Emilia and the Mire of Vice: Princess Mine and Count Melrn (2)
“……?”
Princess Mine, bound by grotesque tentacles like writhing clumps of flesh and twisting her body every which way, only noticed the gaze fixed on her after some time had passed. She'd surely heard the door fly open with a bang. But with her mind fogged by the relentless ravagings and the drug's haze, it was only natural that judgment would come slowly….
“…Count… Melrn….”
With a voice thick with feminine heat, yet pronounced clearly, Princess Mine murmured. Her gaze, strained but serene, fixed on Count Melrn. It wasn't the state Hero Emilia had seen her in earlier in this stone chamber. After just a few hours of rest, she'd barely clawed back a thread of reason. By plunging her deep into the swamp of lust, then dragging her back to reason and reality, Count Melrn was steadily deepening her corruption.
…Though today, he'd granted her reason for a different reason.
“Enjoying yourself, Princess Mine?”
“…….”
At Count Melrn's indifferent words, Princess Mine met his eyes with her own impassive stare. Her gaze, now sharp with returning intellect, probed his true intentions while carrying a strange glimmer of pity. Her fevered breaths parted her lips slightly. Reading the shape of those lips, catching the faint voice…
Count Melrn furrowed his brow.
—Poor soul.
The words Princess Mine had murmured. On the day of her coming-of-age celebration she should have been honoring, she'd been kidnapped by the unrelated Count Melrn and tormented and defiled here without end. That delicate, flower-like body atop the cliff had been violated in every corner by Count Melrn himself and his minions molded in his image. Under Mona, she'd undergone all manner of training and conditioning, her very essence reshaped. Even the precious virginity she'd guarded so long, he'd callously torn away like it was nothing.
Knowing full well the weight of a princess's virginity, her purity—he'd defiled it without a second thought.
To Princess Mine, Count Melrn was the enemy. An unforgivable foe. She had every right to hate and condemn him.
And yet.
Despite that.
Poor soul.
No words of condemnation, no curses. No gaze of hatred to curse him. Just those words. That single phrase, murmured.
To the man who used a princess like her as furniture, treated her noble blood like a slave's. With intellect restored to her eyes, she looked up at Count Melrn with pity.
—She's insane.
—Has to be crazy.
She's out of her mind.
He'd crossed paths with Princess Mine several times unavoidably at the palace, at social gatherings. The beautiful, wise woman even dubbed the Empire's Prophet had been admired and praised since childhood. Her character was impeccable too, earning her the nickname Saintess among some. While deeming her hypocritical, Count Melrn had approached without revealing his true feelings.
…Up till then, he hadn't disliked her this much, at least.
But when, exactly, had he come to loathe her so viscerally? When had seeing her started triggering seizures of deep hatred and revulsion?
—No need to wonder.
—It's those eyes.
—That know-it-all attitude.
“……Hilde, prepare her.”
“Yes, Master.”
Count Melrn, glaring at Princess Mine with the disgust one might spare a cockroach crushed while crawling on the floor, issued the order without looking away. From behind him stepped the woman who'd been attending Emilia just moments ago—the capable head maid Hilde—into the chamber holding Mine captive.
Squelch… Thud.
“Ah…!”
Princess Mine's slender body, freed from the tentacles binding her, collapsed to her knees on the floor. The writhing meaty floor below cushioned her softly, leaving no injuries. With that command given, Count Melrn departed the chamber. Head maid Hilde supported Mine's body and led her away somewhere.
The first princess of the Romancia Empire. Now kidnapped and confined by Count Melrn, she was finally allowed a proper bath after so long. With Hilde's help, she washed clean, and though soiled by all manner of fluids and sweat, her intellect and beauty shone even more vividly, unhidden. No perfume needed; a soft, feminine fragrance wafted from her.
A beauty different from Hero Emilia's. Emilia embodied womanly softness blended with the hero's visible resilient will—an alluring woman. Mine, freshly of age, exuded maternal grace alongside a fragile, flower-like beauty that demanded protection.
Of course, whether they were true friends… Emilia and Mine both knew deep down they were stubborn tomboys with their own unyielding streaks.
Clunk, screeech—
“About time, you slug of a princess. Thought I'd die of a stiff neck waiting.”
And so, into Melrn's room. There stood Princess Mine, clad in a black negligee sheer enough to glimpse her skin beneath. Count Melrn sat at a bedside table, sipping wine from a glass.
“If you were so impatient, why let me bathe at all? Just drag me here filthy.”
“Oh? I figured even a princess might feel shy showing a man her piss-stinking cunt.”
“As if you'd ever show such consideration. Still… thank you, I suppose.”
Princess Mine was a woman who never forgot gratitude. Enemy or not, whatever schemes he harbored— he'd fed her properly without starving her, and now let her bathe in a warm tub. Clutching the hem of her negligee, she expressed thanks with the etiquette befitting royalty.
—This woman's head is rotten, after all.
Thanking her kidnapper. The scum who'd tormented her so.
Utterly absurd.
From that idiot emperor's seed, somehow this woman emerged.
Count Melrn's head throbbed.
Aah, he really hated her. Hated this woman so much. He shouldn't have let her see him in her right mind. To think even after breaking her that far, that facade he'd pegged as fake hadn't vanished.
“Excuse me, but staring with such loathing hurts even me.”
“What bullshit from the Iron Maiden.”
“A woman's heart is delicate, you know. If you ever want to win true love, you'd best mind it.”
Easy for a spinster to say.
As if reading his mind, Princess Mine continued without smile or blush.
“I love romance novels, you see. I've read every famous one from east to west, past and present.”
Done for. Who'd guess Her Highness the princess, the empire's sparkling idol, the Empire's Prophet, chased such trashy hobbies like some bookworm girl?
What would the empire's citizens think knowing that…?
“I can instantly imagine thirteen patterns of what those folks do naked at night—what plays, what whispers of love—just from a man and woman together. That's why I call myself a master of romance novels. Ahh, love is wonderful. Love is the best. I love love—”
“Enough. Stop.”
“Eek…!”
Clutching his pounding head, Count Melrn beckoned Princess Mine. Under the influence of the spell already implanted within her, her legs moved of their own accord, bringing her before him as desired. Still lounging arrogantly in his chair, he reached out and… swept aside the front of her negligee, the thin fabric translucent enough to hint at her belly.
A taut, flawless white abdomen, smooth as silk. Just below her navel, silky to the touch, was etched a yin pattern much like Emilia's.
Women kidnapped to this mansion usually got simpler ones on their lower bellies, hidden in daily life. But on Count Melrn's orders, Mona had carved this intricate new one onto Mine today.
As his hand caressed the bizarre, complex lines, Princess Mine shuddered at the ticklish sensation surging up.
No, not just ticklish.
At his mere touch, the yin pattern glowed faintly, igniting heat throughout her body. The arousal dulled by her bath reignited swiftly, claiming its place.
“Looks like it's settled in nicely.”
“…….”
Princess Mine flushed but said nothing. She knew words were futile, resistance meaningless. And when this woman shut her mouth, Count Melrn's mood improved somewhat. With his beloved Emilia, he'd delight in anything she said. But Mine's words, whatever they were, just grated and annoyed. Well… if she begged like a vulgar bitch in heat, that might salvage his mood a bit.
“Princess Mine. Do you understand why I summoned you to my room today?”
“…….”
“You must know.”
She knew. She knew it all. Amid her clouded consciousness, the image of her friend reflected in her eyes burned clear.
“…Lia… Emilia. It's because of that girl… that you called me here.”
For the first time today, Princess Mine's face twisted in faint but genuine anguish.