Chapter 3 Prison At first, I thought the princesses were locked in iron bars every day...
Sometimes I wonder who the princesses locked in the iron cage are, and why they are imprisoned here? Did they do something wrong? I try to find the answers, but I have no clue.
As time went on, I gradually became familiar with the princess in the iron cage.
The largest princess was named Manboya, and a nameplate with "Manboya" hung in front of her cage.
To be honest, I don't know why I recognize the characters here; I just recognize them when I see them.
Only the eldest princess's iron cage had a nameplate hanging in front of it, so this room was named Manboya. Every time it was mealtime, a long-haired woman would call out from afar, "Manboya." I would then rush over as fast as I could to get my food box.
Occasionally, I would lean against the door and observe these princesses. The eldest princess wore a gold anklet on her right foot, the second princess wore a silver anklet, the third princess wore a bronze anklet, the fourth princess wore an iron anklet, the fifth princess wore a tin anklet, and the sixth princess wore a lead anklet.
The eldest princess was the ugliest, with a face covered in black hair that completely obscured her features. The other princesses had only a dozen or so sparse hairs, revealing ordinary-looking faces.
I was curious about the eldest princess because she looked different from the other princesses.
The feed I give you every day is a hard grain similar to yellow millet, which is bitter and astringent and hard to swallow. All the other princesses swallow it with a frown, but the eldest princess chews it slowly and carefully, as if she were eating the most delicious food in the world.
She never spoke. While the other princesses would whisper among themselves or make strange, low growls, like the sounds of some kind of animal, she simply slept.
She seemed to sleep all day long, never waking up except to eat. She even urinated and defecated in her sleep—pulling up her skirt with her eyes closed and doing it directly onto the straw.
Other princesses would occasionally lie on the ground studying insects, stare blankly, or play with rotten straw, but she never did.
As time went by, I felt that the Black Castle was like a terrifying prison, constantly surrounded by a cold and deathly atmosphere.
The Black Castle was quiet; not a single princess, maid, or guard spoke. Even the long-haired women who appeared to be the main figures in charge of the castle rarely spoke, unless given an order.
Most of the time I'm like a silent cleaner, zookeeper, and prison guard.
The princesses also had occasional breaks from prison.
Every few days, a long-haired woman would take the princesses to a room filled with dolls to play.
This is a room with thick red velvet curtains hanging down. The princesses sit on tattered, deep red carpets, making clothes and shoes for the dolls, caring for them like children. Some princesses even talk to the dolls, their soft, melodious voices as they lower their heads truly sound like a mother's.
I huddled in the corner, staring at the doll, completely still. For some reason, these dolls terrified me; their delicate features, vivid expressions, and moving limbs made them seem like living people.
Cold sweat crept up my back. What kind of hellish place is this?
Princess Manboya suddenly turned around and glanced at me.
Her face was obscured by long, black, fuzzy hair, yet her mocking smile was still visible—perhaps she sensed my fear.
My heart skipped a beat, and I felt a sense of humiliation. How could I be mocked by a loser prisoner? To put it bluntly, I'm still a loser.
Forcibly suppressing my fear, I took a deep breath and it took me a while to return to normal.
After that incident, my life fell into a strange calm. There weren't any major upheavals; I seemed busy, but I was almost going crazy from being cooped up.
In the blink of an eye, I have been living in the castle for almost four months.
I spent my days in silence, with no one speaking to me. I tried to talk to the princesses, but none of them even glanced at me. The eldest princess, Mamboya, even bared her teeth at me and spat in my face.
Only the youngest princess occasionally responded with a couple of "oohs," but I didn't understand what she meant, and after gesturing to her for a while, I gave up.
Just when I thought I was about to suffocate, I unexpectedly found someone to talk to.
One day, while I was wiping the floor in the corridor, I suddenly heard a fight and crying, so I got up to look.
A short girl like me, with two long braids, was being beaten by three or four long-haired women at the end of the corridor. It was a horrific case of bullying.
The short girl was very ugly, with short black hair all over her face and dense freckles. She was slapped in turn by the long-haired women. She cried and begged for mercy, "Yes, yes, I'm sorry."
The long-haired women sneered and took turns stomping on her head, hands, and legs, making her cries grow more and more shrill.
I was terrified, but I didn't dare to go forward. My strength was not on the same level as the long-haired woman's.
Only when they were exhausted from beating her did the long-haired women leave arrogantly, while the short girl lay on the ground, sobbing.
After they walked away, I approached the shorter girl, squatted down, and handed her a cold, hard piece of bread.
The short girl was crying hard, but her eyes lit up when she saw the bread.
"This is for you," I whispered.
The short girl didn't even bother to wipe away her tears; she grabbed the food and started biting into it.
The food here was extremely scarce. Each person could only eat two pieces of dry bread a day. She ate very quickly, almost swallowing them whole.
"Slow down, slow down, be careful not to choke," I said quickly.
The short girl continued to eat heartily, oblivious to everything else.
I asked, "Why did they hit you?"
The short girl was too busy eating to answer me. After she finished eating, she stammered "It's delicious" and ran away.
I was filled with confusion.
Two days later, in the evening, I was sitting in the corridor preparing to have dinner when the stuttering girl appeared again, standing three steps away from me, staring intently at the dry bread in my hand.
Without hesitation, I broke off half and gave it to her, saying, "Here you go."
I can only give her half, although there's one left, but that's for my lunch tomorrow.
The stuttering girl didn't stand on ceremony and took it and started biting into it.
After finishing his meal, he stared longingly at my other piece of dry bread. I shrugged. "This is for lunch tomorrow. You can come find me again at noon."
The stuttering girl nodded.
The next day at noon, the stuttering girl came to see me as promised and received the half of the dry bread she wanted.
Over time, we became acquainted and would chat occasionally. That's how I learned why the stuttering girl had been beaten that day.
It turned out that she had a severe stomachache that day and stayed in the toilet for a while. When the supervisors came to inspect, they didn't see her and questioned her sternly about where she had been. She was scared and stammered, so she couldn't explain clearly. The supervisor slapped her several times, and she instinctively flinched. The supervisors then hit her even harder.
I felt deep sympathy for her. The stuttering girl rolled up her sleeves, revealing her arms covered in bruises, and stammered that this wasn't the first time she'd been beaten. Because of her stutter and slow reactions, she was often beaten by the supervisors. There were no clear rules of conduct in the castle; everything was done according to the supervisors' whims.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask, "Then who is in charge of the supervisors?"
The stuttering girl suddenly looked terrified, waved her hands, and said, "I...I don't know." Then she ran away as if fleeing.
I automatically pictured a demonic BOSS with black wings in my mind.
To be honest, I was a little scared.
Let me tell you about myself.
I was timid, cowardly, and afraid of trouble since I was a child. Even reading romance novels was considered a sin—a form of self-degradation, and I was despised by all my relatives and friends.
But my cousin was different. She was a good student, so even reading romance novels was considered a way to broaden her horizons.
That night I had nightmares all night long. In my dream, I was scorched and withered by the raging fire breathed by a great black-winged demon.
I cried and screamed, rolling around on the floor, from the cot in the corridor to the iron cage.
The black princesses were woken up by me and started howling in dissatisfaction.
I was still asleep, and my cries were deafening. The eldest princess, Manboya, who loved to sleep the most, stretched out her long leg and kicked me hard. My head slammed against the wall, and I woke up instantly in pain.
"Fuck your mother!" I jumped up in pain and yelled at Princess Manboya, who had pulled her leg back, "You're not eating today."
Anyone would be angry if they were kicked in the head and left bleeding.
I cut my forehead and blood was flowing down.
I pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it against the wound, and I burst into tears again, but no one paid any attention to me.
That day, I was so angry that I didn't feed Princess Mamboya. Instead, I deliberately walked around her and scattered food in front of the other cages.
Princess Manboya squinted and slept as if she didn't care, completely ignoring me.
Damn, he's already a prisoner, what's with the attitude?
I didn't feed her for two days in a row, but she still didn't care and continued to sleep soundly.
I was deeply surprised. Wasn't she hungry? Wasn't she thirsty? You know, I didn't even give her any water.
It wasn't until the third day that I discovered her secret.
I felt the urge to urinate in the middle of the night, so I reluctantly got up and was about to go to the toilet when I heard a low slurring sound of eating.
I carefully moved my body and peeked into the iron cage with one eye.
The youngest black princess kept taking hard pellets out of her pocket and throwing them to Princess Mamboya through the iron cage. Despite the distance between their cages, the black princess's throwing was extremely accurate, hitting the other's cage precisely every time.
Princess Mamboya slowly picked up the food and put it in her mouth, without even glancing up at the black princess who had thrown it away, as if it were all perfectly natural.
Just as I was feeling surprised, Princess Manboya suddenly looked in the direction I was hiding.
Even in the dark of night, I could feel her sharp and alert gaze.
The sounds of eating stopped abruptly.
The next morning, I went in early with the feed bucket as usual. The black princesses were all asleep.
I scattered feed everywhere, without bypassing Princess Manboya's iron cage.
Since someone is helping me, why should I act like a petty person?
Besides, starving her for two or three days would be enough.
Princess Manboya's eyelids seemed to twitch, or perhaps they didn't; who cares.
After scattering the feed, I squatted down in front of Princess Mamboya's cage. "I'm sorry about the other day, but please don't kick people like that anymore, okay? It really hurts."
Princess Manboya turned over, her back to me, and completely ignored me, just like a child. I couldn't help but laugh.
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