I’m a Hostage Princess, But My Confinement Is Way Too Cozy - Chapter 3

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.

‘To think someone with that face would have such… preferences. They say you can’t judge a person by their looks, but still…’

At any rate, his face alone was certainly worthy of the title “the empire’s most handsome man.”

Finally, from the eight o’clock position, I felt a gaze that was entirely different from the other male leads.

The owner of those indifferent eyes that showed absolutely no interest in me was—

Zeke Leonhart.

The Emperor of Valencha’s loyal hound. A legendary figure who rose from unknown mercenary origins to receive knighthood from the emperor himself.

He followed the emperor’s orders without question, no matter what they were. A man stripped of the emotions and passions that humans should rightfully possess. He was closer to a living sword than a human being. As proof of this, he had never once taken a woman to his bed.

His ash-gray eyes, devoid of any emotion, bore deep into me. His cold silver hair, matching his frigid personality, was arranged without a single strand out of place. The pronounced ridge of his brow and the deep-set hollow of his eye sockets gave him a particularly statue-like impression.

He approached me with steady strides, his gaze fixed on me the entire time. The emperor’s robust voice boomed throughout the hall.

“Confine Sylvia Arperio, hostage of the Kingdom of Roang, to Drémoor Castle. Zeke Leonhart shall guard the princess, and the princess shall never be permitted to leave Drémoor Castle.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Zeke, now standing before me, knelt toward the emperor. My knees were also forced down as my forehead hit the floor.

My disheveled hair fell to cover both cheeks. Unknown to anyone, a deceptive smile—utterly unfitting for such a pitiful face—flickered across my lips.

***

I was investigated at the imperial palace for three days before being transferred to Drémoor Castle. Nothing particularly difficult happened during that time. I simply answered “I don’t know” to every question, ate the food they gave me, took clean baths, and slept well. That was all there was to it. I let any cruel insults or s****l harassment go in one ear and out the other. I’ve always been good at that sort of thing.

But Sylvia, who had lived a pampered life where she’d pick out only the cherries from cherry cake, probably wouldn’t have been able to adapt to such treatment. She would have lived a life being waited on hand and foot, hearing only sweet words every day. There’s no way she could have adjusted to a life that had fallen to rock bottom.

But I held on cheerfully, just waiting for the day I’d enter Drémoor Castle. Seeing as I’d slept and woken up here for three whole days without my body changing back, it seemed this wasn’t a dream after all. What a relief that was.

‘So this is Drémoor Castle.’

A fortress carved from cliffs at the very edge of the Valencha imperial palace grounds.

Traditionally, it was a castle used to confine royal family members or concubines who had committed crimes, but now it belonged to Sylvia.

As I stared blankly at the towering structure that looked more like a watchtower than a castle, a man emerged from the narrow castle entrance to greet me. The moment the soldiers stationed at the castle gate saw him, they bowed their heads respectfully.

The man who would be keeping me under close surveillance from now on—the emperor’s dog, Zeke.

“Please come inside now.”

His voice, as cold as his gaze, swept over me like a bitter winter wind. He wasn’t rude like the other men of Valencha. Just… frosty.

I quietly looked up at his beautiful yet chilly face. Because his eyes were hidden deep beneath his prominent brow, it was nearly impossible to read the thoughts or emotions contained within them.

Perhaps that’s why Sylvia was convinced that he despised her just like everyone else. He would have been completely different from the knights of the Roang Kingdom, who had acted as if they’d lay down their lives for her. But from my perspective—

‘He looks like a working man stuck with an annoying assignment.’

From the first time I saw him at the imperial palace until now, Zeke had maintained the same consistently indifferent expression toward me.

It was simply because it was an imperial order that he was guarding me. Like a team leader who’d been assigned a project with no guaranteed rest days or holidays, and couldn’t even build up his performance record. That was my entire impression of meeting Zeke again.

‘This kind of person does those things to Sylvia?’

My head tilted in puzzlement. Unlike Crown Prince Kallist and High Priest Ruasil, who were exactly as I’d imagined them, Zeke strangely deviated from his description in the novel. The idea that Zeke harbored the same sticky, lustful desires for Sylvia as the other male leads just didn’t ring true to me.

‘He’s different from what I expected. I’ll need to observe him a bit more.’

Zeke grabbed the rope wrapped around my body and pulled me along, leading me into the castle like he was escorting a criminal. I felt neither consideration nor malice in his touch. I didn’t dislike Zeke’s clean-cut attitude.

Tap, tap. The footsteps of two people echoed loudly in the quiet interior of the castle. The inside of the fortress was relatively well-maintained, but the rough gray stone walls and floors created a cold, gloomy atmosphere.