Where Is Justice For The Villainess: Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“Cell 707! It’s morning. I’m timing you, so eat quickly!”
The head guard, banging loudly on the iron door to wake Charlotte, tossed in a loaf of bread.
As the bread’s surface rolled on the dirty, earthen floor, getting soiled, the new guard, acting as an assistant, spoke cautiously.
“Head Guard, couldn’t you give her the food a little more gently…?”
“Hey, rookie. Are you taking her side just because she’s a woman? Do you think she’s just a common market thief? She’s a top-tier assassin and a notorious villain who tried to assassinate Her Majesty the Empress. Shut your mouth before you get your head blown off, got it?”
Charlotte silently crawled on the ground like an animal. Each movement caused the chains on her arms and legs to clang heavily.
She opened her mouth and tore off a piece of the fallen bread. It tasted particularly strongly of sawdust today. She wanted to spit it out immediately, but she swallowed it down, remembering that she would lose strength if she didn’t even eat this.
She could hear the guards whispering nearby.
“Is she really that dangerous? This entire ice prison is only holding her.”
“Look at those chains. They’re made for bulls. If her attitude is bad, it takes six or seven people to subdue her, she’s like a viper.”
“Isn’t it also the prison’s duty to manage prisoners to prevent their deaths, unless they are sentenced to death…?”
The head guard smacked the rookie on the head.
“Duty, my foot, you sound like you’re living in a flower garden. Can’t you see why Her Majesty hasn’t sent a single person to see her? She’s not going to kill her directly but wants her to die in prison!”
The rookie lowered his head, his eyes welling up. Charlotte silently chewed and swallowed the remaining piece of bread.
‘That one is unlucky too. To be stuck with such a cruel boss.’
In the five years she had been imprisoned in the ice prison, Charlotte had never put up any real resistance. It was more accurate to say that she had been too busy replaying in her mind how she had ended up in this situation to have time for rebellion.
Even so, the head guard never missed an opportunity to find fault and torment Charlotte in all sorts of ways.
One day, he would release a bunch of centipedes he had captured, and another day, he would take her clothes under the pretext of washing them and never return them.
As he had said, if his goal was to kill her, there were many easy ways. But the head guard enjoyed the act of keeping her barely alive and tormenting her. Giving her sawdust-mixed bread every day, without fail, was also part of that.
It was foolish that she had decided to seek revenge only after enduring five years of this.
‘Who knows when that man will turn on me and try to kill me? Maybe the Emperor will change his mind and order her execution.’
She had already wasted too much time. For Charlotte, who was starting to kindle a fire in her heart, the best answer was, of course, escape.
‘But how?’
The northern ice prison was infamous. Originally, this place was a vertical cave in a deep mountain. They had dug a new artificial tunnel at the bottom of the hole that went straight into the earth.
Even if a prisoner who escaped from the iron bars found the exit through the mole-like passages, they would still need a pulley to reach the dizzying heights above. There was no way the guards would let that happen.
Moreover, the cliffs in this frigid land were covered in frost and ice. The name ‘ice prison’ came from that. If anyone tried to climb them with their bare hands without any tools, they would fall soon.
‘And besides, right now, I’m a cripple.’
Her knees, where the bones had been completely crushed, had completely lost sensation. From her calves to her toes, they were black and lifeless.
Despite this, the Emperor and her old friends didn’t let their guard down. They had twisted her meridians to make sure she could never use her aura again.
Over the past five years, Charlotte had also tried to recover. She tried to draw her aura back by breathing in the air as if she were training like a beginner. But her body had already been deeply damaged, and her condition only worsened, making it difficult to do so.
‘If only I could use my aura again.’
It was the ability she needed more than anything, for a body that could not walk.
If she could just regain that, she could somehow get out of this prison.
Yet, Charlotte did not give up. She had always been strong in simple resolve. She had once even installed the new Emperor that way, hadn’t she?
She would definitely get out of here alive.
Charlotte shook off her distractions and reaffirmed her goal. She straightened her chained body, sat cross-legged, and slowly began to breathe in the air.
“Look at her spacing out after eating. She’s just an animal.”
The head guard chuckled as he walked away. The rookie, who had been rubbing his head, awkwardly followed behind him.
Despite her persistent efforts, Charlotte’s physical condition showed no improvement.
It was only natural. Her meridians had been damaged because her colleagues had forcefully caused her aura to run wild, disrupting the balance within her body. Her body’s condition was already beyond repair.
If she wanted to use her aura with this body, she would need to receive another person’s aura as if she were getting a blood transfusion. Even then, it was not her own aura, so it would probably be temporary recovery.
Even that was desperately needed for Charlotte right now.
‘But who in this prison would give me that?’
One day, while she was deep in thought, a commotion broke out.
Because the rock wall of her cell blocked out sunlight, it was difficult to know the time. It was probably around lunchtime. The usually overbearing voice of the head guard, now deferential, echoed from the other side.
“Oh my, what brings you to this dreadful prison, Count? This is hardly a place for the Great Duke’s son to be.”
The sound of unfamiliar, firm footsteps came all the way to her cell.
Charlotte pricked up her ears in the dark, rocky cell. The instincts of an assassin who had fought in countless battles were awakened.
‘He seems quite tall. He has a decent build. He is probably rather agile. Judging by the sound of his boots, he must have ridden his horse all the way up this mountain. His age…’
As if in answer to her deductions, a young man’s voice was heard.
“As the son of that Duke Licht, why can’t you guess why I am here?”
“Huh? I, I have no idea what you mean.”
“If you’re from the North, you must have heard the news that the Great Duke recently passed away.”
Charlotte, who had been cut off from the outside world, was suddenly taken aback by the latest news.
‘Duke Licht died? He was in the prime of his life, how could he have died so soon?’
Charlotte had never met him in person. She only knew he was the head of a prominent family from the North. She had a vague memory that he was related to the imperial family by blood, and that he was a resolute yet kind person who had the support of the people of the North.
At that moment, someone stood tall outside the iron bars.
Charlotte deliberately did not look up. However, she could tell that he was a count just by seeing his high-quality riding boots.
“The doctor who diagnosed his death said it was due to a sudden blockage of the blood vessels, but with an infamous villain imprisoned nearby, I can’t help but be concerned. I wonder how many royals that woman has killed?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. She is a difficult prisoner, but look at her!”
The head guard aggressively pointed at Charlotte.
“How can a woman who can’t even walk escape from her cell? And even if she did escape, do you think we would let her climb the tunnel before we subdue her? Please, don’t worry.”
Then, a snort of amusement came from the count.
Charlotte, who had been keeping her head lowered, felt a sharp pain in her chest.
She had grown accustomed to being scorned by the head guard and the other guards.
But the thought that even a man who had never met her and was completely unrelated was mocking her made her throat tighten.
Regardless of her origins, Charlotte had grown up as the young lady of a viscount family. She had served the prince who was to become the next Emperor, and she had also enjoyed a short period of glory as a meritorious subject.
Now she was no different from an animal in a cage. Her disheveled hair was haphazardly cut and was all in tatters, and her clothes barely covered her body.
Her dulled pride was suddenly exposed to an outsider after five years, and a wave of shame washed over her.
The count continued the conversation, seemingly oblivious to her feelings.
“If the head guard is so confident, then I can rest assured about the prison.”
“Of course, of course. I am sorry to hear about the Great Duke. It’s going to be tough, but please keep your spirits up.”
“Ah, well. Life is short, it is better for the living to enjoy it while they can.”
The count suddenly adopted a very casual tone and shook the iron bars with a clanging sound.
“So, how do you open this?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden….”
“I heard she was once the Emperor’s woman? Is it wrong of me to want to look at her face while I’m here?”
Charlotte was startled by the man’s sudden actions.
Is this man crazy? He wants to look at a prisoner that the Emperor locked away himself? And what’s worse, a villain who attacked the current Empress?
“Count. It’s too dangerous. You might as well open a lion’s cage.”
The head guard, who must have found it difficult to allow this, wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
Then, the count chuckled as if he understood everything and nudged the head guard in the side with something. Charlotte’s ears acutely picked up the sound of gold coins jingling.
The head guard eventually succumbed to temptation and opened the iron bars.
The man slowly walked inside.
Charlotte didn’t have the courage to look up yet. Her body, which had unknowingly become accustomed to life in prison, felt unfamiliar to outsiders. She felt wretched at the thought of the man looking at her.
But instead of standing at a distance and looking down at her, the man came right up to Charlotte. He slowly knelt down on one knee.
“Hmm. Are you Charlotte Moden?”
Not ‘that woman,’ not ‘girl,’ not ‘villain,’ but ‘you.’
The lowered man’s face came into Charlotte’s view, against her will.
“For someone who has been locked up in a place like this, you have pretty intense eyes.”
The smell of the snow of a far land.
The man’s coat emanated a cold, pure white scent. The crisp air from the outside world touched Charlotte.
Was it because the man looked like he was barely over twenty years old that it felt so uniquely refreshing?
The man’s cheeks looked as if they had been polished with ice. His black hair flowed down, and his eyes underneath were fiery red. They shone smoothly, like enamel.
Unlike Albert, who was like a star in the morning mist, this man was like a moon that glowed strangely in the night.
Charlotte was mesmerized for a moment. Even considering the strangeness of a sudden outsider, it was not a face to look at so unexpectedly.
“Why? Are you wondering how to kill me, like you did to the other royals?”
The man smiled with a slight twist of his lips, as if he was thinking something.
Then, he suddenly grabbed her shoulder and yanked her toward him. The man’s lips pressed down on hers.
“Ugh…!”
Charlotte reflexively tried to swing her arms, but she was stopped by her restraints. Just as she was about to try biting his tongue, the man pulled back before she could offer any real resistance.
The man rubbed his lips, which were covered in their mixed saliva, with his thumb.
“It would’ve been easier if you could kill me with your eyes. Right?”
“You, you bastard!”
“Ah. It seems you can still talk? Then you should think carefully about which of our circumstances is closer to that of a dog.”
The man walked straight out of the cell. The head guard frantically followed behind him.
“Count. Even if you were moved, you can’t just lay your hands on a prisoner…”
“And what have you been doing that a prisoner has burn marks? Shut your mouth before I order an investigation.”
The head guard flinched and was unable to say anything.
The man was about to disappear. Charlotte glared at the man who had kissed her so presumptuously, and then she suddenly shouted something that came to mind.
“Lu… yes, Ruslan von Licht!”
The man, upon hearing his name, slowly turned his head.
“Do you know my name?”
“I heard that there was an adopted son, not a biological son, of Duke Licht! The only biological child was a daughter… was that you?!”
Ruslan tilted his head slightly and smiled.
“My adoptive mother bestowed on me the title of Count Kaitel, so I’m Ruslan von Kaitel now. My step-sister is still young, so I’m also acting as the Duke’s proxy. So, it seems your mind is still sharp? Top-tier assassin.”
He tossed those words out as if he found it amusing, then he turned and walked away, his coat fluttering behind him.
Charlotte shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her mind was as sharp as if she had been splashed with cold water.
She could not fathom what Ruslan was up to.
His touch still lingered on her lips. It was a heat that was distinctly different from the excitement brought on by physical contact with a man.
She had already sensed the change a while ago. Charlotte slowly and quietly breathed and examined her dantian.
She could feel the aura inside her body.
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