The Weight of a Leash
I kept my head bowed, trying to steady my trembling body, and only after climbing into the taxi that soon arrived did I manage to calm down enough to speak.
“Please don’t do that so suddenly. You really startled me.”
“Oh my, but you liked it.”
“Well… that’s true, but still. If someone else sees, it could be dangerous, so at least give me a warning first.”
“You’re not telling me not to do it at all? Hehe.”
“Ugh.”
My face flushed red again as I squirmed in embarrassment. It was honestly adorable. For some reason, I was starting to enjoy teasing her more and more.
“By the way, what kind of collar should we buy?”
“There’s no need to buy an actual dog collar.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“Did you want a real dog collar? Why are you reacting like that?”
“No, I just thought since I’m a bitch, we obviously had to get a dog collar.”
“Let me give you one piece of advice. Even if you’re treated like a bitch and think of yourself as one, you must never forget that you are still Ruya Agrasil, an elf. The pleasure must come from the gap between being an elf and a bitch. You can’t actually become a real bitch. Understood?”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
She listened to my words with a serious expression. Ruya really did absorb lessons quickly and with genuine focus. She was the kind of slave who made teaching worthwhile.
“I think I understand now why you went back to being a mare. So what should we get for the collar?”
“Hmm… something simple like a choker or a leather necklace? After all, it just needs to be a symbolic item that reminds you that you’re a bitch.”
“Ah, I see. Like the brand on my body, it’s symbolic. As expected, everything Madam Elisha teaches is so easy to understand.”
She nodded, clearly convinced.
“Outside, you shouldn’t call me ‘Madam’ or use polite speech, right?”
“Ah, right. My mistake.”
“If you slip up again, I’ll have to punish you.”
“I’m sorry.”
I gave her a light warning for the mistake. She bowed her head again in apology, then scratched the back of her head and asked,
“By the way, Elisha, you told me to find my own master to serve, right? Is it normal for a slave to choose their own master? Isn’t it usually the other way around?”
Through repeated training and brainwashing, Ruya had already come to see herself as a slave. I wanted to give her at least a little proper education as she was about to be reborn with this new identity.
“Do you want to become the sex slave of some unknown person by force, Ruya?”
“I don’t want that. I want to serve a master I like.”
“Exactly. Choosing to become a slave of your own will and serving the master you love. Always thinking of your master and moving for their sake. That is the true attitude of a slave.”
“True slave…”
She repeated my words under her breath and fell into deep thought. I left her to organize her thoughts and spent the time looking out the window.
The unmanned taxi was flying slowly over the complicated city skyline, yet it was steadily approaching the central district where the escort club was located.
Ruya, who had been silent, asked cautiously,
“Um… Elisha, do you have a master you serve too?”
“Do you want to know?”
“Yeah. I feel like it might help me decide.”
“I’ll say it again—choose your master carefully.”
“I have thought about it very carefully, you know?”
“You understand that once you choose, you must serve them for life unless you are abandoned, right?”
“Yes.”
“That no matter what happens, you must trust and follow them?”
“Of course.”
Ruya answered in a firm voice, as if expressing her resolute determination. It had only been about three days since her training began, yet she was already trying to choose a master. I wondered if the brainwashing had been too strong, but it seemed more likely that her hidden original disposition had always leaned toward slavery.
Seeing that she had made up her mind, I decided to answer.
“Elisa is my master.”
“Elisa? Really?”
“Yes. Elisa is my life partner, my friend, and my precious master.”
“Oh my god.”
She looked utterly shocked to hear that my master was Elisa. Well, it made sense. The two of us shared the same body, yet our relationship was that of master and slave. Even I would find it hard to believe at first.
Ruya stared at me with wide, blinking eyes, then finally spoke.
“You live in the same body. How can you be master and slave?”
“You know my body is a bit special, right?”
“The full-body prosthesis with only the brain and some organs being biological?”
“Yes. Especially, there’s an implant—a kind of computer connected to the brain. The AI installed there is Elisa.”
“Wait, Elisa is an AI? She looks completely human to anyone who sees her.”
“My brain is split between an Abaddon’s brain and a human one. Elisa was installed in the empty human brain, not the Abaddon one that holds my personality and memories. She grew up almost like a human because of the biological brain’s influence. I only heard about it myself, so I don’t know the exact details.”
As she listened to my explanation, Ruya’s eyes gradually glazed over. Eventually she clutched her head and said urgently,
“Wait, I have no idea what you’re saying. And what the hell is an Abaddon?”
“In our world, there are symbiotic creatures called Abaddon that live in symbiosis with humans. They are intelligent beings with self-awareness.”
“So Elisa is an Abaddon that was symbiotically living inside the body of an angel?”
“This part is a little complicated. The Abaddon that was symbiotically living in my body was named Maria. Due to certain events, we were separated and she gained her own body. That Maria used a newly created Abaddon brain modeled after her own and transferred my personality and memories into it. The empty human brain was being used by Maria, but when her main body detached, it became completely vacant. That’s when Elisa took residence in the empty human brain.”
“So… in the end, the current Elisa is an Abaddon created by an Abaddon?”
“Since she can use some of an Abaddon’s abilities, she can be called one.”
She covered her face with her hands and stayed silent for a moment, then suddenly poured out her words.
“So you were originally a normal human who lost her memories, then forcibly brainwashed into an emotionless angel. After that you became an Abaddon by symbiotically merging with Maria, and finally became a succubus with a full-body prosthesis, and now you’re living in the same body as an AI named Elisa? Why is everything so complicated!”
“I told you it was complicated.”
After explaining it to Ruya, I realized once again just how complicated my own existence was. I had lived for less than two years, yet it had been such a turbulent life. I couldn’t believe it.
Ruya clutched her head and groaned for a while before her expression suddenly turned enlightened. She muttered,
“Whatever the past was, what does it matter? The current Elisha is good, so good is good.”
“Have you calmed down a bit?”
“Yeah. I’ve decided to just accept everything. So even though you share the same body, how does Elisa dominate you?”
“Elisa knows and controls my full-body prosthesis better than I do. After receiving training from Elisa, who liked me very much, I signed the slave program and handed over all my rights to her.”
“All your rights?”
“For a simple example, right now I can’t feel sexual desire or physical pleasure. Elisa has blocked them with the slave program. I’m being trained in real time.”
“Ah, so that’s why you seemed so calm even though you said you urgently needed to relieve your sexual desire.”
“Yes. My mind is clear, but my body is in a state of extreme heat.”
I took Ruya’s hand and pressed it against my hot lower belly so she could feel the heat. Sensing the burning desire of my womb craving pleasure, she said in admiration,
“Even with pleasure forbidden and your body in this state, you still trust and follow Master Elisa completely. I wonder if I could do the same…”
“If it’s you, Ruya, I’m sure you can.”
“Thank you, Elisha.”
The taxi arrived at the escort club at just the right moment. We got out still holding hands. As expected, all kinds of beings’ gazes turned toward us, but perhaps because I was holding Ruya’s hand, no one approached.
The two of us entered the club side by side and were guided to the room we had reserved in advance. The club was as spacious inside as it looked from outside, with many awnings blocking the view and security robots placed everywhere. They seemed to take security very seriously.
The staff member who guided us to the room on the third floor wished us a good time and disappeared. The room, lit by seductive lighting, had thick soundproof doors that blocked noise. There was a huge, deeply cushioned bed, a table with alcohol, and all kinds of adult toys prepared.
Ruya, who had been exchanging messages with our appointment partner on her smartphone, said,
“He’ll be here soon. But now that I’m actually thinking about you having sex with that man, it feels a bit strange.”
“I don’t have much interest in having sex with him. I’m only doing it because Elisa told me to relieve my sexual desire.”
“Even your sexual relief is decided by your master?”
“If sexual desire builds up too much, it’s bad for the body, so she regularly arranges partners for me to prostitute myself with and release it. She doesn’t like me forming deep relationships with just any man.”
“Yeah, I think I’d hate it too if my slave slept with random men.”
Ruya nodded as she said that. Elisa hated men even more, making it stricter, but I stayed silent so as not to reveal Elisa’s sexual preferences.
“Wait, then when you have sex, does she release the blocked sexual desire and pleasure?”
“She doesn’t release it separately. I can only feel pleasure at the moment of climax.”
“So you only feel pleasure when you climax?”
“Yes.”
This restriction was almost identical to when I was an angel. Elisa, who loved beautiful dolls very much, was extremely fond of the angel program that turned people into dolls. That was why she liked treating her precious slave—me—like an angel doll. Blocking sensations instead of emotions, making me unable to express emotions outwardly so I looked like a doll, and only feeling pleasure at climax—all of it came from her love for the angel program.
Sometimes I felt like Elisa was playing doll with me, but for the Elisa I loved, I gladly became her doll.
Ruya seemed to have sensed something similar. She narrowed her eyes and said,
“This is literally just a doll, isn’t it? Always emotionless with a blank face, unable to feel sexual desire or pleasure, selling even her body exactly as her master commands. A doll.”
“So you think so too, Ruya.”
“Anyone would think that, right? Elisha, are you okay with becoming such a doll?”
“Didn’t I teach you earlier? The pleasure that comes from being treated as less than human. I feel pleasure and satisfaction as Elisa’s doll named Elisha by satisfying my master.”
“When you put it that way, it does seem okay. It really depends on how you think about it.”
Ruya rested her chin on the table for a moment, thinking deeply, then stood up and said,
“Wow~ Compared to you, Elisha, I was trained really lightly.”
“That’s because you’re just starting your training as a new slave. You still have a long way to go before you can compare yourself to me.”
“Hoo, I need to work harder then. I’ll go buy my collar, so you do well here.”
“Take care.”
Ruya left the club on her own to find a collar for herself. I sat on the bed and waited for the man I had arranged to meet.
By the way, it was about time to call Elisa. Just in case, I activated the AI Elisa and entered the mental space.
The Elisa I saw after a few days looked disheveled. She must have been immersed in research without sleeping. Papers covered in scribbled writing were scattered everywhere, and her eyes looked clearly exhausted.
“Elisa. Are you okay?”
“Yeees, is something wrong?”
“He’ll be here soon. You’re going to watch, right?”
“Mmm. I’ll just stay here this time. Handle it yourself. Oh, right. I installed the facial expression program, so try using it.”
“Got it. Don’t overwork yourself.”
“Thank you for worrying about me, my lady.”
I left Elisa, who had already returned to her work, and came back outside. I stopped the AI’s operation and waited a little longer until the doorbell rang. I pressed the flashing, ringing button and said,
“Yes?”
“This is the person you had an appointment with.”
“Please come in.”
As I answered and stood up, the door opened without a sound and a tall man entered. He had said he was a free hunter. With a solid build, short hair, rather large but slightly narrow eyes, a straight nose, and thin lips, he was quite tall even compared to the men of Korea, who were usually shorter than me.
He stared at my entire body with an intense gaze as if he wanted to devour me until he closed the door. Then he put on a friendly smile and opened his mouth.
“You’re even more beautiful than you looked in the photo. My name is Kang Suho.”
“I’m Elisha.”
I shook the hand he offered and we sat down facing each other across the table. Should I try using the expression program now?
‘Expression program activate.’
When I activated the program, my facial expressions began to form automatically according to my thoughts. I made a light smile and conversed with him.
After exchanging simple pleasantries, he got to the main point.
“I don’t know if Ruya-nim told you already, but I’m looking for an equal sex partner, not just a simple prostitute. We only meet for sex, and I want to avoid any personal time or sticky relationships as much as possible.”
“That’s the kind of relationship I want too.”
“This might sound strange coming from me, but may I ask why a beautiful noblewoman like you, Elisha-nim, is looking for a sex partner?”
“Simply to relieve my sexual desire. I’m not allowed to form deep relationships with men.”
“Deep relationships… I see.”
He muttered the words and gave me a look that said he understood something. He poured alcohol into the glasses prepared on the table and said,
“Then shall we agree on each other’s sexual preferences and things to be careful about? Of course, this is a secret between just the two of us.”
“You even do things like this.”
“A sex partner is a relationship for satisfying each other’s sexual desires and having enjoyable sex. We both have to enjoy the sex together. It would be very rude to do something the other person dislikes.”
Having never deeply considered the concept of a sex partner before, his words came as a refreshing shock to me. I had always only had sex by unilaterally accommodating my partner, so this was especially unfamiliar.
“I’ve only ever had sex where I accommodate the other person, so hearing that both sides should enjoy it feels really strange.”
“Oh dear, it seems your husband is that type.”
Huh? Husband? Was he thinking of me as a married woman with a husband?
“I don’t have a husband.”
“Hahaha, yes, of course. I made a mistake.”
He winked with one eye and gave me a playful smile. It seemed he had taken it as me asking him to keep it a secret, but since it wasn’t a big problem, I let it slide.
“Since you’ve only been in relationships where you accommodate your partner, I’ll have to be considerate. Please tell me your preferred tastes.”
“Even if you tell me to say what I want…”
I liked coercive sex, but saying that at this timing felt strange. I had come looking for a sex partner because I felt something lacking in the coercive sex with my nonexistent husband, yet my preference was coercive sex? It didn’t add up.