Chapter 319: Slave Experience (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 319: Slave Experience (12)
Make Rami a member of the Laurentius family.
To carry out the duke’s command, the Laurentius siblings went to see Rami one by one.
The first to meet with her alone was Claude. He relayed to Rami what had been discussed in the meeting.
“So, you’re saying you’ve told everyone that I’m here?”
“Yes. Everyone.”
“Ah…”
A soft sigh escaped Rami’s lips.
If word that she was in the duchy reached the slaves, they would undoubtedly come looking for her.
And when they showed up saying, ‘We’ve come for our Master~,’ it wasn’t as if the duke would just say, ‘Sure, take her.’
A man-made disaster far surpassing any natural catastrophe was about to befall the duchy.
“Young Master, will you please release me?”
“No. I’ll do anything else for you, but not that.”
“Hmm…”
“It is the Laurentius way to obtain whatever we desire, by any means necessary. I don’t know what we might do if you refuse to cooperate. So, I’m asking you like this.”
Claude took a small case out of his pocket. He clicked it open, revealing a dazzling, jewel-encrusted ring.
“Will you marry me?”
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“Marry me, Rami. If you become my wife, you’ll become a noble, and our family will gain power. No one gets hurt, and everything will be perfect.”
Perfect? What part of this was perfect?
It was the worst-case scenario of all worst-case scenarios.
She’d rather bite her tongue off and die.
“I refuse. Proposing to someone you have in chains? It’s so absurd I can’t even laugh.”
“Are you… serious?”
“Ask me a hundred times, and my answer won’t change. I swear it.”
“Do you hate me that much?”
“Is there any reason I should like you? How long have we even known each other?”
“I see.”
Claude smiled bitterly.
He snapped the case shut with a click.
“If you’re going to be so resolute, then I have no choice. I’ll have to change my methods. I told you, didn’t I? It’s the Laurentius way to stop at nothing to get what we want.”
Claude smiled as he looked at Rami. But it was a far cry from the smiles he had given her until now.
He was no longer the pure-hearted boy striving to win his love, but a man with the cold eyes of someone contemplating how to play with the toy before him.
“I’ll make you take back what you just said. I’ll make you beg me to marry you.”
His plan having failed, Claude switched tactics. With a promise of a grim future, he left the prison.
*
The next person to arrive was Violetta. She interrogated Rami as if she were a criminal.
“Why did you hide the fact that you’re the Slave Reaper?”
“Because you never asked if I was the Slave Reaper?”
“You can’t be serious.”
Violetta was about to retort at Rami’s shamelessness, but she sighed, realizing it was pointless to argue now.
“If you’re the Slave Reaper, does that mean Narsha is your slave?”
“I suppose so, yes?”
Violetta had thought they were just ordinary lovers, but that wasn’t the case. Theirs was a twisted love, built on a master-slave relationship.
She had experienced firsthand how Rami could seduce someone. Narsha must have been powerless to resist.
A flicker of pity arose, but it was fleeting. For Violetta, who now had Rami in her grasp, this was a golden opportunity.
A smirk formed on Violetta’s lips.
“This means if I can just conquer you, then Narsha, your slave’s slave, will be mine too, right?”
Devour Rami, and Narsha would automatically be hers as well.
What a simple hierarchy.
“Rami, submit to me. Accept me as your true master.”
This wasn’t just about seducing one woman.
The one who possessed her would possess everything. Wealth, honor, and perhaps even the position of the next family head.
No, they could aim for even more.
She was a treasure that had rolled right into their laps.
“Accept me as your master, and I will treat you so well you’ll have nothing to complain about. How about it?”
“I’ve lived my whole life being treated so well I’ve had nothing to complain about.”
“I’m saying I’ll treat you even better than that.”
“Can you?”
Could she…?
It wasn’t as if Rami had been cast out from somewhere, nor was she a vagrant living day to day.
If anything, her situation would worsen, not improve.
“Tsk! You’re not in a position to be weighing your options! Answer me now. Will you swear your loyalty to me or not?”
Rami gave it some serious thought.
Being kept by a rich, beautiful older woman was an offer she’d normally accept with gratitude, but no matter how she thought about it, she was master material, not a slave.
“I’m sorry, my lady. I don’t think I can do that.”
“…So that’s how you want to play this.”
Violetta’s demeanor turned icy in an instant.
“That’s fine. I anticipated you might refuse.”
Violetta extended her hand.
“I must have been momentarily bewitched by a witch, trying to converse with a slave. They’re incapable of reason, after all.”
A magic circle materialized, and from within it, a whip of violet light appeared. Violetta grasped it.
“When it comes to educating slaves, there’s nothing better than this. You must know that well, having commanded so many slaves yourself, right?”
“No, I can’t say that I do.”
“Don’t play coy. Who would know better than you? What you did to your slaves, I’ll do the exact same to you.”
Violetta cracked the whip.
FWOOSH!
The whip struck the shoulder of the chained Rami.
“Oh? You’re not screaming. Men or women, knights or nobles, they all scream when they’re hit with this.”
“Well…”
“I rather like it. Doesn’t this just make breaking you all the more satisfying?”
Echoing the same words Karami had said a few days ago, Violetta continued to swing the whip.
FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
The sharp crack of the whip echoed through the prison. With each strike, a long gash was carved into Rami’s body.
But Rami didn’t let out a single moan, nor did her expression falter.
‘Well, it doesn’t hurt at all.’
It wasn’t completely painless, but it felt like she was only receiving about ten percent of the actual sensation.
And though Violetta was striking with all her might, the wounds were little more than scratches, the skin barely breaking.
She vaguely guessed that this, too, was thanks to Mirabelle’s magic.
“You tough bitch, not even a single groan. You’re still going to endure? Even now?”
Oblivious, Violetta swung the whip, sweat pouring down her face.
It was hard to tell who was torturing whom.
Rami was actually starting to feel sorry for her.
She decided to play along a little.
“Ugh.”
She furrowed her fine brow and let out a soft groan. As if on cue, a smile spread across Violetta’s lips.
“Hah, hah… You finally made a sound. Of course. There’s no way it wouldn’t hurt. So? Have you had a change of heart?”
“Even if I die… I will never become someone’s slave.”
“Still saying that… Fine. Let’s see this through to the end and find out who wins.”
The whipping continued for a long time after that. Rami’s skin, once like flawless white porcelain, was now covered in wounds.
It only stopped when Violetta no longer had the strength to swing the whip.
“Hah… hah… hah… I never imagined you’d be this stubborn. I’ll stop here for today, but mark my words. This is just the beginning.”
Violetta dragged her exhausted body out of the prison.
As if in a relay race, Alberic entered immediately after.
“You’re in quite a state.”
“Did you come here to mock me?”
“I came to see how long you could maintain your composure. It seems you’re still holding up.”
Alberic circled Rami, his eyes raking over her body.
“But it suits you rather well. Much better than that ridiculous maid cosplay you were doing.”
“Ridiculous? I worked hard on that. Wouldn’t you say the resemblance was quite high?”
“In what world… Ahem.”
Alberic, who had almost snapped back, barely managed to restrain himself. He had nearly been drawn into her pace.
To have the presence of mind to joke in a situation like this…
‘So this is the infamous Slave Reaper.’
He had thought her thoughts and actions were unbefitting of a former noble, but hearing she was the Slave Reaper made it all make sense.
She must have risen to that position by enduring brutal torture without so much as a change in her expression.
‘But in the end, she’s just a woman.’
Behind the mask of the Slave Reaper that made everyone tremble was nothing but a frail, delicate woman.
Violetta had foolishly chosen violence, but Alberic knew very well how to educate a woman.
Alberic raised a finger. The whipping had torn Rami’s clothes, leaving more than half of her back exposed.
He traced a line up her spine.
“Eek?!”
It seemed the magic didn’t reduce the sensation of a simple touch, as the vivid feeling shot up her back.
A sound burst from Rami’s lips—the first genuine reaction she’d had throughout the entire ordeal.
It was not an act; it was 100 percent real.
“What’s this? Such an adorable sound, so unlike you.”
There are those fantastical stories about female spies or kunoichi who, upon being captured by the enemy, are trained to withstand sexual torture.
But such training was meaningless. For Rami, unaccustomed to the female form, even an insignificant touch was enough to provoke a sensitive reaction.
“To be like this from just a tickle on your back. It makes me feel pathetic for even wondering what I should do to you.”
Alberic smirked.
Rami flinched.
Goosebumps erupted all over her skin.
The summer air suddenly felt frigid.
Should I scream for Mirabelle to save me?
Should I tell him I’ll stop resisting?
As a torrent of thoughts flooded her mind, Alberic’s predatory hand drew closer.
Rami squeezed her eyes shut.
“Young Lord!”
Alberic froze.
A soldier had burst in, shouting urgently.
“What is all this commotion? I believe I gave orders not to be disturbed.”
“My apologies, Young Lord. But it is an urgent matter… Clergy have arrived from the Holy Kingdom. It seems they are here to treat the youngest master.”
“And how is that an urgent matter? They can handle it themselves.”
“Well… the Saint has come.”
“The Saint?”
Alberic’s eyes widened.
Why would the Saint herself come for something a single priest could handle?
She wasn’t just any priest; as the Saint, he, the young lord of the house, had no choice but to greet her personally.
“Tsk. And just when my fun was about to begin.”
Alberic shot a glare at Rami, then straightened his clothes.
“We’re going up.”
He left Rami and ascended to the ground floor.
Standing at the main gate of the manor was the delegation from Kassilon.
At the head of the group, dressed in the robes of a saint, stood Elize.
She wore a benevolent smile.
“Greetings to all of House Laurentius. I am Elize, Saint of the Order of Balance. It’s a fine day to meet our Lord.”