I Was Just Enjoying the Discipline - Chapter 10

Long, slender fingers gently traced the petals of a crimson rose. The blossom resting in its pristine white vase was flawless—untouched by insects, unmarred by harsh winds or withered edges.

Raised within the shelter of a greenhouse, never once exposed to the world beyond, the rose bloomed with quiet dignity and effortless grace.

Its petals felt cool beneath his fingertips. Just as warm blood flowed through a human body, cool sap coursed through the flower.

Eligos loved moments like this. Moments when he could feel, through the tips of his fingers, the vibrant life of the roses he had cultivated with such painstaking care.

“So…”

His voice broke the silence at last.

“How many escaped?”

Even as he spoke, Eligos’s elegant gaze never left the rose in its vase.

Kneeling upon the crimson carpet, Yudel kept his head bowed as he answered.

“One failed to escape. A total of seven got away.”

“…”

“The moment we realized they had broken out, we immediately began pursuit, but…”

“I take it you failed to recapture them.”

“…”

At Eligos’s unhurried reply, Yudel fell silent. There was nothing he could say. Even if he’d had ten mouths, no excuse would have sufficed.

The failure was entirely his. The fault was his alone. He had failed to keep watch over a handful of insignificant little rats. That responsibility belonged to Yudel and no one else.

Yet even after hearing his report, his merciless master, who never tolerated the mistakes of his retainers, remained absorbed in admiring the rose arranged in its vase.

A moment later, a smile curved Eligos’s lips. It was exquisitely beautiful.

And cold enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.

“It seems our newest prey was rather clever. To think she managed to make you commit the first mistake you’ve made in all the years you’ve served me.”

“…”

“And she even slipped through your pursuit.”

He let out a quiet, amused breath.

“What an unusually capable little prey. I must say, I’m impressed. So much so that I’d almost like to see her for myself.”

His tone hovered somewhere between admiration and mockery. At last, Eligos withdrew the hand that had been caressing the petals and plucked a single rose from the vase instead. Its stem was still lined with sharp, untrimmed thorns.

Rolling the thorny rose absently between his fingers, he strolled toward Yudel, who remained prostrate on the floor. With every step Eligos took, Yudel’s heart pounded harder beneath the crushing weight of death’s approach.

At the same time, another emotion surged violently within him. A rage so fierce it was almost impossible to put into words. Not toward Eligos, but toward the human woman who had forced him into this humiliation—who had made him kneel before his master with his forehead pressed to the floor.

At last, Eligos stopped directly before him. The sheer force of his presence bore down on Yudel like an invisible mountain, squeezing the breath from his lungs.

Cold sweat poured down Yudel’s back. Eligos’s fingertips brushed lightly against his jaw. The touch was almost gentle. Then, without warning, he tilted Yudel’s chin upward.

Their eyes met. Blood-red irises, vivid enough to resemble fresh-spilled crimson, gazed down upon him. The hand resting against his jaw was unnervingly cold.

“Yudel.”

“Yes, Lord Eligos.”

“You’ve served at my side for a very long time.”

“…Yes, my lord.”

“Then you know better than anyone how much I despise mistakes.”

“…I do.”

“And you also understand that the mistake you made today was so utterly disgraceful that I can scarcely overlook it.”

“…Yes, I understand.”

Yudel slowly closed his eyes. From the moment he had come to report his failure, he had already resigned himself to whatever punishment awaited him.

Eligos leisurely admired the face of the retainer kneeling obediently before him, awaiting judgment. His half-lidded crimson eyes gleamed with quiet cruelty.

“Good.”

Withdrawing his hand from Yudel’s face, Eligos took a single step backward.

The rose remained in his other hand. For an instant, magic gathered around its stem.

Then—

He drove it straight through Yudel’s thigh.

“Urgh…!”

The rose’s stem sliced through cloth and flesh like a blade, burying itself deep in Yudel’s thigh. His kneeling body lurched. His broad back quivered with pain.

Eligos looked down at him without the slightest trace of sympathy as Yudel drew ragged breaths, swallowing back the agony threatening to overwhelm him. Then, calmly, he placed a foot atop the rose standing upright from Yudel’s leg and pressed down.

The sound of flesh tearing rang out once more. The thorn-covered stem drove even deeper, piercing toward his calf.

The pain was so excruciating that it robbed him of even the ability to scream. Blood quickly soaked through his black trousers before dripping onto the crimson carpet beneath him.