Chapter 316: Stockholm Syndrome

“Sigh… This is called Stockholm Syndrome.”

Liyakade let out a long sigh.

These women had been tormented in this underground chamber for too long.

In a situation where power was extremely unequal and their lives were under threat at any moment, they had to develop such psychological strategies in order to survive.

They used this twisted method to identify with their oppressors, thus reducing the possibility of being harmed and mentally dissolving the hopelessness and fear of being unable to escape.

In these dark days with no hope in sight, they had to believe that Guan Chun had a reason for doing what he did, that he had no choice but to treat them this way—only then could they avoid utter physical and mental despair.

After all, as long as they served Lord Guan Chun well, they could get a decent meal and a more comfortable environment, and at least they wouldn’t be killed, right?

The behavior of the three women before her was a clear demonstration of their utter despair.

From their scarred bodies, it was evident that they had suffered more torment than the others.

There were even strange spots on their bodies, likely symptoms from prolonged torture under Guan Chun.

Suffering from both physical and psychological torment, these three had long lost their sanity.

The woman who had tried to escape earlier had been brutally murdered by Guan Chun in front of them.

After torturing that woman to the brink of death, Guan Chun forced these three women to finish her off.

If they refused, he would pick one of them and make the other two kill her, continuing until all were dead.

In such despair, to survive, the three had to end that woman’s life.

However, even after that, Guan Chun didn’t let them go.

To make them more obedient, he ordered them to dispose of the body.

Without tools, they had to dig a hole with their hands under the floor in the corner of the prison cell and bury her remains underground.

At that point, the three women’s spirits completely collapsed.

One of them even began to develop a more twisted emotion: she fell in love with Guan Chun.

“No… Lord Guan Chun, I love you. I will get better, please don’t abandon me!”

The one who fell in love with Guan Chun was the woman who had first rushed out and thrown herself at his feet.

After hearing his disdainful words, she shook his leg with tears and snot streaming down her face.

Meanwhile, the two kneeling before Liyakade began to tremble upon hearing Guan Chun’s words, as if they were also crying.

Seeing the three of them like this, Liyakade felt pity.

She looked back at the women in the prison cell, and then one by one they began to come out.

“L-Lady, are you… really here to save us?”

One of them, already crying, asked Liyakade incredulously.

Some still couldn’t believe what was happening—that in this bandit stronghold overrun with bandits, someone had found them and was rescuing them.

“Mhm, yes. You can rest assured.”

With that, Liyakade waved her hand, summoning a gentle breeze that rolled up the luxurious fabrics in the room and draped them over the barely clothed women.

Feeling the long-absent and unfamiliar sensation of being wrapped, the women were too moved to speak.

From their first day here, they had been stripped of the right to wear clothes.

Every inch of their skin was exposed to Guan Chun, like slaves in primitive society, or like lowly animals or pets.

Here, they had lost their sense of being human.

But now, the fabric draped over them restored a bit of human dignity to those who hadn’t completely lost their minds.

The three women lying on the ground pleading for Guan Chun were no exception.

Liyakade also draped fabric over them.

The two kneeling before her were dazed; they no longer knocked their heads but knelt there blankly, their sobbing subsiding a little.

But the woman lying at Guan Chun’s feet, shaking his arm, was ungrateful.

She roughly threw off the fabric and even pointed at Liyakade’s nose, cursing.

“Get lost! You bitch! I don’t need this kind of thing!”

“What nonsense are you talking! Shut up! The lady rescued us! How can you speak to her like that?!”

The hearts of the other women leapt into their throats when this woman pointed at Liyakade and cursed.

One of them spoke up to stop her.

Although they had been saved by Liyakade, they didn’t know what kind of person she was.

If they angered her, they might still end up dead.

Even Mi La became tense.

Although Liyakade had shown a cute side in the treasure room earlier, in Mi La’s impression, Liyakade was mostly brutal.

If this ungrateful woman, reeking of death, pointed at her nose and cursed, Liyakade might actually get angry and kill this woman too, letting her join her beloved Guan Chun in death.

“What? What do you mean by that?! Don’t you also love Lord Guan Chun? You were always competing for his favor. Now that Lord Guan Chun is about to be killed, why won’t you help him?!”

“You idiot! That was all an act! If it weren’t for survival, who would obey a scumbag like him?!”

“You… you dare call Lord Guan Chun a scumbag… You ungrateful wretches!!”

“Shut up!”

The women, seeing that she was still not coming to her senses and even wanted to hit this woman, stepped in.

“Sigh… Stop.”

Liyakade’s voice was calm but carried an irresistible authority.

The women immediately stopped their actions and stood still, afraid to speak.

Actually, there was one thing Mi La had misjudged.

Mi La thought Liyakade was mostly brutal, but in fact, Liyakade was mostly cute, even somewhat innocent.

Mi La simply hadn’t interacted with her long enough.

When it came to Liyakade’s personality, Field and Alice knew best.

“Three sisters, think carefully. Did Guan Chun really have any reason of his own? Calm down. You don’t need to worry about your lives anymore. Nothing can hurt you now.”

Seeing Liyakade speak patiently, Mi La’s impression of her changed even more.

She was not just a bloodthirsty executioner, nor a demon race craving only bloodshed.

When dealing with evildoers, she used brutal strength and methods to make those scumbags regret being born into this world.

But when dealing with the weak, like Mi La and these women, Liyakade not only didn’t look down on them but was full of respect and patience.

She didn’t show any displeasure or disgust because these women were disheveled and dirty.

She didn’t deliberately deny them fabric just because the three women resisted her.

Even now, Liyakade didn’t use her overwhelming power to force the three women into submission, but patiently tried to persuade and heal them with words.

Seeing all this, Ni Li’s admiration for Liyakade grew even stronger.

Not fearing the strong, protecting the weak—that, in Ni Li’s eyes, was true strength.

It was the act of a brave one, the act of a hero.

And Liyakade was also a user of the wind element.

She longed to become as strong as Liyakade, to become a powerful person like her.