“Your Grace, are you hesitating now?”
“Uh…”
“We’ve already taken significant risks to pull this off, so retreating now would be… problematic.”
The man’s firm tone wavered slightly as though he was scared of my reaction.
I found the mix of defiance and apprehension absurd.
So, to sum up… am I dreaming about being a character in the novel I was reading?
And of all characters, the deranged villain?
Accepting the surreal situation, I nodded to myself.
“I’ll handle this… personally.”
Quickly adjusting my tone to match the Duke’s, I turned my gaze forward.
Dream or not, I was an actor, and if this was my role, I might as well play it.
Summoning the image of Isaac from the novel, I began to walk forward.
“Ugh…”
“Urgh…”
As I approached, the gathered people backed away.
At the center was a child bound tightly with coarse ropes, even gagged, his small frame struggling against his restraints.
“He resisted too much, so we couldn’t bring him here unscathed.”
“…”
“They say he’s a candidate for the next pope, and his divine power is so strong it rivals a mage’s magic. We even had to use restraints.”
“…”
I glanced at the child’s wrist, where a thin silver shackle gleamed.
The scene matched exactly with the novel I had read before bed.
“Ugh…”
Samuel Howard.
The younger brother of Gilbert, the protagonist’s closest ally.
Unlike his brother, Samuel had soft light brown hair and an innocent, youthful face.
He was only fifteen or sixteen, wasn’t he?
A prodigy of divine power, he had been nurtured by the temple as a potential successor to the pope.
Until recently, he was likely enduring grueling lessons to prepare for that role.
But Isaac, determined to place Prince Trystan on the throne, kidnapped Samuel to weaken the protagonist’s faction.
This boy, now trembling before me, was meant to become a symbol of the temple.
“Even so, to do this to a child…”
“Pardon, Your Grace? Did you say something?”
“…It’s nothing.”
I shook my head at the questioning man.
In the novel, Samuel was described as smaller and more fragile than his peers.
Standing before him now, his delicate frame made him seem even younger, tugging at something in me.
For as long as I could remember, I’d had a soft spot for children.
Maybe it was because I’d grown up without parents, struggling through life on my own.
Even back in the orphanage, I’d felt drawn to other kids who shared similar hardships.
That’s why I couldn’t understand Isaac.
He, too, had lost his parents in an accident and inherited his dukedom at a young age, yet he became so utterly ruthless.
Clicking my tongue, I turned to the others and said, “Remove his gag.”
“What? But—”
“He can’t speak with that in his mouth.”
“Ah, understood.”
The man hesitated but ultimately obeyed, stepping forward to unfasten the gag.
“Ugh… Where is this…? Who are you…?”
“…”
The terrified boy’s green eyes locked onto mine, wide with fear.
He trembled, tears spilling down his cheeks. I sighed deeply.
“Calm yourself, Samuel Howard.”
“Hic, hick…”
“Phew…”
What was I supposed to do now?
In the novel, Isaac had beaten Samuel mercilessly until Gilbert arrived, leaving him permanently disabled.
It was a horrific scene I could never forget.
Isaac had likely intended to kill him but had settled for crippling him for amusement.
The sheer cruelty of the act had made me question the author’s state of mind.
Isaac was so utterly deranged that I couldn’t just dismiss it as typical villain behavior.
Still, the story was compelling enough for me to push through and keep reading—up until that scene, where I had to stop.
Another sigh escaped my lips.
“Haah…”
“Y-Your Grace, I-I’m sorry…”
“…?”
“I’ll do whatever you say! Please… just let me go home.”
“…”
Samuel’s tearful plea made my chest tighten.
His trembling voice and the fear in his emerald eyes were almost too much to bear.
“Take a deep breath, Samuel Howard,” I said gently.
“Sniff… sniff…”
Now, what? I had no intention of following Isaac’s footsteps and hurting this child.
But if I stayed still, Gilbert would burst in at any moment…
Well, does it really matter?
After all, it’s just a dream.
* * *
‘If so, there’s no need to worry about the consequences—I might as well do as I please.’
With that thought, Lee Chan rummaged through his pocket.
Isaac, hypersensitive and sharp as a blade, had a peculiar quirk despite his wretched personality: he loved sweets.
The author had given him this trait, perhaps to show he coped with stress by indulging in sugar.
Whenever Isaac smiled while eating chocolate, the readers were quick to express their discomfort and shower him with insults.
At least, right now, that quirk was proving useful.
Thanks to it, Lee Chan was able to produce a sweet candy from his pocket to placate Samuel, even just a little.
“Here, eat this.”
“…What?”
“It’s not poisoned. Just eat it.”
“Y-yes, sir…”
Samuel trembled as he accepted the candy.
It was a rather large, pink strawberry-flavored hard candy, seemingly too big for his mouth.
After hesitating, Samuel popped it in and began rolling it around with his tongue.
“Does it taste good?”
“Y-yes, it’s delicious…”
“Don’t chew it. It’ll hurt your teeth.”
“O-okay…”
Thankfully, the candy seemed to calm Samuel down.
Whether it was truly that delicious or not, his cheeks flushed pink, and his tiny face moved as he nodded earnestly, his terror diminishing.
With Samuel less frightened and the prospect of encountering Gilbert like in the novel unappealing, Lee Chan decided it was time to let the boy go.
First, he untied the ropes and removed the restraints binding Samuel.
“Your Grace, what are you doing?!”
“Stay still.”
The man who had initially spoken to Lee Chan exclaimed in alarm, approaching him hastily.
Without even glancing at him, Lee Chan issued a curt reply.
Bang!
“Samuel!”
“…!”
The warehouse door flew open with a thunderous crash.
The scene resembled something out of a movie, leaving Lee Chan momentarily speechless, his mind blank.
“…Duke Drake!”
“…”
Then, their eyes met.
Gilbert’s, blazing with fury.
‘Ah, I’m screwed.’
Lee Chan inwardly cursed and frowned.
‘Of all times, why did Gilbert have to appear right before I could retreat? Even if this was a dream, it was the worst scenario.’
To make matters worse, this dream felt ridiculously vivid.
The oppressive aura emanating from Gilbert stabbed at Lee Chan’s senses with startling clarity.
Isaac had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure the suffocating pressure.
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