The Kidnapped Prince is Mine Now - Chapter 81

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 81
‘Wait a moment.’
That couldn’t be right.
Hadn’t Martha mentioned this? I’d heard that this place wasn’t a Sealed Room….
‘…I didn’t see it myself. I only heard about it.’
Unconfirmed information?
…No, this won’t do. I can’t let anxiety consume me like this already!
I quickly shook my head to clear away the intrusive thoughts. Then I bent down and searched beneath the bed and underneath it. There were no hidden mechanisms.
My next target was the bookshelf.
Ancient tomes arranged meticulously in alphabetical order. I began pulling books from the top shelf of the expansive bookcase one by one.
Extracting books from a five-tiered bookshelf and hurling them to the floor was exhausting work. By the time I reached the lowest shelf, I was breathing heavily.
In this manner, I removed every single book from the bookshelf.
The chamber remained utterly silent, unchanged.
“….”
This wouldn’t do.
Like a scene from a drama, there should be a hidden door beneath the bed.
Or perhaps the bookshelf would slide open with a soft whisper, revealing a concealed space behind it.
Yet what greeted my eyes was nothing but a chamber in complete disarray, strewn with carelessly scattered books.
“…ha, haha!”
A hollow laugh escaped me unbidden.
Maximilian would return soon. Perhaps he was already on his way back.
He would see the state of this chamber and break into a radiant smile. What a perfect opportunity to discipline an untamed beast with a firm hand.
“…ha, ha….”
No. Don’t cry.
I bit down hard on my lower lip.
The sensation was like water rising to the tip of my nose. A suffocating helplessness gripped me, leaving me breathless and trapped.
Having already created this mess, I was about to grab a random book and hurl it at the wall in frustration.
“…Hm.”
The title of the book in my hand suddenly caught my eye.
『The Founding Chronicles, Volume 1』.
….
Where had I seen that name before?
As I stood there staring blankly at the book, a piece of information buried in my mind suddenly flashed to the surface.
「Bookshelf, The Founding Chronicles Volume 4, right, left, left.」
‘…Insane.’
The note I’d received from Frederike before coming to the Imperial Palace.
It was the name of the book I’d seen in that note.
From that moment on, I stopped thinking altogether. I gathered the books scattered across the floor and began reshelfing them in alphabetical order.
After pushing all the books back into place, I extended my hand while mentally reviewing the note’s contents once more.
‘The Founding Chronicles, Volume 4.’
When I removed that single book.
Click.
Something shifted with a sound.
More precisely… from directly beneath the bookshelf.
“…Found it.”
I swallowed hard and grasped the side of the bookshelf.
Since the bookshelf was affixed to the left side of the wall, I had no choice but to pull it toward the right.
Given that it was a five-tier bookshelf, I braced myself for considerable weight.
“Huh?”
Slide. The bookshelf moved far more easily than expected. It seemed some mechanism had been installed for those with limited strength to escape.
And what was revealed was.
“…A hole?”
A pitch-black opening that appeared large enough for only one person to squeeze through.
‘Frederike’s note was genuine.’
My heart thundered against my ribs.
One thing became abundantly clear.
Frederike was not on Maximilian’s side when it came to matters concerning me.
However, safety was an entirely separate matter.
What if Frederike harbored resentment toward me? What if she were luring me away from Maximilian’s sight to kill me?
That was possible.
‘But abandoning the attempt altogether would be something only a fool would do.’
Without hesitation, I thrust my body into the hole.
The passage within the hole was narrow enough that an adult man could barely move his body.
Rather than a passage, it was more like a cramped tunnel where one had to crawl along the ground.
And I understood why Frederike’s note hadn’t ended at “Founding History, Volume Four.”
“…I can’t see anything.”
All that met my eyes was pitch darkness. When I flailed my arms, both ahead and behind were completely blocked.
This left me with two choices. Left or right.
I recalled Frederike’s note once more.
‘Right, left, left’.
The directions had been explicitly specified.
So I could proceed without hesitation along the right passage, but.
‘…Can I really trust this?’
As I prepared to venture into darkness where I couldn’t see even an inch ahead, my body refused to move readily.
I still couldn’t fathom why Frederike was helping me.
She was the wife of Maximilian, who would become Emperor. Simultaneously, she was a woman carrying the child of the First Prince.
And I was nothing more than a foreign element wedged between Maximilian and Frederike, stirring discord.
On top of that, wasn’t I a scoundrel who had kidnapped Rotar Eisenrit—the man she could never truly possess—and held him in my grasp?
“…”
No. Enough of this endless worry.
I had to keep moving forward. If I didn’t trust Frederike’s note, I’d face too many variables at each fork in the path.
I drew a deep breath and looked upward toward the light pouring in from above.
First, I needed to close the entrance to the passage.
‘It looked heavy at first glance.’
But it had slid open more easily than expected before.
I reached out and grasped the side of the bookshelf. As I pulled it toward me, a grinding sound echoed through the darkness, and the bookshelf began to move. Even after I released my grip.
‘As expected.’
The bookshelf continued its motion even after I withdrew my arm.
The opening above my head gradually narrowed as the bookshelf’s base covered it, until it sealed completely.
And then, there was absolute darkness.
‘Anyone with claustrophobia wouldn’t even be able to enter.’
A passage so dark and narrow that I couldn’t distinguish front from back.
Without knowledge of the route, anyone would stumble about and likely meet their end.
I didn’t hesitate any longer and turned my body to the right. The ceiling was too low to stand, so I had to crawl along the floor.
‘I need to move as quickly as possible.’
Maximilian couldn’t possibly be unaware of this secret passage.
With the spot where Volume Four of the Founding History should be sitting now empty, he would rush toward the passage’s exit the moment he noticed the change in the chamber.
‘If I move leisurely, I’ll run out of breath.’
With each breath, the damp smell of earth and the stench of mold assaulted my nostrils.
“I am a mole, I am a mole…”
I pressed forward while brainwashing myself. No matter how much I crawled, no side passages appeared where I could change direction, yet I summoned superhuman perseverance.
After moving for quite some time, I bumped my head against the wall with a thud, and only then did I realize it was time.
“Damn it….”
This time, to the left. I quickly changed direction while rubbing my forehead.
‘I must have been moving for at least twenty minutes by my estimate.’
I had no idea where this passage ended. I could only ignore my knee joints screaming for mercy and continue crawling forward.
After walking for a while longer and turning left once more, all sensation had completely drained from my knees.
“I am…a mole…. The greatest… mole….”
Who in the world designed this secret passage?
The designer showed no consideration whatsoever for the elderly and infirm—a hundred lashes would be insufficient punishment.
Grinding my teeth, I pressed endlessly forward through the darkness with no end in sight.
Thud.
“Ugh!”
I grasped my forehead once more, familiar pain blooming anew.
Was I going to die like this? At this point, my irritation had reached its peak, and I was about to curse vehemently while checking both directions.
“…Huh?”
Both sides were completely blocked.
It was a dead end.
“….”
Now only two possible outcomes remained.
Death by taking a wrong turn and suffocating from lack of oxygen.
Or, a successful escape from the Imperial Palace.
I pressed my anxious, fluttering heart down with one hand. Then I raised my remaining arm to feel along the ceiling.
“Ah.”
The ceiling gave way. Quite easily.
At the same moment, brilliant white light poured through the opening. So intense that my eyes, accustomed to darkness, could barely tolerate it.
“Ugh….”
I squinted as I examined the wooden panel that had just been the passage’s ceiling.
After tossing it aside and pulling myself up, an unfamiliar landscape filled my vision.
A dilapidated old cottage blanketed in dust. Hay bales and firewood scattered haphazardly about.
‘Where am I?’
I was about to raise my hand above my eyes to shield them from the glare and survey my surroundings.
“You look absolutely wretched, Crown Prince’s Consort.”
An icy voice cut through the air from behind me.
It wasn’t a voice I was hearing for the first time. Though the memory was terribly distant.
I turned slowly to face the source of that voice.
Crimson hair cascading down to her waist.
Sharp eyes with a gaze that was cold, bordering on arrogant.
Frederike sat amid surroundings that suited her not at all, one hand resting upon her swollen belly.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————