CH 5

Carefully shackled one of his front feet. When I got up from my seat to fill the other side, a solid chest suddenly came into view.

“I told you, officer.”

….did you turn into a human with just one shackle?

In an unexpected situation, I took a step backward, and a large hand reached out and grabbed my wrist.

“Come to me if you’re going to run after another bastard.”

The rest, I couldn’t fill it.

There wasn’t even a trace of resentment left. As if driving the prey into a corner, he locked me up by touching the wall with both hands so I wouldn’t run away.

Everywhere was in his hands. I hurriedly tried to grab the whistle, but he grabbed the whistle first. My neck stiffened. Perhaps because he wanted to see my flustered expression, he subtly lowered his body and tilted his head. The masculine features with strong features came close to me.

“At least if you come to me, there will be no situation where you will die in an instant. I’m going to play with you thoroughly and kill you.”

Are you satisfied with my expression? I could feel the ease of a predator staring at an animal trapped in a trap.

“Officer. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but why are you so respectful? That doesn’t suit you.”

I’m out of breath.

“You’re making a scared look that doesn’t suit you again. I think it’s very different from your usual self.”

No matter how closely he observed my face, the low voice he exhaled became a cool breath and reached the tip of my nose.

“…the situation has changed.”

“Typical opportunist.”

“Will you save me if I say so?”

“Hmm.”

His hand, which was on the wall, reached my right ear. His thick, wide hands were huge enough to crush my small face at once. I closed my eyes without realizing it, and surprisingly nothing happened. When I carefully opened my eyes, he looked at me, then lowered his gaze.

He swept his hair irritably as if he had thought of something.

“Unlock the shackle for now. Only prison officers can take this off.”

There was a metal jingle next to my left ear. His thick, shackled wrists swayed freely. But I wasn’t stupid.

Whistle and shackles. These two are the only weapons that the prison officer Lemony can use against a first-class prisoner.

“…I can’t.”

Deon, of course, didn’t believe me.

“Don’t play around, take it off.”

“I don’t know how to unlock it.”

“The officer can’t unlock the shackles, does that make sense?”

“If you keep doing this, I’ll blow the whistle.”

I hurriedly took out the whistle, but the cold breath that approached me in an instant touched my ear.

“Would it be faster for you to blow the whistle or for me to kill you?”

It was so fast. I didn’t even blink and I didn’t notice it. From the hallway across, I would have been completely covered by Deon’s wide back. His earlobes, which were so close that I could only see the outline, and the smooth muscles flowing under them were moving slowly up and down. The figure was horrifying, as if it were a living and moving elaborate statue.

I feel like something that shouldn’t exist in reality is alive and moving.

“…You wouldn’t be so stupid as to kill the only person who can unlock the shackles.”

“So I put the rest of the shackles on you.”

“What?”

For a moment, my lips parted like a fool because I didn’t understand what he said, and his dark eyebrows, which confirmed my stupid expression, rose satisfactorily.

“You can’t even run away now.”

Deon raised his right hand as I still didn’t understand what he meant. Then for some reason, my left wrist naturally went up following his hand. Before I knew it, the rest of the shackles were wrapped around my wrist.

“…are you crazy?”

It felt like all the blood drained from my body.

“Yes.”

Deon muttered coldly, without a smile on his face.

“I’m crazy because of you.”

◆

The shackles were not unlocked, no matter how hard I pulled them. At first, I was thinking of just unlocking mine and running away, but I had never touched such shackles in real life, so I didn’t even know how to unlock them.

There were two ways to unlock the shackles mentioned in the original work.

First, it is unlocked directly by the discretion of the prison officer in charge. Second, magic naturally disappears when the prison officer in charge faints, and the shackles will be unlocked.

I didn’t even want to faint, so I had to unlock it myself. What the hell, why. 

Tuck, Tuck. I hastily pressed the button on the metal part like turning on a lighter, but nothing changed. In the end, it won’t come off, before I knew it, I was holding on to his thick wrist.

“Officer.”

It was impossible to escape without taking it off.

“Officer Lemony.”

The dust-stained palm was so large that it could not be grasped even if I held it with both hands. As I abruptly took his hand and gripped the shackles, his thick, long fingers seemed to stiffen slightly.

“Officer.”

I forgot to call him to unlock the shackles somehow, but he looked down at me and laughed at me.

“Stop acting and take off the shackles.”

But it was frustrating for me as well.

Maybe command magic works. I desperately blew the whistle, but Deon, who couldn’t understand the command, stood relaxed with his arms folded.

“Didn’t I tell you?”

“I told you to take it off.”

“You’re the only one who can unlock these shackles.”

A slightly curious gaze settles on my head. But after that, as I wrestled with his hand for 10 minutes, Deon’s patience began to wear out.

“….yes, you don’t want to be shackled to death.”

When I raised my head, my blood-colored eyes, reminiscent of a beast, were filled with cold air. He seemed to think I was still pretending I didn’t know how to unlock the shackles.

“Then let’s go together.”

Bang. There was a light sound of something loosening and filling up. When Deon suddenly turned around and began to walk, the shackles on his wrists began to move in the direction he was moving.

The distance between the shackles is about 30 cm.

“Where are you going?”

Deon was tall and had long legs. But he walked quickly, not paying attention to me, who was times smaller than him. It was when I was out of breath, and forced to be dragged.

“If you go downstairs, there are a lot of prisoners. Let’s take a look.”

“What?”

“They say the prisoners there want to hit the prison officer just once.”

From the sly words, I tried hard to loosen my stiff face. He suddenly turned his head and looked down at me with an expectant gaze.

“Why? Are you scared?”

Without answering, I closed my mouth tightly, and he smiled as if he was having fun.

“If you’re scared, cry. I don’t know what else to do when I see you cry. You might not go down because you only want to see me.”

At his words, I almost got really emotional this time. I quickly bit my lower lip so as not to cry. This time, I had to bite hard enough to get a walnut mark on my chin. For me, who was suddenly possessed Lemony, it was unfair to the point of burning my throat, but this was the reality.

I had to calm down. Deon wants me to suffer. The best resistance I could do while shackled was to keep my cool.

“Back off, Deon.”

I swallowed the hot lump in my throat. As I blew the whistle, he made a tsk sound as if disappointed, but then moved on.

But just like that, just one step.

Is the command magic not working well? Feeling nervous, I ordered once more strongly.

“Stay back, Deon. Stay one meter away from me.”

“Oops, I can’t move because of the shackles.”

But he didn’t budge. As if my throat hurts,  I hold my back and turn my head with a small exclamation.

“By the way, my throat hurts when I look down so much.”

Deon didn’t back down. All I could do now was control Deon’s movements so he couldn’t hurt me.

But until when?

Until I’m really crying and squirming as he said?

“Officer, give me another order.”

The hand holding the whistle began to tremble in a sarcastic tone.

Could it be because of his height? Could it be because of its large size? Is it because of the sense of loss that I cannot escape from his shadow? Or is it because of the relaxed gaze that seems to see through my expression that wraps my fear with a mask? Or is it because the distance between us is only 30 cm apart?

There were too many causes for my fear.

“…Didn’t you hate me?”

After a long silence, I opened my mouth first, and unfortunately, my voice cracked.

“I hate it.”

It’s been a long time since he accepted my words.

“If you don’t want to see me like that, then you shouldn’t even bother with me in the first place.”

“Officer, you were the one who hated me first. But then, instead of being indifferent, you stayed by my side and continued to give humiliating orders.”

Did he come up with such a bad idea?

His voice, which had been low at first, became more subdued.

“I’m just like you. I hate you, so I can’t leave you alone.”

The torch flickered suddenly. Thanks to this, the shadow that half covered his face disappeared, a face with clear features was revealed. For a moment, my whole body shuddered and my breath stopped. The only thing left on Deon’s face was hatred and contempt.

Have you ever been hated so badly by someone?

But then I realized.

I’ve never been properly hated or loved by someone. There was a time when I was hurt by the words and actions of my relatives, but it was more of a sneer to be hateful and too cold to be affectionate. They didn’t hate me, I was ostracized.

Yes. I had never had a close relationship with anyone in the first place.

“…then.”

I swallowed my saliva. I was unfamiliar with the bad side. Even poor-quality clothes felt like they didn’t fit me.

“Are you saying you want to be the same person as me?”

He kept his mouth shut to the question I had barely asked, and answered coldly.

“Yes.”

The shackles were suddenly pulled. Forced to walk, my forehead hit a hard chest.

“….I’d rather be someone like you.”

The low-pitched voice was strangely twisted. Deon was still glaring at me with a savage expression, but somehow the scratches seemed to pass from his staring face.

However, the rising doubts disappeared with a strong explosion sound. The sound of the eardrum bursting from the other side dominated the entire hall. When I realized that it was a gunshot, it was already after the back of my head hit the cold floor.