ESL Chapter 11

The next day, Lea arrived at the ducal residence as usual and handled documents while carefully observing the office and the Duke. When she looked at the Duke through her glasses, she could see red energy gathering around his heart area, indicating the degree of poisoning. However, she couldn’t see any other medium that could be poisoning the Duke. As she observed intermittently, her gaze shifted when Jerome entered carrying tea.

‘Could it be the tea?’

She thought it unlikely they would use such a simple method as putting poison in water steeped with tea leaves, but now suspicious, she quickly stood and approached Jerome. Taking the tray, she said:

“You’ve even prepared mine. Thank you.”

Though it was different from her usual behavior, Jerome, after briefly showing a puzzled expression, shrugged his shoulders and spoke to the Duke.

“Count Roman passed away at his residence a short while ago.”

At the news Jerome brought, the Duke’s eyes darkened gloomily.

“So they were targeting Count Roman after all. He was a good man, what a pity. Will Count Roman’s adopted son inherit the title now?”

“Yes. The will also states that the title and all property are to be left to the adopted son and the Countess.”

“Another of the 1st Prince’s supporters will be lost…”

And the conflict with the 2nd Prince will intensify even more… As Duke Kaien let out a deep sigh, he looked questioningly at Joseph, who was staring intently at the teacup on the tray.

“Is there something wrong with the tea?”

“The teacup seemed unique, so I was examining it.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know you were interested in teacups.”

The Duke looked at Joseph with gentle eyes. When he looked at this young man, he strangely felt an inexplicable fondness. He couldn’t explain why, but that’s how he felt. After gazing at Joseph for a moment, he turned his attention back to Jerome.

“So when is the Count’s funeral?”

“Ah… yes… the funeral is…”

As she returned to her seat listening to the conversation between the two men, Joseph—no, Lea—wore an invisible cold smile. A moment ago, the Duke’s teacup reflected in her glasses had been entirely stained red.

“How impudent…”

Behind her glasses, flames of anger blazed in her eyes, if only for a moment.

****

Michelle, having received Abram’s summons, arrived at his mansion avoiding people’s eyes. Rolling her eyes, wondering why she’d been called, she turned deathly pale upon entering the room she was led to. Behind Abram, who sat in a chair holding a whip, stood three burly, menacing men. Realizing that the letter she’d sent had displeased him and he intended to punish her, her body began to tremble. But before she could apologize, Abram’s cold voice flowed from his lips.

“They say you have to beat a dog for it to recognize its master. Strip her.”

At his command, the men approached Michelle. The men’s eyes, looking at Michelle who had been stripped naked in an instant without a thread on her, dripped with sticky lust.

“Make her kneel.”

At Abram’s words, the man standing behind Michelle grabbed her shoulders and forced her to kneel. Michelle’s eyes, as she knelt on the floor with her head raised, were becoming wet with fear of the coming pain.

Slowly rising from his chair, Abram wrapped the whip around his hand and walked to Michelle. Then he mercilessly brought the whip down on her back.

“Ahhh!”

A sharp scream burst from her mouth as a red line was mercilessly carved into her white back.

“I gave you the position of Duchess, and you thought you really became a Duchess? Filthy bitch!”

Abram’s whip dug into her back once more, slow and hard. He didn’t stop the beating until Michelle was half-unconscious. Only after her back was completely covered with whip marks and blood did Abram lower the whip and speak to the watching men.

“She’s a woman that would drive any man crazy. Make sure she won’t think about men for a while.”

Michelle, lying prostrate on the floor taking only ragged breaths, froze at Abram’s words. At the terrible feeling of returning to the first day she was brought to the organization and trained, she crawled and grabbed Abram’s foot, pleading.

“I… was wrong… please have mercy…”

Abram looked at Michelle, who was crying and clinging to him, as if looking at a disgusting insect. He bent down, grabbed her hair, forced her to face him, and whispered.

“A whore should play like a whore. Right?”

As he threw her aside like discarded trash and left, the men approached her. And a hell meant only for her unfolded.

****

Lea, who had intended to go straight home after work, changed her destination to the bookstore at a sudden message from Berchel. He cleverly sent someone to the ducal residence with the message that the book she’d requested had arrived and to please visit. When she entered the bookstore, he greeted her warmly.

“Welcome, customer. I’ve obtained the book you requested last time. Shall we go down?”

“You found it faster than I expected. Thank you.”

Naturally conducting a conversation between bookstore owner and customer, the two descended to the lower floor.

“You have information to share with me.”

As Lea sat comfortably on the sofa naturally, Berchel took documents from the safe and handed them to her.

“It’s information that came in urgently, so it’s not fully organized, but that organization is reportedly involved in Count Roman’s death.”

“Count Roman…”

She recalled the conversation between Duke Kaien and Jerome. The Duke had said, “So they were targeting Count Roman after all.”

“Duke Kaien seemed to know about it too.”

At Lea’s words, Berchel nodded as if it were obvious.

“The Kaien ducal house’s intelligence network is perhaps stronger in information gathering than even our organization within the Yurasen Empire. So naturally he would know that much. However, because their hands are tied due to blackmail, the intelligence network itself is paralyzed, so he probably doesn’t know the information I’m giving you now.”

“You make it sound really intriguing.”

“The information is that the organization is making contact with the 2nd Prince. This Count Roman incident also seems to be more for showing to the 2nd Prince.”

If what he said was true, it was a serious problem. It meant that if things went wrong, their influence could reach even the imperial family. Lea’s brow furrowed slightly as she read the documents, and she opened her mouth.

“This person, the 2nd Prince…”

“Has quite a bad personality…”

“He’s trash.”

Berchel, who already knew the 2nd Prince well from investigation and was trying his best to moderate his language while suppressing the urge to curse, closed his mouth at her brief assessment. As if representing his feelings, Lea added with a slight smile.

“Dog trash, at that.”

“Kuk… kukukuk… hahahaha”

Berchel tried to suppress the laughter bursting forth at her refreshing expression but ultimately couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. While he laughed to his heart’s content, Lea, having finished reading the documents, returned them to him and said:

“What do you think they’ll offer the 2nd Prince?”

“Haha… kuk kuk… probably they’ll hand over Count Roman’s only daughter. She’s exactly his type based on his history with women. By the way, you’re certainly worthy of being Lord Luciel’s friend.”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“Think about it yourself. Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t told you my name. It’s Berchel. Please feel free to call me Ber.”

“Please call me Lea. So if he accepts the deal, he’ll take that only daughter.”

At Lea’s question, Berchel looked at her. Though she was in disguise, the light in her eyes behind the glasses was transparently clear without a speck of impurity.

‘She gives off a similar feeling to Lord Luciel. They say people who resemble each other become friends.’

With an invisible smile, he opened his mouth to speak his thoughts.

“As you saw in the documents, the 2nd Prince’s hobby is to bring virgins who match his taste and forcibly rape them. Moreover, he has unnecessarily good stamina and keeps going until the women are almost dead. What I know is that after tasting them once, he sends them out of the palace to be killed to silence them. Do you… need the location of where they dispose of them?”

At Berchel’s careful question, Lea nodded and her eyes gleamed.

“I can’t stop everything, but I should stop what I can.”

“Understood.”

“And Ber, could you possibly investigate this too?”

After hearing all of Lea’s story, Ber’s eyes lit up with admiration. It was an aspect he hadn’t considered, but the content was entirely possible. Rather, the more he heard, the more he thought about why he hadn’t considered this, along with the thought that they might be a more frightening organization than he’d thought.

“Understood. I’ll do my best.”

At Ber’s words, Lea smiled with satisfaction.

****

The imperial palace had several palaces. Each palace was given to the Empress, Imperial Consorts, and the princes and princesses they bore, and depending on their position, the size of the palace and distance from the Emperor’s palace varied. The 2nd Prince’s Karma Palace was the second largest after the 1st Prince Daemon’s Ruswen Palace and was located not far from the Emperor’s palace. Karma Palace had a secret room that other palaces didn’t have—a space hidden behind the walls, soundproofed so thoroughly that no matter how much one screamed, it wouldn’t leak outside. Therefore, many of the princes and princesses used this room for enjoyment with servants or maids.

The 2nd Prince was the same. However, he had a peculiar hobby—once a month or so, he would kidnap a virgin woman or girl, forcibly rape her, and then kill her. For such purposes, this room was perfect. And tonight as well, a woman was trapped inside the room. The strange thing was that it hadn’t even been a week since he’d last used this room.

The blonde woman, bound with her hands tied and pulled above her head, attached to the bed, was beautiful and pure. She would have been even more beautiful if not for the fear in her grass-green eyes and her deathly pale face. She was rolling her eyes diligently, trying to remember why she was in this situation.

Her father had suddenly collapsed, and her half-brother and stepmother had locked her in her room. She had pleaded to be let out, worried about her father, but the door wouldn’t open, and she remembered crying on the bed until she fell asleep. After that, she had no memory. When she woke, she found herself wearing only a see-through slip, tied up in someone’s bedroom she didn’t recognize.

‘I have to escape.’

As the woman tried to twist her body to escape, she heard voices and the door opened. The moment she saw who entered, her eyes widened in shock.

“Your… Your Highness?”

Of the two men who entered her view, one was definitely the 2nd Prince Lloyd, whom she’d seen at balls and parties. When she recognized Lloyd and opened her mouth, the man standing beside him spoke.

“Your Highness, what will you do? Are you accepting their proposal?”

Lloyd’s gaze swept over the woman tied to the bed. As a sticky look began to spread in his previously cold eyes, the woman felt a chill run down her spine and unconsciously held her breath.

“It wouldn’t be polite to just release such beautiful prey.”

Lloyd slowly walked to the bed. Making eye contact with the frozen woman, he smiled. Though it should have been enchanting—a smile from such a sculptured, handsome face—the woman felt terror from that smile. And that terror reached its peak when his hand stroked her face, passed over her neck, came down to her chest, and roughly grabbed one of her protruding breasts.

“Isn’t that right, Helen Roman.”