Tick.
Tock.
In the dimly lit space, an unknown liquid dripped incessantly, evoking a chilling, ghostly atmosphere.
Shackled and unable to move, Mu’en maintained a Christ-like posture of suffering, his most vulnerable parts exposed, bringing immense discomfort and a peculiar kind of thrill.
This reminded Mu’en of a helpless little rabbit awaiting slaughter, or perhaps… a certain type of play between a man and a woman under specific circumstances.
And the current situation… well, it resembled both.
For An, usually poised and elegant, had transformed into a bewitching serpent, her soft body coiling around Mu’en, greedily devouring everything he had.
“Um… An, could you get up? I think we can have a proper talk.”
Mu’en gulped, the sensations from certain areas making him unbearably restless. He silently chanted calming mantras, trying to keep his voice from trembling.
An rose, her tongue gliding over her glossy red lips.
“What does Young Master wish to talk about?”
Her cheeks were still flushed abnormally, her eyes hazy, with a trace of unfinished desire and a hint of irritation at being interrupted.
“Uh…”
Mu’en hesitated, carefully choosing his words:
“You like me, right?”
“Of course.”
An smiled sweetly. “I’ve always, always, always, always, always, always, always liked you, Young Master. To the point of madness.”
“No need for that many ‘always’s.”
Mu’en wanted to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but his hands were still bound.
Just then, An leaned down, her soft tongue licking the sweat off his forehead, savoring it as if it were a delicacy.
“Mmm… Young Master’s taste…” An wore an expression of pure bliss.
“…”
Mu’en froze.
Before he could process the strange sensation, his teeth began to chatter.
This is bad.
Very bad.
An’s yandere tendencies are far worse than I imagined!
But at this point, Mu’en had no way out and could only press on:
“An, you really don’t have to do this, you know.”
“Huh?” An tilted her head, puzzled.
“If you like me, we can start dating normally, like a regular couple.”
Mu’en spoke urgently:
“An, you may not know this, but before Father left, he told me he doesn’t care about social status. So even if I’m a duke’s son and you’re a maid, there’d be no obstacles for us.
There’s no need…”
He glanced at the shackles. “No need to go this far. This is practically a crime.”
“So that’s what Young Master thinks?”
An cupped her cheeks, as if imagining something delightful, a look of pure happiness on her face:
“Being truly united with Young Master is such a blissful thought.”
“Exactly! So just untie me first.”
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Mu’en pressed on:
“We’ll start as a couple, gradually understand each other, and then…”
“Ah, but that won’t do.”
An suddenly cut him off.
“Huh?”
Mu’en looked up in shock to find An’s eyes now icy cold, sending chills down his spine.
“Dating Young Master would indeed be lovely, but it wouldn’t satisfy my needs.”
“Needs?”
“Didn’t I just say it?”
An whispered, “I want all of you, Young Master. If we date, would you give me everything?”
“No, that’s asking too much!” Mu’en growled in frustration. “I’m a living person, not someone’s possession!”
“But I’ve spent ten whole years trying to achieve this goal.”
Ignoring Mu’en’s anger, An gently caressed his cheek, her eyes filled with genuine obsession.
“Sadly, I failed. So I had no choice but to resort to this final method.”
“Ten years… What do you mean?”
Mu’en suddenly felt a deep chill, as if some horrifying truth was about to surface, dragging him into an abyss of fear.
“What do I mean? It’s everything I’ve done for you, Young Master.”
An answered softly:
“Guiding you, protecting you, spoiling you, making you arrogant, ignorant, and turning you into a true wastrel. Ensuring you’re despised by everyone, especially those flirty noblewomen, so that no one dares approach you. Making you completely dependent on me, ensuring you can’t do anything without me.”
“For the past ten years, I’ve worked tirelessly to make you belong solely to me.”
“Wh… What?”
Mu’en’s mind was blown by this shocking revelation.
He stared blankly at An, seeing his own terrified reflection in her feverish eyes.
Wait.
What is An saying?
According to her, in the original story, Mu’en Campbell became such a useless person because of her—his devoted maid’s deliberate guidance?
How is that possible? How could someone orchestrate such a insane plan just to possess someone?
…
No, it seems possible.
Because both the original story and Mu’en’s own memories pointed to one undeniable fact—
Mu’en Campbell trusted his maid An implicitly. So much so that in the original story, he didn’t even hide his plan to drug the princess from her.
Wait, no. It was An who encouraged him to drug Celicia in the first place!
A lightbulb went off in Mu’en’s head.
The original story mentioned that Mu’en Campbell grew furious as Celicia grew closer to the protagonist. And at that moment, An casually remarked:
[If that’s the case, why not make the princess completely yours, Young Master?]
Yes, it was that comment that pushed the original Mu’en Campbell to go through with the plan!
“But why would she do this? Isn’t she just harming herself? In the original story, she was executed as an accomplice!”
Mu’en stared at An, a terrifying thought forming in his mind.
Did An really die in the original story?
If she were just an ordinary maid, she would’ve been executed without a doubt.
But given the strength she’d just displayed—knocking Mu’en unconscious in an instant—would she really die so easily?
After all, her execution was only briefly mentioned in the book. What if she faked her death or found a way to make others believe she was dead?
Further, in the original story, was it really “fate” that led the protagonist to stumble upon Mu’en Campbell’s misdeeds?
At least based on Mu’en’s current experience, so-called “fate” isn’t all that reliable.
And going even further, in the original story, did Mu’en Campbell lose an arm and a leg and become a beggar just because of a gambling debt, as he’d assumed?
Was it because he was desperately trying to escape someone—someone like An—that he ended up losing his limbs and becoming a beggar?
The more he thought, the more horrified he became.
