How to Run Away from Obsessed Men

Episode 80

Crain knew exactly why the Council of Elders had betrayed him.

‘Cowardly fools.’

The elders were afraid of what he had been planning. That fear had likely driven them to side with Raysis and turn their backs on him.

But what had their betrayal accomplished?

Despite the council’s decisions, Raysis had eliminated all his other siblings within the Marquisate.

‘When did he become so strong?’

From a young age, Crain had despised both cowards and the weak. But what he feared more than anything was a child who could surpass him.

He had never imagined that Raysis would possess such power.

Crain had always believed in repaying others double for what they gave him. He wouldn’t sit idly by.

At the very least, he needed to make them suffer as much as he had.

No, he needed to subject them to something far more excruciating than the humiliation he had endured.

‘What do they fear most?’

Raysis, Kalia, Mikhail—all those who had betrayed him.

To enact his plans, however, he would also need Flute’s cooperation.

Flute was the key to providing the justification Crain lacked.

‘Before that fool gets cast out of the imperial family, I need to act.’

Crain turned to Flute and spoke.

“Prince Flute, are you ready?”

“R-Ready? For what?”

“For what we discussed last time.”

At that moment, images of the Emperor striking his cheek flashed through Flute’s mind. He had always refused Crain’s schemes before.

But now, he understood.

To the Emperor, he would always be the lesser child compared to Rebecca.

No matter what Rebecca did, the Emperor would forgive her.

But Flute? Never.

The image of the Emperor’s hand striking his face and Rebecca laughing mockingly as she watched burned in his memory.

“Father has always thought of me as the inadequate son,” Flute muttered.

Now, he knew for certain—the Emperor would never acknowledge him, not in this lifetime.

In the past, Flute had rejected Crain’s offers because of the lingering shred of familial loyalty he felt toward his father.

But if the Emperor didn’t care for him, why should he hold onto that loyalty?

“There’s no other way, is there? Father is only thinking about how to get rid of me,” Flute said bitterly.

Crain’s lips curled into a smirk. The recent events had clearly shaken Flute enough to change him.

‘Perhaps this is a good thing after all.’

After all, there was no way to make Flute emperor through conventional means.

It was now time to execute the plans Crain had been meticulously preparing.

⋆★⋆

Lindsey was receiving nothing short of royal treatment at the Kesion Marquisate. Maids bustled around her, holding dresses against her and chattering excitedly.

“How about this dress, Miss?”

“This necklace used to be one of Rosalyn’s most treasured items…”

“Oh my, these earrings are made of pink diamonds!”

The maids glanced at her with curious, almost suspicious, eyes.

“What’s the relationship between Priestess Roana and Lord Raysis?”

“He even stopped by to see her this morning!”

“To think there’s a woman who could make him open his heart…”

“But don’t they seem a little mismatched?”

Hearing their whispered gossip, Lindsey shook her head, clearly unsettled.

‘What nonsense are they spouting?’

Oblivious to Lindsey’s inner thoughts, the maids continued to look at her with envy.

After discovering Lindsey’s true identity, Raysis had begun showering her with excessive gifts.

It was no wonder the maids were growing suspicious of her.

‘If he’s sending gifts, there’s no reason to turn them down,’ Lindsey thought, amused.

The gifts Raysis sent were extravagant—far too lavish for someone who was supposedly “just an acquaintance.”

Lindsey accepted the presents graciously, intending to store them in her vault.

‘Who would turn down access to the Kesion Marquisate’s treasure vault? That’d just be silly.’

It was then that she heard it—the sound of a piercing scream.

“Ahhh! Aaaahhhh!”

One of the maids attending to Lindsey frowned in annoyance.

“Ugh, it’s starting again. Should we tell her to quiet down?”

“She hasn’t stopped screaming since yesterday,” another maid added, equally exasperated.

Lindsey’s gaze shifted toward the window.

“Let me go! You filthy scum, how dare you lay hands on me!”

The shrieking voice belonged to Rosalyn, and she was holding a filthy rag in her hand.

It didn’t take long for Lindsey to figure out what Rosalyn had been tasked with.

The former heiress of the Kesion family was now doing one of Lindsey’s old, humiliating chores—cleaning the Marquisate’s front gate.

“How humiliating,” Lindsey muttered softly.

The memory of her own childhood came flooding back—of when she was forced to scrub those same gates.

The maids, unfazed by Rosalyn’s screams, continued their work around Lindsey, treating the situation with the same indifference they had shown her in the past.

Lindsey’s lips curled into a faint, amused smile. Rosalyn’s pride was surely being trampled into the ground, just as hers had been all those years ago.

The maids nodded in agreement with Lindsey’s remark.

“She’s doing the exact same thing she used to mock Miss Lindsey for,” one maid said, then quickly covered her mouth, realizing her mistake. The name “Lindsey” was practically taboo in the Marquisate.

“She looked down on her for having ‘dirty blood,’ and now look at her.”

“And yet, she still doesn’t understand her position and behaves so crudely.”

Lindsey glanced at Rosalyn with an unreadable expression. It was clear that Rosalyn hadn’t yet adapted to her sudden reversal of fortune.

Her hair was a tangled mess, her face smudged with dust, and she screamed like someone who had lost their mind.

Lindsey couldn’t forget the disdainful gaze Rosalyn used to cast at her during her lowest moments.

“Lindsey, how can you be so vulgar?”

“If I were in your situation, I’d never act the way you do.”

“You’re absolutely pathetic.”

Those words, accompanied by Rosalyn’s scornful eyes, were burned into Lindsey’s memory.

‘Talk is cheap, isn’t it, Rosalyn?’

Lindsey regarded her with a cold, detached look. She felt no pity.

In the same situation, Rosalyn was faring far worse than Lindsey ever had. At least Lindsey had clung to the hope of escaping her misery one day.

But Rosalyn’s face showed no trace of hope—only despair.

“Everyone, leave,” Lindsey ordered.

The maids scurried out of the room, their movements swift and precise, afraid of earning her ire.

Once they were gone, Felia, who had been quietly watching, spoke with a smirk.

“So much for being high and mighty. Life sure is unpredictable.”

“Isn’t it?” Lindsey replied.

“Did you hear the news? Apparently, Raysis killed all the other direct heirs of the Kesion family.”

“They deserved it,” Lindsey said bluntly.

That morning, chaos had erupted in the Marquisate. She had been awoken by the screams of the servants and the overwhelming stench of blood.

“Raysis has finally overcome the trial of the Kesion Marquisate,” Felia said.

The “trial of the Kesion Marquisate”—a brutal tradition. To become the head of the family, one had to eliminate all competing direct heirs.

‘That’s why Raysis was so desperate,’ Lindsey thought, feeling a complicated mix of emotions. Raysis had achieved what he wanted so badly.

And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he wouldn’t be happy.

‘Not that his feelings have anything to do with me anymore,’ she thought with a shrug.

“Crain won’t be able to kill Raysis now,” Lindsey said.

Raysis was the only remaining heir eligible to inherit the Marquisate. Not even Crain would risk killing him.

It was then that Felia moved swiftly to the window. A bird had appeared, carrying a note. Felia retrieved it and read it quickly, her expression growing darker with each word.

The playful Felia was gone, replaced by someone stern and serious. She glanced around cautiously, her demeanor sharp and tense.

Felia quietly summoned a small amount of mana.

“Raysis has placed knights to monitor us since last night. It’s inconvenient, but bear with it,” Felia said, her tone low.

“I figured as much,” Lindsey replied.

Now that Raysis knew she was Lindsey, he wouldn’t simply let her go without taking precautions.

“Lady Bianca sent a warning,” Felia said, her voice heavy with tension. Her normally lighthearted face was grim.

“She says your life is in danger, Miss Lindsey. She advises you to leave the Kesion Marquisate immediately.”