Livestock Registration (11) — Day Four at the Slave Training Center
When afternoon came, Karsen began preparing to take the Empress outside.
The prison air was cold and damp. She already stood wearing the chastity belt and nipple clamps; the chill of metal against her skin still felt foreign. She shrank into herself without meaning to, but the devices, already fastened, held their places without regard for her will.
Karsen brought a thin white lace veil and a light, airy dress. The Empress looked down at the clothes, then asked in a low voice,
"…Do I have to wear these?"
She was using polite speech awkwardly. Ever since she had begun the Livestock Declaration, her way of speaking had shifted of its own accord.
Karsen looked down at her with cold eyes.
"Put them on. I'm taking you to the slave market."
Her body went visibly rigid. She looked up at him; her pupils trembled faintly.
The slave market…?
The words hit her like a blow that cut off her breath. In all the time since she had been dragged here, she had never once left the prison. Lying naked on the cell floor had long since become ordinary. That she was now suddenly to go outside came as a shock—and the knowledge of where she was going pressed down on her chest like a weight.
He's taking me… to the slave market?
Fear that her identity might be exposed flashed through her mind. In the familiar slave markets of the Empire, if anyone recognized her face or the color of her hair, she did not even want to imagine what would follow. A chill ran down her spine.
Karsen lifted the thin white lace veil and set it over her head. It covered her face and hair, but not completely. Through the fine lace, her platinum hair showed faintly, and up close her eye color would still be recognizable.
Through the veil she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Close enough, she could be identified; from a distance, she would not be. She clung to that thin scrap of hope as if it were the only comfort left to her.
If it's only this much… my identity won't come out.
The female trainer came forward and lifted the dress. Looking at it, the Empress's expression grew complicated again. Since being brought here she had not worn clothes once; nakedness on the prison floor had come to feel natural. Now the sudden order to dress left her flustered. Putting on this thin gown was not simply covering herself. It was closer to displaying her body more clearly. The light fabric barely hid her curves, and even the shapes of the chastity belt and nipple clamps showed faintly through it.
Wearing something like this… means they want me to show my body.
The act of putting it on felt like one more confirmation that she was being treated as a slave.
The trainer stood before her and slowly drew the dress over her. The thin cloth brushed her skin as it settled; the Empress shivered slightly. Feeling fabric against bare skin again after so long was a sensation she had almost forgotten.
When the dress was on, the female trainer stepped back and looked her over, raking her eyes slowly from head to toe. Her voice was soft, but edged with unmistakable contempt.
"Slender shoulders, and such a fine balance of bust and hips. With a figure like that, you'll suit being a female slave perfectly."
The Empress looked down at her reflection. The body showing through the thin dress was unnervingly strange. She tried to look away, but the image in the glass would not leave her mind.
Is this… my body…?
The thought crushed her. Not long ago this body had belonged to an emperor. Now she stood in a single layer of cloth, veiled so her identity would not be known.
Karsen lifted a collar and fastened it around her throat. The instant cold leather and metal touched her skin, her body shook hard. Instinctively she raised her hands to cover her neck, but he had already turned them behind her back and locked them there.
"Don't move."
The sound of the collar closing rang through the cell. She clenched her teeth. The tightening pressure seemed to cut straight across her pride.
That I should have to wear… something like this…
Even the thought choked her. That she, who had been an emperor, was now to be led about on a leash—she still could not believe it. She bowed her head, jaws locked. The weight of the collar around her neck only grew heavier.
Karsen took the leash and led her. Her hands were fully secured behind her back; she could neither cover herself nor reach for anything. Every time the thin dress stirred in a draft and revealed her body, shame burned through her. The world beyond the veil was hazy. Close enough, she could be recognized; from afar, she would not. Relief and dread warred in her as she walked slowly toward the prison door.
Soon she would be dragged into the Empire's slave market. That knowledge ground down on her chest without mercy.
Leash in hand, Karsen led the Empress slowly into the slave market.
The moment she stepped into the crowded thoroughfare she shrank into herself. Voices and footsteps rose from every side; countless glances brushed over her. She tried instinctively to cover her body, but her hands were already bound fast behind her back. The leash at her throat pulled her forward, and she had no choice but to follow against her will.
…I can't cover myself.
The fact weighed on her like stone. In nothing but a thin dress, the outlines of the chastity belt and nipple clamps plain to see, she had to present herself to strangers. That she—who until moments ago had been the master of this Empire—was now being led about so exposed still did not feel real.
Every sidelong glance made her grit her teeth.
Even with me laid bare like this… do they still think I'm pretty?
The thought only made her more wretched. That her body had become an object of stares and desire trampled her pride flat. She tried to hide from their eyes behind the veil, but their gazes still raked over her. Whenever the thin cloth clung in the breeze and the lines of her body showed, she felt attention gather. She tensed to the breaking point for fear her hair and eyes might show through the lace—and at the same time a fierce shame flooded her simply because so much of her was on display.
If these people recognize me… what then?
Even that thought sent a chill down her spine. Being dragged through a slave market of her own familiar Empire in this state pushed her deeper into humiliation with every step.
A noble approached Karsen and asked in a low voice,
"Can't I see the face? If the face is intact, I'd pay a fortune."
Her body went rigid. She held her breath, every muscle tight. The thought that her face might be revealed under the veil set her heart racing. If someone checked it, her identity could come out. She clenched her teeth and shrank even smaller.
Karsen answered without hesitation.
"This one's still in training. No."
She let out a breath of relief inside. Thankfully he had refused firmly—but her heart was still hammering. The near-miss alone left her spine cold.
Karsen pulled the leash as if nothing had happened and kept walking. The sidelong looks of slave merchants and nobles never stopped. Many men swallowed hard at the outlines of the chastity belt and nipple clamps under the thin dress, at the figure showing through the airy cloth.
Another man came up and asked about the price.
"With a body like that, she'd fetch a high price. Not for sale yet?"
"I have no intention of selling."
Karsen's answer was cold. Listening, the Empress felt her chest ache. That her body was being discussed and appraised like this was unbearably miserable. Behind the veil she clenched her teeth—terrified of discovery, and at the same time seared with shame simply at being so exposed.
If these people recognize me…
Every time the thought circled, her chest tightened further. She stared at the ground through the lace and bit down hard.
After they returned to the prison, Karsen unfastened the leash from her collar and freed the hands bound behind her back.
The moment her hands were free she moved unconsciously to cover herself—but Karsen ordered her in a cold voice,
"Take it off."
She hesitated. Having to remove the dress she had worn through the market felt like another humiliation.
Even this clothes… isn't mine anymore.
Even a lowly slave would have something of their own to wear; that she was denied even that made her more wretched still.
Slowly she began to take the dress off. The thin fabric peeling from her skin brought a strange sense of loss. As thin and shameful as it had been, the dress from the market had at least given her a scrap of dignity. That she now had to surrender even that left her more miserable than before.
She held the dress carefully in both hands. It had wrinkled while she was led through the market; she smoothed each crease and folded it neatly on the floor. The tips of her fingers trembled as she arranged it.
I'm… folding this dress myself.
The fact pressed heavy on her chest. Not long ago countless maids had attended her; now she had to fold her own clothes and set them on the floor. The contrast crushed her further.
When the dress was neatly arranged she wrapped her arms around her naked body again. Karsen looked down at her and commanded coldly,
"Prostrate yourself next to the clothes. Full kowtow."
She hesitated a moment. That she had to press herself flat on the floor beside the folded dress felt like yet another humiliation—as if she were offering up everything she was to her master, fully exposed, and the thought made it worse.
Obeying, she slowly knelt and lowered herself. The instant her forehead touched the cold floor, she thought,
I'm… lying like this right now.
She clenched her teeth. That she, who until a short while ago had been emperor of this Empire, had been led through a market, stripped, and made to prostrate herself on the floor—the knowledge ground her pride to nothing.
Karsen looked down at her and said in a low voice,
"Declare it."
Forehead still to the floor, she opened her mouth in a trembling voice.
"I am Master's iron-blooded livestock."
The words seeped into the prison air. She clenched her teeth and kept her head down. The moments of being led through the market still would not leave her mind. And now, prostrated beside the clothes she herself had folded, the situation drove her deeper into shame.
After the trainers left, exhausted in mind and body, she lay naked on the prison floor once more and fell asleep.
