Something’s Not Right About This Transmigration - Chapter 9
“It would be troublesome if someone about to be married had a swollen cheek.”
Samuel’s voice sounded behind them, even though Frey had thought he had left.
The startled Count looked back. Samuel stood leaning against the door with his arms crossed, watching the two of them.
“Y-Your Grace. This is, well…….”
Overwhelmed by the powerful scent of a furious dominant alpha, the Count, merely a recessive alpha, babbled and hurriedly released Frey. Frey’s hair had tangled around his fingers, however, so Frey’s head was yanked along with the Count’s hand.
“Ugh!”
When his vision spun, Frey squeezed his eyes shut. He covered his mouth, feeling as though he might vomit at any moment, and Samuel’s expression grew steadily harder as he watched.
“It appears I should take the Young Lord with me now.”
“But……!”
“Why? Do you object?”
Samuel unfolded his arms and strode closer, blocking the Count’s path with his large body and looking down at him. The Count cleared his throat and looked away.
“No, but…….”
“Then I will escort the Young Lord away. I will inform you once the time of the ceremony is set.”
Samuel seized Frey’s wrist and yanked him roughly toward himself.
His grip was so strong it felt as though Frey’s wrist bones might shatter.
“W-wait……!”
Samuel’s hold loosened slightly at the brief cry, but he did not stop walking.
‘I can’t leave like this……!’
It was infuriating that the Count had hit him, but he could not simply follow Samuel either.
He needed to meet Regulus that night and plan his escape. That was the only way to flee the marriage, and Samuel was ruining everything.
“Your Grace. Wait, urgh……!”
Frey staggered violently while trying to match his rapid pace and hurriedly covered his mouth. His body had already been unwell, and the constant jostling made his stomach turn again.
“You…….”
Only then did Samuel stop and look back. He started to say something, then closed his mouth.
His gaze slowly lowered from Frey’s pale face to his weakly trembling legs.
“A little…… slower. I think I’m going to be sick…….”
“…….”
“But I…… can’t go with you like this…….”
God, he was dizzy.
His vision swam so badly that even continuing to speak was difficult.
“……You were treated that way, and you still refuse to come with me?”
Samuel looked baffled, then swept back his hair as though suppressing his mounting anger.
“I don’t understand……. Do you perhaps enjoy being hit?”
“What kind of ridiculous thing is that……? I mean that if I leave like this, problems may arise later…….”
“If you don’t come with me now, won’t that cause an immediate problem?”
Frey snapped his mouth shut.
As Samuel said, now that matters had come this far, there was no telling what the Count might do if Frey refused to follow him.
Judging by everything the Count had shown so far, he might beat Frey three times worse than before.
“I will not make this offer twice.”
“…….”
“You choose, Young Lord. Remain here and endure the Count, or come with me to the ducal mansion.”
At that moment, something shattered in the drawing room at the top of the stairs, followed by the Count’s shouts and vicious curses echoing through the mansion.
“Ah…….”
Fuck.
Frey sighed and pressed against his throbbing temple.
It was true that he shouldn’t follow Samuel, but remaining here didn’t seem like a real choice either.
‘Even if he doesn’t kill me, he’ll beat me until I can’t walk.’
Then Frey wouldn’t be able to escape or do anything else.
After agonizing over it, Frey bit his lip and took one step toward Samuel.
It felt like putting his head in a tiger’s jaws……. But it still seemed better than staying with that insane Count.
……At least, that was what he thought then.
* * *
Rattle, rattle.
Samuel sat with his arms crossed, quietly watching Frey asleep opposite him.
He had followed him with a rigid expression, looking as though he were being dragged away against his will, only to fall asleep as if he’d passed out almost as soon as he boarded the carriage.
“He still looks like a little brat.”
Samuel murmured and slowly examined Frey’s face.
Silver hair with a faint blue cast, bloodlessly pale skin, and long eyelashes casting faint shadows beneath his closed eyes. When those eyes opened, they revealed mysterious violet irises.
His extraordinarily pretty, androgynous face had hardly changed since childhood. Neither had his small frame, unlike Samuel and Regulus, who were both tall.
Moreover…….
“Please break off our engagement.”
The way Frey looked Samuel straight in the eyes and clearly declared what he wanted reminded Samuel of the Frey from childhood, who had spoken his mind without hesitation.
“What are you trying to do, after all this time……?”
Samuel frowned and looked out the window, pulling himself from the memory. Before long, however, his gaze returned to Frey.
“…….”
When had the Count begun laying hands on Frey?
Even after striking Frey until his cheek swelled, the Count had shown no sign of surprise. It seemed he was already accustomed to doing it.
Then when had Frey begun being beaten?
Since childhood?
Or had it begun suddenly at some point?
After their relationship fell apart, Samuel had deliberately avoided hearing any news about Frey, so he had no way of knowing what sort of life he had lived.
“……Asis.”
“Yes.”
“It appears we need to learn more about Count Rubellia and the Young Lord.”
As Samuel finished speaking, the shadow cast over the front of the carriage rippled briefly.
Samuel didn’t believe everything Frey had said and done in front of him was genuine.
Frey Rubellia was a skilled liar and a traitor who readily turned his back on others.
“There must be lies mixed in again this time, or else he’s trying to deceive me all over again.”
“…….”
“Struggle as much as you can. I will play along to the end.”
The ‘Samuel’ who had believed every word Frey spoke in childhood no longer existed.
This time, he intended to expose every last thing Frey kept hidden.
He would expose the true face Frey had hidden behind his innocent, guileless act so Regulus could see it too.
“Shouldn’t you experience the same hell I endured?”
Healing the former Duke did not erase Frey’s sins. Samuel intended to make him pay in full for tormenting and toying with him for so long.
“Nnngh…….”
As Samuel glared at him coldly, Frey curled into himself.
When Frey’s body trembled faintly with cold, Samuel clenched his fist without realizing it.
“He might as well freeze to death.”
Samuel turned away as if annoyed, snorted, and stared out the window.
Before long, however, he removed his coat and tossed it over Frey’s sleeping shoulders.
“How troublesome.”
Truly, he was just as disagreeable now as he had been in the past.
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