"...Ha."
Three scrawny weaklings and one bastard like Derek.
Why did this particular iteration keep saddling him with such tedious nuisances?
"...Are you planning to rape me?"
His lips twisted bitterly. The sheer audacity of these nobodies threatening him was almost unbelievable.
"What if we are?"
The man at the front snorted and answered in a low voice.
His sharply raised nose and leering smile made his contempt for Richard plain.
"What are you going to do if we rape you?"
His hand abruptly brushed the skin near Richard's collarbone.
Every pass of his fingers raised goose bumps. The cold, greasy touch felt like a filthy parasite crawling all over his body.
"......."
Richard frowned and pressed his lips tightly together.
He glared straight at the man before him, but the words did not come easily.
...They must have heard everything we said.
His blood instantly ran cold.
The fact that his engagement to Cailus had actually been forced. If these men spread that information─
Damn it. One disaster after another.
He gritted his teeth.
He was already on the verge of having Cailus break off their engagement. If rumors began circulating that the two of them had fallen out as well...
Fuck.
He had thought them insignificant, but this was no longer a trivial threat. One piece of sordid gossip from them could destroy every foothold he had built.
The men had realized that too. They exchanged glances and snickered, the sound grating against his ears.
Their mockery grew bolder, and the circle around Richard slowly tightened as though to taunt him.
"Looks like you've got something to worry about."
The man with the prominent nose sidled closer. He prodded Richard's forehead repeatedly with his fingertips.
Richard tried to retreat, but the wall blocked him from behind.
A rough hand patted his shoulder, bearing down on him as though ready to drag him away at any moment.
"Why don't you come quietly? Somewhere more private."
The man licked his lips and laughed obscenely.
"......."
Richard met his gaze with icy eyes.
He did not have many options.
The storage room was tucked away in a damp, mold-reeking corner of the Imperial Palace that almost no one visited. Abandoned furniture, dust-covered tapestries, and pieces of rusted armor lay scattered across the floor in heaps.
The men dragged Richard inside by his arms.
The places where they gripped his wrists tingled as though the blood had stopped flowing. The fingers of the man shoving him from behind unpleasantly kneaded the flesh of his shoulder. Each time he stumbled, gravel on the floor dug into his heels.
"Now that's a sight worth seeing."
The man with the prominent nose smirked and jerked his chin.
Another man kicked Richard behind the knee.
Thud─!
His knees slammed hard against the stone floor, and sharp pain enveloped his entire body.
Richard's breath caught.
"Ugh..."
He clenched his teeth, but a low groan escaped his lips.
"Hah! Who would have thought the Crown Prince's fiancé would end up kneeling on the floor of an Imperial Palace storage room?"
The sharp-nosed man snickered and seized Richard by the chin.
As Richard's face was forcibly tilted upward, the dark ceiling of the storage room entered his vision.
"You really do have a pretty face, don't you?"
The man sneered and roughly shoved his chin aside. Richard's head snapped back and struck the wall. Dull pain reverberated through the back of his skull.
Richard steadied his breathing and bit his lip. Blood seeped out, spreading the taste of iron across his tongue.
...All because of worthless filth like this...
At that moment, a fist came from the left and struck his cheekbone. His head twisted sideways, and he collapsed to the floor. His knees hit the cold, rough stone with a thud, sending sharp pain through them.
The men's laughter filled the storage room.
Richard gathered his wits and tried to rise, only for a kick to slam into his side.
"Kh...!"
His breath caught, pain jolting through his ribs.
"Already staggering? That was nothing."
The man beside him snickered and grabbed his hair. When he roughly yanked Richard upward, a burning ache pulled at the back of his neck.
Then a fist buried itself squarely in his stomach.
"Ugh...!"
A strangled cry escaped Richard's lips as churning pain surged through his gut.
The moment he tried to gasp for breath, another man's knee drove up into his jaw.
"Even a scarecrow could take more than this."
Their jeering laughter poured in from every direction.
Richard's vision flashed. A high-pitched ringing filled his ears.
The hand gripping his hair slammed his head into the floor.
"Mm...!"
His forehead struck the stone, and his vision went white. The shock traveled through his shoulders, leaving his entire body tingling.
At the same time, someone seized his arm from behind. His elbow was forcibly twisted, nearly tearing a scream from him.
"Ugh...!"
But he endured it, gritting his teeth to the end.
The men's laughter did not subside even then.
The sharp-nosed man approached again. He seized Richard by the collar and loosened the ties.
The shirt fell open, exposing his pale neck and collarbones.
"Why don't you spread your legs like a good boy?"
His fingers traced down Richard's collarbone to his sternum.
Richard's entire body went rigid. His breathing quickened.
The man restraining him from behind twisted his arm farther and forced him down against the floor.
His upper body was bent forward until he was half sprawled across the ground. Cold and damp seeped through his clothes from the rough stone floor.
One of the men planted a foot on his leg and tried to force his knees apart.
"Ugh..."
Richard drew his knees together and resisted.
Do I really have no choice but to let them do this?
It was revolting.
Their brutal hands. Their laughter.
He hated it.
It was horrific.
But—
Smack─!
The man's hand snapped his head to the side, leaving his cheek burning.
"Going to keep resisting?"
Richard could not answer.
"You wouldn't want rumors spreading that you and the Crown Prince are on bad terms, would you?"
......Damn it.
There is nothing I can do.
Just as the bastard said, if rumors spread that he and the Crown Prince were at odds, there would be no undoing it.
Why not simply go back again?
It was not that simple.
Every iteration's "plot" changed slightly through the butterfly effect of even the smallest detail—the placement of an object or a single line of dialogue.
That also meant Richard had no idea how many more iterations it might take to create another situation in which he became engaged to Cailus.
Damn it...
Ignoring the burning in his cheek, Richard lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
He let the strength drain from his trembling legs.
His heart pounded with fear.
His legs were forced wide by those brutal hands, and two hands seized his waist.
Fuck...
It was horrific. Nausea surged up his throat, and his mind went completely blank.
He wanted someone—anyone—to help him.
But this was a shadowy corner of the Imperial Palace.
No one would come to his aid.
Not even Lady Daphne.
She did not know what was happening to him now.
And yet...
Drip.
Drip.
Cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Or were those tears?
No...
The taste of blood filled Richard's mouth.
He did not want this.
He was afraid. He hated it.
Even if he had gone back forty-nine times and become indifferent to almost any pain, this was the one thing...
Just then—
Clank─!
The old storage-room door was violently thrust open, and a blade of light pierced the darkness from outside.
The stifling, fetid air split apart in an instant. The men's laughter abruptly stopped, as though crushed beneath that light.
"......."
Crimson eyes slowly emerged, gleaming as they cut through the darkness. They held a murderous chill as sharp as the bloodstained point of a sword.
"Y-Your Highness the Crown Prince...?"
Alarm flashed across the men's faces. The hands brutally gripping Richard's waist faltered and lost their strength.
"......."
Cailus.
Murderous intent burned in his eyes as he surveyed the disordered storage room.
Richard, disheveled and forced facedown on the floor.
And the four men surrounding him.
The instant Cailus took in the scene, his lips twisted coldly.
"...Ha."
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