Home/Baby Villain and Papa/ch27

Chapter 27: Kidnapping II

Pale-faced, Janice forced her heavy eyelids open.

But as her blurry vision focused and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Janice had to accept the worst-case scenario: her guess was right.

A dark, windowless space. Wooden beams crisscrossing the ceiling. The thick smell of mold and an unidentified fishy stench. Moist grime and dust clinging to her hands. Tattered rags hanging from the ceiling.

It was a scene she'd never even imagined in her dreams.

And as she took in her surroundings, Janice realized her arms and legs were bound. Her mouth was also tied with something like a rope.

At this point, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. She had indeed been kidnapped!

Janice regretted recklessly running out of the Ducal residence, and repented for opening the front door without any caution.

Why did I open the door without even knowing who it was! Janice, you idiot, you fool!

What good was all her self-praise about being mature because of her past-life memories, when she'd done something this stupid all on her own!

Janice cursed herself endlessly. But amid that, a thought suddenly came to her—how to untie bindings.

In her past life, Janice had been a special prosecutor, and she'd been trained in emergency response.

According to what she'd learned, if you press your bound elbows tightly against your torso, it creates a tiny bit of space. Then you extend your arms forward so your palms face each other, rub them quickly, and slip one hand out—and the binding comes loose.

Janice retraced her memories and pressed her bound elbows against her torso. Sure enough, a tiny bit of space opened up.

"...!"

A glimmer of hope spread across Janice's face. If she followed the procedure from her memory, she might be able to escape.

Janice struggled, moving her body to loosen the ropes. But it wasn't as easy as she'd thought. The ropes scraped her wrists, stinging and hurting.

But pain was better than death.

Janice didn't give up and kept moving, and finally, she succeeded.

It took a long time, but she eventually freed her arms, legs, and mouth. The timely recollection of her past-life memory made Janice cheer with gratitude.

But only for a moment—grimacing at her scraped and bruised limbs, she writhed in pain. Then she heard a strange sound.

"Mmm..."

"...?"

"Ugh...!"

It sounded like a groan, or perhaps someone with their mouth covered, just like she'd been moments ago.

"...Raymond? Is that you, Raymond? Are you here?"

Janice immediately thought of the one who'd been beside her when she was kidnapped.

The Raymond she knew was not only the best at causing trouble, but also the best at running away. Janice desperately hoped he wasn't beside her, and searched for him.

But her hopes were soon dashed. Raymond was tossed in a corner of the room, his limbs and mouth bound just like hers.

The difference was that unlike Janice, Raymond didn't seem fully conscious yet.

He was mumbling and groaning in a daze. Janice ran to him and quickly untied his ropes, shaking him hard.

"...Raymond? Raymond, are you okay?"

Raymond groaned for a long while before finally opening his eyes.

His dazed pupils took a long time to find focus. Recognizing Janice, he opened his mouth as if to call her name. Janice quickly covered his mouth.

"...Mmph!"

"Quiet!"

At Janice's warning, Raymond glared as if to protest. But he soon realized why Janice was being so cautious.

Raymond's eyes grew sharper than before.

Rolling his eyes to scan the surroundings, he lightly tapped Janice's hand—a signal that she could remove her hand from his mouth.

Janice quickly pulled her hand away, and soon they began firing questions at each other.

"Raymond, are you okay?"

"Not really. I have no strength and my head is splitting. But what about you? Are you okay? And where is this place?"

First, they checked each other's condition, then exchanged information about the kidnapping. But neither had any useful information.

"I really don't remember anything. You said you opened the front door, but I don't even remember that. You ran to the door mocking me, and then something was thrown through the window into the house... Ah! I don't know. I don't remember what happened after that."

According to Raymond, he hadn't even seen Janice open the door. He said his last memory was bickering with her.

Janice had thought they were kidnapped because she opened the door. But realizing the culprit had been moving to kidnap them even before that made her feel a little less guilty.

Still, that didn't erase her mistake, and more importantly, the current situation was far from optimistic.

Janice described the kidnapper's face to Raymond. He said he didn't know anyone who looked like that.

With no way to guess the kidnapper's identity from his appearance alone, Janice and Raymond decided to exchange theories.

"Could it be a kidnapping for money? Until we changed clothes at the clothing shop, we were wearing what we had on at home. Clothes that looked expensive!"

Before coming to the Ducal residence, Janice had been an ordinary commoner's daughter. She'd run through the streets day and night, countless times, and had never once worried about being kidnapped.

So Janice thought the reason they'd been kidnapped was because they'd been walking around without "guardians" wearing clothes that screamed "noble."

But Raymond's thoughts seemed slightly different.

"Hmm... It might be because of me."

"Why?"

Raymond told Janice to think about who he was.

"...A troublemaker?"

Janice couldn't understand why he'd say that. After some thought, she gave an answer—but it didn't seem to be the right one.

Raymond glared at her, grinding his teeth. After a moment, he recited his full name to Janice, who still didn't understand.

"Raymond William Pride III."

"What's that?"

"My name."

"And?"

"Doesn't my name make you feel anything?"

"...It's annoyingly long?"

Janice had no idea why Raymond was saying this. Looking at her like she was a complete fool, Raymond enumerated his titles one by one. Janice finally understood what he meant.

Come to think of it, Raymond was the Emperor's nephew, the Grand Duke's only son, and the precious grandson of the Marquess of Verdo—a founding meritorious family of the Empire.

She'd first come to know Raymond as Fernando's nephew, and because she'd only ever seen him causing trouble, getting scolded, hit, and reprimanded, she'd forgotten his status.

"...So you're a precious person?"

"You're just realizing that now?"

Raymond puffed up with pride. But only for a moment—

"You know, you kind of look like one of those—a peacock that likes to show off."

"Take that back!"

Raymond flared up. Janice giggled softly.

For the past five seasons, Janice had always thought of Raymond like dog dung on the street. So what if he was the Emperor's nephew and the Grand Duke's only son? He was still just Raymond!

The momentary alliance was over, and they returned to being sworn enemies, bickering for a while. But it didn't last long.

Even arguing and fighting required energy. They still had no strength, their heads hurt, and more than anything...

Growl.

"I'm hungry."

"Me too."

They were hungry.

It wasn't that the Ducal residence and the Grand Duke's household hadn't provided meals and snacks. It was just that the two children, excited about running away, had eaten barely half of what they usually did.

Janice and Raymond deeply regretted their morning actions.

"I want pudding."

"I want meat. Steak."

"Then I'll have steak too."

"Actually, I'd be fine with just soup right now. ...Right now, even broccoli soup sounds good."

"I still don't like broccoli. Just mushroom soup."

"Then I'll have mushroom too."

Janice and Raymond eagerly exchanged what they'd eat once they escaped and got home.

But it didn't last long. Cold and hunger stole even their enthusiasm.

After reciting about a hundred menu items, they ran out of things to say again. Silence fell between them.

They were cold, anxious, and hungry. Janice and Raymond huddled in the darkness.

How much time had passed? Raymond nudged Janice with his foot and asked:

"What are you doing?"

"Just being here."

"...Do you think we'll make it home?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Today?"

"I hope so."

"Me too."

The conversation paused again. Janice felt uneasy. After some hesitation, she spoke.

"They said my father is someone high up in the Imperial Police Agency. The Agency handles security in the capital, so... he'll come to save us."

She didn't know the exact rank because the terms were complicated, but at any rate, Garren held a fairly high position.

Hearing this, Raymond quickly responded.

"My uncle is even higher! They said no one is higher than the Emperor!"

"Yeah."

"...They'll come save us, right?"

"Of course."

But both Raymond and Janice knew the truth—that kidnapped children didn't always come back safely.

But neither of them spoke that truth.

They shouldn't have gone to Fifth Street today. Once again, the two fell silent.

Back   Next