast.

“Have you ever tried to escape?”

“Why wouldn’t I have?”

Beatrice said testily.

“Just as you said, if you go out, a pitch-black magical beast will appear and rip to death everything it sees. I even had a hard time coming back after I went out recklessly.”

The iron gate of the underground prison was just a passageway.

However, a spell was cast on the door, and when someone who didn’t have the Imperial Family’s approval seal tried to open it, it led to a different place.

A giant hall in the darkness where a black magical beast lay in wait.

That was the being that made this seemingly flimsy underground prison flawless.

“What in the world is that magical beast? Do you know how to get through it?”

Eleanor ‘s eyes sparkled at Beatrice’s question.

“If you want to know, answer my question first.”

To ask a question of the other person, you had to answer one of theirs.

That was the rule of their conversations.

Of course, if you didn’t want to answer a question, you could just give up asking.

Since they were both hoarding important information, their conversations mostly went in circles.

Eleanor had to get as much as she could this time.

Eleanor asked the question she had been wanting to ask Beatrice for a while.

“Can you break the seal of subordination on Count Calabria?”

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