The Prince Seduces Me with His Body Chapter 125

“Hu, huuuuu…”

 

Millard, half-crying, desperately curled himself up on the chair-bed attached to the wall. But the small prison bed was far too small to support his entire body.

 

Squeak, squeak.

 

“G-Get away! Get away from me! Don’t come near!”

 

Millard shouted at the rats sniffing around near his bed. He didn’t dare kick or wave his hands at them, afraid of touching the rats, so he simply raised his voice instead.

 

That only made things noisier. His shrill voice echoed off the prison walls like a bell. Eventually, complaints burst out from the prisoners in the nearby cells.

 

“Ah, it’s really noisy! Can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

 

“If you’re that bothered, why don’t you just catch the rats? How many hours has it been?”

 

“Ah, as expected, a noble lord can’t touch a rat, huh?”

 

“Don’t worry! Getting bit won’t kill ya!”

 

The mocking laughter of the other prisoners filtered through the iron bars. Though terrified by the rats, Millard flared up at the laughter directed at him.

 

“How dare you speak like that in front of me! Guards! Guard!” Millard screamed so loudly that the entire prison rang with the sound of his voice.

 

Eventually, a guard, his face full of irritation, lazily walked over to Millard’s cell and stood in front of the door.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I’m a noble! Nobles are supposed to have their own private cells. Why have I been brought here? Move me to another room at once!”

 

“As I told you earlier, the captain has already sent a request to the higher-ups. Attempted patricide is a rather unusual case. Once the decision is made, they’ll decide whether to move you or not. So, be quiet.”

 

“You…!” Millard wanted to argue further, but the words’ attempted patricide’ made his heart sink. As his face turned pale and he bit his lip, the guard returned to his post without a second thought.

 

The trembling in his hands began to spread throughout his entire body. Millard sat on the small bed, hugging his knees and shaking violently. The nervous habit of biting his nails, which he thought he had outgrown as a child, resurfaced. In the cramped prison, the irregular sound of Millard biting his nails echoed faintly.

 

“I-If only. If only I hadn’t been caught…”

 

What tormented Millard wasn’t the fact that he had tried to kill the viscount but that others had witnessed the act. Millard ground his teeth, his bloodshot eyes filled with rage.

 

Just a few more minutes. If he had had just a few more minutes, Viscount Sudsfield would have been dead, and Millard would have become the owner of the Opera Diamond Mine and married Rebecca.

 

Yes. Just as he was about to succeed, the sound of a window breaking had roused the servants.

 

“Who on earth…”

 

Millard was convinced that someone had deliberately interfered with his plan. When he was dragged to prison, he had shouted for someone to investigate the broken window, but there was no way to know if the foolish servants of the viscount’s estate had listened.

 

“Huu…” Startled by the squeaking of the rats, Millard buried his face in his knees and sobbed.

 

After a while, footsteps approached, and the same guard appeared again, this time holding a key. Creak— Millard’s head jerked up at the sound of the lock turning and the door opening.

 

The guard entered the room, cuffed Millard’s wrists, and jerked his head toward the door. “The captain wants to see you. Follow me.”

 

Only then did some color return to Millard’s face. He assumed they were using this as an excuse to move him to a different room, away from the other prisoners’ complaints. With that hopeful thought, he followed the guard out of the underground prison and up to the ground level. Though he had only been in the underground cell for two days, the fresh air on the surface felt overwhelmingly refreshing. He followed the guard down the hallway to the far end of the first floor.

 

Knock, knock.

 

“I’ve brought Lord Sudsfield.” The guard knocked on the door and spoke softly.

 

Millard blinked in surprise. Did the captain really want to see me? Why?

 

As he stood there, confused, the door cracked open, and a man appeared. The man handed the guard a small pouch. In the quiet hallway, the faint sound of clinking coins echoed.

 

“Good work.”

 

“T-Thank you!”

 

“Wait here for a moment. You, go inside.” Without a word, the man shoved Millard into the room.

 

Millard, trying to recall where he had seen the man’s familiar face, found himself stumbling into the room.

 

Thud. The door closed with a heavy sound behind him. That noise jolted Millard out of his thoughts, and he turned to face forward, his eyes widening.

 

“…First Princess?”

 

Standing in the room, still wearing a white uniform and a cloak as if she had just returned, was Rebecca. Upon seeing her, Millard’s face lit up.

 

She’s here to save me! She must have rushed back in such haste upon hearing of my imprisonment that she didn’t even have time to change her clothes! Millard thought this to himself. After all, wasn’t everything he had done for her? She had wanted to marry him once he became the head of the family.

 

Millard still remembered the kiss they had shared. The way she had looked at him lovingly…

 

“Lord Sudsfield.”

 

But Rebecca’s voice was colder than the chill of the prison walls.

 

At that sound, a creeping sense of unease began to wash over him. Millard tried to force a smile, though his lips trembled. He took a shaky step toward Rebecca.

 

“Why…”

 

“…”

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

Millard didn’t want to believe the icy look in Rebecca’s eyes was directed at him. His voice wavered as he spoke, but then his emotions got the better of him, and he raised his voice.

 

“It was all for you, Your Highness! Everything I did was for you! You said you wouldn’t consider a marriage that wasn’t formally recognized—”

 

“When did I ever say that?”

 

“…What?”

 

Rebecca’s words were like a final blow, knocking Millard down from the edge of a cliff. His heart dropped to the floor.

 

Rebecca took a step back as Millard moved closer. With a cold sneer, she looked at him with disdain. “Are you trying to suggest that I ordered you to kill Viscount Sudsfield? How dare you attempt to pin your crime on a member of the imperial family.”

 

“Y-Your Highness! What are you saying?!”

 

Millard, in shock, tried to reach for Rebecca. But white flames erupted from the floor between them, forming a half-circle. Millard, unable to cross the burning flames, was frozen in place.

 

Rebecca clicked her tongue in pity as she watched him. “Lord Sudsfield, I never imagined you would be so blinded by power that you’d attempt to kill your own father. How could you do such a thing?”

 

“What are you talking about? It was Your Highness who told me to become the head of the family—”

 

“I never said that. It was all your own misunderstanding.”

 

It felt as if someone had wrapped their hand around his throat.

 

As Millard desperately combed through his memories, he realized that Rebecca had never once told him to usurp the viscount and become the head of the family. But there was no way to prove that now. His legs gave out, and he crumpled to the floor.

 

Rebecca looked down at him, sitting there dazed, for a moment with an unreadable expression, then quietly murmured. “I hope, in the next life, we can meet under better circumstances.”

 

“Ah…” A feeble groan escaped Millard’s lips.

 

Without a second thought, Rebecca turned and left the room. After she was gone, the guard returned to take Millard back to his cell, but for a long time, he remained collapsed on the floor, unmoving.