WRBEFM 10

Chapter 10

Usually, when you hear the words “solitary confinement,” you imagine torture devices or some horribly brutal place.

But it wasn’t nearly as harsh as I had expected.

It was a little more bleak, cold, and unpleasant, though!

Still, I got an entire room to myself, and I didn’t have to bother going outside just to eat.

The surveillance was strict, but it wasn’t as though they were torturing me.

Being without my sister was a little—no, very, very lonely, but I could endure this much.

There was only one problem—

“Your Grace!”

“……”

“What are you doing right now?”

“……”

“Aren’t you eating? They served something pretty delicious today! Or are you not hungry? Are you perhaps feeling unwell or… or something?!”

No matter how many times I called out to him, he simply kept his back turned toward me without looking at me even once.

Well, I suppose he had looked at me exactly once.

When I first arrived!

‘But that was two days ago….’

Sigh.

I let out a deep sigh and rested my chin on my hands.

‘No matter how much I call him, he won’t even look at me once.’

Does he hate me that much?

It’s not like I’ve done anything particularly annoying to him… And by now, shouldn’t he be extremely curious about me?!

I groaned as I stared at his back, which looked as solid as armor.

If he had heard the conversation in the warden’s office, he should have shown at least the tiniest bit of interest in me!

‘I even blew up a building that was directly owned by the Imperial Family!’

I really didn’t understand him.

But there was nothing more I could do directly.

‘There are only five days left.’

At first, I thought it was fine if he ignored me on the first day, but I was gradually becoming anxious.

Once I left solitary confinement like this, I might never have another chance to interact with him. But I couldn’t exactly blow up another building, either…

‘I have to try something.’

The guards didn’t enter this area except at certain times anyway.

So I had plenty of opportunities to talk to him.

The problem was that the person I wanted to talk to kept avoiding me. It was driving me crazy.

‘I was going to take things step by step….’

I sighed deeply.

I needed some ingenious way to make him finally turn around and look at me.

‘Ugh.’

At this point, there was only one method left…

“Send her back tomorrow.”

It was night, and the child was asleep.

Rodrigo had secretly left solitary confinement and was openly expressing his displeasure.

“Are you insane? Why would you keep a child here?”

“I’m sorry, my lord. It just happened to be the child’s wish….”

“At this rate, you’ll be granting her wish to help her escape from prison next.”

At those words, Siss deeply bowed his head and apologized.

However, he couldn’t go back on a promise he had already made. Moreover, thanks to Karin, they had been able to remove all the dangerous black ore and prepare for possible future explosions.

In a way, she had been a great help.

Which meant there was even less reason to deny her wish.

And of all things, her wish had been to be sent to solitary confinement.

Honestly, considering the crimes she had committed, she deserved to be in solitary anyway. If he refused, he would have to impose some other punishment instead.

So for the time being…

He had put her in the same section as his lord.

“Is that child bothering you?”

“She chatters every day. She talks about how nice the weather is, how delicious the food is, and so on. For someone locked in solitary confinement, she sure talks a damn lot.”

You seem to be listening to every single word, though….

Given his lord’s tendency to remember only the things he wanted to remember, the fact that he remembered such trivial details meant he had been paying considerable attention.

But perhaps he himself didn’t realize it, because he crossed his legs with an irritated expression.

“You said it was for a week?”

“……Yes.”

“Damn it.”

He wanted nothing more than to have her removed immediately, but she hadn’t stolen anything or committed some minor offense.

She had blown up a building.

If they ended her solitary sentence now, people would undoubtedly complain that her punishment was far too lenient.

It could even undermine discipline among the prisoners.

Especially since the building had been connected to the Imperial Family, Siss himself might come under Imperial scrutiny if he imposed too weak a punishment.

So should he take that risk just to get the little girl out?

No.

There was only one answer.

Even if it was inconvenient, they simply had to endure the remaining time.

“Damn it.”

That audacious little brat.

If all of this had been intentional, then she was truly shameless and cunning.

“Hey!”

At that moment, a woman came rushing into the warden’s office.

Rodrigo clicked his tongue as he watched his younger sister march toward him.

“Are you trying to advertise yourself as a free person? Have you no sense of caution?”

This was exactly why he had prevented her from coming out for an entire day.

Apparently, being confined had only made her even more unruly.

“You think I can worry about being cautious right now? After you took my baby away like that?”

Rodrigo let out a disbelieving sigh.

“Anyone listening to you would think she had been kidnapped. Why are you blaming me when she went to solitary confinement of her own free will?”

“W-What?”

Confused, Veronica turned toward her loyal subordinate.

“Siss, is that really true?”

“……Surprisingly, it is.”

“My goodness….”

So it really was true.

Veronica let out a bewildered sigh.

“Why did the child suddenly say she wanted to go to solitary confinement…? Ah, no. Why did she blow up the building in the first place? Did she suddenly start hating the gods?”

“She said she wanted to prove something.”

“Prove what?”

“That she had really been insulting the Imperial Family and continuously commissioning assassinations.”

“Oh my.”

Was our little one really that bold?

“I like her even more now.”

“……”

“S-Sorry. But it really is refreshing.”

“Ahem.”

Rodrigo had nothing to say about that.

Blowing up the building had been absurd, but, truthfully, it had felt rather satisfying.

The Temple was the very institution that had helped the Imperial Family suppress the power of dragons.

She had destroyed in one blow a place created by the two groups he hated most in the world…

‘Not bad.’

Honestly, he liked it quite a lot.

But that was separate from the fact that she was troublesome.

Rodrigo regained his composure.

“Anyway, if anyone lays a hand on our child, I’m not going to let it slide.”

“Tsk. Then you should come into solitary confinement too.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“Get lost.”

Rodrigo dismissed his younger sister without hesitation and clicked his tongue.

“I’m sorry, my lord. Or perhaps we should take this opportunity to observe her. Since we intend to take her with us when we escape anyway, it might be better to determine what her objective is while she is still this close to us.”

“Siss and I are thinking alike. See? Oppa. Of course our Karin is incredibly cute, lovable, and adorable, but even objectively speaking, we should take her with us.”

“You two get along remarkably well.”

Rodrigo let out an incredulous laugh.

‘Find out what her objective is,’ huh.

It wasn’t wrong.

In fact, he was still considering it himself.

Judging by how eagerly she had called out to him over the past two days, she seemed to have quite a lot she wanted to say.

“Tsk.”

Nothing he could do about it.

Rodrigo rose from his seat.

“What? Where are you going?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

He answered curtly and left the warden’s office.

As Veronica stared at the door that slammed shut, she pouted.

“That stubborn fool.”

What was that called again?

Some kind of… refusal disorder?