In the dim prison cell, Eric, exhausted from the Fat Man’s torment, lay listlessly on the wooden bed, his clothes in disarray.
A burning, tearing pain from behind made it impossible for him to sleep normally.
As waves of pain radiated through his body, Eric felt nothing but humiliation.
After the Fat Man had his fun, he tossed Eric aside and fell into a loud, snoring sleep.
The Fat Man’s snoring made Eric’s head ache.
Who knows how long it had been since the Fat Man last bathed—his stench was overwhelming.
When pressed beneath the Fat Man’s weight, Eric felt he couldn’t even breathe through his nose.
Now, Eric felt as if the Fat Man’s stink clung to him as well.
Worse, after such abuse, Eric feared he might get sick.
“Liyakade…”
Eric bit his teeth, forcing the name out through clenched jaws.
The more humiliated and tormented he became, the more he blamed everything on Liyakade.
In the end, Liyakade was just a small-time noble from the border.
To get close to the Princess, she must have sold her body, right?
Eric still remembered that photo of her wearing a collar.
If she could strut around the Academy with a collar, who knows how she was trained in private, like a dog—who knows how much she was debased.
What’s the difference between her and those pimps in the alleys?
The only difference is she sold herself to the Princess!
It was all because his Family wasn’t powerful enough.
If he had been born into the Royal Family, if he was a Prince, he could decide life and death at will.
Liyakade?
A spineless sycophant like her would have obeyed him meekly.
His supposed love for women was just an excuse to climb to the Princess.
Powerless and enraged, Eric could only lie there, his thoughts filled with twisted fantasies about Liyakade—imagining how depraved and miserable she was.
But in reality, she was living happily in the royal palace.
Eric was the one stuck in this dark, cold, and damp dungeon, sharing a cell with the Fat Man.
“Hehe… Feels humiliating, doesn’t it?”
“Who?”
A sudden female voice startled Eric.
He scrambled off the bed, accidentally bumping his rear and grimacing in pain.
“Who I am isn’t important. How does it feel to be toyed with by a man like that? Humiliating, isn’t it?”
“Who is it? Stop playing tricks—show yourself!”
Eric looked around, but the cell was empty.
Even the guards outside had retreated to the outer corridor.
It was impossible the voice had come from outside.
He could only feel the cold, mocking voice of a woman echoing in his ear.
Not far away, the Fat Man, already asleep, frowned at Eric’s shouting and rolled over, scaring Eric half to death.
Fortunately, the Fat Man didn’t wake up.
Otherwise, Eric might have suffered another beating.
“Don’t make such a fuss. Aren’t you a noble? Why do you act like you’ve never seen the world?”
The woman’s voice sounded a little impatient.
“Seems you haven’t spent enough time in Prison.”
“My lady!”
Hearing the woman’s words, Eric detected a hint that she might be willing to take him out.
He quickly changed his tone.
“Humiliating! I’ve never suffered such disgrace since I was a child. My lady, who are you? From your words, do you mean you can take me out?”
“Hehe, of course I can.”
The woman let out a playful laugh, her voice continuing.
“Do you want revenge?”
“Revenge?”
At the word, Eric’s eyes flashed with excitement.
“Of course! Can you help me get revenge?!”
“Those damned women… They open their legs and get money and power, and they dare treat me like this. Once I get out, I’ll kill Liyakade!”
Eric made no effort to hide his hatred for Liyakade and the others, declaring his resolve for revenge to the woman.
“Not bad.”
The woman listened to the venom in Eric’s tone, sounding satisfied.
“I can give you the Power of Revenge, but you must agree to any condition I set.”
“I accept!”
Eric agreed without hesitation.
“Oh? So decisive? You won’t even ask what the condition is?”
The woman sounded a bit surprised at Eric’s quick answer.
“My Family must have abandoned me by now. Staying here is a dead end—and I’ll just keep getting toyed with by that Fat Man. I’ll accept any condition!”
“As long as I can kill Liyakade! No, I don’t just want to kill her. I want to defile her before that, turn her into a plaything, make her regret everything she’s ever done, make her regret even being born!”
“Oh my, how terrifying.”
“What are you shouting about?! Annoying! Did you not have enough fun earlier?!”
At last, Eric’s voice woke the Fat Man.
He roared at Eric, the bed creaking as he shifted his bulk and walked toward Eric, his face twisted with rage.
“Noisy.”
But in the next instant, black strings as dark as ink shot out from the shadows.
The Fat Man had barely taken a step before several black threads pierced him from below, pinning him to the ceiling.
In an instant, only a shriveled skin remained of the Fat Man, his head dangling from his body, the expression of anger still frozen on his face.
White fat and pus burst forth, splattering across the walls and ceiling.
The Fat Man’s intestines, along with their contents, landed at Eric’s feet.
The foul stench was overwhelming.
Eric was stunned by the scene.
Though the Fat Man had just violated him, Eric should have felt satisfied to see his killer dead.
But the suddenness and brutality of the death left Eric’s body overcome by an uncontrollable, primal reaction.
He’d never seen anything like it, not even during his time at the Academy.
Even when he went to Dungeons, he was always protected by Family elders or Academy groups—no one ever died.
His Family had taken him to Execution Grounds and Prisons to witness punishments and Interrogation to harden his mind.
But nothing had ever been as terrifying as what he saw now.
Even the worst criminals were usually left with their bodies intact.
But this woman’s method seemed to hollow out a person, dismembering and crushing them utterly.
Eric hurriedly covered his mouth, fighting the urge to vomit.
A stench rose from below; having already been violated by the Fat Man, he found it impossible to control himself.
Only now did he realize how lucky he’d been that his earlier defiance hadn’t angered this woman.
She truly had the power to lead him to revenge—or to kill him instantly.
Even if he regained his Magic Power, he would have no way to resist.
Eric was terrified that his pathetic behavior might displease her and get him turned into minced meat.
“Do you see?”
“This is my power.”
In the darkness, viscous black liquid surged from the shadows, twisting and merging into a graceful figure.
If Liyakade and the others were here, they would have screamed—for the person emerging from the shadow was none other than Darkness, the one who had trapped them earlier.
The true form of Darkness was what Liyakade and her companions had seen that day.
She hadn’t even bothered to disguise herself before appearing to them.
But Darkness was no longer the obedient girl she had been.
She untied her braided hair, letting the jet-black strands fall smoothly to her waist.
Her plain glasses had vanished somewhere, and madness blazed in her crimson eyes.