Prison?
Before I could even process what was happening, the sliding door opened, and three onis entered. They were servants I occasionally saw around the mansion and sometimes I even cleaned alongside them.
All three looked hesitant. The one in front spoke up uncertainly.
“Are you certain about this? That prison…”
“I am the bride! And I am ordering you to do it! Do you need a better reason than that?”
At Karen’s shrill outburst, the onis bowed deeply, looking flustered. Then, without another word, the three of them pinned me down and began dragging me out of the room.
“Let me go! What are you trying to do!?”
“We’re terribly sorry, but this is the bride’s direct order…”
Their faces were filled with pity, but their grips on my arms and legs were iron-strong as they had no intention of letting me go.
“What does she mean by prison? I’ve never even heard of it.”
“It’s commonly called the ‘Prison of No Return.’ We’re also new to the mansion, so we don’t know all of the details. However, Lord Loki explicitly forbade anyone from entering it. It seems the bride remembered being told that.”
“What happens to someone who enters it…?”
“No one has ever come back, so we can’t say for sure what awaits inside. About thirty years ago, a young oni entered as a prank, but he never returned.”
They all spoke with grim, pained expressions. I forced my trembling body still and lifted my head.
“Even if Karen said that, you don’t have to actually throw me in a prison, do you? Just toss me outside the mansion, I’ll go home.”
Then I’d run straight to Nao’s house and cut ties with this insane place once and for all.
But, to my regret, the three of them only shook their heads.
“If it’s discovered that we let you go, we’ll be punished severely. That is something we cannot accept.”
“Oh, I see! So letting a complete stranger die in a prison doesn’t bother you at all, does it?”
“That’s correct. The only one who matters to us is Lord Loki and the bride he cherishes. Everything else is irrelevant.”
They still looked apologetic, but their words were honest. Typical onis. The life or death of anyone besides the bride meant nothing to them.
My legs had gone completely limp, and by then, they were simply dragging me along. The onis we passed gave us strange looks, but no one intervened.
The humiliation burned through me. Acting out of anger had been a mistake. Maybe it hadn’t even been a fair fight to begin with. How could an ordinary, talentless person like me ever stand a chance against a special girl like Karen, beloved by everyone?
“You three, when I get out of that prison, I’ll make you my servants!” I spat.
“When that time comes, punish us as you please, that is, if you manage to return at all,” one of them replied flatly.
Only hollow resentment escaped my lips. They must have known it too, because they answered without emotion.
The prison was located at the far corner of the massive estate. In a small, empty room, there was a trapdoor on the floor. When they opened it, a staircase leading down into darkness appeared. They pushed me toward it, forcing me to descend.
The air below was damp and heavy with mold. Even the onis seemed uneasy and none of them spoke, their eyes darting about nervously.
The only light came from a single candle in one oni’s hand, swallowed almost completely by the dark. Whatever was lurking in that darkness, if it attacked, there would be no chance to fight back. I trembled and instinctively clung to the nearest oni.
At the bottom of the stairs, a crimson iron gate loomed before us.
“This way.”
One of them produced a key and unlocked the heavy padlock. With a dull metallic groan, part of the gate creaked open. Beyond it was utter blackness. I couldn’t tell what lay hidden inside—or if something was silently waiting.
“No…”
“Hurry up!”
They must have wanted to get out of there quickly. All three shoved me forward, and I fell headfirst into the darkness. My body hit the damp floor hard. Before I could rise, I heard the click of the lock closing behind me.
The sharp clank of metal echoed in my ears, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps retreating up the stairs. Half-sitting up, I listened as their presence faded completely.
Silence.
Darkness.
Stillness.
Everything around me gnawed at my body and mind. My heart pounded violently as I forced myself to stand.
“You filthy bastards! I’ll definitely kill every last one of you!”
I screamed, but the sound didn’t echo. It vanished immediately into the dark.
I needed to calm down. Maybe there wasn’t some monster waiting to devour me. There was no other presence here, just me. That meant all I had to do was find the gate, break it, and get out.
I groped through the dark, searching for the bars. It couldn’t be far, just a step or two away.
But no matter how far I walked, I didn’t reach it. I swung my arms, expecting to hit something, but touched nothing. I must’ve walked for several minutes, yet I found no wall, no gate, only nothingness.
No way.
A chill ran down my spine.
What if this darkness went on forever? What if I could never leave?
The Prison of No Return.
Those thrown into it wandered endlessly until they starved to death, and even after dying, their souls remained trapped within.
Before I realized it, I was crawling on all fours, dragging myself forward. My legs had lost all strength and standing was no longer possible.
Darkness. Absolute darkness.
My head throbbed. There was no sound, yet my ears rang violently. My mouth was dry, and my breathing came in ragged gasps.
The darkness closed in.
Something snapped, my arm, maybe. My face slammed into the floor, though I couldn’t tell anymore whether it was floor or ceiling. I no longer knew if I was moving forward or backward, or where I was going at all.
Still, I urged my numb limbs onward, inch by inch. There was no way of knowing where the exit was, but it was all I could do.
“You’re so useless, you can’t do anything right.”
“Since you’re the older sister, you should at least endure this much.”
“Apologize to Karen.”
“It’s all your fault, onee-chan.”
Voices rained down on me, my mother’s, my father’s, Karen’s. The voices of people who never loved me. The ones who decided I was worthless, treating me like garbage.
“…Shut up.”
Even knowing they were hallucinations, I couldn’t stop myself from responding.
In the end, that was all I was made of. Hatred, despair, resentment. My very existence had been born from those things.
A searing heat spread through my veins. The fading fragments of my consciousness flared back to life.
“Anything that dares to harm me, disappear! I won’t let myself be killed by the likes of you! I will live!”
I screamed until my throat burned, forcing my legs to stand. Suddenly, the world regained shape. I could tell up from down, front from back. I still didn’t know where the exit was, but I knew that if I kept walking, I’d find it.
I will absolutely return. To face the people who had trampled me.
I took a step. The darkness that had once terrified me no longer seemed so powerful now that I faced it head-on. Beneath my feet was solid ground. My hand brushed against something hard. It was a wall. If I followed it, I would find the way out.
Guided only by the feel of that wall, I walked on in silence.
