A Wise Life in Captivity with the Mad Duke - Chapter 15

Maybe it was because everything around me had turned to darkness, but all my senses felt sharper than usual. When Eden brushed my hair, every fine hair on my arms stood on end, as if his touch had triggered a nerve.

To break the awkward silence, I quickly grabbed the blanket and handed it to him.

“Here. You left this yesterday.”

“Yeah. I remembered when I got to the first floor, but going back felt like too much trouble, so I just left it.”

Without warning, Eden leaned forward and wrapped the blanket around my shoulders. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he gathered my damp hair and pulled it out from under the blanket so it wouldn’t touch my neck.

“Can’t let you catch a cold.”

He was too kind for his own good.

Feeling my face grow warm for no reason, I fidgeted with the knot near my collar and cleared my throat awkwardly.

“But I’m not here for the blanket tonight.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I said I’d find you something more useful than a fork, remember?”

“Oh.”

Right, he did say that. But no matter how hard I looked, I didn’t see anything that could even remotely be considered a weapon.

As I studied him suspiciously, a ridiculous thought popped into my head.

“Wait, don’t tell me… you’re the thing that’s more useful than a fork?”

“Yep. Surprised?”

With a bright, innocent smile, Eden walked past me and sat down in his usual seat as if nothing were strange about what he’d just said.

How odd. Why would he go out of his way to help me like this? Was it because of what he’d said before, about being my dog?

Or was he just the type of person who felt compelled to keep his word no matter what?

Otherwise, there was no reason for him to show me this much favor.

If that really was the case, then I couldn’t help but wonder how far his kindness could go, where exactly the line was drawn.

‘If I asked him to get me out of here… would he do it?’

But even asking a man like him about escaping was too dangerous. Eden was like a double-edged sword, and I couldn’t be sure whether he’d actually help me or turn that very question against me.

So for now, I decided to take a more indirect approach.

“Um… Eden, if I asked you to help me go for a walk outside the monastery, could you do it? I don’t need to go far, just somewhere nearby.”

“Why outside?”

Maybe, depending on my reason, he might actually say yes.

Clinging to that faint hope, I tried my best to sound pitiful.

“I’m just feeling suffocated. I thought maybe if I could see the ocean for a bit, I’d be able to breathe again. It’s not impossible, right…?”

“To go outside, you need a valid reason, something everyone can agree on. Unfortunately, personal reasons don’t really count.”

I’d been hoping he’d say something like, I’ll see what I can do, but Eden’s flat response made it clear the conversation was over.

‘Hmm. Not a good sign. I’ll wait a while and try again later, maybe in a different way.’

As the night deepened, the silence in the room grew heavier too. Sharing a room overnight with a man I wasn’t particularly close to came with its fair share of nerves.

What if I talked in my sleep? Or drooled? Or did something weird without realizing it? All sorts of useless worries filled my head.

In the darkness, Eden looked completely different from how he did during the day—sharper, colder, almost unnervingly focused. There were moments when it felt like I was sitting across from a stranger.

Meanwhile, he seemed entirely unbothered, sitting calmly in a shadowed corner and idly spinning something in his hand, some kind of gun from the sound of the clicking trigger.

Eventually, I gave up pretending to sleep. Poking my head out from under the blanket, I turned fully toward him.

“What kind of gun is that? Did you modify it?”

I’d seen him use it once before in the yard. The pure white frame covered in intricate gold patterns was impossible to forget. It was too ornate to be standard-issue.

“Weren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

Eden raised one eyebrow in surprise, then quickly relaxed and answered with an easy smile.

“It was a gift from the royal family. I earned quite a few merits while I was out there. Want to take a closer look?”

“Can I? What if I touch it carelessly and it accidentally goes off?”

“Ah, I suppose that’s a fair concern.”

Suddenly, Eden brushed his lips with his fingers and let out a quiet laugh.

What’s so funny? When I looked at him blankly, confused, he replied in a voice laced with amusement.

“It won’t go off. There aren’t any bullets.”

“No bullets?”

Then why carry it around? For show? I could’ve sworn there were real bullets in it when he fired at Number 18 in the yard.

“It’s a weapon designed specifically for mutants. It uses magical energy to create bullets, so ordinary people couldn’t fire it even if you handed it to them.”

I let out a quiet sound of realization. No wonder they handed out firearms so easily to the caregivers.

After that, I quietly watched Eden as he continued to toy with the gun in his hand. There were so many things I wanted to ask about his background, but for some reason, I hesitated to open my mouth.

“Don’t you want to sleep?”

“…What?”

Startled by the sudden question, I reflexively asked back. Eden turned his lazy gaze toward me, his lips curving slightly.

“You’ve been staring at me with those pretty eyes for a while now. Makes me not want to let you sleep.”

Sometimes his words were so raw they caught me completely off guard.

“I’m going to sleep.”

Trying to hide how flustered I was, I turned over quickly. Behind me, I heard a faint laugh.

As I shut my eyes, I grumbled under my breath. He must really be doing this just to tease me. That’s the only reason he could act so shamelessly.

How much time had passed like that?

Just when I thought I’d dozed off, a cool breeze brushed against my face.

‘…Wind?’

As the chill slowly spread through my body, I shifted my eyes slightly to assess the situation. Then, I heard footsteps approaching inside the room.

Steps with a clear target.

Ragged breathing, heavy with excitement.

So he came. Eric Duris.

A wave of nausea rose in my throat from disgust, but I clenched my fists. It wasn’t time for me to move yet.

But even when Duris’s footsteps stopped nearby, Eden didn’t react.

Was he asleep? Even if he was, someone with reflexes as sharp as his should’ve woken up by now.

At that moment, a terrible thought crossed my mind.

What if… they’d been working together from the start?

It wasn’t impossible. For people in positions of power, joining hands would be far easier than siding with someone like me, a mere patient.

It was true that Eden’s presence had made me feel safer, but trusting him was an entirely different matter.

‘I should’ve at least considered the possibility.’

The thought came too late to be useful now.

Even when Duris grabbed the blanket, Eden didn’t move. The realization that I might’ve been betrayed left a hollow ache in my chest, but I couldn’t afford to give up.

Quietly, I slipped my hand under the pillow. My fingers brushed the hard surface of the book I’d hidden there.

Soon, the blanket covering me began to slide off. Taking that as my signal, I gripped the book tightly with all my strength.

Bang!

A deafening thud and a groan of pain filled the room.

The impact was so strong the walls seemed to tremble. I shot upright in shock, eyes wide, staring straight ahead.

And that’s when I realized how foolish and baseless my suspicion had been.

The first thing I saw was Eden, pressing the muzzle of his gun into Duris’s mouth.

Don’t people usually aim guns at the head or chest? While I stared, frozen, Eden turned to me with an innocent smile that didn’t match the situation.

“What do you think? Should I kill him?”

Of course, killing him would’ve been the surest way to get him out of sight for good. But unfortunately, I wasn’t such an immoral person that I could be free from guilt after using that method.

So I offered a reasonable alternative.

“Break something, so he can’t ever do something that vile again.”

At my words, Duris writhed and shouted in protest.

Eden was the one who had subdued him, yet for some reason, he glared at me like he wanted to tear me apart.

“Caregiver, you should keep your eyes open properly.”

The smile faded from Eden’s face, his eyes narrowing slightly. His lips were still curved upward, but his voice carried no inflection.

“When you look at a patient like that, it makes me want to close those eyes for you.”

Watching him load the gun without hesitation sent chills down my spine.

It felt like, for the first time, I was seeing the terrifying nature hidden beneath his gentle smile.

Eden glanced at me for a moment, then grabbed Duris by the back of the neck and dragged him outside, saying they’d talk there. I started to follow, but he shook his head.

“I’ll handle it.”

At his calm refusal, I stopped in place. The door between us closed, blocking my view.

With nothing else I could do, I trudged back toward the bed. But then I heard Eden’s faint voice through the poorly soundproofed wall and turned back immediately.

For once, the ward’s terrible insulation worked in my favor. I pressed my ear tightly against the door.

“I’d like to hear your explanation for what happened.”

“T-the director told me to check on the patients during his night patrols to make sure they were doing fine… so I only lifted the blanket for that reason, not anything else.”

“You came in knowing someone was there.”

“Come on, that’s impossible. You see, my night vision’s terrible. It’s pitch-black inside. From the hallway, it’s hard to tell if there’s a person or just a blanket.”

“That’s all?”

Eden let out a short laugh. Duris, thinking the tension had lifted, answered cheerfully, “Haha! Well, of course. It’s not like there’s any fun to be had messing with some crazy patient.”

The next second, something heavy slammed into the door with a dull thud.

Startled, I jumped back, my heart pounding from the violent impact that shook the wall.

Duris’s scream followed soon after, sharp and desperate.

“Damn it! What the hell are you doing!”