I Didn’t Tame The Beastly Duke!

The prince was locked up in a prison that was different from any other. It was also damp and dark, but it was much bigger than a typical prison, and the food was acceptable.

The only problem was that it was a dungeon.

However, Phil’s life was a living hell because he was born as the second prince and lived happily ever after despite being involved in numerous accidents.

Bathing was only done once a week with a wooden barrel used by commoners, and the bathroom was attached to the prison’s side.

Not to mention the dampness and musty smell!

Phil couldn’t believe that someone like him could live in such a place. This was not the place for the imperial family to be imprisoned!

“Get me out! Am I the kind of person to be in a place like this!”

After three days in the dungeon, Phil’s yelling, screaming, and hysteria ended. It was due to the energy. Also, it was because he couldn’t get the emperor’s attention no matter how loudly he yelled.

The soldiers who had already received orders from the Emperor to capture and imprison Phil did not even try to approach him, probably thinking that it was better to turn a blind eye.

‘Shit……’

Just the thought of being stuffy and repulsive made Phil feel like he would pass out and die.

His prison was a round room with only one wooden door and a tall window. It was a large space that seemed to be located in the basement of the tower.

But to Phil, it was even smaller than the bathroom attached to his bedroom.

Iron grates barred the windows that hung high on the walls. During the day, sunlight came in, and at night, moonlight shone in.

Still, Phil was not out of the emperor’s sight. The emperor presented Phil with the sinners’ bed and a wooden table.

He couldn’t break the bed, but the table broke itself in a fit of rage, leaving the prison with only a bed with a hard mattress.

‘I can’t stay in a place like this for three months!’

Just two weeks had passed so far. According to the news from the soldiers, Giel has already been released from probation, but here he was! That is to say……

‘Michael, that evil bastard must have played a trick on me!’

As the second prince, Michael’s only rival was himself. Giel, who is naive and easily duped, and himself stand in opposition to one another!

Phil couldn’t imagine what the next three months would bring for him. He was afraid that by the end of the month, he would lose his mind and kill himself.

‘I can’t stand it any longer! I have to get out!’

As he thought back to the days when he was able to command freely outside of this underground prison, tears began to well up in his eyes. Even though he was not yet a crown prince, he was able to exercise the same level of power as the crown prince.

“It serves you right, Phil.”

Phil, who was sitting on the bed with a blank expression, raised his head in response to the sudden voice. He caught a glimpse of a disgusting face through the slats in the wooden door.

“Mi-Michael!”

The sound of his voice incited hatred within Phil, but he was aware of it that he needed every ounce of his strength to get out of this place as quickly as he could.

Therefore, Phil swallowed his pride and kneeled down on the concrete floor of the jail.

“Brother! Please help me get out!”

“Have you heard yet? His Majesty threw you out. You are not a prince anymore. Because you were deposed of your princely position.”

Michael delivered a stern rebuke, but Phil couldn’t believe it. Even if all of what he said was true, he still had a mother, the Third Empress.

She was the only empress to be born from a princess, and her mother would eventually rise through the ranks to become an empress dowager. Therefore, he anticipated that she would reinstate him under any circumstances.

However, she was only on the outside, and it was a heart she couldn’t reveal.

“Even if I don’t have the status of a prince, wouldn’t you still consider me to be your younger brother? That won’t change.”

Michael’s expression was cold as he surveyed Phil from outside the confines of the bars. He could tell that Phil had changed his attitude to get out of there.

‘It must be terrible.’

As the son of an Emperor, he had the privilege of the very best of everything from the moment he was born. He must have grown his ambition by listening to his mother’s whisper that he would one day become Emperor, and he must have believed that everything that shone in the imperial palace would become his own.

Because he did the same.

He had no idea that it was poisonous.

‘I always…….I was afraid of this.’

After the first empress taught the secret of his birth, Michael became terrified that one day the emperor would learn the truth about him and the emperor would sack him.

Her mother, the First Empress, was guilty of her crime, but the angry emperor couldn’t leave Michael alone. Either he will take him to the countryside and abandon him there, or he will accuse him of a crime and imprison him.

It was glaringly obvious that a gruesome and excruciating means of execution would be chosen.

Michael has constantly reminded himself that he will not end up in the same situation as those he has seen imprisoned or taken away.

“……Hey my brother.After all, the precious blood of the imperial family should not be in a place like this.”

“Br-Brother!”

Phil yelled out excitedly as if he had just found a glimmer of hope, but Michael kept his composure throughout the exchange. He had no intention of releasing Phil while he was still breathing with his mouth open.

Phil asked while looking at Michael with a sly grin on his face. The pupils in Michael’s eyes contracted. He had a lot of demands for Phil.

It would have been difficult for Phil to obtain his noble lineage and the connections it provided using only his wealth and power alone. They frequently formed alliances of their own, which was indicative of their groundless delusion that they were superior.

Michael had yearned for many of the advantages he was able to monopolize as a result of their alliance with the other parties.

“If I tell you, will you obey me?”

Although it was not the first shovel he had to move in order to become Emperor, it was one of the steps on his way to becoming Crown Prince. Despite his resentment, Phil accepted Michael’s offer.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Things won’t turn out the way you want them to even if you do tell Michael.”

Giel said so.

It wasn’t that Amelia hadn’t thought of that either. She thought that only the person holding Lucy was different, from Phil to Michael.

But she was worried about Lucy, and she was desperate to see her, so all she wanted to say was that.

Michael could be the person who kidnapped Lucy.

“I’ll find your nanny. You can rest assured that I have no intention of keeping her, unlike Phil.”

Giel uttered these words while gazing fixedly at Amelia, bewildered as to why he was acting so wary around her.

It was a story for which Amelia was grateful.

She wanted to ask why he was helping her, but Amelia decided to remain silent.  If Giel had changed his mind after hearing that, the consequences would have been catastrophic.

So Giel and his aides asked her about Lucy. She explains to them that Lucy is the daughter of a common farmer and that she should have left as soon as her father remarried. She also explains how Lucy ended up working for a concubine.

As Amelia’s story continued, Giel’s entourage became bored. It seemed to think that it was a typical commoner’s commonplace background.

Giel agreed, but it was a background he needed to know in order to catch Lucy.

Amelia repeated herself, and after telling Lucy the name of her family, where she lived, and where she had worked as a maid in the past, she escaped from the Third Imperial Palace.

‘Is it really right to help?’

She doubted, but now Amelia had no other choice. Lucy had not communicated that she was safe.

Giel even gave ominous advice.

“Once again, it’s best not to tell Michael. Michael would not be tepid like Phil if he had that girl.”

He said he would have cut off one of Lucy’s fingers and sent it off to gain Amelia’s allegiance. To put some fear into her!

After she heard his words, Amelia vowed that she would keep her promise and not tell Michael. Giel was happy to see her smile as he waved goodbye after hearing her promise.

The residence of the concubine was far from the Third Prince’s Palace.

If she were a member of the other imperial family, she would have travelled by carriage, but Amelia, who was being watched by maids and attendants sent by the empresses, couldn’t.

So she plodded her way over to the concubine.

“Your Highness the Princess.”

She had never seen a maid like her before. She bowed politely to Amelia and held out her letter.

“This is a letter from Your Highness.”

She looked over the envelope, but the sender’s name was not written on it. When Amelia looked up, the maid had disappeared.

Amelia had a strange feeling and opened the envelope quickly. The brightly coloured stationery appeared to have been sent by a noble lady.

[Your priceless treasure is within me. You don’t have to be concerned about the treasure’s treatment, so I’m sending this to put your mind at ease.

P.S. Don’t worry, I’ve hidden the three contenders somewhere they won’t find them.]

‘Three contenders……’

Amelia remembered the three princes only now. Giel belonged to the axis with no interest in Lucy, but three seemed to like them.

“Agh!”

While she was hesitating whether or not to show it to Giel, a blue flame burst forth from the letter and vanished in an instant. Amelia didn’t even have time to try.

Amelia was devastated by the burned letter, which had only a few ashes left.

‘Someone…… Did someone powerful took Lucy away?’

It was highly likely, given Lucy’s disappearance and the skill with which she sent the message now. Amelia’s face became more anxious as her worry deepened.