Chapter 49: Life is full of surprises… and scares
Even though Muen doesn’t know how An’s mentality has changed over these years, turning a cute boy into a plaything that feels like imprisonment, Muen knows he must escape. Because he doesn’t know what other tricks An might pull on him next.
Just being locked up for a few days is already starting to wear on him. His heart is tired, his kidneys even more so. He wants to live, but more importantly, he wants to live freely. If he can, he wants to live happily.
The yellow-haired villain doesn’t want to give in just yet.
“Come on, Tata!”…
The greatest advantage of recognizing a place you’ve been to before is the peace of mind it brings.
What Muen fears most is being locked up in a complex and unfamiliar place by An. In such a situation, he might not even be able to find a way to escape.
Fortunately, An is his personal maid, so her actions are somewhat limited. Therefore, turning an abandoned basement near the Duke’s mansion into a cage is probably the extent of what she can do.
Otherwise, Muen has no doubt that An would directly build a castle in the center of the lake to imprison him forever. Turning him into a “princess” who never sees the light of day in the castle might be what An wants to do the most.
“Too bad, I’d rather be a prince.”
Muen casually retrieves a rusty firewood knife from the corner, tightly gripping it. Following the location he remembers, he advances cautiously, wary of any traps that might be set.
Fortunately, there are no traps.
This made Muen breathe a sigh of relief. He doesn’t have the ability to detect traps, especially magical ones.
If An were more ruthless, she could have rigged various trigger-based traps or alarm systems in the exit passage, and Muen would have been doomed.
But upon careful consideration, this place is still within the Duke’s estate. If someone from the mansion accidentally stumbled upon here and triggered the traps, it could lead to significant consequences.
For An, who has imprisoned the Duke’s son, she certainly wouldn’t want to cause such trouble.
“Speaking of which, do the other maids in the mansion know about this?”
“Are they kept in the dark by An, or are they… accomplices?”
…
Muen didn’t walk particularly fast, but the passage was clearly nearing its end. After turning a corner, a sudden burst of light almost blinded him.
But he refused to close his eyes. Even if the stimulation made tears stream down his face, he had to face the dazzling light ahead.
It was like a dying person seeing hope.
The exit! That was the exit!
He was about to successfully escape!
At this moment, Muen thought of the sky, the ocean, and himself galloping across endless grasslands on horseback. Ah, freedom, this is the taste of freedom.
Freedom was right there…
Snap.
A crisp sound of footsteps suddenly echoed.
Along with the bright spot, a shadow suddenly flickered, obscuring most of the light.
Muen, who had just been passionately yearning for freedom, suddenly felt like he had been teleported to an icy wilderness, and to add insult to injury, had been doused with a bucket of cold water.
He quickly ducked into a corner.
At this moment, the footsteps that could suddenly appear could only belong to one person.
An.
But how could she have returned so quickly?
Muen roughly estimated the time it took from picking the lock to reaching this spot, and at most, it had only been half an hour.
Half an hour!
For a girl in love, half an hour probably wouldn’t even be enough time to do her makeup.
How did An manage to bathe, change clothes, and finish everything so quickly?
Is this the professionalism of a maid? Being able to freshen up and appear alluring in just half an hour to eagerly welcome their impatient master?
This kind of moe point is unnecessary!
“Damn it.”
At this point, Muen had to admit that he seemed a bit hasty.
Perhaps enduring a little longer and waiting until nightfall would be a better choice.
But once the arrow is released from the bow, there’s no turning back. Even if Muen were to voluntarily return to the cage and pretend everything is fine, An would probably notice something is amiss. He had to find another way.
Muen’s gaze scanned his surroundings, and in a dark corner, he spotted an abandoned cabinet.
“Perhaps…”
Muen’s eyes lit up.
…
Click.
Click.
Click.
In the midst of silence, the crisp footsteps grew nearer, each step feeling like it was treading on Muen’s heart.
Muen tried hard to control his emotions, to slow down his racing heart, while tightly covering his mouth and nose, temporarily holding his breath.
He was now hidden inside the cabinet.
The abandoned cabinet was about the height of a person, just enough to conceal him. Although he didn’t know who left it here, it was truly a lifesaver.
After all, there was only one way in this place. If there was nowhere to hide, he would surely come face to face with An!
That would be a disaster.
Thank you, oh mythical cabinet god, whether you exist or not. May there always be a wardrobe available for hiding at every impending capture scene.
Muen silently prayed in his heart.
“Here she comes.”
Feeling An’s approach, Muen observed her movements through the crack in the wardrobe. An slowly entered Muen’s field of vision.
Her posture remained poised and elegant, each step precisely measured. She had just taken a bath and changed into a new maid uniform.
However, unlike usual, her hair wasn’t neatly pinned up but rather damp and cascading down her back, exuding a different kind of allure.
But as Muen looked at An, his heart rose to his throat. At this moment, An wasn’t the charming and lovely maid he knew; she seemed to have transformed into a ferocious, man-eating monster.
And he felt like a pitiful soul forced to hide in the wardrobe to escape the monster’s clutches.
If he were discovered, it would be all over!
With these thoughts, Muen’s heart rate increased involuntarily. He stared at An intently as she moved step by step from the right side of his field of vision to the left.
“Hmm hmm hmm…”
An seemed to be in a good mood, humming an unfamiliar tune softly. Muen remembered that tune; whenever he couldn’t fall asleep as a child, An would gently hum it for him. How nostalgic.
An hasn’t hummed in a long time… Wait, is now really the time to be thinking about this?
“Miss An, please stop humming your tune. Don’t you really want to see me? Hurry up, I’m deep inside here!”
Muen silently begged in his heart for An to pick up her pace, because every second of this situation was torture.
“Hmm?”
An suddenly let out a surprised gasp and stopped in her tracks. Watching this scene, Muen felt like his heart was about to leap out of his throat.
Huh? What? Did An notice something? But he had hidden so well, how could she have found him?
“Oh no, oh no, if she discovers my escape attempt, I’ll definitely end up limbless for her human-pig creation!”
My freedom, my galloping on horseback, it’s all over!
“How strange, my shoelace came undone. I could have sworn I tied it properly.”
An suddenly bent down and tied her shoelace.
“…Ah.”
“It was just a shoelace?”
Seeing this, Muen couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had almost been scared to death. Thankfully, none of the predicted dire consequences had come to pass.
After tying her shoelace, An gracefully walked away and disappeared from Muen’s sight. Soon, even the sound of her footsteps vanished.
“She’s gone?”
It seemed like she was.
“So… I’m alive?”
Muen couldn’t help but show his ecstatic relief. He had almost thought he was doomed! Thank heavens, the worst outcome didn’t happen.
“Surviving a great calamity brings great fortune. It’s smooth sailing from here on out!”
Muen was gleefully thinking about his escape and prepared to push open the cabinet door to leave this cursed place.
“Huh, that’s strange.”
Muen’s smile suddenly froze.
“Why won’t the cabinet door open?”
Could it be…
Muen stiffly lifted his neck and looked up, only to see…
Through the crack he had used to peek, there was a beautiful eye staring at him. Sensing Muen’s gaze, the eye curved into a crescent moon shape.
“Young master~ What are you doing in a place like this~”
