(Caution: Exhaustion) Ep.4 - The Queen (1)

***

When I awoke again, there was no lavish feast spread before me—

only impenetrable, pitch-black darkness met my eyes.

"Uup... Breuuup..."

His voice wouldn't come out properly either, merely circling inside his mouth, blocked by something.

Delin was suddenly seized by what could only be called sheer terror. Unable to see no matter how wide he opened his eyes, and unable to cry out no matter how hard he tried, he began to tremble.

"You're awake."

Of all his deadened senses, only his hearing remained alert.

His ears reacted with blade-like sharpness to the woman's voice that reached him. The stimulus was so intense it nearly pained him.

Deprived of sight, his hearing had grown keener. And so he perceived the woman's voice with excruciating clarity.

"Delin-gun isn't the type to be a bad child who resists... but I bound you just in case. Don't be too frightened, and please stay still, all right?"

"Uup! Uuuup!"

A benevolent, tender voice.

Yet Delin, even with his mouth gagged, screamed and thrashed, desperate to escape it. Just as his body had weakened, so too had his reactions grown feeble. Cursing his useless body that could accomplish nothing on its own, Delin screamed on.

"Uuuup! Uuuuup!"

A storm of imagination, laced with terror, dread, and fear, plunged our pitiful Delin into full-blown panic.

A hand gently came to rest on his shoulder. It was the Queen's hand—soft, elegant.

"Uuuup!"

Startled, Delin shook his head wildly, consumed by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fear. It was a desperate appeal that conveyed both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't torment me and please save me.

But the Queen placed her other hand on his opposite shoulder and whispered into Delin's ear.

"You need to stay still. If you don't listen, I'll get angry."

At the mention of her anger, Delin's body went rigid. In a situation where resistance or fighting back was impossible, all he could do was silently comply and accept. Otherwise, what might have been a single blow would become ten.

Delin knew this. Having personally felt the brutal laws of this dreadful world, he knew them better than anyone.

"Uup... up..."

So he nodded. Trembling, he nodded, trying to convey that he would listen well—please don't get angry, please don't hit him.

But no matter how much he submitted to the situation, his tears would not stop and continued to pour. His mind, having regressed along with his youthful body, could scarcely control his emotions. His shivering figure was like a chick fallen into icy water.

It was a sight so pitiful it would naturally stir compassion in anyone—

yet the Queen, on the contrary, seemed to delight in it.

"Good boy. As I thought, Delin-gun is cute. Truly."

Ttokak, ttokak—

The Queen's high heels clicked imperiously against the stone floor.

A basement.

A space clad entirely in black stone, belonging solely to the Queen.

The Queen, stepping lightly across the floor of that place, smiled with deep satisfaction.

"Still, stop crying now. All right? If you keep crying, you won't be able to see properly."

"Uup! Heuuup..."

Slowly, very slowly.

The blindfold covering Delin's eyes was removed. Only then did Delin finally behold the things laid out before him.

"Hup..."

"From among these, would you like to pick just one that you like?"

One small razor blade.

One pair of tongs.

A fork and knife, one set.

And one long metal rod.

"Uheuup..."

Delin couldn't begin to guess the purpose of the four tools. He simply looked at the beautiful Queen, casting her a desperate, pleading gaze.

"So cute. Really cute. But stop looking at me and pick just one from what's in front of you."

The Queen lifted the tools one by one with elegant gestures. Then she slowly brandished each lifted item before Delin's eyes, observing his reaction.

"How about this? Hmm... but if I use this, it'll all get crushed."

Crushed?

Was crushed truly the right word for something done with a metal rod?

"Heuuup... hup..."

Delin appealed to the infinitely elegant and beautiful Queen through his tears. Why are you suddenly doing this? Did I do something wrong? Yes...?

"Delin-gun is really cute. Truly. I can see every emotion in your eyes. Those honest, adorable eyes are so pretty."

"Hup... heu-hup..."

"Don't cry. And hurry up and pick just one. If there isn't anything you particularly like, shall I just choose as I please?"

"Heuuuup... heuup..."

Trembling, Delin shook his head with all his might. Why? Why all of a sudden!

"All right. I like this one."

The Queen, holding the tongs, smiled contentedly and poked Delin's cheek with them over and over. Each time she poked, Delin let out a "Uup!" and burst into fresh tears.

"Don't cry. Is it because you're scared? What is there to be scared of? The one who ought to be scared isn't Delin-gun."

Deu-deu-deu-deuk—

The Queen dragged Delin, chair and all, somewhere. Her figure, clutching the tongs in one hand, remained exceedingly elegant.

"Up...?"

At the place where the two finally stopped, several women were bound. They shared no common features whatsoever, but all were equally limp, gags stuffed in their mouths.

"Delin-gun. You know all of these people, don't you?"

He knew every one of them.

Delin's eyes swiftly scanned the women. Only one met his gaze. Only the one-eyed thief.

The other women didn't raise their heads. No—they couldn't raise their heads.

The wolf with her tail drooping low and the witch who had lost all vitality weren't even breathing. At the sensation of death ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he sensed from them, Delin screamed again. A scream bordering on a shriek leaked little by little from his gagged mouth.

"Kkeuuuup... kkeup..."

The other women were no different.

A white-haired woman who already seemed unconscious, her head slumped deeply, and

a small girl with the same white hair, trembling violently in terror.

In that room where merely standing still seemed to devour his sanity, Delin faced them and then screwed his eyes shut. It was too painful to look.

"Kkeu-euk!"

The thief mustered her strength as if to convey something to Delin, but her voice was swallowed entirely by the gag and faded powerlessly. All that remained were the emotions exchanged through each other's eyes.

"Heuup, heuuup..."

Confronted with those emotions, Delin was gripped by fear once more. The urgency and anguish etched into the thief's eyes seeped straight into him. Her cheeks had grown terribly gaunt, as though she had neither washed nor eaten properly for days, and her grimy skin was covered with scratches of every kind.

"Don't fret. Those two—I made sure to kill them quickly, on purpose. There was no ill will."

Bound tightly before them, Delin could only listen in silence to the Queen's words.

"Wasn't that merciful of me? I killed them without doing a thing to them."

Gripping the forearm-length tongs, advancing on the thief who still clung to her sanity—

these were the words of the infinitely elegant and noble Queen...

"Delin-gun. Why are you trembling so much... I'll forgive all the lies you told, so don't be afraid. The sight of you so relieved at having deceived me so well was so cute, so I'll forgive everything. But..."

The Queen approached the thief first and thrust the tongs forward. Right in front of the thief's single remaining eye, she repeated the motion of plucking an eye out with the tongs several times, then said:

"I'll go easy on you... so, will you come live with me? I let those two go, just like that, but there are still three left, you know. If Delin-gun listens well, I'll let all three of them die comfortably, right away."

Once, I remembered watching a thriller movie. But even in those movies, no one ever said they'd kill you mercifully so just do as they say.

The beautiful Queen before his eyes issued a threat the likes of which he had never seen or heard in his entire life. And from her unwavering, melodious voice, Delin felt only sincerity.

"What do you say? I... hold Delin-gun's ability in very high regard."

Delin's pupils dilated. His startled eyes wavered endlessly, darting back and forth between the thief and the Queen.

"As expected, so honest. No matter how long I gaze into Delin-gun's eyes, I never grow tired of them."

Ability? My ability?

My ability?

"Just be a cute puppy who listens well to me for exactly one year. How about it? We had fun, didn't we? We were so happy when we ate together—and when we spent the night together, weren't we?"

Delin looked at the thief. From her—the only one he could still make eye contact with—he sought the will and hope to overcome this nightmare.

But her single remaining eye was firmly clamped shut by the Queen's delicate hand, so he couldn't meet it.

"Kkeu-euk...!"

Perhaps the Queen was squeezing hard, for the thief let out a groan. Her body twisted this way and that in agony. Yet Delin understood. That crushing grip was an infinitely gentler torment compared to what the tongs would do.

"Uup! Uuup!"

Unable to endure the sight any longer, Delin nodded desperately.

"Heum..."

Only then did the Queen, wearing a magnanimous smile, release Philmark's eye.

"Then, I look forward to our future together, all right? My puppy."

Without pause, she strode over to Delin and promptly dragged his chair away somewhere once again.

"I've heard all manner of explanations. Shall we begin straightaway without any fuss? You just need to shout 'Save,' correct?"

"Heuuup..."

Delin thought as he was dragged along.

If I hit Save here, like this... I'm truly fucked...

Though he had foolishly used his ability countless times until now, this time he grasped the situation with perfect clarity. If he hit Save here, it would genuinely be the end. He wouldn't be able to bring back Chichi-noona or Kaede-ssi with Load, there was no guarantee the Queen wouldn't torture Philmark, Neva, and the girl beside them—and there was no way she would simply let him go after a year.

"I trust our dear Delin-gun will, of course, say Save... but the world must always prepare for what-ifs..."

Deu-deu-deu-deuk—

The place the Queen dragged him to this time was a chamber lined with bizarre tools the likes of which he had never seen in his life. There, the Queen whispered into Delin's ear:

"From now on, there are exactly two options, so listen closely and choose just one. Understood?"

"First. Listen obediently to your Master and shout Save right now."

"Second. Receive an aphrodisiac injection in your neck and play enjoyably with your Master for an entire week—and only at the very end do you shout Save."

"If you choose the second, I'll be setting aside all my pressing royal duties to play with my puppy... so you'll have to take ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠responsibility, won't you?"

"Heuup! Heuuup!"

Restless, Delin shook his head furiously over and over. At the sight, the Queen let out a soft laugh.

"You don't like it? Even if you don't, what can you do? Life is, after all, full of things you must do even when you don't wish to."

Before Delin could finish answering, the Queen picked up something resembling an onahole.

"And, truth be told, the first option doesn't actually exist. That's because, even though I'll let you open your mouth, I simply can't have you accidentally using Load."

That day, Delin was subjected to [education] until he hovered at the brink of death—and only then was he released.