I Was Just Enjoying the Discipline - Chapter 17 🔞

“Phew. It’s finally done.”

After scraping the potion bottle clean, Cain wiped the beads of sweat from his brow and straightened up. His shoulders had stiffened from the countless repetitive strokes he’d made over such a long time, and the arm that had held the brush felt rigid.

Even so, the refreshing smile playing at his lips was one of complete satisfaction. After all, he had thoroughly tormented the human who had caused Yudel so much trouble, while also training her well enough that extracting her life essence would be far easier, sparing Yudel a great deal of effort.

Now ruined beyond further use and drenched in her slick fluids, Cain set the brush down on the table. Then he took a pocket watch from his coat and checked the time.

‘Lord Yudel should be coming for the woman any moment now.’

Gathering up the various tools scattered across the table, Cain quietly began tidying the room.

Even while he worked, the woman didn’t so much as twitch.

She remained slumped against the chair with her eyes closed. One might believe she had fainted, doing nothing but drawing ragged, uneven breaths.

‘This is only the beginning, yet she already looks exhausted.’

Looking at the woman’s face, now steeped in fatigue after barely half a day, Cain smiled with quiet satisfaction. Just imagining the hardships and suffering awaiting her once she fell into Yudel’s hands was enough to send a thrill through him.

‘She probably won’t last even a month. Lord Yudel seems utterly determined to squeeze every last drop from her.’

Her future promised nothing but misery, yet Cain felt no sympathy whatsoever. If anything, he merely let out a quiet, derisive snort. It’s what she deserves.

As he silently tidied away the instruments, wishing only for the woman’s misfortune, the door suddenly flew open. Before he even looked to see who had entered, Cain immediately stopped what he was doing and bowed his head. After all, there was only one person who would enter the interrogation room without bothering to knock.

“Lord Yudel. I was just finishing up. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“And the woman?”

The moment he stepped inside, Yudel gestured toward Sophia and asked about her condition. Drawing himself up proudly, Cain answered with unmistakable satisfaction.

“As you can see, she’s unconscious. The treatment went on for quite some time, so I don’t think she could endure it any longer. It was probably also because I used a mixture that was somewhat stronger than the one we used last time.”

“Hm.”

With an unreadable expression, Yudel gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment.

Without another word, his gaze slowly traveled over Sophia’s unconscious form from head to toe.

The woman was in a far more pitiful state than when Yudel himself had locked her in the interrogation room before dawn. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single spot that hadn’t been soaked with bodily fluids. She must have struggled violently against her restraints, for vivid red abrasions ringed the places where the ropes had rubbed against her skin.

Even so, those injuries were nothing compared to her bruised thighs. Dark blue bruises marred the pale flesh, overlaid with distinct hand-shaped marks. It seemed she had been particularly uncooperative while confined there. The bruising had grown so severe that the skin had split in places.

“Are you pleased with the results?”

Noticing that Yudel’s gaze had lingered on the woman’s thighs for quite some time, Cain spoke.

The violet eyes studying Sophia flicked briefly toward him before Yudel answered.

“More than I expected.”

“…….”

Cain smiled quietly at the praise.

“You’re the one who did this?”

“Yes. She kept clenching and interfering with my work, so I had little choice.”

“So she resisted that stubbornly.”

A faint, sardonic smile curled across Yudel’s lips. Had Sophia been awake to see it, the mockery in that smile alone would have been enough to make her flush with humiliation.

As if joining in, Cain added:

“That was why it took so long to finish. Had she relaxed even a little, I might have been able to give her a chance to rest.”

“In only three days, she’s already become quite the lewd little thing.”

A faint smile tugged at Yudel’s lips. The results had come faster than expected. Satisfied, he slowly walked toward her.

Just as Cain had claimed, she’d been clenching herself so tightly that he hadn’t even been able to give her a moment’s rest. The floor around the woman had become a shallow pool. Cain certainly hadn’t splashed water across the room, so every drop could only have come from her own body.

It was an amount beyond comparison to when she had first been imprisoned here. Her body had reached the ideal state for harvesting vital life essence.

“……”

A broad shadow gradually fell across her exhausted face.

The greatest threat of her life now stood only a step away. Yet the woman slept as though she were dead. Even as he drew this close, she never so much as flinched. Her sleep must have truly been ocean deep.

Looking down at her, Yudel was reminded of another scene from three days ago.

After being summoned by Eligos, he had returned to his room to find her asleep on his sofa. Earlier that dawn, she had escaped from prison, thrown the entire castle into chaos, and—just to make matters worse—put a conspicuous crack in the trust Eligos had placed in him. And yet there she’d been, sprawled across the sofa with the same utterly carefree expression she wore now.

“…You shouldn’t be sleeping so peacefully.”

Yudel’s voice was barely above a murmur.

“I’m working day and night to replace the little rats you let escape. Yet the one responsible gets to sleep in comfort? That hardly seems fair, does it?”

After all, you had the audacity to leave a scar on my body that will never fade.

The rest of the words remained unspoken. Yudel swallowed them back, then reached out.

Without the slightest regard for her dignity, he caught one of her stiffened nxxples between his fingers and twisted.