It has already been three days since I was imprisoned in the cell.
According to what Jelly passed along while the surveillance was lax, Hena safely returned to the mansion. She and Kanna reportedly had a tearful reunion, holding each other and crying, but since I still haven't returned, Kanna is apparently still in tears.
Jelly said that outsiders like Misha were all sent away from the mansion, and the Rohanson estate has been locked down. They tried to send Dolly away too, but she insisted on staying, saying she would share the same fate as the Rohanson household. It seems Daisy's siblings, who were rescued from the nobles, are also remaining at the Rohanson estate.
And she said the Count has prepared to sever ties with me at any moment. Considering I ended up in this state because of the sword the Count gifted me, I truly feel betrayed. I was seething with anger, so Jelly promised that as soon as the Count cuts me off, she'll seize him and hand him over to the guard unit to apply the law of implication.
By this point, the culprit should have been determined, or I should have been released—something should have changed, yet I remained in the position of a suspect.
Sigh... I'm genuinely exhausted.
Originally, I stayed cooped up in my room, eating and sleeping on the bed, so being imprisoned didn't change my daily routine much, but it seems the prison environment is taking a psychological toll.
This was only bearable because Jelly brought things like a bed and clothes; otherwise, I would have had to wear a blood-stained dress and sleep on the dirt floor. If that had been the case, I would have broken out of prison long ago, holding Jelly's hand.
Oh, and for reference, the items Jelly brought weren't confiscated. The guards were flustered that the prison scenery had suddenly changed, but they assumed someone among the watchers had accepted bribes and allowed the items in.
They suspected each other and made a huge fuss, even increasing the number of guards to monitor one another—it was like watching a mafia game with no mafia. Ta-da, the culprit was the game master.
As I was reading a book Jelly had brought, entertaining useless thoughts, a guard kicked the iron bars with his foot. Excuse me, this bastard? I closed the book and turned around. It turns out he had brought a meal.
"You certainly look comfortable."
The sneering voice was familiar. It's that guy again... A royal knight who, being Gabriel's fan, held a deep grudge against him. Whether out of jealousy over Gabriel being "taken," I don't know, but this knight always showed intense hostility toward me.
"Argent, that's enough."
Another knight who came in with him scolded and tried to stop him, but he didn't even pretend to listen.
"And who brought the book? For a noble young lady supported by a holy knight, you certainly receive good treatment even as a suspect in the murder of a royal."
My family's puppy brought it, so what?
"Do you think you'll continue to live so comfortably? Soon your head will be cut off. No, wait—you were accused of using evil sorcery, so perhaps you'll be burned at the stake instead."
Right, whether I'm beheaded or burned at the stake, both are standard deaths for a villainess.
"Since you'll die soon anyway, you won't need a meal."
The knight sneered at me and threw the food on the floor. To go out of his way to bring it only to discard it right before my eyes... is he mentally sound? Does he not know that if he dies like that, he'll have to eat all the food he threw away?
Such childish harassment should have been graduated from after elementary school, but this damned romance fantasy world doesn't have compulsory education, so he couldn't graduate, and that's why a royal knight ends up like this.
Others were too scared to even meet my eyes... Is he not afraid of me? This is the first time I've received such treatment since possessing Evangeline. Or perhaps, like looking at a beast in a zoo cage, he feels safe attacking me because of the iron bars.
When I showed no reaction, the knight pouted his lips. I don't know what reaction he expected, but I'll just call Jelly later and eat the meal brought from the Rohanson estate. It's so delicious that comparing it to prison food would be an insult, so I had no regrets.
Indeed, paying no attention to such people is the best way to handle them. The knight, frustrated at being ignored, eventually had no choice but leave the prison when his shift ended.
The next shift was a gloomy knight and a large knight who looked like a thug.
However, something must have happened—the gloomy knight came with his face covered in gauze. Seeing him limp, it seemed he had either sparred or gotten into a fight. Making an injured person work—the imperial family must have a serious labor shortage.
The gloomy knight limped over and pathetically cleaned up the meal the previous knight had thrown. The person who came in as a pair showed no camaraderie or professional ethics, just watching the injured one clean up. Wait a minute. Isn't this workplace bullying or something?
The thug stood at the door, staring blankly, and now he was even dozing off. Then, apparently deciding to get some serious sleep, he brought a chair and settled into a position.
"I'm keeping watch, so don't try anything funny."
The thug muttered to himself, wondering why he was so sleepy, then leaned back against the chair and began sleeping soundly. He even snored. Well, it's dawn, so it's understandable to be sleepy.
Even after the thug went to sleep, the gloomy knight continued cleaning the floor.
"How did you get hurt like that?"
I asked out of compassion, and the gloomy knight looked at me in surprise. Then he glanced nervously at the sleeping thug.
So that person beat him! Seeing that he can't even speak with him right there... This must be workplace bullying! Workplace harassment was happening right before my eyes, but trapped in prison, I had no way to help.
"...It's because of you."
What? Because of me? As I looked at him in confusion, the gloomy knight very quietly muttered, pouring out his resentment toward me.
"It's because of you that this happened. They said I accepted bribes and allowed the things in this cell to be brought in."
So this gloomy knight was the person wrongly accused as the culprit in the mafia game with no mafia. Then it is my responsibility... Is he being bullied because of me? My conscience, which I thought had worn away completely, raised its head. If I could just contact Gabriel, I could probably resolve this.
But Gabriel hasn't come to visit... Since Gabriel previously not only spilled all the internal details but also made the unreasonable request to let us be alone together, it seems visitation has been denied.
I wanted to send a message through Jelly, but she complained that Gabriel has no time alone and doesn't even sleep, making it difficult to approach him.
Now that he's been framed as the mafia, could I at least ask him to contact Gabriel so he won't be wrongly accused? Is that too shameless a request?
Just then, the thug woke up. He seemed to misunderstand, thinking the gloomy knight was muttering to me and that we were in cahoots.
True to his name, the thug grabbed the gloomy knight by the hair and began using violence. And he did it right in front of the iron bars, as if to make sure I saw it.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Seeing someone being harassed right before my eyes made me so angry that I questioned him sharply. He only looks like a thug, but isn't he a knight of the imperial family? A knight using violence against a colleague?
"What am I doing? I'm teaching him some manners."
He doesn't seem to realize that a villainess is scary just because I'm locked behind bars. I have a secret weapon.
"Pudding."
My new secret weapon was Pudding. Since transforming into a handsome man that one time, it seems Pudding's restrictions were lifted, and he started using magic freely. Perhaps his vessel was insufficient when he was young, but now that his growth is complete, he can use magic? I vaguely remembered seeing a similar setting somewhere.
If Jelly's specialty was teleportation, Pudding's specialty seemed to be invisibility. Though invisible, he would appear when called and help at various times. Our Jelly's specialty is teleportation, but she can't do invisibility magic. She said her presence is too large to be hidden. Yes, yes...
Pudding must have grabbed him by the collar, because the thug was lifted into the air. Choking, he grabbed his throat and flailed about, trying to escape. Always so dramatic. With Pudding's delicate wrists that look like they might snap, I don't know how much it could possibly hurt.
"Shouldn't manners start with you first?"
I wish he would learn the spirit of putting himself in others' shoes. Pudding, having seen this somewhere, adorably shook the thug thoroughly before releasing him.
"Hah, huff, sob."
Whether embarrassed by his overreaction, the thug collapsed on the floor and didn't move.
"What is this... Is he dead?"
That can't be. He's just overacting. Dead? Our Pudding has such a tender heart he can't even kill a bug. No wait, he does go hunting in the wild with Jelly sometimes, so he probably does kill animals. But that's for survival, so he doesn't kill people.
"He will get up again."
As soon as I finished speaking, the thug staggered to his feet. Whether embarrassed by his overacting or reflecting on his behavior, he kept his head hung low.
"He won't use violence against you again."
Having experienced what it's like to be on the receiving end, and seeing him bow his head like that, he definitely won't be able to bully anyone. At least for a while, he'll behave. And in the meantime, I should suggest a job change. The imperial knights all seem to be out of their minds, so I should ask if he'd consider transferring to Gabriel's side. I need to drive out the thug who's still keeping his head bowed.
"How about you leave now?"
If it were me, I'd hide in a mouse hole. When I gave him a chance to escape, the thug quickly left the prison. Now only the gloomy knight and I remained in the cell.
"Would you like me to help?"
Even at my suggestion, the gloomy knight hesitated. You fool, this is when you should ask for help from those around you! Of course, I understood that he couldn't trust me, as I was a suspect in the crown prince's murder and imprisoned.