The Truth Serum
Strange...
"...So if you just listen carefully to what I say, no one in this academy will dare bully you. I'll protect you. How about it?"
Camilla's voice lingered faintly by my ear.
Strangely, the words refused to sink into my head properly. They hummed meaninglessly, like sound drifting through a thick pane of glass.
Every nerve in my body was fixed elsewhere.
"Hnn... uh..."
I need to... pull myself together...
But my body refused to obey.
A hot, sticky wave of pleasure rose from deep in my lower belly and crashed over me without pause. Every breath, every heartbeat, even the trivial act of blinking became fresh stimulation that only amplified the sensation.
Strange. I've almost never lost control this badly before...
Masochist.
I had lived with this cursed ability for a long time. I was used to feeling pain as pleasure while still keeping just enough reason to stay in command of a situation.
Today was different.
Was it my period? Or the lingering effect of the curse I had absorbed from Elise last night?
This pleasure was too strong, too deep; it was eating away at my will.
What's wrong with me?
The very moment I registered how wrong it felt and tried to search for a cause—
Crash!
"Ugh...! Hah!"
Camilla hurled me roughly to the floor. The hard surface slammed into every part of my body with brutal force. The sudden pain dragged my fading consciousness straight back into the whirlpool of pleasure.
"Ah... nngh..."
Every nerve stood on end; my vision blurred. I lay face-down on the floor, gasping for breath.
"Get your head on straight, Yeon Bennet!"
Camilla seized a fistful of my hair and yanked me upright. Her sharp voice cracked against my eardrums.
"Isaac Bennet! Spit out every single thing you know about that man! Right now!"
Her urgent shout rang in my ears, yet I could not form a proper answer. The pain of my hair being pulled, the impact of being thrown, and the endless waves of pleasure surging up from my lower belly all tangled together and paralyzed my reason.
"Hnn... ahh... haa..."
I could only twist my body and let out meaningless moans.
I need to... get a grip...
"Haa... This is useless. Tie her up!"
At Camilla's irritated command, the followers waiting beside her stepped forward as if they had been waiting for the order. With practiced ease they began binding my arms and legs with rope.
I tried to resist, but my legs, melted by pleasure, had no strength left in them.
The sensation of my entire body being tightly restrained. The helplessness of being unable to move an inch. It became yet another kind of stimulation that washed over me. Even the pressure of the rope biting into my skin felt sweet.
I bit my lip hard.
"……."
Camilla looked down at me writhing on the floor in my bonds with an incredulous expression. She turned to the followers standing beside her.
"What's wrong with her?"
They exchanged glances, and one of them answered carefully.
"Um... Lady Camilla. Could she have... taken some kind of drug?"
"Drug?"
Camilla stared at me for a moment, then clicked her tongue.
"Haa... You've really hit rock bottom."
She looked down at me with a mixture of contempt and mockery and sneered.
"You acted so high and mighty last time, but I guess things got pretty rough for you since then? Bad enough to start using drugs. Honestly, if it were me, I'd have been so ashamed I'd have killed myself already."
Her followers burst into laughter. Their scornful, contemptuous gazes poured over me.
"Hmm..."
Then Camilla's voice suddenly turned honey-sweet and soft. She approached my bound form, crouched down, and gently stroked my chin. A shiver ran through me at her touch.
"You look like you're having a hard time, Yeon."
She wore a worried expression, yet her eyes still glittered coldly.
"It's almost pitiful to watch. So how about I tweak my proposal a little?"
...Proposal?
What proposal was she talking about? I struggled to grasp her words through a mind already half-swallowed by pleasure.
Camilla leaned close and whispered into my ear. Her voice was as sweet and dangerous as a serpent's temptation.
"That 'drug' you want so badly. If that's the reason you're suffering like this right now, I can help you as much as you need. I'll get you the highest grade so you can take as much as you want, to your heart's content."
Her fingers brushed softly across my cheek.
"In exchange... everything you know about Duke Bennet. Hand it all over to me. Then I'll free you from this pain and let you enjoy even greater pleasure. How about it? Pretty good offer, don't you think?"
Drug...? Pleasure...? Information...?
I clearly heard the words Camilla whispered. Yet they scattered inside my head without forming meaning, as if I were wandering through fog. Her sweet voice, her gentle touch, and the phrase "pretty good offer" mixed with the pleasure in my lower belly and pushed me into even deeper confusion.
What... does she want?
My thoughts refused to turn properly. Nothing seemed important except the intense pleasure flooding me in this very moment. I could not judge what Camilla wanted or what I was supposed to do. I simply swayed helplessly between the sweet temptation before my eyes and the uncontrollable waves raging inside my body.
Just... like this...
My thinking grew hazier. The urge to simply surrender my body to this pleasure rose strongly. Do whatever Camilla wanted, escape this sensation that was neither pain nor pleasure—or sink even deeper into it. Either way seemed fine.
I barely managed to open my mouth to answer. But...
"Hnn... heuk..."
Only meaningless, lewd moans came out. My voice would not form properly. Whether pleasure had paralyzed my vocal cords or my reason had completely fled, the more I tried to speak, the stranger the sounds that spilled from me.
"……."
After watching me for a moment, Camilla's expression hardened into ice again. She clicked her tongue and rose to her feet. The sweet mask was gone without a trace.
"Haa... So you don't even intend to answer. Fine, then."
She looked down at me with cold eyes.
"I didn't want to use this method, but..."
Camilla gestured to the followers behind her.
"Bring what we prepared."
At her command, two of them disappeared into an inner room and soon returned carrying a tray with several small potion bottles. Inside each bottle was a viscous, transparent liquid.
Camilla picked up one of the bottles and dangled it in front of my eyes. The liquid inside glittered unpleasantly in the light.
"This should look pretty familiar to you, right?"
She spoke with a sneer.
"You saw them use it on the other inmates when you were locked up, didn't you?"
Familiar?
I groped through my hazy mind for the memory. That clear, sticky liquid... where had I seen it...?
Ah.
Truth serum.
Bastille Prison.
While I was locked up there, I had seen them use it on other prisoners. A drug that inflicted extreme pain to force the truth out of someone. Of course I had never experienced it myself—I had received "special treatment"—but the sight of other convicts writhing in agony after being dosed was still vivid in my memory.
She uncorked the potion bottle with a cruel smile.
"It'll hurt a lot, but... well, it doesn't do any direct physical harm, so don't worry too much."
Camilla roughly seized my chin and forced my mouth open. As she tilted the bottle she whispered into my ear.
"I'll feed you a nice big dose until you come to your senses and decide to listen to us."
The cold rim of the bottle touched my lips.
No... I have to refuse...!
Reason screamed desperately inside my head. I must not drink that drug.
But...
The extreme pain I would feel after drinking it. The sensation of every nerve burning and my organs twisting. When I imagined the unknown pleasure that would bring... strength drained from my entire body.
No—rather, my body relaxed of its own accord, preparing to accept the drug.
Caught between the will to resist and the instinct that craved pain, I collapsed helplessly. In the end I could only stare blankly at the bottle Camilla was tilting, unable to offer any resistance at all.
A sticky, disgusting liquid poured down my throat, bringing with it a choking sensation as if it were flowing all the way into my lungs. An entire potion bottle emptied into me.
"Ghk...! Kuh...!"
The moment I forced down the last drop, the change came instantly.
...Ah!
A violent stimulus exploded from within, as if every nerve in my body were screaming. A searing heat like my stomach twisting and my organs melting. What flowed through my veins no longer felt like blood but like molten lava.
Every breath felt as though my lungs were being torn apart; my heart pounded madly as if it would burst at any second.
But... ahh, but...!
"Hyaaah...! Hnn...! Nngh...!"
Uncontrollable pleasure began to dominate my entire body. The pleasure from menstrual pain was no longer even noticeable. This was an overwhelming wave of ecstasy that shook my very existence, incomparable to anything before.
My mind felt as if it were burning pure white. Every single cell in my body seemed to melt and tremble with pleasure. Even the sensation of the poison spreading and stabbing through my organs felt like delicate caresses stroking every corner of me.
"Haa... haa... hnn...!"
I thrashed and rolled across the floor. Tears of unknown origin—pleasure, perhaps—streamed down my cheeks, and lewd cries kept bursting from my mouth.
Hnn... this... is getting weird...
Snap! Crack!
"…!"
In the midst of my frantic thrashing, I heard the ropes binding me snap and fall away as if they were nothing. My enhanced strength had exploded without my realizing it.
"Aack!"
In that same moment my arm flailed through the air and accidentally struck one of the followers standing right beside me with tremendous force. With a dull thud the girl screamed and tumbled to the floor. Whether her arm was broken or she was hurt somewhere else, she lay moaning in pain, unable to rise.
The instant I saw that, the wave of pleasure that had been consuming me receded for a moment.
No... I have to... control my strength...
A sharp guilt, like a shard of broken bone, stabbed into my hazy consciousness. My mouth, which had refused to open, finally managed to move.
"So... sorry... I didn't... mean to..."
I mumbled in a trembling voice. Confusion and guilt mixed across a face still soaked in pleasure.
But there was no one left to hear my apology.
"That crazy bitch…!"
Camilla's face, which had been watching the entire scene, twisted with rage. She glanced briefly at the fallen follower, then fixed me with eyes as cold as ice and gave the order.
"What are you doing? Trample that bitch right now!"
At Camilla's command, the remaining followers charged at me without hesitation.