A Cycle of Punishment and Care

My heart dropped to the floor and throbbed.

“Wh-when did you, get here?”

Unlike me, who was flustered, the man was calm.
As if he had been there from the beginning, he tossed the prison key and stared at me intently.

…Ting, ting.

Beyond the expressionless face’s golden eyes, the metal piece shot up from his fingertips and was caught.
I couldn’t tell if it was the key or the man’s eyes that were constantly glinting as they reflected the light.

“If it’s not a hobby.”

“…It is a hobby!”

I wondered what he meant and then quickly answered.
The gaze that landed on me, as if telling me to keep talking, tilted crookedly.

“I saw some stairs on the way, so I came because I was curious, and it’s just that…”

“……”

“I happened to see a Nemea…. It’s kind of an embarrassing hobby, so I wanted to keep it a secret…”

Perhaps he pitied me as I stammered as if my throat was being squeezed, because thankfully, the man’s expression softened a little.

“So. Did you get what you needed?”

“Yeah! …Um, no. Sorry.”

I answered without thinking, then flinched at his cold gaze and shook my head.
Not only did I enter the prison without permission, but I also touched a prisoner, so I had no excuse even if I had ten mouths.

“…Should I give it back? The nails…”

As I was rummaging through my inventory, watching his expression, the man snatched the key he had thrown and stood up.

Crunch, crunch.

His huge body approached with a terrifying momentum.
I was so scared that I shrunk my neck, but Karvan walked right past me.

“You don’t know your place.”

Crack!
Beyond the prison, the Nemea’s face was twisted, and something shot out of its wide-open mouth.

“K-kuhuk.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes as an ice spear, straight and large, shot out of its mouth like a magician’s show.
The Nemea, who was clutching its throat and gagging, collapsed with a thud.

The blood that spread out like a waterfall created a muddy puddle on the prison floor.
The lion beast-kin, who had fallen helplessly like a life-sized dummy in a gale, had a gaping hole in its left chest.

There was no need to wonder, ‘How did that happen?’
Because a square ice box was suddenly held out in front of me.

Thump, thump.
I wasn’t surprised to see the Nemea’s heart, which was still breathing, inside.

In the first place, ‘Legacyth Chronicle’ was rated 19+, so it had reproduced the racy and gory elements as they were.
I had always collected monster trophies like that, so there was no reason to be surprised.

“You don’t know your place.”

What shocked me was the man’s words.

It was clearly a kind of example.
He was warning me.
‘Behave yourself if you don’t want to end up like that.’

“To allow entry into the prison. The Sura are all missing a screw.”

The gaze that was coldly scanning the empty head guard’s desk landed on my forearm.
It was the scratch from the Nemea.

Drip, drip.
The moment he saw the fresh blood flowing down my elbow, the golden eyes, which had been emotionless, glinted.
Like a predator that had found its prey, he strode over and reached out with a terrifying face.

“Ah…!”

Unconsciously, I was terrified and hid my arm behind my back.

“I-it’s okay. I’ll treat it.”

“…Let me see.”

“It’s really okay! This is nothing.”

As I shook my head and refused again, the man didn’t approach any further.

“……”

However, he stared intently at the arm I had hidden behind my back.
As if looking at a prey that had just escaped in front of his eyes.

Seeing those lingering, cool eyes, I remembered what a friend who used to raise a cat once said.

“It’s hard to tell if animals are sick because they hide their pain.”
“Why do they hide their pain?”
“Because it’s proof that they’ve become weak. They hide their wounds.”

He said it was a habit to survive in the wild.

According to the strict law of the jungle, the weak become the prey of the predator.
So even if it’s painful, they never show any sign of being sick.

I thought I should do the same.
I should never show this man that I’m hurt.

“Is there a reason for me to protect you?”

‘Because I’m just a thorough tool to the man.’

‘Because I’m a Destroyer who deserves to die whenever my usefulness disappears.’

The eternal snow repeats its melting and freezing.

Even if it melts for a moment in the sunlight during the day, it freezes again at night.
Even if it looks like rippling water, its essence is cold snow.

“Ah, huh, hngh…!”

Karvan Baharga.
This man is the same.

Even if he softens for a moment and shows tolerance, his essence is ultimately a Varg.
A race that hates Awakeners to the bone.

“J-just a little, hngh, rest, ugh, rest for a bit…”

So, I cannot change the man.
Just as a lukewarm sunlight cannot melt the eternal snow, the man, who is frozen solid, will hate me forever, and I will be choked in his grasp for the rest of my life.

“Please, hmph, it’s hard…”

“You need to tire yourself out so you don’t do anything unnecessary during the day. Do you even know how many people have been assigned to you?”

‘Then who told him to assign so many?’
I swallowed the words that were about to come up to my chin.
Of course, it was entirely my fault for entering the underground prison without permission.
To put it in four words, I reaped what I sowed.

“Ah, sob, ugh…!”

But I didn’t expect to be punished this much.

I was fucked for two whole days.
My buttocks were on fire from the testicles that hit me so hard as we mated like beasts.

“…! Ah, hngh, pull, pull it out…”

The man was a liar.
He said his genitals only changed during the full moon, but he would swell the root of his c*ck at any time, so there were times when I had to sleep with it inserted.

And when I woke up, it was back to square one.
Every time the man thrusted his hips, I had to flap around like a speared salmon, splashing water.

“Is it so difficult to not do anything unnecessary.”

“Hngh, huh, aah…!”

“If you need something, tell me. To me.”

‘I’ll get you nails or hearts for a hundred days.’
The man would occasionally chatter in a cool voice.

But I couldn’t hear anything.

I was busy enduring the c*ck that was f*cking me from behind, with my buttocks raised like a beast.
The sound of flesh slapping against flesh was like the sound of waves.
At his relentless movements, it felt like it wouldn’t be strange if it came out through my esophagus soon.

“You should just do your duty as a mate properly.”

Slap, slap.
My knees, which were barely holding on, buckled at the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
Even though my mating posture was a mess, the man didn’t pull out his c*ck.
On the contrary, he took out the hand that was exploring my mouth and passed it over my groin to stroke my lower abdomen.

“Ah, aah…!”

He pressed down on my abdomen, which was bulging from holding a cck that didn’t even fit my size.
As if trying to find the position of the cck that was stuck in like a stake, I hastily shook my head at his persistent rubbing with his fingertips.

“Ah! D-don’t, hngh, it’ll break, aah…!”

“You’re underestimating your body.”

‘You’re the one overestimating it!’
The words that rose to my chin were swallowed by the tongue that was exploring my mouth.

When I tried to push him away, he would snatch and bite my imprint vein.
Then I would go limp like a baby animal grabbed by the scruff of its neck and just tremble.

“Huh, ugh… ha, haah!”

Every time the man pressed down on my lower abdomen with his palm, my inner walls would tighten, and an unbearable sensation would wash over me.
In the end, I reached a shameful climax while impaled on his c*ck.

“Sob, hngh, I-I told you not to…!”

“Open your eyes.”

“Hngh, what do I do with this…”

“It’s okay, just open your eyes and look at me.”

Even though he must have felt my abdomen getting wet, the man looking down at me showed no change in expression.
When I squeezed my eyes shut in self-loathing, only the words ‘open your eyes’ would come back.

At the end of the wet copulation, the man also ejaculated soon.
The c*ck that had been gushing endlessly slid out.
I could feel the white semen leaking from between my spread legs, but I didn’t even have the strength to pull myself together.
Haak, haak.
I just gasped for breath, my chest heaving.

“……”

On the other hand, Karvan just looked down at me with an unwavering face.

His head held high and his c*ck were truly erect.
And the chest between his disheveled front was so wide and thick.
It looked like not a single drop of blood would come out even if I stabbed it with a final-tier weapon.
He was a man who seemed to have no weaknesses.

That’s why I was even more frustrated.
I wanted to make that cold face waver just once.

I wanted to make that noble, ice-like man kneel just once.
But in reality, in terms of physique, strength, and stamina.
I couldn’t win in anything.

‘There was a time when a monster like that was nothing. I would have smeared him like jam with a single skill. Sob, sob.’

My situation was so frustrating and sad that I must have sniffled without realizing it.

“…Why are you crying?”

A cool voice fell on my head.
‘What did you do so well.’
There were no words after that, but that must have been the meaning.

“I-I’m not crying.”

At his sharp, honed gaze, like the ice skill the man used to throw, I quickly shook my head.

“I’m just sniffling because it’s cold. It’s not crying…”

‘The wind blew and the door slammed shut.’
I muttered without a backbone, rubbing my wet eyes like a child making a timid excuse.

“……”

The man just looked at me without a word again.
He must be angry at my pathetic excuse.

“I-I also have dry eye syndrome… hngh!”

As I was adding a flimsy excuse like a tissue with spit on it, I held my breath at the hand that touched my waist.
He gently lifted my stiffened body and sat me on his lap, facing him.

As if facing a delinquent, I was desperately avoiding his gaze when the back of my neck was pulled.
Unlike the beastly gaze with a layer of ice on it, the kiss was as fluffy as cotton candy.

As he gently pressed my neck and kissed my lips, he pulled the blanket over my shoulders with his other hand and brushed back my disheveled hair.

‘…He’s a man I can’t figure out.’
I thought as I was wrapped in his hot forearms and the white fur blanket.

If he were consistently cruel, I could at least understand that he hated me, but I’m always confused by these sudden displays of affection.
I couldn’t figure him out at all.