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CHAPTER 17
When Riana felt like everything was over, her whole body went limp.
As her hand dropped from her mouth, it bumped into a brick—
and suddenly, it pushed inward like a button.
A square-shaped secret door spun open behind her, like a revolving wall.
“Huh?”
Before she could react, the door turned all the way—
and because she was leaning on it, she was thrown straight inside.
“Eek.”
Thankfully, her scream didn’t make it past the wall.
“W-What is this…?”
She was only confused for a moment.
Having worked in film, Riana quickly understood.
A secret passage!
Old castles often had these.
As expected, when she gathered magic in her hand for light, she saw a staircase leading downward.
If she escaped this way, she could avoid both Dukes—Killian at the front door and Veloci at the back.
…But.
Riana had seen way too many horror movies with bad endings.
“Let’s just wait for Veloci to leave and go out that way.”
Stairs to who-knows-where? No way. She wasn’t going down there. Who knew what was inside?
But then… she heard voices from below.
“This castle was built long ago. There are secret rooms even the Duke doesn’t know about. This is one of them, so don’t worry.”
As the voices and torchlight came closer, Riana quickly turned off her magic and crouched down.
It was too soon to run.
“The luncheon went fine with the mine owner?”
The next voice, in broken kingdom language, clearly had a desert accent.
“Yes, while everyone was distracted, we moved the goods here.”
“Good. When the job’s done, you’ll get double the advance.”
…This sounded like something she shouldn’t have heard.
Her mind raced.
“So a desert merchant is doing something shady behind his group’s back… and someone inside the Duke’s estate is helping him—for money?”
She had to get out of this creepy place. Fast.
But she was a little too late.
“Wait! Who’s that? Catch her!”
Just as Riana reached for the exit, one of the desert men shouted.
The insider—one of the maids who’d helped dress her that morning—drew a knife.
Whoosh!
The blade grazed her neck and slammed into the brick wall.
“If you so much as flinch, next time it’s your throat.”
Why is someone this skilled wasting her time fixing makeup?
“What’s wrong with this estate’s hiring system…?”
Grumbling internally, Riana raised her hands and surrendered.
Creeeaak—slam!
The heavy metal door clanged shut in front of her.
“So this was hidden under the mansion all along?”
Riana was shocked that such a massive underground prison existed right beneath the place she slept.
But honestly, that wasn’t her biggest problem.
Grrrrrrr—RAAARGH!
“Oh crap.”
Beasts were roaring from all directions.
Luckily, the drooling monsters with sharp teeth were locked in other cages.
Ironically, Riana was just like them—trapped.
They weren’t normal animals.
Though they looked a bit like bears or wolves, some had horns, or glowing red eyes—clear monsters.
“Which means…”
Riana looked over at the thing locked in the same cell as her.
Its hands were tied, and it seemed asleep.
It looked human, but had a wild, beast-like appearance.
What kind of monster was this one?
Grrrr!
“Eek!”
She flinched as two wolves in the next cage started fighting—
their claws and fangs were as long as a person’s arm.
They snarled and lunged at each other, biting hard.
Their fight stirred the rest of the monsters, and chaos filled the underground prison.
“Wait, no—this can’t be happening!”
Terrified, Riana curled into a ball and covered her ears.
Even with her eyes shut, she could feel the wolves slamming into the bars.
“I’m not even the villainess anymore! I was supposed to die dramatically, like getting punished by the heroine—NOT like this!”
Was this what she got for trying so hard to avoid her fate?
Tears welled up in her eyes.
She didn’t want to die.
Not a pointless, miserable death.
Not some dramatic “final boss” death.
Not even by a truck. She didn’t want any of it.
SLAM!
One wolf slammed into the wall with its throat torn out, then twitched and died.
The winner threw its head back and howled—
then slowly turned to look… directly at Riana.
“OH NO NO NOOO—AAAAH!!”
As its claws reached through the bars, Riana screamed and crawled backward in a panic.
SCREEECH!
The sound of claws scraping against metal made her skin crawl.
“I want to go home!” she sobbed.
“Shut up.”
“KYAAA!”
She screamed again when a sudden voice interrupted her.
The guy tied up in the same cell had woken up.
He slowly opened his eyes.
“…H-Huh.”
There’s an old saying—
“Even crying children stop when they see a tiger.”
And it’s true. Her tears froze from shock.
“Red eyes glowing with aurora-like light…”
She knew this guy. She’d met him 11 years ago in the Welsen Kingdom.
Back then, he was just a small kid who’d stolen part of her pie.
Now he wasn’t small or skinny anymore.
“Wow… he really grew.”
Riana was a little surprised, but not completely shocked.
She remembered his tragic backstory.
He was born a noble’s illegitimate son in a neighboring country—
his father tried to kill him at birth.
He became strong through years of struggle and pain.
He’d even been subjected to human experiments.
Apparently, this was the result.
His glowing eyes looked just like the other monsters’.
“…Huh?”
“What?”
“I should be scared, but I’m not.”
Riana, now tear-free and curious, looked at him closely.
Not because she was happy to see an old friend.
“This guy’s not dying today. He’s meant to survive.”
Which meant—there was a way out of this hellhole.
She didn’t worry about falling for another male lead.
She definitely wasn’t going to fall for this dirty-looking guy.
And once she escaped, she’d never see him again.
“You’re super strong, right?”
“……”
She pointed to the wolf in the next cell.
“That thing threw another wolf so hard it broke a wall.”
“…You want me to do the same?”
He tilted his head blankly, like he’d throw her into the wall if she answered wrong.
Riana shook her head fast.
“No, not to me! Look—see that lock?”
She pointed to the cage door.
“Can you break it for me? I know the way out.”
“What about the guards?”
“You can beat them.”
This guy was insanely powerful.
The original story once described a legendary 17-vs-1 fight.
He was the 1. The 17 were dragons.
But instead of charging ahead, he sighed.
“I can’t break the lock.”
“Why not? It’s old and rusty.”
She gave him a hopeful look, but he replied with sarcasm.
“It’s infused with magic. Same with these chains. Old means well-made. It’ll never break.”
“…Magic?”
Riana’s eyes flickered.
Wait a minute…
After a brief thought, she looked at her hands calmly.
She didn’t like the idea of revealing her secret to another male lead,
but escaping was more important.
With that resolve, she stood up and reached toward the lock.
“Please let this work just once—come on, transmigrator powers—”
Crack!
The magic lock broke like an old piece of junk.
Creaaak.
The door opened.
“…It actually worked?”
Riana blinked in awe.
She was useful for something other than feeding a cat!
As amazed as she was, the boy in the cell was even more surprised.
“You… You’re a magic-user?”
“What’s a magic-user?”
“Exactly what you are.”
“I mean, what does that mean?”
She blinked, then remembered Allen.
She’d read in the info papers that magic-users were extremely rare.
So rare that world laws guaranteed them early leave benefits.
“…Wait. No way.”
Riana’s face froze as it hit her.
She had awakened her powers…
And only now—nine years later—realized what she truly was.
A headline from the Forthsb Information Paper flashed through her mind.
