I’m a Hostage Princess, But My Confinement Is Way Too Cozy - Chapter 17

Volumes 1 & 2 of HPCWTC are available uncensored on ko-fi! ※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

After Kallist left, I dozed off for a while, then woke up around lunchtime and washed myself. By now, warm water was unfailingly drawn at this hour.

“Ah, so warm.”

I soaked in the bathtub and dozed lightly, then got out just before my fingers started to wrinkle. I dried my damp hair and put on the fresh negligee and robe prepared in the bathroom. When I returned to the bedroom, the bed sheets and blankets had been changed as usual, and lunch was prepared on the table with steam rising from it. Everything up to this point was the same as always.

But there was one difference. A man as massive as the Crown Prince was sitting in the seat across from where I usually sat, waiting for me.

When I stopped in surprise, he spoke in an indifferent tone, as if tossing the words out casually.

“Are you alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“You seemed startled.”

“…Ah.”

A strange silence settled over us. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t skilled at small talk to begin with, nor was I particularly adept at handling awkward situations smoothly.

That’s why Zeke’s indifferent attitude was comfortable. He was a man who only performed necessary actions according to orders. Since Kallist had been visiting me so frequently, there weren’t many days when I encountered him either.

But seeing him after such a long time, he looked somehow different. His appearance was the same—silver hair combed back neatly without a strand out of place, wearing only a loose dress shirt—but the atmosphere emanating from his sunken cheeks and eye sockets was strangely sensual. Perhaps it was because he looked slightly gaunt.

As I slowly approached him, his features, which had been hidden in shadow, gradually became clearer. Even his inscrutable eyes. While his prominent brow bone, nose bridge, and jawline made his facial structure masculine, the features within were delicate. His eyelashes that slightly covered his gray eyes and his subtly pink-tinged lips were even pretty, I thought. This was different from Kallist, who looked as if he’d been sharply carved with a blade from head to toe.

Zeke’s gaze was slightly downcast, looking somewhere else in the room rather than at me, but somehow it seemed like all his attention was focused on me. It might have been my imagination, but a woman’s intuition is usually right.

I sat in the chair across from him and asked Zeke in a gentle voice.

“Why are you here? Do you perhaps have something to tell me…?”

“……”

He didn’t speak for quite a while. I didn’t find his silence uncomfortable either, so I just quietly faced him. His gray eyes, which had been leisurely roaming the floor, suddenly changed direction and stared at me. Our eyes met unexpectedly.

“……!”

His eyes were like those of a well-fed predator. A wild beast that seemed docile now but could turn at any moment. Cold sweat formed on my neck, which I had just dried. Without realizing it, my shoulders hunched and my fingers trembled slightly as I tried to reach for the utensils.

“Zeke…?”

When I gently rolled my lips to shape his name, his pupils dilated slightly before returning to their original size. Only then did his tightly closed mouth open.

“Are there any places where your body feels uncomfortable?”

“…Ah.”

Why is Zeke asking something like this?

And in such a benevolent tone that didn’t carry even a hint of shallow scheming.

Of course, there was plenty of reason to sympathize with a fallen kingdom’s princess being violated every night by a cruel Crown Prince. But Zeke had been consistently indifferent to me until now. I think it was the same in the original story, but my memory isn’t precise since I skimmed through scenes outside the main plot. It might also be because I only became interested in the original story’s Zeke after “that incident.”

Could it simply be an extension of his duties? That’s possible, but… something about the nuance felt different.

“Thanks to you, I’m fine. That ointment worked really well.”

I willingly pulled up the corners of my mouth to give him a smile. Even though it must have been beautiful, there was no particular change in his expression.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“Hmm… could you get me some fatigue recovery medicine?”

“I’ll get it for you by tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

Normally, my conversation with Zeke should have ended around here.

However, he sat across from me like a faithful wife’s stone, waiting for her husband’s return. His gaze stuck to my face wouldn’t let go. Strangely, his fervent stare wasn’t hot. Feeling embarrassed, I was the first to look away. The soup and bread, which had cooled to the perfect temperature, welcomed me.

I tore off half the bread and offered it to Zeke.

“Would you like to eat together? There’s a lot.”

“No. I ate before coming in.”

“Are you sitting there to watch me eat?”

I said it carelessly out of embarrassment, but an unexpected answer came back.

“That wouldn’t be bad either.”

“Pardon?”

“Please finish everything today.”

“……”

“You’re too thin.”

“Ah…”

This is strange. Everything coming out of Zeke’s mouth is a series of things he wouldn’t normally say. My lips moved as I lost for words, then I stuffed them with bread.

Come to think of it, this seems to be the first time I’ve properly eaten lunch since Kallist started visiting me. I was always half-asleep during lunch, eating absentmindedly, then hurriedly shoving food down only when evening came. I had no choice since I needed to conserve my strength to face Kallist.

I thrust my cleanly emptied plate toward him as if to show off. A faint smile spread across his expressionless lips. It was fleeting, but it wasn’t my imagination. My eyes widened.

“Zeke…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”