The Expert Below
Leaving Adrian behind in her cell, Dong-hyun found his hands trembling. He had tried not to let it show in front of her, but anyone would shake after attempting, for the first time in their life, to break another person and violate them. He had been so tense he hadn't even been able to get hard.
"This isn't easy... Should I ask an expert?"
Dong-hyun considered returning to the real world and seeking advice at an SM club. Then it occurred to him — surely someone like that existed here? If he was going to risk being seen at an SM club in reality, it would be far more advantageous to handle it in this world. After all, he could wield the full power of an emperor as he pleased.
This wouldn't be the last time, either. Beyond this quest, there would be countless women he would need to break. He couldn't afford to freeze up like this every time. Dong-hyun needed to become an expert himself.
"You sent for me? Hehe..."
A man stood before Dong-hyun, grinning sheepishly. Sweat beaded on his forehead — clearly he had never imagined he would find himself standing before the emperor, and the tension showed.
"I hear you're the finest information broker in the empire."
"Ah... yes! Of course. Every scrap of information in the empire passes through me..."
Dong-hyun had expected an information broker to carry himself with the arrogant air of a shadowy mastermind, even before the emperor. This man's demeanor was less than reassuring. He glanced sideways at Marquis Metz with open skepticism.
"Hahaha. He may not look like much, but he's quite capable. Trust him with this."
"Is that so...?"
Then again, there weren't many people who would dare act high and mighty in front of the most powerful man on the continent.
"Yes! That's right! Please trust me!"
Dong-hyun had been speaking to Marquis Metz, but the information broker beside him bowed at a perfect ninety degrees and answered at the top of his lungs.
"Hrm... Very well. Minister of Finance, leave us for a moment."
"Heh heh... Of course. Should you need anything, you need only say the word."
Marquis Metz smiled warmly and slipped out of the emperor's office. He came across as a kindly grandfather, but he was a man who bent for no one — save the emperor himself.
Only Count Schmalz, commander of the Krantz Knights, and the information broker remained in the emperor's office. Dong-hyun could hardly dismiss the knight commander charged with his personal protection, so he would have to have this conversation with the man standing right there.
Count Schmalz was famously tight-lipped and a man of few words, but even so, discussing something this secret — wanting to break in a woman, no less — with someone else in the room was mortifying.
"Ahem... So... uh... do you... happen to know anyone who... ahem... is good with women?"
"Pardon?"
The information broker hadn't expected those words to come from the emperor's mouth, and he asked him to repeat himself.
Ah... this stupid bastard. He should've picked up on it immediately.
"No... I mean! Someone who's good at, you know, handling women. Ah... how do I put this..."
"Ah! Are you looking for someone who can seduce women, like a Casanova?"
He was getting closer, but that still wasn't what Dong-hyun wanted. He glanced at Count Schmalz, whose expression hadn't shifted in the slightest no matter what Dong-hyun said.
"I don't need anything like that. There's an insolent little thing I want to bring to her knees."
"Ah! I understand completely. But... why are you asking me about that...?"
The information broker's face had lit up as he answered — then he suddenly veered off in a completely different direction.
"What do you mean, why am I asking you?! You're an information broker! I want you to tell me who does that kind of work well!"
Ah... why is he this stupid. I want to beat this dog. Seriously.
"But you already have someone close at hand. The warden of Your Majesty's underground dungeon."
"What?"
This time it was Dong-hyun who asked him to repeat himself.
"In that particular field, no one on the entire continent can match the dungeon warden. His family has practiced the craft for generations."
Only then did Dong-hyun fully grasp what the information broker was saying. He remembered now — among the moans that had drifted through the underground dungeon, not all of them had been sounds of pain.
The dungeon warden's family had inherited the trade for generations, specializing in the torture of political enemies. Among their charges were rivals and foreigners alike — those who had completely fallen from the emperor's favor, or those the emperor had ordered broken and trained. Some were conditioned and presented to the emperor. Others were so thoroughly destroyed by the warden that they were erased from the world entirely.
"Oh... I see. I've been looking far afield when the answer was right under my nose."
"I'm glad Your Majesty remembers."
The information broker bowed at the waist, slipping instantly into flattery.
Dong-hyun pulled a gold nugget from his robes and tossed it to the man.
"Thank you. I'll send for you if I need anything else."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The information broker prostrated himself before Dong-hyun, then drew a coin from his robes and offered it up with both hands.
"What's this?"
"Place this coin on the counter at the Traveler's Inn, and I shall appear before Your Majesty whenever you wish."
"The Traveler's Inn? Very well. What's your name?"
"This humble one's name is Pristerner..."
The moment the name left his lips, Pristerner vanished. His voice faded as though receding into the distance, then was gone. Apparently he had wanted to show off his skills now that he had caught the emperor's eye. He was considerably more capable than first impressions had suggested.
Dong-hyun looked at Count Schmalz.
"He's fast."
Count Schmalz had read Dong-hyun's intent perfectly.
"Could you catch him?"
"I couldn't catch him. But I can protect Your Majesty."
He couldn't match the man's speed — but the moment he knew the target, he could move faster still. The confidence in that claim was unmistakable.
"Is that so? Then that's good enough. Let's go see the warden."
He had the information. Now he had to act on it immediately — because he was Korean.
Peterson, warden of the underground dungeon, came rushing over at the emperor's sudden visit.
The last time Dong-hyun had gone to see Adrian, the warden hadn't laid eyes on the emperor — because the cell holding Adrian was a space only the emperor himself could enter. Even the warden had no authority there. Who was kept inside was an absolute secret, and the warden had never tried to find out. Over the generations, countless members of his family had died trying to uncover that secret. The place was as good as forbidden.
Until now, meals had been delivered through a trusted maidservant. But now that Adrian had been stripped of every last scrap of clothing, Dong-hyun would have to bring her meals himself.
"Your Majesty. You sent for me."
Peterson's appearance was wretched. He looked as though he hadn't washed properly, and worse, his face was covered in burn scars — a grotesque sight.
Having already stumbled through this conversation once, Dong-hyun stated his business without hesitation. Count Schmalz already seemed to know exactly what he intended to do.
That Duke Adrian had been captured was known to only three people: Duke Balanos, Duke Edinal, and Count Schmalz. Those three alone.
When Adrian was brought in, Eliard Edinal — who had been imprisoned at the time — had been released along with her and returned to Duke Edinal's care. There was a reason for that. From another perspective, the war of conquest against the Kairan Kingdom could just as easily be called a loss for the Krantz Empire. They had taken Cadis Fortress, but the empire's casualties had been staggering.
If Duke Edinal started making an issue of it, it wouldn't just be Duke Balanos whose standing suffered — the emperor's prestige would take a hit as well. So they had returned Eliard to Duke Edinal and, in exchange, swept the entire matter under the rug.
Duke Balanos had marched out with confidence, but he hadn't even been able to take Cadis Fortress on his own. In the end it was the emperor's power that had ended the war, so he had nothing to say about it.
"You wish to break women. Is that correct?"
"That's right."
"Then you've come to the right place. In this particular field, I can say without exaggeration that I am the foremost expert."
"Is it something I can learn?"
"Of course. It will take time to learn, naturally — but it is also something anyone can do. Heh heh heh..."
His already ugly face twisting into a vile grin only made him more repulsive. But both the man himself and the information broker had said the same thing, so his skill was probably genuine.
"What do I need to do?"
"First, every person has a weakness. Identifying that is the most important thing."
"A weakness?"
"That's right. For some it is pain. For others, the destruction of hope. For others still, family. It is because of that thing called a weakness that people crumble over the smallest things."
"The one I'm dealing with doesn't seem like she'd break from pain."
"Haha... Pain comes in many forms. In truth, I rarely use pain myself. Because breaking someone through pain usually destroys them. The better they endure it, the more thoroughly they shatter. But I can say this with certainty: there is no subject who cannot be handled through pain. No matter how thick their bones, they wouldn't last three months under my methods."
A cold light flickered in Peterson's eyes.
"But the subject Your Majesty desires — you wish to preserve the original, I take it?"
"That's right...?"
"Hrm... In that case, identifying the weakness comes first. It will be easier to understand if you see some samples."
With that, Peterson shuffled off somewhere. Dong-hyun and Count Schmalz followed.