Chapter 39

‘Suck, suck, suck.’

‘Yes, you’re right, the master will beat you, but I don’t intend to, so it’s all right, isn’t it?’

Squeak, squeak.

The thick fingers made lustful noises as they poked inside.

“I don’t expect you to be humiliated by this either, it’s just punishment. Without my permission.

Riorem was silent for a moment.

He swallowed hard, wondering if he was thirsty.

‘For trying to escape my grasp without my permission.’

The touch grew more insistent.

A sticky liquid splashed along the rough touch.

“For going out. That you went to see another man, and that man is someone who can help you…. All of those things are things you shouldn’t do without your master’s permission.‘

’Hmph. Ugh.‘

’Since I shouldn’t have done it with words, I guess it’s time to teach you by example, that you can only do what you have my permission to do now.”

Three fingers jabbed in different places.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

A mixture of familiar and not-so-familiar sensations jostled with each other, and then Riorem’s breath was on my lips.

‘Let’s start by becoming an animal.’

Riorem’s grip on my wrist tightened.

As if to tell me to release the hold I had on my lower abdomen.

I couldn’t hold on much longer.

A languid buoyancy grips me as the climax I’ve been holding back begins.

Push, push, push.

A clear liquid spurted out of my overstretched bladder.

It was a foul-smelling trickle, like watery baby fluid.

While I was cumming and gagging, Riorem never stopped his hand, causing me to splash everywhere.

On his collar, on the leaves on the ground.

I was dripping with fluid.

It was a very loud climax.

It was already the last day.

Today was effectively settlement day.

We’d distribute the kill, reward those who performed well, and finish any remaining discussions…

The busiest day of the year.

None of this applied to me, of course.

I wasn’t a person, more like a piece of furniture belonging to Riorem, and now I was really just an ornament.

‘Or a pet.’

Since I’d been back in the tent, I’d been gagged.

My ankles were also bound with rope.

I was treated like an unruly animal.

I was not even given time to eat.

No one was allowed to come into Riorem’s tent anymore, and he brought me my own food.

Still, it was surprisingly bearable.

It wasn’t too uncomfortable, except that I had to sit on the floor because he didn’t allow me a couch or chair.

The man who ordered me to live this way didn’t look comfortable, but he was willing to answer the crown prince’s call rather than watch me sit on the carpet.

Today I was left alone in the tent from the morning.

This allowed me to focus on the sounds outside.

‘You’re really coming to the castle, with all this luggage?’

I could hear the soldiers’ voices through the small gap I had created.

‘The crown prince has been begging us to come for at least a meal since yesterday evening.

I don’t think General Dani would have been able to resist.’

‘Even so, with all this luggage, and “that”.’

There was a hint of mock curiosity in the deliberately low voice.

There was only one person who spoke more highly of Riorem than the Crown Prince, and that was.

The woman who had been with him all along, but whose face they had never seen.

I closed the gap completely, letting the conspiratorial speculation about me flow.

Instead, I decided to focus on the story of the crown prince’s invitation to Riorem to the castle.

‘Does he want to make contact with me somehow?’

Even if the schedule wasn’t gruelling, it was.

It was rude to invite someone who had already spent three days outside.

I almost wondered why the crown prince hadn’t gone to such lengths to send Riorem back to Castle Dinamis.

It would be far less difficult to bring him back to the castle than it would be to find me and sneak into his bedroom.

‘He’ll freak out when he sees me like this.’

The gagged princess won’t be convinced that it’s okay.

Still, it’s better than going back to Dinamis Castle as it is.

I waited for Riorem with a lighter heart.

After a while, Riorem returned with a light meal.

I spoke up as soon as he ungagged me.

‘I heard you were going to the royal castle.’

‘…Who told you?’

‘Your soldiers, who were wondering if I was your lover or your servant.’

Riorem’s jaw clenched heavily.

‘The crown prince is going to see me, what are you going to do?’

‘I’m going to catch him on contact and use it as a weakness. If he keeps doing this, I’m going to let him know it’s co-operation and nothing else, so he won’t crawl away.’

Riorem stretched out his hand toward me.

I did as he instilled in me, or more accurately, as he tried to instill in me.

I stuck my chin in his palm.

I looked up at him as if he were a pet.

As expected, his eyebrows wiggled.

He should be pleased that I was doing as he asked, but instead he looked uncomfortable.

It’s ridiculous.

‘By the way, don’t say a word, or you won’t get away with it.‘

’Well, if I don’t say anything, you’ll be more uneasy.‘

’And don’t mind other people’s feelings, either.”

‘Are you serious?’

Riorem pursed her lips.

Because he knows best that I’m not naturally concerned with other people’s feelings.

‘Then why are you even thinking about it?’

‘Because I’m afraid that a restless crown prince will steal me away from my master.’

Riorem’s face contorts.

I really didn’t understand him.

Why he would want to mark me as his slave whenever I behaved like one.

But I was more than a little bothered by his distress.

Perhaps… angry.

It was ridiculous to second-guess my own emotions, but I couldn’t help it.

For me, emotions were a learning curve.

Most emotions were so faint that I could only inertially distinguish the difference between moods.

What I was feeling for Riorem right now, on the other hand, was quite clear.

For the first time in my life, I felt a sense of jun.

I had to trace the names of these emotions backwards, and I came up with disappointment and anger.

I was disappointed in him, angry that he couldn’t trust me this much, and I was getting on his nerves in an unprecedentedly blatant way.

I wanted him to be uncomfortable and distressed by this situation.

Riorem was unable to stop me.

This is truly slavish behaviour.

I rubbed my cheek against his hand.

“So. What do you want me to do?‘

’Command me. You’re more likely to be able to tell me what to do, aren’t you?”

There was a chill in the silence.

But the confrontation was futile.

A gravelly voice came from beyond the barrier.

‘General, it’s time to load up.’

‘Yes, sir.’

As if barely able to catch his breath, Lorem replied hoarsely.

He dismissed my hand and rose from his chair.

I remained seated after he left.

On the nightstand in front of me was the meal he had brought.

I could see that the stew was cooling down, but I didn’t touch it.

Then Riorem brought my clothes and a cloth covering to cover my hair and face along with my clothes.

I could hear him clenching his teeth as he realised that I had been staring at the food.

“Eat. I’ll change my clothes first.”

I laughed at the pained, squeezed sound of his voice.

I took the spoon in my hand, satisfied.

It was a triumphant feast.

***

The whole way out of the woods, we didn’t say a word.

I didn’t intend to.

I was busy adjusting to the foreign sensations in my limbs.

Riorem didn’t gag me.

Instead, he placed restraints on my hands and ankles.

I lifted my bound wrists in front of me.

The lunge was a little big for me, as it was originally used to capture beasts alive.

The restraints themselves were tolerable.

“This is uncomfortable.”

The restraints themselves were tolerable.

The problem was the fit.

The restraints themselves were tolerable, but the problem was the fit.

Riorem found the restraints very uncomfortable, too.

But he remained silent, though fidgety.

The carriage turned onto the road.