Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I followed the steward toward the eastern tower. The thought of meeting Theodor face-to-face made me nervous. The inside of the eastern tower was dark and sunlight barely reached it. The chief steward had to carry a lamp just to climb the stairs.
I glanced sideways at the slender man ascending the stone steps beside me. Neatly combed blond hair, sharp blue eyes behind rimmed glasses, and a perfectly stoic face, an undeniably handsome young man.
To me, who had read the original novel, he was a very familiar character.
Anton, the head butler of the Siphoc detached palace.. It would be a mistake to think of him as just some ordinary servant. In truth, Anton was the de facto master of this entire residence.
He had been Theodor’s personal attendant since the prince’s childhood and had come here with him when Theodor was exiled.
Because Theodor had been locked away in this tower, obsessed with his awakening, Anton had managed all affairs of the detached palace on his own. Even the meager budget allocated by the imperial palace was meticulously handled by him.
It was thanks to Anton that this crumbling ruin of a residence had become at least somewhat habitable. He had a very stern and pragmatic personality. Even Theodor, despite his violent outbursts, didn’t dare cross Anton recklessly.
In short, he was the true top authority here.
The moment I reincarnated, Anton was the first person I thought of and I decided I had to win him over.
Currently, as Rosalyn, I was nothing more than a powerless apprentice mage in this place. Meaning, if anything went wrong, no one would be there to help me.
‘That’s exactly why the Mage Tower picked such an easy target to offer as tribute. Someone they could dispose of without backlash. And that’s why she died so quickly in the original story.’
But if Anton were on my side, just maybe, I could at least survive the worst-case scenario. The problem was… Anton was extremely thorough and hard to fool.
Having grown up serving at the imperial palace, he had witnessed countless power struggles. He didn’t trust people easily, maintained a perfect poker face, and rarely showed emotion or kindness to others.
‘If I try to impress him too blatantly, it’ll only make him suspicious.’
This was tricky.
As I climbed the stone steps, I brainstormed how I could naturally gain his trust. The inside of the tower was far bleaker than it had looked from the outside. The higher I climbed, the more I was awestruck by the fact that Theodor had spent nine whole years here.
‘Seriously? They locked up their own son in a place like this?’
Living in a grim, sunless tower like this for so long is enough to drive anyone insane. Even if they were disappointed in him, wasn’t this going too far?
And it wasn’t even Theodor’s fault he failed to awaken.
I hadn’t understood the Emperor even when I read the novel but now that I was here in person, I understood even less.
‘I didn’t care about respect or duty. I just ran away from my family and cut ties altogether.’
Thinking about my past life’s family was starting to annoy me, so I shook it off.
In any case, Theodor’s personality was utterly destroyed in the end. He couldn’t even love the woman he cared about properly, causing chaos after chaos before dying tragically.
‘Sure, as a reader, it was thrilling but still…’
Suddenly, Anton stopped climbing. His ever-blank expression faltered slightly, and he let out a quiet groan.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He adjusted his glasses with a finger and answered dryly, “It’s nothing.”
He resumed climbing.
But a few steps later, he grimaced and thumped his lower back and hips with a clenched fist. His face remained pinched with pain.
Back pain?
I had noticed his posture was a bit hunched earlier which had been bothering me. From the looks of it, it seemed chronic. Cold and damp weather like this could definitely aggravate it.
‘Wait a minute…!’
A good idea suddenly flashed in my head.
“Um, excuse me, just a moment!”
I hurried up behind him. He turned around, confused by what I was going to do.
“…?”
I put my hands on his hips.
“What are you…?!”
For the first time, Anton’s icy face was visibly flustered. But I didn’t stop. I pressed on the outer sides of his hips.
‘There it is.’
I found the hardened spot near the gluteus medius.
‘The muscle’s completely knotted up.’
People often think back pain comes from the back muscles but that’s not always the case. The pain and the actual trigger point aren’t always in the same location. In this case, the gluteus medius was so tight it was causing pain from the hips all the way to the lower back and pelvis.
I applied just the right pressure and quickly loosened the tense muscle.
It was a sports massage technique I learned in my past life as a fitness trainer.
“Ack!”
He yelped, jerking slightly from the touch. After applying appropriate pressure, I withdrew my hand. Behind his glasses, Anton’s blue eyes sharpened as he glared at me.
“What in the world are you doing?”
“How’s your back? Doesn’t it feel a bit lighter?”
“…!”
His eyes widened as my words sank in. He stared at me, stunned and silent.
‘Heh!’
Back in my past life, my massage skills were top-notch. Members at the gym even signed up for personal training sessions just to get a massage from me.
But this wasn’t the end.
Straightening his posture, I instructed him, “Now tighten your core. Imagine pulling your belly button toward your spine.”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
He gave me a wary look, but I motioned for him to try it. He did although somewhat bewildered and I placed my hand on his abdomen. It trembled faintly.
‘Wow, there’s no muscle here at all. Just flab. He really needs to work out.’
You’d never guess he was a young man in his prime. I mean, sure, as head steward, he’s probably too busy to exercise, but still.
“Good. Keep your core tight and try walking up the stairs like that.”
He slowly ascended a few steps.
“Well? Doesn’t the back pain feel less intense?”
Looking stunned, he let out a quiet groan. Then he turned to me, eyes wide.
“… It really does. How did you do that?”
Grinning, I explained, “Your posture collapsed because your muscles are weak, which puts strain on your lower back. It’ll feel awkward at first, but it’ll get easier with practice. And make sure to massage that glute area now and then.”
“I see.”
He soon regained his usual poker face but I could see a faint hint of warmth in his eyes. Without saying more, we resumed climbing the stairs.
‘Well, he might not be on my side just yet… but at least he probably has a good impression of me now, right?’
***
A short while later, we reached the top of the tower, where a shabby wooden door with a rusty knob awaited us. I clicked my tongue internally. This looked more like a prison cell than the quarters of a prince of the empire.
Anton knocked politely on the door.
“Your Highness, the Mage Tower has sent your new instructor.”
There was a rustling sound from within. Then came the voice of a young boy.
“Enter.”
I swallowed hard then Anton opened the door, and I stepped inside.
Creak.
The door groaned eerily as it opened. The room, built of stone walls, was more spacious and antique-looking than mine, but the atmosphere was much gloomier.
There was only one stained-glass window, and through it, the howl of a snowstorm could be heard. The only light came from candles on a table beneath the window. The wax had piled up so much it covered the table’s edges completely.
Beside the candles was a small framed picture and a chaotic mess of papers. In front of the table stood the silhouette of a man in loungewear. It was too dark to make out his face, but the jet-black hair falling over his head was clearly visible.
The male lead of ‘DoomSun.’
Theodor von Barbarossa.
So we finally met. I swallowed nervously as I looked at him. Tension and a strange flutter of excitement bubbled up in my chest.
In the novel, Theodor’s appearance wasn’t just described as handsome, it was nearly worshipped. A beautiful man with black hair and pale skin.
His eyes were said to be heterochromatic, one green, one violet which evoked a strange and mysterious aura. Like emerald and amethyst gems had been embedded in his face. The gloom and cruelty born from his tragic childhood were said to give him an alluringly decadent charm even in stillness.
‘And now I get to see it in person.’
It didn’t quite suit my current situation, but to be honest, my heart was racing with anticipation. Just then, Theodor slowly stood from his chair and stepped into the light of the flickering candles.
And the moment I saw his face…
I was shocked.
‘What the hell happened to him?’
