Karen Florence (11)
It tickled, and it shivered — as if insects were crawling lazily, unhurried, all around her body. No, was that even the right way to describe it? It was a sensation maddeningly hard to put into words, and for Karen Florence, quite possibly the first of its kind in her entire life. Even raking through everything she had ever lived through, nothing came close.
If she had to judge it good or bad, it fell on the good side. And yet she suspected that if the feeling kept up, it would wear her down utterly. It was closer to a pleasure that raked through her mind by force — stimulation far too intense to endure for long. It felt like being turned into an idiot in real time.
"Mmh."
The unfamiliar sensation came without pause. Now and then her body would prickle, jolting as if a current had leapt through it. Perhaps worn down by such fierce stimulation, Karen Florence's consciousness came drifting back, little by little.
So languid. So hot.
Thoughts barely more than fragments reminded her of the state her body was in. It was as though she had come down with a fever. Her whole body ached and burned — her lower belly above all, hot as if it had swallowed a flame.
Sensing that inexplicable wrongness yet again, Karen twisted her body. But it refused to move as she willed.
Clank. Clank.
As if answering her every movement, a high metallic ring sounded out. Her arms and legs felt strangely heavy, as though she were clad in cast iron.
"Hih, aah..."
Worse still, all she had tried to do was breathe, and out came an embarrassing moan instead. Perhaps at the sound of her own voice, Karen's consciousness snapped fully awake. She lifted her heavy eyelids and surveyed her surroundings through eyes still half-unfocused.
"She's awake, Young Master."
A voice that sounded as though it were gritting its teeth came from right in front of her. It was one Karen had grown quite familiar with — the voice of Rihardt's personal maid, Lucifer.
Her muddled thoughts had yet to grasp the situation, and so another voice reached her ears.
"Karen isn't fully awake yet. So don't stop what you're doing, Lucy."
At first she couldn't tell whose it was. Thinking it over quietly, she found the voice resembled Rihardt's. It was only that it felt so dry, so cold, that she hadn't been able to accept it as his.
"Yes."
Slrp. Smack. Suck. Suck.
That strange sensation came again. Gooseflesh that locked her body rigid, until the fine hairs at her nape stood straight up. A heat that seemed to spread from her belly out to every corner of her.
"Huaah, nngh!"
Her legs drew up and clenched all on their own. Only now, with her mind fully awake, could Karen identify what this feeling was. The sensation of her crotch being licked, being sucked. To put it more precisely — her pussy, her clit. And Lucifer was attending to them with such devoted care.
"Mh, yaah, hah..."
Her fevered breaths stopped short, as if severed. Something was hammering at her skull.
"Hahh, hik, hiik!"
A trembling that began at the far ends of her body spread like wildfire through the whole of it. All at once, as if every muscle had seized, her body curled in on itself. It was the body's natural response to climax — but this was Karen's first, and she didn't even know it was natural. She only blinked, letting out hot, ragged breaths.
The one who paid for Karen's climax was Lucifer. Her head had been buried between Karen's thighs, and the calves that clamped shut without warning closed around her neck like a vise.
"Uh, ah?"
Karen belatedly realized what she'd done and let her legs fall open. Lucifer pulled back, coughing hard.
"Hck, hck— cough, cough."
Karen's gaze, which had been fixed on Lucy, slid slowly — but surely — across her surroundings. Cold, heavy iron shackles encircled her wrists and ankles. Lucifer, who until a moment ago had been up to something between her legs. And when her eyes dropped to her own groin, it was as if only that part of her had been cut away: bare, mortifying skin lay exposed. Glistening, at that — she could only guess it was Lucifer's saliva.
It was by no means a pleasant situation. What she had wanted was a secret tryst with Rihardt — not this, and certainly not with Lucifer. At last, she grasped in rough outline what state she had been brought to. Lucifer had toyed with her sex. For what reason, she had no idea.
"Wha'sh thish?"
Slurred, childlike pronunciation spilled from Karen's mouth. But her eyes brimmed with fury at this whole affair — proof that even through the fog, she knew full well that something here was deeply, unmistakably wrong.
"Karen's asking what this is. How should I answer, my Lucy? Should I begin with how cleverly you deceived her and brought her before me? Or should I kindly walk her through, one by one, everything she's about to experience? I truly can't decide."
"...Young Master."
"Ah, right. First — a reward for Lucy, who followed my orders so well."
"What's that supposed to— nnh?"
Lucy's words broke off midway. It was Rihardt's doing. Karen could hardly bear to believe the reality unfolding before her eyes — Rihardt had, without warning, pressed his lips to Lucifer's. And not the kind that ended in a quick smack, but a dense, obscene kiss, tongues entwined.
Lucy. You said no. You said you didn't feel that way?
No. This isn't right.
I desperately tried to push Rihardt away. Even if it meant earning his scorn, I would not be seen like this in front of Karen.
But against a Rihardt who truly meant it, all I gained was the chance to learn how powerless I was. He seized my waist and the back of my head, leaving me no way to retreat — and then his face came slowly closer.
"Feel free to resist a little more."
Rihardt whispered it in a low voice. He might as well have told me not to resist — phrasing it that way only made the pressure bear down heavier. Unable to meet his eyes, I tried to look away, but even that he would not permit. And so my lips met his.
It was the worst. A kiss with a man, of all things. I had no desire to describe in detail the texture of a man's lips. It would have been nice if it ended quickly, but he was relentless. His tongue pried at my teeth, trying to force its way in.
I smothered the resistance boiling up inside me. Rihardt was a damned bastard who burned hotter the more you defied and fought him. Defy him here? He'd only take it as encouragement and torment me all the more. I was the one who had handed over even Karen Florence to stay alive. I knew this was the moment to bow my head.
What a pathetic sight — violated in body and mind alike.
As if to flaunt it, to underline it. Our kiss existed solely to be seen by Karen — so that whatever she felt would be whipped to a fever pitch. What was she thinking right now? Just wondering left me feeling lost and hollow.
"Why?"
A voice that seemed to gnash its teeth on the betrayal. That single question became a keen, honed dagger and stabbed at my chest without mercy.
"Why is Lucy kissing Rihardt?"
It was the voice of someone betrayed by the very friend who had cheered her love on. I furrowed my brow. Perhaps it wasn't only my brow. Rihardt, watching my expression crumple in real time, smiled like a flower in full bloom. Calling a man's face a flower might be ironic — but he was every bit that radiant.
"How lovely, Lucy."
Rihardt's words were blatant. Deliberate. Spoken to fan the flames of Karen Florence's jealousy — to turn her hostility wholly upon me. And even so, I could not resist this man. Perhaps I had simply resigned myself. From the moment I brought Karen Florence here.
Rihardt's hands found my waist, my thighs. Just as I had done to Karen Florence, he toyed with my body. His fingers pushed my panties aside and made for my groin. I went rigid.
Rihardt brought his face close to my ear and murmured.
"Trying to advertise that you're a virgin, Lucy? Act natural."
He meant: make it look as though this was how we had always been, in front of Karen. I gave no reply, only surrendered my body to his touch. The disgust was too strong for any real arousal, but I squeezed out a moan regardless — a fawning moan so clumsy that anyone with sharp eyes would have seen through it at once. But Karen was far too bewildered. Her gaze wavered, helpless to do otherwise.
"Lucifer... why on earth?"
Unable to master her fury, she tried to move — to do something, anything. But even Karen Florence did not have the monstrous strength to snap a chain in a single pull.
Rattle. Rattle.
The shrill clatter of metal and the slick sound of damp skin rubbing together rang out together through the Basement. The fondling that had seemed like it might never end came to a stop. Rihardt's eyes turned to me.
"Now then. What do you want to do with Karen Florence, Lucy?"
"I will do as the Young Master wishes..."
"Have you forgotten?"
I had no chance to ask — forgotten what? His unnervingly red eyes curved into a gentle arc.
"You're the one who leads, Lucy."
Ah. You bastard.
So driving Karen Florence to the brink had never been the main point. From the very start, his target was me. He wanted to use Karen Florence to back me into a corner.
"I truly can't wait. To see just how you'll break that feisty Karen of yours. Will you seize the upper hand with physical pain, like you did with Bianca? Or will you grind her down with sexual humiliation? Ruining her virginity outright would be a fine method too."
My teeth clenched. I bit my lip.
"Young Master."
"If you mean to be my partner, surely this much is only to be expected? I trust Lucifer hasn't come all this way just to whine about it."
"...Understood."
He seemed satisfied with my answer, stroking my hair as he added:
"Fall short of the passing mark, and you'll be punished, Lucy."
My breath nearly stopped. Because I knew all too well how perverse Rihardt's passing mark was. His passing mark was a score that could not be earned without breaking Karen completely.