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

“Get up.”

“Five more minutes….”

“I said, get up, you lazy, lowly slave girl!”

Forcing my heavy eyelids open, I saw a familiar face.

It was Lemeia Salt, my half-sister and the dazzling jewel of the Salt Kingdom, as beautiful as a fully bloomed lily.

“Why is the princess here…?”

“Obviously, I came to straighten you out, you sluggish fool. How dare you, a mere illegitimate child, stretch out your legs and sleep comfortably in my father’s house?”

If I were truly April Salt, I might have been hurt by the insults thrown at my bloodline. But fortunately—or unfortunately—I was a 21st-century Korean, completely detached from such notions of social hierarchy.

‘Right, my blood is filth, and yours is supposed to be liquid gold, I presume.’

Feigning obedience, I raised a middle finger discreetly in my pocket and quickly got up.

“What do you need?”

“The old ministers are asking why the import volumes for food and necessities have increased for the next quarter! They were talking nonsense, and I nearly died of a headache trying to understand!”

Whap!

A stack of documents Lemeia threw hit me square in the face and fell to the ground.

That’s when I understood the situation. The Minister of Finance must have discovered anomalies in the budget reports and sought out Lemeia.

“Well…”

But for some reason, the words caught in my throat.

‘Because in the second half of the year, the Kleitan Empire is planning to cut off exports to our kingdom.’

I knew that countless citizens of the Salt Kingdom would suffer as a result.

But that was an event from the future described in the novel. To Lemeia, it would sound like a baseless claim.

Besides, with Lemeia’s dim-wittedness, there was no guarantee she’d even grasp the sentence, “The Empire plans to cease exports to the Kingdom.”

“While reviewing last year’s reports, I thought there wasn’t enough preparation for a poor harvest, so I…”

“Do you think you’re some kind of god?”

Suddenly, Lemeia’s face was right in front of mine.

Her distorted expression was so close that my breath grew irregular as if my throat was being constricted.

That’s strange. Lemeia never used her facial muscles too much, fearing wrinkles. Why was she making such expressions so freely now?

“Just an extra in the grand scheme of things. Did you think your wretched life would change just because you got possessed into a novel?”

“How… how do you know that?”

“Don’t worry; you’re still destined to die of overwork in this life.”

Thud.

My heart sank at the ultimatum-like verdict.

“Work like a slave, like an ant. Take comfort in the saying that even a shabby rat hole will one day see sunlight.”

“Wait!”

“You’ll be confined to my office, drowning in mountains of paperwork, until you die sick and miserable.”

Whoosh.

With Lemeia’s echoing voice as the final note, darkness enveloped me as if someone had turned off the lights.

Ah, I’d been through this situation before.

In the end, I had secretly persuaded the ministers to slightly increase food imports and got through it.

Although a similar incident had occurred previously, the location and the conversation were different.

So, this had to be a dream.

Lemeia didn’t know I was a transmigrator and didn’t care enough to ever visit my room.

‘What a ridiculous nightmare….’

Once I realized what was going on, my eyes snapped open.

“Gasp, gasp….”

Like anyone waking from a horrible nightmare, I sat up and panted heavily.

My back was drenched with cold sweat.

‘Destined to die of overwork even after transmigrating?’

There couldn’t be a curse worse than this.

It seemed like the restless sleep had affected my dreams.

Looking around, I noticed the sun was already high in the sky.

“Ugh!”

As I tried to get up, I nearly slipped on a book lying on the floor.

When I looked down, the squashed cover read The History of the Kleitan Empire in bold letters.

I must have dozed off while trying to read it, each word acting like a powerful sedative.

‘If only I’d read a comic book instead, maybe I’d have had a better dream.’

After washing up in the bathroom, I grabbed the meal left at the door and lay back comfortably to eat.

This room had become so familiar it felt like the coziest of nests.

…It had already been three or four days of living like this.

Surprisingly, no one seemed to care what I did here.

It was a stark contrast to my previous life, where every minute was meticulously planned, and I barely managed to sleep before dawn.

Though, as the days stretched on, I sometimes felt the indulgent thought creeping in that I was bored….

‘That’s just a luxury.’

Occasionally, Liam would come by to check on me. But since I neither attempted to escape nor showed myself outside, he seemed puzzled by my behavior.

“Excuse me, Liam….”

“If you’re thinking of bribing or persuading me, don’t bother. I’m utterly loyal to the Grand Duke.”

“No, I was just going to say there’s no need for you to go out of your way to check on me.”

“So you’re trying to lower my guard to escape? What a petty scheme.”

Liam, who revealed his name only days after I was confined, had a surprisingly humorous side.

To him, every action I took seemed like an elaborate plot to outwit the surveillance and escape.

Since I had no interest in clearing up his misconceptions, I eventually gave up trying to explain myself.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Knock, knock—

“It’s Liam.”

Speak of the devil.

Hearing his calm voice again, I grumbled with slight annoyance.

“I told you I have no intention of escaping.”

“I’m not here about that today.”

Creak.

The door, which seemed like it would never open, did, revealing Liam as he adjusted his glasses and gestured toward me.

“The Grand Duke has summoned you.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

That’s right, you.

Seeing Liam standing there firmly, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of foreboding.

Could it be that my life of indulgent confinement—or rather, this luxurious kidnapping victim welfare—was about to end?

Feeling my heart shrink in fear, I reluctantly began to prepare myself.

* * *

And so, here I am.

Dragged in front of the duke, my sweet vacation abruptly interrupted, I couldn’t lift my head. More accurately, I wasn’t able to.

The first reason was the suffocating pressure weighing me down, and the second…

“Are you deaf to my words?”

“N-no…”

“Then why won’t you meet my gaze? April Salt, Second Princess of the Salt Kingdom.”

…was the duke’s mocking smile, dripping with ridicule.

I got found out far quicker than I thought.

I hadn’t expected to keep my identity hidden forever. After all, someone capable of infiltrating the royal palace of an entire kingdom and orchestrating a kidnapping wouldn’t be easily deceived by my flimsy lies.

I lifted my trembling gaze to meet his. His elegantly curved eyes carried a faint hint of kindness, enough to deceive anyone.

Him smiling only makes it scarier…

I felt like prey cornered by a predator. Taking a shaky breath, I exhaled slowly.

“To be precise… I didn’t lie. I’m not officially a princess. As an illegitimate child, I’ve never been formally recognized, nor have I ever been treated as part of the royal family.”

The duke’s gaze grew colder, and I hurriedly swallowed my excuses, quickly adding:

“I-I’m sorry.”

But it wasn’t as if I had any other choice!

If they realized they’d kidnapped a useless illegitimate child instead of Lemeia, the princess the crown prince desperately wanted, they would have been furious.

And if they attempted negotiations with my father, King Berga, he would undoubtedly refuse outright. To him, I was entirely worthless. That would only enrage the duke further.

In short, I had hidden my identity simply to avoid provoking this terrifying man.

As I struggled to formulate a proper explanation, the duke opened his mouth first.

“Before that…”

With just those words, the previously light atmosphere turned oppressively heavy. The duke’s face, which had been faintly amused, grew void of all expression, exuding an aura so menacing it wouldn’t have been surprising if he drew a sword then and there.

“How did you figure it out?”

…Figure out what?

That I was going to be kidnapped?

Sure, I’d read the original novel, but even I hadn’t known that!

Still caught up in my disjointed thoughts, I froze as his relentless questioning continued.

“I noticed Salt’s food imports increased dramatically.”

“Huh?”

“Normally, it could be overlooked, but the timing is suspicious. Recently, every policy Princess Lemeia has endorsed seems to thwart the crown prince’s schemes.”

Ha, haha… Hahaha…

I’m screwed.

I hastily averted my gaze to the floor, avoiding his eyes at all costs, afraid he might see right through me. Despite this, the duke (though there was no need for him to) stepped down from his platform and approached me.

“It’s almost as if you knew everything in advance.”

His measured footsteps echoed closer. The polished black tips of his shoes came into view, their gleaming surface reflecting my distorted expression.

Was last night’s nightmare actually a prophetic dream?

Honestly, I wasn’t so oblivious as to not understand what the duke was implying. His accusations only fueled my fears about what he might uncover in his investigation.

With Lemeia’s incompetence, there was no way to effectively fill the gaps left by my actions.

“So,” he began.

In one smooth motion, the duke tilted my chin upward with his fingers.

And yet, ridiculously, I found myself offering an awkward, submissive smile even in such a moment of humiliation.

“How did you detect the empire’s plot, princess?”