I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand

 

✿

 

A creepy desolate Dungeon of Imperial Palace where only darkness exists.

 

The Iron bars opened with a grotesque sound. In the distance, the sound of two footsteps broke the silence that came toward the Iron fence.

 

It wasn’t long before the two people stopped in front of the iron fence.

 

The man who came up first said to the man who was behind him. The gaze remained fixed only inside the iron cage.

 

“I’ll talk with just the two of us.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

The knight standing right behind him turned right away and left. The man who was left alone stood outside the iron fence silently for a while.

 

Soon after, when he gave strength to his hand, the lock wrapped in the Iron fence was released.

 

He walked into the prison and stared at the woman crouching on the floor.

 

A significant moonlight flowed under the palm-sized window, gradually making the other person’s appearance clearer.

 

A woman wearing a crumpled dress with disheveled, pale platinum hair, buried her head on her knees and didn’t even move.

 

“Merria Rackester.”

 Flinch 

There was a little reaction from the woman who hadn’t moved before. As the crouched woman raised her head, beautiful bright red eyes filled with tears were revealed.

 

Light returned to her dark pupils, and the tail of tears in her eyes collapsed in an instant.

 

“Your Highness…?”

 

Altheon, who endured the feeling of vomiting at Merria’s softly shaking voice, said bitterly, “You dare do that to Shannon and have the will to live.”

 

Her bright red eyes, which came to sense from hearing his angry voice, gradually became filled with madness.

 

Merria spits out obsessive words, twisting her dry lips, “Hah, you’re mine. I can’t allow you to have another woman.”

 

“You’re crazy. Maybe you should die right now.”

 

“Can you put my blood on those hands? Will you be able to rise to the throne by turning your back on the House of Rackester, you the Scarecrow Prince?”

 

Altheon frowned at the mockery and ridicule of Merria.

 

‘A woman like a witch.

’ He stared at her, swallowing his words.

 

“…”

 

Altheon, who clenched his fist that his nails were stuck in his palm, soon turned around.

 Bang! 

The iron door was locked tightly. As the sound of footsteps was moving away, Merria laughed with her twisted lips.

 

“You don’t need me anymore. Is this it? You came to me first because you needed the Rackester to back you up.”

 

Insane laughter was heard from a quiet prison.

 

✿

 

“I will now proceed with the execution of the sinner.” The knight shouted.

 

The family of Merria stood under the execution stage in the square.

 

Some of them were bound by force and some cried and begged, but none of them paid attention to the sinner’s family.

 

Merria clenched her teeth and her jaw twisted.

 

She screamed at Shannon, who was in the arms of Altheon. “What have you done for Altheon!”

 

When Altheon furrowed his brows and glanced, two knights bound Merria’s arms.

 

Merria did not stop shouting as her head was pushed under the blade.

 

Merria, who did not bend her head despite the strength of the two knights, stared at Altheon until the end with bloody eyes.

 Bang! 

The sound of the blade touching the floor echoed, and a platinum-haired head rolled over the floor.

 

✿

 

Merria’s eyes flashed open. “Phew…”  

 

With a sigh of relief, Merria blinked slowly.

 

The first thing that came into view was an unfamiliar ceiling that she has never seen before. Her forehead and neck were full of cold sweat as if she had a nightmare.

 

While taking a deep breath for a while and raising my hand to wipe the sweat from my forehead, I realized that someone was holding my hand.

 

“Hmm?”

 

As I lowered my eyes to look at my hand, feeling a light pressure, I saw a stranger lying beside me on a wide bed.

 

His hands were large enough to cover my hand, and his hands were full of wounds.

 

Merria’s pupils, who looked at him, shook violently.

 

‘Who is this? Who is he? He’s sleeping next to me holding my hand…?’

 

As I look up at his hand, I saw the man’s face with his eyes closed like a statue.

 

Half of his face was covered by his arms over his eyes, and he was handsome even if I looked at him this way. The thick, red lips, and sleek jawline alone showed that the man’s appearance was quite outstanding.

 

‘Besides that, where am I now…’

 

Merria tried to recall the situation before she fell asleep, holding her forehead with her uncaught hand.

 

I went to a party that was popular in the capital city yesterday because of Lilith’s recommendation. It was a party where I had to change my hair and eye color with a potion and enjoy it all night wearing a mask.

 

It started among the nobles who were bored with ordinary banquets.

 

Although Merria was refraining from social gatherings as much as possible, she was shaken by the fact that she did not reveal her identity and that she had endured until the beginning of the Original Story.

 

In the end, I impulsively headed to the party, I drank too much because I was excited by the noisy heat and the expression of the people who were enjoying it.

 

By the time Merria’s cheeks turned red because of too much alcohol she drank, Lilith had already disappeared. She wanted to fix her dizzying vision first before looking for Lilith somewhere.

 

Merria, who was looking for a place to rest, asked the staff who was carrying alcohol about the Lounge’s location.

 

‘What’s happened next after that?’

 

I don’t remember. No matter how hard I rolled my head to recall what happened, I couldn’t think of a memory that was cut like a torn newspaper.

 

When Merria rolled her eyes to check the situation, it seemed that the place she was lying was a bed in the Lounge.

 

It looks like I made it to the Lounge somehow.

 

And it was somehow a problem.

 

When I woke up, I was holding a man’s hand.

 Alcohol, night, bed… 

Merria hurriedly checked her clothes.

 

The mask I was wearing fell, but it was quite the same as if I was faintly asleep.

 

The man sleeping next to her was dressed a little unevenly, but there were no signs of his clothes being taken off.

 

‘Well done, I didn’t let go of the last string of reason.’

 

Merria nodded a couple of times with a stiff face.

 

For a while, I calmed my beating heart and looked around at the sudden thought.

 

“But what time is it now?”

 

Unfortunately, there was no clock in the room.

 

However, seeing that the leaking light was dim, it seemed that it wasn’t morning at least. It was late at night when the two left the mansion because of Merria’s sudden decision.

 

Therefore, the maid, who is completely unaware of Merria’s sudden outing, will be surprised to see an empty bed.

 

I had to go back to the mansion as soon as possible to stop Lexie from screaming in the morning.

 

Merria, who fixed her hair with her fingers, looked down at the man who fell asleep before getting up.

 

‘Since nothing happened, I can just go right?’

 

The man holding her hand slightly shook and her hand slipped out. Merria pulled herself out of bed very slowly so that the man wouldn’t wake up.

 

“Ugh…”

 

The man suddenly groaned, perhaps because he felt the movement.

 

Merria stopped her foot in the air before the sole of her feet reached the floor and glanced toward the man.

 

‘You’re not awake, are you?’

 

I held my breath for a moment and looked at him, the man frowned, but he didn’t wake up.

 

It was obvious that the man also drank too much like Merria last night. Merria, who had been agonizing for a while, soon remembered and recited to herself.

 

“I’ll do this for you because you’re the man who stayed with me last night.”

 

Merria patted the man’s cheek lightly. Then something pale blue from her hand was absorbed by the man.

 

Merria quietly left the room when she saw the man’s breathing changing evenly again.

 

“To the Duke Rackester’s Mansion. Please do it as soon as possible.”

 

A carriage prepared by the party organizer for the guests to return in the morning ran through the cool air.

 

By the time I arrived at the mansion, the sun was slowly rising.

 

In order not to make a fuss, she sent a carriage to the entrance of the mansion and started walking quickly.

 

Early in the morning where the air was still fresh with moisture.  Merria washed away all the hangovers and fell into thoughts with her clear head.

 

‘The war is finally over. Now the novel will begin.’

 

When she was young, she had severe flu.

 

My fever hasn’t gone down the whole time, so I’ve been sick enough to keep myself in bed for days.

 

And for some reason, I’ve had a dream that I’ve often had since. A dream in which she was decapitated in the middle of the Execution Square.

 

But Merria knew…

 

“It’s not just a nightmare.”

 

Because the dream was the same as the scene in the novel she read in her previous life.

 

At first, I tried to deny it. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to see my gloomy future.

 

She stayed sleeplessly for fear that she would have that dream again, but the fierce nightmare continued to grab Merria’s ankle.

 

As a reminder that was her future.

 

By the time she got used to such anxiety, she finally decided to see the nightmare and compromise.

 

She concluded that even if the future was right, shouldn’t it be changed?

 

Originally, the plan was not to go outside at all, but the only thing to enjoy in the mansion was to read a book.

 

At the age of 12, Merria, who could not endure boredom in the end, changed her direction not to socializing.

 

I was forced to make my debut because I couldn’t beat my father’s power. Since then, I have been hiding in the mansion without socializing. I have a good reason for not socializing.

 

It was to prevent Merria from being a candidate for the Crown Princess because she was in the spotlight for no reason.

 

‘To be more specific, in order not to appear in the Original Story at all.’

 

Merria’s eyebrows, reminiscent of the original, were crumpled.

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