At that moment, a guest burst into Fabrice's mansion.
Fabrice hadn't woken up yet, having slept late last night.
“Madam Princess, the Prince is still…”
The terrified servant tried to stop her.
“Open the door.”
At her signal, the man standing behind her opened the door wide.
Giselle entered Fabrice's bedroom without hesitation.
Then she slapped the deeply sleeping Fabrice's cheek until she woke him up.
I slapped her hard.
“Your Highness, it's time for you to wake up.”
"What?!
What is this!"
When Fabrice, who had not fully recovered from sleep, saw the knights and Giselle surrounding his bed and could not understand the situation, he immediately became angry.
“This is not the time to be angry.
You seem to have ignored my words.”
Giselle looked at Fabrice, who was still face down in bed.
A harsh look.
“Take care of the prince.”
"Good."
The knights forcibly lifted Fabrice into a sitting position.
“What are you doing!
Leave me!”
Fabrice jerked desperately under the weight of the knights' heavy hands.
“Your Highness, wouldn’t you like a date with a girl after a long break?”
Giselle ordered the maids to change Fabrice's clothes.
While the knights surrounded him suspiciously and watched him.
Smiling, Giselle motioned to the servant that she had an appointment with Fabrice today, then pulled him straight with her.
To the safe house.
Giselle called to Fabrice in a sweet, honeyed voice.
“Your Highness the Prince.”
Fabrice, finally regaining consciousness, looked at her quizzically.
“What are you doing, princess?”
“A romantic date, let’s be held accountable for mistakes first.”
When a smiling Giselle nodded, the knights bound Fabrice's arms and tied him to a chair prepared in the room.
Giselle took out the whip that she had naturally put in the drawer.
“Why did you take that out!
Untie me right now!”
“Your Highness, what did I tell you?
Huh?
Answer me.”
Giselle's facial expression as she asked the question seemed friendly at first glance.
“Princess, let’s talk after removing the chains first.
This...this is excessive violence.”
Giselle looked at him, holding the whip in her hand.
“I clearly told you a while ago that you would receive punishment if you made a mistake, and it seems that was not enough.”
“I don't understand what you mean, but anyway, I'm sorry it was my mistake.”
Giselle looked at Fabrice as if she were disciplining a child.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Well... if you ask what I did wrong, yesterday I killed someone, Count Engelger, as you well know...”
Fabrice answered Giselle's question seriously while dripping in a cold sweat.
“Yes.
I also know Count Engelger.
My father sometimes dines with him.”
“Yes, but I had a small accident yesterday...
I had to kill him.”
Fabrice tried hard to move his mind.
He had to find a convincing reason to kill him.
“The Count has not been killed, Your Highness.”
"What?
What did you say?"
Fabrice looked at Giselle so much that he forgot he was tied up.
“He was not killed.
He is in a coma.
I left many traces of blood stains, pieces of cloth, and the sword.
My knights worked hard to clean them without leaving a trace.”
Fabrice finally couldn't help himself and let out an expletive.
“Damn it!
You crazy bastard!
You said he was killed!
You tricked me again!”
Fabrice shouted at the top of his lungs towards Gaspard, who wasn't even there.
“Ah, that hurts my ears.”
Giselle whispered as if she were sighing, then she threw the whip hard.
A loud slap sounded, and the whip wrapped around Fabrice's body.
"Yes!"
“Your Highness, from now on only answer what I ask you, understood?”
“I answer”
Fabrice answered, suppressing the pain.
"…Good."
“Last night, you sent an assassin to attempt to assassinate Count Engelger, didn't you?”
"…Okay."
“Why did you do that?”
"Because that bastard!
He made me like this!
Me!"
“Don't raise your voice.”
Giselle threw the whip at Fabrice again.
The horrific slap sound of flesh hitting the whip echoed in the room.
Blood began to flow from Fabrice's back, as if a piece of flesh had been torn off.
“Tell me what Count Engelger did.”
“He… spread rumors about me… A scandalous article appeared in the newspaper, and my father, the king, ordered me to retire for several months, and during that, I couldn’t even leave the palace, and my engagement was broken off… Then I became, I’m like this now.”
Who was the reason for all this?
Even Fabrice being beaten with a whip here was because of Count Engelger.
Didn't he break off his engagement because of that rumor?
Fabrice's emotions were gradually rising and he almost screamed, but he involuntarily lowered his voice when he saw the blood-stained whip that Giselle was holding.
“Hmm.”
Giselle was silent for a moment, as if lost in thought.
“Do you have proof that the Count did this?”
“If not him, then who?
It's clear!
Why do you ask?
“So, Your Highness, you wanted to take revenge on him?
But you failed?
"…Okay."
“First, because of your determination to take revenge, my family and I were almost in danger again.
You will receive punishment for that first.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Giselle threw the whip violently.
“Ah!”
Fabrice was dizzy.
He raised his bound hands, unable to move well, and begged meekly.
“Please, princess, princess, save me who will be king...”
“That's right, since you're the one who will be king in the future, I shouldn't be so harsh, right?”
Giselle smiled and carefully twisted the whip.
“Your Highness, now really, you shouldn’t do anything to deserve punishment, understand?”
“Yes, of course, untie me.”
“Okay, untie the prince.”
Then, men who had been waiting outside came in and untied him.
“Ash…thank you, princess.”
“You are welcome, since His Highness the Prince is dirty, wash him well.”
The knights violently dragged Fabrice and threw him into the bathtub.
When the boiling water suddenly touched his body, Fabrice screamed.
The recently opened wounds were extremely painful, as if they were stabbing him with a knife blade.
After they threw him into the bathroom and the knights left, some maids entered to serve him.
Fabrice could not regain consciousness.
He felt as if the effects of the alcohol he had drunk last night had finally worn off.
But with him suddenly being pulled to this place, receiving whip strokes from that madwoman, and then remaining in the water like that, Fabrice wanted to quickly return to his comfortable palace.
This time, I will ask my father, the king, to break off my engagement to this madwoman.
Even if the king got angry at him fiercely.
The king, despite his anger, did not touch a hair on Fabrice's head.
He may be ordered to retire for several months.
But it's much better than staying with this crazy woman.
He called one of the maids who was serving him in silence.
“Listen, get me out of here if you just do this, I will give you everything you want.”
The maids ignored his words and continued to perform their duties diligently.
"You, what's your name?
Huh?
Please.
Help me, okay?"
When he raised his hand and grabbed the maid's arm tightly, the latter screamed until his ears were almost torn off.
“Ahh!”
"No no!"
As he frantically tried to shut the maid's mouth, he charged into the knights who were waiting in the corridor.
A large man said to the maids, gesturing:
“Stop bathing and put on new clothes.”
Then the maids lifted Fabrice out of the bathtub.
When he was forcibly removed from the hot water, his naked, reddened body was exposed.
“And Your Highness, do not resist.”
"…Good."
Although Fabrice was shameless, at this moment he also felt ashamed.
From showing his blood-stained body in front of these brown men.
“Close the door...
Please, I will remain still...”
When he pleaded with them as if he were pleading, the man who had been staring at him returned to his place.
Escaping on his own strength seemed impossible.
Fabrice realized the reality facing him.
He decided to submit.
After being neatly washed and dressed in fresh clothes, he returned to his usual somewhat clean appearance.
His carefully combed front hair looked calmer and politer than usual.
In addition, because of Giselle's punishment, he seemed more calm to the point of looking serious.
Fabrice was taken to the dining room and placed in front of a large table.
Giselle had already sat in the main seat and eaten.
“You're hungry, aren't you?
Please eat, Your Highness.”
When Giselle pointed with a bright smile, a large steak was placed in front of Fabrice.
Fabrice stared at the plate placed in front of him in amazement.
It looked rather delicious.
“Don't you like the food?”
"Hello."
Fabrice quickly grabbed the cutlery before Giselle hit him with the whip again.
“But, Your Highness.”
"Yes?"
“How long have you been talking to me with such dry words?”
Giselle was smiling as she held the knife.
Blood stains were visible on the knife with which she cut the raw steak.
“Ah, I… I’m sorry, I sincerely apologize, Princess, I made a mistake… I made a mistake.”
Fabrice immediately apologized so as not to upset her.
“Don't talk or move without my permission, okay?”
“Okay, princess.”
As if she liked Fabrice's answer, Giselle smiled broadly.
“Then after the meal is over, I will quickly examine your wounds, Your Highness.”
Fabrice was afraid of Giselle.
Terribly afraid.
She seemed really mad to him, tending to the wounds inflicted by the strokes of her whip.
But Fabrice devoured the steak without complaint.
Since yesterday, he had been drinking a lot of alcohol, and he was suffering from the effects of alcohol and hunger, so his stomach cramped.
But he didn't show it and just watched Giselle's reaction.
As Giselle said, she called Fabrice into the bedroom after eating.
It was the same room she had locked him in before.
“Your wounds are serious, what should I do?”
She said it as if she was really worried about him, pretending to be sorry.
Giselle got the medicine and bandages and began applying them to his back.
When the medicine touched the wound, Fabrice was overcome with excruciating pain as if his body was twisting.
"Yes."
But he couldn't scream freely either.
Because she might hit him with the whip again if he makes a noise.
"It's in a lot of pain, isn't it?
Bear with it a little."
After treating all his wounds, Giselle carefully put Fabrice to bed.
“You better rest today.
If you sleep, I’ll wake you up.”
Giselle said in a tender voice as she adjusted the quilt.
“...When will I return to the palace...”
Fabrice finally spoke up.
What was on Fabrice's mind at this moment was when he would be able to escape from this madwoman.
“I think it is best to return after your wounds have completely healed.
That is my opinion.
What do you think, Your Highness?”
Giselle grabbed Fabrice's arm as if to squeeze him after she said that.
He stifled a cry inside him and answered with difficulty.
“…I think that would be better.”
“That's good.
It seems that Your Highness and I get along.
Rest in peace, Your Highness.”
Knock
The door closed and Fabrice was left alone in the room.
His back hurt so much that he couldn't lie upright.
He lay on his side.
But even lying on the side was just as painful.
He buried his face in the pillow and lay on his stomach.
That was a little better.
But he was having difficulty breathing.
The room with the thick curtains couldn't even tell if it was day or night.
As if it were his future in some way.
Fabrice felt sad about his condition and a tear fell from his eyes without him knowing it.