Attachment Knight - Chapter 3

I watched as Radem humiliatingly bowed down over Don’s instep. I thought his hair and his white skin were shining strangely.

Am I seeing things again? Is it time to take my medicine?

As I thought that, my ankle was suddenly grabbed.

Oh. The place Don was ordering him to kiss like a dog wasn’t Don’s shoe but the top of my foot.

I felt a bit of resistance, but I couldn’t interfere with anything Don set his mind to. I relaxed my ankle and waited for those hate-filled lips to brand my foot with humiliation.

‘Chloris Unnie said something really good would happen this time.’

“Millie, all three cards came out as upright mirrors. This is an object of the abyss. It means you can find something you’ve lost.”

Something I’d lost….

I wondered if she’d meant my real parents would come, but of course no such miracle happened.

I felt drained, thinking Chloris was spouting nonsense again, when a hot grip wrapped around the top of my foot.

The man knelt on one knee and held my foot in both hands, slowly lowering his head.

Soon, the soft flesh of his lips pressed against the top of my foot. The vivid, unfamiliar sensation made me flinch in surprise.

His lips didn’t stop there. They moved to carry out Don Pisano’s malicious command.

A moist tongue slipped out and lightly licked the curved top of my foot. Following the faint blue veins beneath my pale skin, his tongue traced downward, then gently sucked at the flesh.

Every strange mark he left dragged warm breath against my skin.

It was ticklish, hot, and so bizarre it sent chills up my neck.

Without thinking, I clung tightly to Don and hunched my shoulders.

As soon as Radem lifted his lips, my skirt slid down along my calf.

At that moment, he raised his head, and I met those clear, mirror-like violet eyes.

This man… wasn’t he said to be from the Apellant continent? His exotic, mysterious features and eyes trapped me helplessly, and suddenly, my head spun.

A flood of unfamiliar scenery rushed into my vision like a tidal wave.

A white-domed palace impossible to find on the island, the holy ringing of a cathedral bell, a flower-decorated plaza and coffee tables lining the streets, and beyond the border a dark, gloomy slum.

“….”

Frozen, my gaze collided with Radem’s in midair. My body and thoughts stopped. My senses drifted farther away each second.

This wasn’t an illusion.

My unconscious fell into a world I didn’t know.

A woman held a little girl’s hand and walked toward a cabaret.

Her voice as she spoke to the shop owner strangely resembled mine. She sat on a table where people were gathered and greeted them.

What on earth is this? Did Don Pisano cast some illusion magic on me, or is it truly time for medication?

I watched without understanding, and then I spotted a familiar name on the table.

<Queen of Omelas>

They placed down a poster for a play titled after the island I’m trapped on and started chatting.

“Whether the island said to have sunk a hundred years ago was real or just superstition, the romance alone is lethal.”

“The newspapers say evidence has come out proving Omelas really existed, madam.”

What are they talking about?

Evidence that Omelas really existed? I’m standing on it right now.

“People getting shaken up over Radem’s engagement ring, that’s hilarious. It could just be fabricated evidence cooked up by some sponsor to boost ticket sales. You can see they’re trying to promote the play.”

“You’re too negative, madam.”

“Even if that island did exist, everyone on it drowned. I heard Radem Rosenbauer was captured by the wizard of that island and failed to escape, then was brutally murdered. His family supposedly wiped out the entire island in revenge. The ring must’ve sunk with it.”

“…Radem Rosenbauer?”

I blankly repeated the name when I felt a gaze.

“….”

“….”

The moment my eyes met Radem’s, the incomprehensible scene vanished like an illusion.

I blinked blankly.

The beautiful knight quietly sent me a look as if demanding an answer, but unfortunately, I had none to give.

Don Pisano lifted me up. Right after, Don’s underling opened his mouth.

“Master, what should we do with this bastard?”

“Watch him until tomorrow, and if he doesn’t behave, kill him.”

“Yes.”

A complex blue circular pattern rose on Don’s palm, and the same blue pattern appeared on the wall of the underground prison where no exit should’ve been. Stone steps broke through the wall.

The lowest level of the underground prison called the Labyrinth.

A deep, massive space about five meters wide twisted in a single man’s hand.

It was an incredible space-distortion spell.

Don walked ahead and I followed behind.

Climbing the winding stone steps, thoughts chased thoughts.

‘All the islanders drowned.’

Interpreted, it meant I’d be caught up in some revenge tragedy because of a slave murdered on this island and die…

My mind still couldn’t accept it, but the vivid vision of the future that had struck my five senses remained painfully clear in my head.

It’s impossible.

Don is the strongest wizard I know. The man who casually transformed an entire island into his palace wouldn’t let his fortress collapse so easily.

It must be nonsense….

“Another nightmare?”

“I think so.”

“You didn’t sleep well? Let’s go eat.”

Don stroked my head like I was his adorable pet.

A faint light leading outside began to seep in.

When I stepped onto the fresh grass, I finally felt like I could breathe.

The underground prison, with its gaping maw, looked like the entrance to hell.

I wondered if the man trapped in that prison even knew whether it was day or night.

***

Omelas Island, located in the Atra Strait.

A land of 163,000 acres that’s entirely an amusement park, Omelas is actually a criminal hideout.

A sanctuary of illegal experiments, forbidden magic, and alchemy. This was the island’s true face once you scraped off the glittering glow of paradise.

The island’s master, Don Pisano, kidnapped children and used them as catalysts for magical experiments.

Among them, the useful ones were taught magic directly and turned into human weapons.

I was abandoned on this dangerous island when I was two, then picked up.

I received basic training at the island’s training facility, but whether it was physical skill, strategy, or dexterity, I wasn’t particularly exceptional. What allowed me to survive by sheer luck was my decent appearance.

Don was a vicious man, but he occasionally showed indulgence toward those who matched his aesthetic tastes.

Like planting a beautiful flower in his garden.

But relying only on looks had its limits, and a creature like me, with survival instincts no better than a sunfish, eventually fell into half resignation.

It was on a day when I was quietly cleaning up toys, trying desperately to stay out of the overseer’s sight.

Suddenly, the back of my head stung.

“For that kid with pigtails, her face is the only thing she has going for her. What is she even good at?”

Don Pisano’s target this time was me. He always carried a faint smell of blood and cigarettes, and the strong perfume he used to mask it.

Don called me “the kid with pigtails.”

His voice sounded bored, but the gaze that stabbed down on me was icy.

The mask Don always wore was far too frightening for a child, and I was curious about the real face beneath it.

He created a secret island, killed children like it was nothing, and performed experiments. What kind of face would that piece of trash have?

Sensing death, a strange boldness surged in me, and I did something I shouldn’t have done.

“This little brat…!”

Don couldn’t dodge the tiny hand that suddenly reached out.

He never would’ve imagined that a five-year-old kid who couldn’t even reach his thigh would recklessly rip off his mask.

Before the flustered underling could run over,

Tumble-

The mask rolled across the floor.

That was the day I first saw Don Pisano’s bare face.

Definite features and smooth lips. A complexion so pale it was frightening.

He was a handsome man, but the left side of his face was grotesque. The skin was wrinkled like it’d shriveled from fire, and the flesh crossing from his eye to his cheek was swollen red like a monster.

The child beside him, who’d been watching in a daze, started crying first.

Don’s eyes turned cold.

The terrified underling picked up the mask, but what’d already happened spelled death for everyone present.

Like the crying kid, the corners of my eyes turned red.

But instead of crying at the sight of something so inhuman, only hiccups came out. Maybe it was lucky I didn’t cry.

“Tsk.”

When Don reached out his hand, the child screamed louder and stumbled back.

“M-monster. Monster!”

The scene moved in slow motion. That kid would die. At the same time, a lightning bolt of survival instinct urged me.

Unlike the crying child, I didn’t run away sobbing. My legs nearly gave out from fear, but I stretched out both hands and grabbed the man’s large hand tightly.

Then I burrowed into his arms.