Chapter 28
‘They say moans are coming from the second floor.’
‘What?’
Not until the priests attending them made up all sorts of excuses and left the room, one by one.
And that became an unintended opportunity.
An opportunity he did not want, but had hoped for.
Once he confirmed all the attendants were gone, Crown Prince Aldenas, with a different glint in his eyes than the seemingly obtuse one he had shown until now, asked him:
‘Have you heard of the two-headed snake?’
To anyone else, it might have seemed like nonsensical gibberish.
But the words that followed clearly pointed to one thing.
‘To my eyes, the temple looks like that. I wonder if the two heads get along.’
He was talking about the temple with two heads—the High Priest and the Pope.
‘They get along terribly. Enough to want to chew each other to death.’
That’s why his true feelings slipped out unintentionally.
The Crown Prince’s eyes widened slightly, then he nodded as if understanding.
‘We’ll have a chance to talk soon.’
If he could handle that conversation well…
If Crown Prince Aldenas had other thoughts, as Ian suspected…
Could he get her out of this hellish place?
Just thinking about it made the area near the brand on his heart ache.
It was her first time being punished.
***
No, shouldn’t punishment be for those who have done wrong?
‘Ah!’
Of course, she had spilled tea on the Crown Prince’s clothes.
But it was her first time serving anyone.
No, does it even make sense for me to be serving anyone?
‘Can’t even serve properly. Needs proper training.’
And in the place she was dragged to…
‘Hh, uh, ah……!’
…the moans she let out were positively beastly.
Like a beast in heat.
She felt utterly tattered.
What was more bewildering than the fact she had been punished was…
—Smack!
Every time the priests struck her down there, her peak, her body reacted as if jolting upward.
Even if she gritted her teeth and tried not to react, it was useless.
If she had reacted because it hurt, she wouldn’t have felt this wretched.
But.
‘Hhng!’
She was clearly… reacting for another reason.
The feeling of being struck down there seemed to shake her entire body with a distinct tremor.
That prickling sensation was something that sapped the strength from her legs and made her lower parts wet.
Unbelievable as it was, as much as she didn’t want to believe it, her body was responding.
And every time the man put the paddle down, her gaze kept drifting back to it.
As if… she was expecting it.
“I must be going insane.”
I have to get a grip.
Delonas covered her cheeks with both hands.
Physically, her body was surprisingly intact.
The most basic of the holy water’s efficacies she had learned about while being here was healing.
And though the people here did not give her the holy water, it was smeared everywhere, and even the cleaning was done with it.
Even the baths she cleaned were infused with holy water, so any physical wounds had already healed as if washed away.
That’s why the feeling was even stranger.
It was more disorienting, as if she were going mad, confused whether what happened to her was a dream or reality.
It’s a dream, it’s all a dream.
They’ll play with me until they’re bored, and when they’re bored, they’ll forget about me.
Just as she clung to that hope, just as she thought that…
—Clunk!
The door to the warehouse-like place where she was confined opened.
And a priest, backlit by the light, spoke with an unreadable expression.
“Are you prepared to attend His Holiness the Pope?”
“Ah….”
At those words, Delonas felt thrown back into a cold reality.
Right. Being hit with the paddle was, according to them, ‘training’.
‘Training’ so she could serve noble personages.
She thought she had no attachment left to the title of ‘princess’.
She thought she had never lived enjoying it.
But it seems that wasn’t the case.
Without even realizing it, tears streamed from her eyes.
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