Chapter 211
“Hmph.”
At first, Eren seemed a bit baffled by her request, but he soon smiled and willingly handed over the items. Every night, he came to watch Macy eat her fill.
Though Macy felt a twinge of guilt about using him like that, it only lasted briefly. She no longer trusted Eren.
‘He’s just a monster wearing a human mask.’
Whenever her resolve faltered, she repeated that like a mantra. That beautiful appearance and sweet smile were nothing but a smokescreen to deceive her.
Then one day, the doctor who came every morning for check-ups said,
“This is the last note.”
Her heart dropped at the word “last”. The note finally contained the date and time for her escape—tonight.
“And this…”
The doctor held out a small bottle with a single white pill inside.
“Dissolve this in water and give it to the Duke. It’s a powerful sleeping pill that won’t wake him even if there’s a loud noise nearby.”
“Understood.”
Eren barely ate anything inside, but she had to make it work.
It was her last chance to break free from him. If not tonight, she would never get out.
* * *
Night came. It felt colder than usual, and Macy sat warming herself by the fireplace. Eren, who should have arrived by now, was a little late.
‘Is he not coming today?’
Growing slightly anxious, she waited. Finally, Eren came in.
In one hand, he held a peach; in the other, something new.
“Is it snowing outside…?”
On the table sat a roughly shaped snowman made of two white snowballs stacked vertically. The clumsily packed snowman stared silently at Macy.
“The first snow fell this morning. It piled up enough to cover your ankles.”
“Ah…”
While she had been trapped, the seasons had changed. The passage of time hit her bitterly.
“I thought you’d like it. Didn’t you always make snowmen on the hill whenever it snowed when you were little?”
Macy lifted her head from her gloom. Did that mean he had come to see her every time it snowed?
Whether he was getting reports or had come to see for himself, just knowing Eren remembered her from long ago felt strange.
That he made a snowman—something so out of character—because he thought she would like it. That stiff, awkward man crouching down to build a snowman…
“Don’t you like it anymore?”
“No, I do like the snowman…”
Macy said she liked it but only stared at the snowman with her eyes. Meanwhile, the snowman was slowly melting in the warm air inside.
Eren, watching her quietly, held out the peach and said,
“If you finish a whole plate today, I’ll take you outside to see the world.”
“Why?”
“It gets stuffy staying inside all the time.”
It was an unexpected offer. She had thought he would never let her out of this room…
But thinking back, signs of his change had appeared early on—probably since he left the art supplies in the room.
At the time, she suspected he was trying to drive her crazy, but it seemed that was genuinely his intention.
Maybe it was a kind of apology, a way to patch things up.
Another sign was that even though her once-thin body had gained some flesh, he still didn’t hold her. He said he didn’t like thin bodies, yet despite her gaining weight, they hadn’t been doing it.
Even when feeding her peaches, his thirsty eyes restrained his desires.
That might have been welcome before, but now having to give him a pill made it all the more awkward for Macy.
“Let’s go out.”
While she was still wondering what to do, Macy had already finished the whole plate.
Eren took her hand sincerely and led her toward the door.
“No.”
Having eaten all the peaches just to get ready to leave, Macy stopped right at the door.
Coincidentally, that was the edge of the space she could move within when she had the shackle on her ankle.
Though no longer restrained, she didn’t want to step outside even one foot.
Especially if it was because of his mood swings.
“I want to stay here.”
“Why?”
“Just…”
Macy mumbled, avoiding Eren’s gaze.
“It seems too cold outside. If I go out after staying inside, I might catch a cold… So… can’t we just lie down together instead?”
“There’s no reason why not.”
With his permission, Macy led Eren back to the bed. She rarely asked him for anything besides bringing her needed items, so Eren followed her as if hypnotized by her words.
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