The Confinement Ending I Loved - Chapter 29

The Confinement Ending I Loved - Chapter 29

It was a bright moonlit night. 

I sat by the window, widely opened the large window, pulled up a nearby chair, and sat down to look at the moon. The night breeze on my cheeks felt cool, so I pulled up the thick shawl over my nightgown. 

Lately, the mornings and evenings had been chilly, and my body was shivering, but I didn’t close the window. My chest was so stuffy that I felt like I couldn’t bear it if I didn’t get some cold air. 

I took out the leftover wine from last night’s nighttime table, poured it into a glass, and took a sip. The sweet and sour aroma of the wine lingered in my mouth before disappearing. I could taste the strange bitterness of alcohol on the tip of my tongue. 

I licked my lips. In the past, I would get drunk after just one glass, but now I was downing a bottle every two days. I didn’t even get drunk after just one drink, and I didn’t even feel drunk. 

After Roy left me, I spent the day trying to postpone the engagement, and at night, I was busy helping his organization and his rebellion. 

Until then, I would occasionally hear reports about Roy and get news, but after the war intensified, I couldn’t even know if he was alive or dead. 

Sometimes, I would hear rumors floating around in social circles, but they were all just empty talk. 

They would always talk about things like how they were wiped out because supplies were lacking during the war, or how an esper who hadn’t been properly guided went wild and turned the whole area into a mess, leaving no one, enemy or ally, alive. 

At first, I was terrified that the esper who hadn’t been properly guided might be Roy. Even though I had provided him with a sufficient number of guides, if he had been stubborn and neglected the guiding, such an accident could have happened.

Nevertheless, I could do nothing for him. All I could do was assist in his rebellion. 

On the other hand, Roy was an esper and a commander who was directly involved in the battle on the front lines. Unlike when he was my slave, I had no way to protect him or do anything to him. 

So I started drinking to forget my helplessness. I knew that relying on alcohol was not a good idea, but I couldn’t live with my mind as it felt like my blood was drying up day by day. 

Recently though, I started drinking to relieve other anxieties. 

Contrary to my worries, the rebellion he started was a great success, and Roy proudly declared to the surrounding countries that the Erhardt Empire had been revived. 

The nobles who had predicted a negative outlook all praised his splendid and outstanding appearance and his bravery. 

He became emperor as I had hoped, but there was no news for several days. He, who had said he would come back to me, had not shown up even though I was going to exchange engagement rings the tomorrow morning. 

That’s why I was drinking wine alone in the middle of the night. 

But I couldn’t postpone the ring exchange any longer. I had postponed the formal engagement until the very end, and I had done it slowly enough that the other party’s family was slightly displeased. 

It was almost the limit. I had done my best. 

Once again, a cold wind blew through the window, tickling my lavender hair. 

The moon was too bright tonight, and the moonlight streaming through the window illuminated the room where I was left alone. 

“Roy.” 

I called his name out loud. Only my voice scattered in the lonely silence. 

With a deep sigh, I emptied all the remaining wine into my mouth. The savory scent of alcohol spread through my esophagus. Then I poured more wine into the empty wine glass again.

This time, I got up from my seat, leaned against the window, and poured a glass while feeling the chilly breeze. 

If I really was abandoned by Roy and had to exchange rings with a fiancé I didn’t like, I thought that taking my own life might not be a bad option. 

I had never thought of getting out of here since I entered the original story, but if that moment came, it would be best to leave as soon as possible. 

I couldn’t see the ending I wanted, so there was no reason to stay any longer. 

While I was immersed in such gloomy thoughts, I heard a strange sound from under the window. I put down the wine glass I was holding for a moment and listened to the unfamiliar sound. 

Thump. Thud. Thud, thud. 

At first, I thought it was just the footsteps of a wild animal coming down from the forest, or the sound of insects moving in groups, or the sound of leaves brushing against each other whenever the wind blew. 

However, when I listened closely, it definitely resembled the sound of human footsteps. 

‘Who on earth would be walking around at this hour?’ 

I was puzzled, so I leaned out the window and tried to find a person, but I couldn’t see anything because it was covered in dark shadows. 

I could hear sounds, but there were no people. 

No matter how much I thought about it, it was suspicious. 

It was suspicious that someone was wandering around the mansion at this hour of the morning, but there was no reason for the servant to be walking around outside the mansion. 

Sometimes the knights and guards guarding the mansion would patrol and walk around, but it didn’t make sense for that person to try to hide in the shadows and act suspiciously. 

At that moment, a clear conclusion flashed through my mind. 

‘An intruder!’ 

I was about to call the servant and report this fact with confidence in my quick assessment of the situation.

Suddenly, the suspicious footsteps echoing through the darkness stopped, and an unfamiliar black shadow came through the window like a door and appeared before my eyes.

A man dressed in black from head to toe stared straight at me. I took a close look at his appearance, braving fear to guess his identity, but there was nothing to tell about his identity since he was wearing a hood and mask. 

His appearance reminded me of a skilled assassin. 

‘When I read the original, there was no mention of an assassin appearing and taking Yuria’s life, right?’ 

Neither Yuria nor I had done anything in our lives that would incur anyone’s enmity. I did create an underground organization, but it was created to help Roy, so I never once got involved in the drug, human trafficking, or smuggling that other nobles usually did. I just created it under the surface, and it was a perfectly clean organization. 

I couldn’t remember doing anything bad enough to be assassinated like this. 

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even think of screaming, and I hesitated to step back, putting some distance between me and him, embarrassed by the sudden intruder. 

When the assassin entered this room, he stepped steadily onto the window frame with his familiar movements, and then climbed over the large window and landed in the room. 

There was no hesitation or indecision in that short movement, and not even a sound. These actions were proof that he was used to it. 

It was an overwhelmingly, no, absolutely disadvantageous situation. 

There was no way that a trained assassin who went in and out of mansion windows could be a match for a noble lady who stayed home every day and read books. 

The assassin who had been standing still in the middle of the room soon strode toward me, his target. I swallowed the saliva that had gathered in my mouth out loud. 

I had to figure out a way to overcome this situation, but my mind was blank with the fear of death and I couldn’t think of anything. I thought I should run away, but my body froze and wouldn’t move as I wanted. 

Was I going to die miserably here without being able to see the confinement ending I had been looking forward to? 

I was trembling, unable to do anything, in the fear of death approaching me every moment, and a single word slipped out of my lips without me knowing.

Like a desperate prayer calling out to God, believing that only he could save me. 

“Roy.” 

At that moment, his footsteps that had been advancing toward me stopped. 

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