Gellius Prison, a special facility for female prisoners charged with treason.
A storm’s warning has recently begun to brew over the once peaceful Gellius Prison.
“That’s the guy, right? The one who took down the Giant.”
“I heard he just laughed while cracking his fingers, even when the Giant was begging him to stop.”
“What are you talking about? I heard the one throwing the punches was shaking in fear while begging for the Giant’s life!”
“There’s also a rumor that he had the Giant in a vulnerable position, gasping like a pervert…”
“Great, just what we needed—a crazy weirdo inside the prison…”
Recently, two new prisoners were thrown into Gellius.
With her red hair flowing, Raphne Bell Martinez, a fiercely savage warrior-dog.
Despite his blonde hair and timid demeanor, Ken Feinstein, a psychopathic sadist.
Rumors began to spread among the prisoners that the two had utterly destroyed Gellius’ tough guy, the Giant.
“They’re here… That’s Ken.”
“What? He’s cuter than the rumors say! The redhead looks the feistier of the two.”
“Don’t judge by looks! Didn’t the Giant learn that the hard way?”
During lunch at the prison.
As Ken and Raphne entered the dining area, the prisoners started to gossip.
“It’s good that no one’s bothering us now…”
Ken thought it wasn’t so bad that no one touched him since the incident in the shower yesterday.
But the rumors were exaggerated.
In reality, the Giant had just fainted after being tossed aside.
Then Ken had to struggle to hold back Raphne, while the other prisoners fled with the unconscious Giant.
“That big guy probably inflated the rumors.”
The Giant seemed to have been the real muscle around here, and to keep up his reputation, any news about being taken down by a pretty face could hurt him.
She likely spread the rumors on purpose to save face.
“Ugh, this food is terrible… Ken, when are we getting out of here?”
“We can’t leave until we reach our target and escape. So hang in there, Raphne.”
“Or should I cause a scene and break down the walls? If there’s chaos, you could just run away.”
“Are you planning to break out every treason-level prisoner here…?”
Ken barely stopped her from following through on her scary idea.
“I need to speed things up.”
Luckily, the target, Diana Balthror, was unexpectedly found on her first day in an unexpected place.
That was in the shower room for prisoner orientation.
Diana personally stepped in to help Ken’s group, who were dragged in there.
“That was a weird one.”
After the Giant had been helped out of the shower room by his companions.
Ken approached Diana, who was staring blankly at the scene.
He wanted to express his gratitude for her help and create a connection.
“Um, um… thank you for your help earlier.”
He extended his hand to Diana, who was sitting there with a business smile.
First impressions always matter.
Especially since he needed to persuade Diana to join him in the escape.
So he paid attention to his first impression and smiled at her.
“Huh? A-Oh, I, um…!”
However, from Diana’s perspective, she didn’t comprehend Ken’s intentions.
The image of the blonde-haired Ken smiling gently while extending his hand looked like an angel reaching out for salvation.
Thump, thump.
As she faced him, Diana’s heartbeat tripled, quadrupled.
“I-I did what I had to do, that’s all━!! I’ll take my leave now━!!”
Flushing with embarrassment, Diana swiftly backed away from Ken.
“…What a strange person.”
Ken looked at his empty hand, pondering that judgement of her.
“…Ken.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“I really dislike that girl.”
“…Why? Out of the blue?”
“I don’t know. I just really don’t like her. Can’t we avoid getting involved with her?”
“She’s our target, so we have to approach her. We’re escaping together.”
“So life and death don’t matter, huh?”
“Careful with the scary talk!”
Raphne felt an odd discomfort gazing at the fleeing Diana.
Reflecting on that first encounter, Ken glanced sideways at Diana, who sat at a corner of the dining hall while getting his meal.
‘…She’s the only one who knows about the magic sword.’
If he couldn’t break her out, he had to at least gather information about the magic sword.
So he needed to get close to her.
Opposite to where Diana sat, her gaze fell.
‘…Why does that guy keep staring at me…?’
Diana had caught on to Ken’s clumsy spying.
Her face reddened as she struggled to eat with trembling utensils.
‘I’ve met countless pretty people outside…!’
Diana found it hard to maintain her composure against Ken, whose looks overshadowed anyone she’d ever seen.
Just making eye contact felt like she was experiencing first love.
Before Diana, then came…
“Hello, we met yesterday, right? I’m Ken Feinstein. May I ask your name…?”
“Ahhh!!”
Ken, without hesitation, sat directly across from her with his tray to get closer.
With discontent, Raphne took a seat beside him.
“Ah, I’m so sorry! Did I startle you by approaching so suddenly?”
Feeling mixed emotions seeing Diana react like someone who met a ghost, Ken felt sorry and confused.
“Uh, no, it’s fine, I-I’m… um…”
“…It’s okay?”
“…Mumble, mumble.”
Diana, like a motor revving up, trembled even more as she sipped her soup.
‘A, an angel is before me…!’
Seeing as she could only focus on Ken’s face, his approach during lunch hit her like a mind-blasting spell.
‘It’s hard to become friends due to these rumors…!’
Totally oblivious to all this, Ken misunderstood Diana’s nervousness as a sign of her being hard to approach because of the wild rumors.
‘Now’s the time for self-introduction to become friends. A good conversation should clear this up.’
Without realizing he was being deceived, Ken kept his smile and looked at Diana again.
“In the chaos yesterday I couldn’t greet you properly, so again, I’m Ken Feinstein.”
“Ah… Yes, I’m Diana… Balthror.”
Thinking she shouldn’t act so flustered, Diana mustered her courage to introduce herself.
Her voice stumbled as if she were speaking underwater.
Ken caught every bit of it.
“Wow! So you’re Diana! I’m really looking forward to working with you! Oh, this is Raphne, who’s sitting next to me.”
Raphne, growling while chewing her fork, continued.
Ken, undeterred by Raphne’s behavior, kept shining his ‘sales smile’ and continued.
“This is Raphne Bell Martinez. We’re engaged.”
Then he quickly made the blunder of forgetting he was supposed to be a guy.
“…Huh?”
“Ah.”
The words ‘fiancée’ hung in the air.
Just like Ken noticed Diana’s stammering voice, Diana caught every word of his.
An odd silence fell between them.
“Wait, engaged…?”
“Uh, um, no, that’s not it!”
Realizing his slip, Ken frantically waved his arms to correct it.
Blam!
Raphne clung onto his flailing arms, and the correction failed spectacularly.
Then Raphne puffed out her cheeks and declared proudly.
“I’m Ken’s fiancée. There are two more, so you don’t think you’ll have a spot, okay?”
As Raphne hammered in that the misunderstanding was real, something in Diana snapped.
It was simply the sound of her fragile infatuation shattering in a single day.
“Ah, haha. Well, if you’re that beautiful, then of course you’d have, um, fiancées, right?”
“Three in total.”
“T-T-Three…!”
“…Um, does my being a girl not bother you?”
Ken thought she was a very open-minded person, looking at Diana with a confused expression.
Unbothered by Ken’s gaze, tears began welling up in Diana’s eyes from the shock of her abrupt heartbreak.
“Oh, um, Diana?”
Seeing her like that, Ken’s eyes widened as he reached out his hand.
“Ha ha ha! I-I got macaroni in my eye! It happens sometimes! …I really need to go see the infirmary now━!!”
Diana dashed out of the dining hall, emotion boiling over with tears streaming down her face.
“Phew, I did it. Good job, Ken, right?”
“…Why’d you do it?”
As Raphne happily clung to Ken’s arm, he sighed deeply.
“…Did you see that? Did that creepy psycho just make Diana cry?”
“Man, it’s the first time I’ve seen her make that face since I got locked up here.”
“Yup, those rumors about attempting state overthrow alone are definitely true…!”
“Wow, we’ve got a major player in this prison now. There’ll be a bloodbath for a while.”
Feeling the atmosphere around him grow more fearful, Ken’s sigh deepened.
‘…How do I get close?’
The first step felt stuck and he was in trouble.
‘By the way, what happened with those two?’
Laid back and cheerful, Raphne was happily feeding him while Ken thought of the other two women.
His other fiancées.
Emily and Mary.
Certainly, both must have reacted strongly when they heard he got locked up and would have insisted on coming along.
Aldrian surely must have chuckled in agreement.
But strangely, only Raphne was the one who ended up in prison with him.
‘…Will they be brought in a few days later?’
Worried something might have happened to them, Ken sighed again, straining under his many thoughts.
“…Ken, is the food really that bad?”
“…Yeah, just let it be like that.”
Raphne looked at him pitifully, stroking his head.
As the chaotic first day in prison came to an end, the following day arrived.
Buried in Raphne’s ample bosom, Ken woke up, brushing his tousled hair.
He helped Raphne prepare herself, still half-asleep.
Then the morning roll call, part of prison life, began.
It was Ken’s first morning roll call since being incarcerated.
In that roll call, one of Ken’s questions found an answer.
That was.
“…I present to you! The new guards! Both of them are certified elite from the royal palace! If you underestimate them because they’ve just arrived, you will regret it!”
The roll call began with the introduction of the guards who had been leading Ken in.
Two guards marched forth towards the lined-up prisoners.
With stunning features, they approached with their blue and golden hair streaming behind.
Their indifferent eyes met the prisoners, with one pair alight with wild excitement.
“…I’m Mary, and this is Hyde. …Defiance will earn you an immediate execution.”
“I’m Emily Epiris. …Hehe, do defy us, please.”
Among them, the blonde guard gazed at Ken with an enchanting look, her face flushed with excitement.
“You will be receiving plenty of punishments.”
Her red tongue lightly licked her lips, meeting Ken’s gaze with a lustful glint.
Ken shivered, sensing a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a while.
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