Though I’m a Homebody, I Found Myself in a Dark Captive Genre

“How did you come to trust that woman?”

Liam looked puzzled.

In fact, on the very day April had asked him to send a letter, Liam had gone to visit the Duke in the evening to report on the situation and urge him to come up with an alternative solution.

But…

“It would be better to wait and see.”

“What? If things go wrong, the backlash from the villagers will be severe.”

“Patience is a virtue.”

Kayan had appeared quite relaxed that day, and after that, he stopped listening to Liam.

As Liam watched the growing unrest of the mobilized villagers, it seemed like only his own nerves were being strained.

But now, having encountered this twist, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been deceived alone.

No one had betrayed him, yet his head felt dizzy as if he’d been struck.

“…Did His Majesty already know what that woman would do?”

“Well, roughly.”

“How could you…?”

“There was only one way, wasn’t there?”

Looking at it from the perspective of the forest, rather than the trees, it had been an obvious matter.

Kayan had suspected that April was most likely acting as a proxy for Lemeia, but in order to be sure, cross-checking was necessary.

The reason he had mobilized the dam project for this was that it provided a good way to verify that.

If the Salt Kingdom had carried out the task, it would have been familiar territory for him.

The Empire was conservative about hiring foreigners, so they didn’t employ mercenaries.

On the other hand, the Salt Kingdom, always short of manpower, was proactive in using mercenaries.

And it was a well-known fact that the intelligent Princess Lemeia had been helping not only to fill the queen’s vacancy but also with foreign relations and administration.

Thus, combining all the information, this conclusion emerged:

If April Salt was truly Lemeia’s proxy, she would immediately mobilize a mercenary corps to solve the problem without delay.

As expected, April had directly contacted the appropriate mercenary contract agent and successfully deployed them to the field with remarkable speed.

“It was a bit of a lucky break for us. I didn’t expect it to be done perfectly, though.”

The Imperial family had been stoking the revival of slavery, and the Empire had restricted foreign labor and controlled related information.

Of course, if someone set their mind to it, they could have bypassed the system, but it was true that April had shortened a task that would have taken a long time.

“Honestly, I was impressed too. Her idea to employ the destitute was… well, it’s not something that people who just fill time with formalities could come up with. She’s quite sharp.”

Liam didn’t want to admit it, but he had to admit that April, who spent every day like a sloth in her room, was quite impressive.

Was she madly rejoicing in her confinement, or was she just lazy?

Either way, seeing her like that made him wonder if her being Lemeia’s proxy was just a collective delusion by many people.

But when he saw April’s efficiency in handling her tasks firsthand, it was truly jaw-dropping.

Her method of passing the work onto the administrators was not only efficient but flawless. It was so impressive that Liam even wanted to learn from her.

If it weren’t for April’s usual expression of “Please, just leave me alone,” Liam would have bombarded her with questions on how she managed it.

“Honestly… I wonder if she’s receiving advice from someone invisible while stuck in her room.”

“Receiving divine revelation, perhaps?”

“Maybe from the god of the room.”

Liam’s gruff response made Kayan chuckle aloud.

“Anyway, the princess has proved her usefulness to me.”

What should he reward her with?

Kayan stroked his smooth chin with his index finger.

Typically, to show courtesy to a guest who helped with the Duke’s difficult problem, he would escort her home safely. But unfortunately, Kayan had long since abandoned such courtesies and no longer cared about them.

Instead, maybe he could grant her one wish?

“It’s better to hear directly what she needs. Bring the princess to me.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Liam bowed his head.

* * *

After three days, the Duke’s dam project was running smoothly.

Liam thought the villagers had returned to their daily lives and wouldn’t come looking for him anymore.

But…

“The Duke is requesting your presence, my lady.”

Liam came directly to call me, as though to prove my assumption was wrong.

“Huh, right now?”

“Yes, right this moment.”

“But…”

I had just stepped outside to soak up a bit of vitamin D and was now washing my feet.

If only he’d come a little earlier…

“Never mind.”

At least I hadn’t changed out of my pajamas.

“Let’s go.”

Thud, thud.

I walked slowly, feeling strangely exhausted, and entered the Duke’s study, which was now a familiar place.

“You’ve arrived.”

The setting sun streamed through the window into the room.

It was a bit blinding to look at him, but I greeted him politely.

“Hello. It’s been a while. How have you been?”

At my greeting, the Duke made a strange face without saying a word.

Hmm, maybe that wasn’t quite right. Was this some kind of imperial etiquette? I wondered.

As I thought about what I had just said, suddenly, the Duke laughed aloud.

“How amusing.”

“…What?”

“Last time, you glared at me and left, but today you’re asking how I’ve been.”

“Ah.”

I remembered that the last conversation I had with the Duke was about that fraudulent contract for the mill trade.

But well, that was in the past, and I’d long concluded it wasn’t my problem anymore.

It seemed the Duke had moved on as well, for he quickly changed the subject.

“I heard you solved the dam project’s issue quite neatly.”

“Oh, thank you…”

“I think your performance was excellent, considering you claimed to know nothing. What does the princess think?”

I immediately bit my lip.

With the Duke’s information network, there was no way he didn’t already know about Lemeia’s brilliant intelligence, despite all the efforts to hide it.

Before I could speak, the Duke continued.

“I told you before. The Empire is harsh on liars. Do you remember?”

That punishment… Did he mean tearing the liar’s mouth apart?

I felt my insides shrink in an instant.

“I remember… but why bring that up now…?”

“As I said before, you did excellent work.”

“…?”

“I’m willing to overlook it. I won’t ask about the details. Finding out on my own is a different matter.”

That wasn’t bad news. It meant I wouldn’t face the threat of having my mouth torn off.

Besides, even if someone tried to find out, they wouldn’t know I was possessed, even if they did an MRI on my brain, so I didn’t care.

I nodded with a strange expression.

“Thank you. Then, may I leave now?”

“No.”

The Duke rejected my request with a smile on his face.

“I still have something to discuss.”

“What?”

Wait… was I being forced to prove my worth again after escaping the labor camp, and now being pushed into another one where I’d work until I died?

Suddenly, the future seemed bleak, and I asked the Duke with a gloomy expression.

“Is there… more work?”

“Tell me what you want.”

Suddenly?

I looked at the Duke with a confused expression. He added as though he had missed something.

“Overlooking the princess’s lie is a kind of bonus. I want to pay you for helping with the Duke’s affairs. In exchange, you can ask for something.”

Hmm. Normally, people would probably ask to be sent out of the Duke’s domain.

But…

‘Three meals a day. Warm water. A soft bed to sleep in without being disturbed. I don’t have to do anything. Even if I have to work, the work-life balance here is pretty good? I must endure this.’

For me, there was no better place than here.

Going back to Salt would just mean repeating the same slave life.

And if things went wrong, I might end up on the royal family’s doomed bus, getting my head chopped off.

Better stay close to the Duke, who was a powerful figure in the original story.

I looked at the Duke again.

His handsome face shone so brightly, and his broad shoulders seemed like they could easily carry my head and dozens more.

Looking again, the Duke had everything: looks, background, and even a slightly twisted personality, making him the perfect male lead.

‘Isn’t this an opportunity?’

In many novels, the heroine would stay close to such a powerful man and then, when he asks for her wish, they would settle for a contract marriage or engagement.

And they would accidentally fall in love and head toward a happy ending.

“Is anything possible?”

“Aside from asking to leave this place.”

With the Duke’s answer, I finally knew what I wanted.

Yes. It was time for me to become the protagonist of my life and live out all the dreams I had.

“Well, then…”

I took a deep breath, ready to make my decision.

“I want to live in a room full of comic books!”